طمعت بقرب دجلة قبل هذا

طمعت بقرب دجلة قبل هذا

فلم أظفر بنائية المزار

فلم أظفر بنائية المزار

Before this, I longed to be near the Tigris,

I longed for the Tigris to draw near, before this

but could not reach her, so distant was her abode.

But did not succeed in gaining access to the sanctuary

ولكن الحوادث ذللتها

ولكن الحوادث ذللتها

وقادتها فباتت في جواري

وقادتها فباتت في جواري

But events subdued her

Yet events made it submissive

and led her on, so she spent the night beside me.

And led it, so it came to reside near me

مشت تحت الظلام إليّ شوقاً

مشت تحت الظلام إليّ شوقاً

محمّلة بأنواع الدمار

محمّلة بأنواع الدمار

She walked to me beneath the darkness, yearning,

It strode towards me in the darkness, yearning

laden with various kinds of destruction.

Loaded with instruments of ruin

فباتت وهي زاخرة بقربى

فباتت وهي زاخرة بقربى

وبت ألوذ منها بالفرار

وبت ألوذ منها بالفرار

So she spent the night swelling beside me,

And it spent the night, teeming about my proximity

and I spent the night seeking refuge from her in flight.

While I passed the night seeking escape from it

ولج بها الهوى كلفا فباتت

ولج بها الهوى كلفا فباتت

تهدّد باقتحام الموج داري

تهدّد باقتحام الموج داري

And passion grew insistent within her, in ardent longing, so she spent the night

And passion assailed it insistently, so it spent the night

threatening to storm my house with her waves.

Threatening to storm the wave into my house