بَدا وَاللَيلُ معتكرُ

كأَنَّ نجومَه دُرَرُ

The night has dawned, gloomy,

Its stars like scattered pearls.

رشاً رقَّت محاسنُه

فَكادَ يُذيبُه النَظَرُ

Softly its beauties have strewn themselves

Till the beholder's glance all but melts.

كئيبٌ فوقه غُصُنٌ

وَغُصنٌ فوقه قَمَرُ

Sad is the branch hanging over it,

Over that branch hangs the moon.

سَمَرتُ به إِلى سَحرٍ

وَلَيلى كلُّه سَحَرُ

With him till dawn I whiled away the night

And the night with Layla was all sweet magic.

إذا ما ماسَ يخطُر في

حُلاه فعشقُه خَطَرُ

When love's restlessness stirs within me

For his cheek, then love holds peril.

لَيالي وصلِه غُرَرٌ

وَلكن دونَها غَرَرُ

Nights of union with him are rare,

Yet rarer than them are nights of separation.

ختمتُ بحبِّهِ وَطَري

فَما لي غيرُه وَطَرُ

With his love I have sealed my fate,

I have none but him to be my fate.