دَعا المحرَمونَ اللَهَ يَستَغفِرونَهُ

بِمَكَّة يَوماً اِن يُمحى ذُنوبها

The pilgrims called on Allah, begging His forgiveness

In Mecca one day that He may wipe out her sins

وَنادَيت يا رَبّاه أول سؤلَتي

لِنَفسي لَيلى ثُمَّ أنتَ حسيبُها

And I called out: "O Lord, my first request

Is for Layla, then You are her guardian."

فَإن أعط لَيلى في حَياتي لَم يَتُب

إِلى اللَّهِ عَبدٌ تَوبَة لا أَتوبُها

For if I gain Layla in my life, never

Would a servant turn to God in repentance as I repent.

أهابُك إجلالاً وَما بِكَ قُدرَة

عَليَّ وَلكِن مِلءُ عَين حَبيبِها

I shy from You in reverence, and I have no

Power over You, but to please my beloved.

وَما هَجَرتُكَ النَفس يا لَيل إِنَّها

قلتك وَلكِن قلَّ مِنكَ نَصيبُها

And my soul did not abandon You, O night, but

Your share of her grew less though she still loves you.

وَلكِنَّهُم يا املَح الناسِ اولَعوا

بِقَول اِذا ما جِئتَ هذا حَبيبُها

Yet they—O night of union—are obsessed

With saying "When you come, here is her lover."

وَهل مِثل لَيلاتِ لَهُن رَواجِع

الَينا وَأَيّامُ تَحَوَّل طيبُها

Are there nights like ours, with their returns

To us, and days of sweetness transformed?

إِذا هِي وَأَهل العامِرِيَّة جيرَة

بِحَيثُ النَقا هضب السَرى وَكَثيبُها

When she and the folk of al-‘Amriya were neighbors,

Where an-Naqa, its ridge adjacent her dune.

إِذا لَم تَعد امواهُ جزع سُوَيقَة

بِحارا وَلَم يَحذر عَلَيها خَصيبُها

When her waters no longer mourned Suwaqa

As a sea, nor did its banks there fear a flood.

إِذا لَم تُرِب في ام عمرو وَلَم تُرِب

عُيون أُناس كُنت بَعد تَريبها

When she was not raised in Umm ‘Amr’s care, nor raised

Among folk whose eyes I'd guard against her harm.

وَاِمسَت تَبَغّاني بِجُرم كَأَنَّها

إِذا عَلَّمت ذَنبي تَمحى ذُنوبِها

She accused me of a crime as though she

Would, in naming my sin, absolve her own.