لَيْلَى اجْمَعِي النَّاسَ إِلَى محفِلٍ

مُصْغٍ وَكونِي القَيْنَةَ الشَّادِيَهْ

Gather the people, O Layla, to a listening assembly,

And be the cheerful entertainer.

دَعَوْتِ لِلْخَيْرِ فَجَاءُوا لَهُ

بِأَنْفسٍ طَيِّبةٍ رَاضِيَهْ

You invited them to virtue, so they came willingly,

With pure, content souls.

مَا كَلِمَاتُ الشكرِ إِنْ نُهْدِهَا

بِبَعْضِ مَا جُدْتَ بِهِ وَافِيَهْ

Words of thanks, were I to give them, would not suffice

For some of what you have brought.

آهاً لَمَنْكُوبِينَ قَدْ أَحْرَقَتْ

دِيارهُم غَائِلَةٌ جانِيهْ

Alas for the stricken ones whose homes

A calamitous aggressor has burned!

رِيعَ يَتَامَاهُمْ وَأَطْفَالُهُمْ

وَشُرِّدَتْ نِسَّوتُهُمْ باكِيَهْ

Their orphans and infants wander around,

And their women are expelled, crying.

بَاتوا وَمَا بَعْدَ الحِمَى مِنْ حِمىً

إِلاَّ كُهُوفٌ فِي الدُّجَى الغَاشِيَهْ

They have spent the night, and after shelter nothing remains

Except caves in the overwhelming gloom.

كهُوفُ نُورٍ شَادَهَا سَاخِراً

شُعَاعُ تِلْكَ الشُّغْلِ الطَّاغِيَهْ

Caves lit up fiercely

By the glare of that raging flame,

أَطْنَافُهَا تَنْدَى شَراراً فَمَا

تَحْسَبُهَا إِلاَّ بِهِ دامِيَهْ

Whose edges drip embers—you would reckon them

By it to be bloody.

مَنْ يَرْجِعُ الشَّيْخُ إِلَى بَيْتِهِ

إِلَى مُصَلاَّهُ مِنَ الزَّاوِيَهْ

Who will return the old man to his home,

To his corner cell from the hermitage?

مَنْ يُسْعِفُ الكَهْلَ وَحَاجَاتُ منْ

يَعُولُ مِنْ أُسْرَتِهِ مَاهِيَهْ

Who will help the old and the dependent members

Of his household that he supports?

مَنْ لِعَرُوسٍ فَارَقَتْ خِدْرَهَا

وَأَصْبَحَتَ بَعْدَ الحُلَى عَارِيَهْ

Who is there for the bride who left her bower

And after her jewelry stands bare?

رَأَيْتِ يَا لَيْلَى بِعَينِ النُّهَى

أًَهْوَالَ تِلْكَ النَّكْبَةِ الدَّاهِيَهْ

You saw, O Layla, with the eye of discretion

The horrors of that annihilating calamity.

فَهزَّتِ الرَّأْفَةُ أَوْتَارَهَا

فِي نَفْسِكِ المِرْنَانَةِ الصَّافِيَهْ

So pity moved the strings

Of your melodious, untroubled soul.

وَمَا أَناشِيدُكَ إِلاَّ صدىً

مِنْهَا لِتِلْكَ الشِّيْمَةِ السَّامِيَهْ

And my songs are but an echo

Of that sublime quality of yours.

لَيْلَى اسْتَوِي فِي التَّخْتِ سُلْطَانَةً

عَلَى قلُوبِ الرّفْقَةِ الصَّاغِيَهْ

Layla, sit sovereign upon the dais

Over the hearts of the devoted company

فِي رَوْضَةٍ شَائِقَةٍ أُنْشِئَتْ

لسَاعَةٍ أَزْهَارُهَا زَاهِيهْ

In a garden created for an auspicious hour

Whose flowers are in bloom.

تَحْتَ سَماءٍ فَائِضٍ نُورُهَا

مِنْ أَلفِ مِصبَاحٍ بِهَا ذَاكِيَهْ

Under an abundant, luminous sky

With a thousand lamps in it burning bright.

لَيْلَى أَثِيرِي مِنْ خَبايَا المُنى

كُنوزَ تِلْكَ النَّغْمَةِ الخَافِيَهْ

Layla, produce from the treasuries of intimacy

The treasures of that hidden melody,

وَليَذْكُرِ النَّاسُ غَراماً مَضَى

ولتَذْكُرِ العاشِقَةُ النَّاسِيهْ

And let the people remember a love now gone,

And let the forgetful lover remember.

وَليَجْذَلِ الجَذْلان وَليَبْكِ مَنْ

يبكي لِشَكْوى نَفْسِهِ الشَّاكِيهْ

And let the emaciated one waste away, and let him who weeps

Weep for his own complaining soul.

فَفِي مَثَارَاتِ الهَوى عِنْدَهًم

خَيْر لِتِلْكَ الأَنْفُسِ العانِيهْ

For in the fruits of passion there lies for them

Good for those suffering souls.

قولِي لَهُمْ يَا لَيْلُ يطْرَبْ لَهُ

أشْهاد تِلْكَ اللَّيْلَةِ القَاسِيَهْ

Say to them, “O night of anguish, exalt for it

The witnesses of that harsh night!”

كَأَنَّنِي أَنْظُرُ مِنْ حَيْثُمَا

أَرْسَلْتِ تِلْكَ الدُّرَر الغَالِيهْ

It is as though I look from wherever

You have sent those precious pearls,

نَدىً مِنَ الرَّحْمَةِ يَهمِي عَلَى

نِيرَانِ تِلْكَ الأَرْبَعِ الصَّالِيهْ

At a wafting of mercy upon

The fires of those lofty pillars.