1. يا ليالي الهنا ووقت السعود

    وزمانٍ به قد اخضرّ عودي

    O nights of bliss and time of good fortune,

    And a time in which my bough grew green,

  2. يا ليالي بجانب السِّيف صارت

    ماضياتٍ بحقّ زينب عودي

    O nights beside the shore that have become

    Things of the past—for Zaynab's sake, return!

  3. وانشدي لي ذكر الرباب فمن

    طيّ ادّكاري الرباب طال هجودي

    And sing to me of al-Rabab, for since

    I folded away my remembrance of al-Rabab, my slumber has grown long.

  4. حدِّثيني عن أختها كيف باتت

    بسنا السِّيف بيتة المجهود

    Tell me of her sister—how she spent the night

    In the shore's radiance, as one worn out.

  5. والأعادي يرونها كل وقتٍ

    حيث كانت هناك بيت القصيد

    And her enemies see her at all times,

    There, where she was the heart of the poem.

  6. لَبوة غاب ليثها عن شراها

    فتناءت عنه بغابٍ بعيد

    A lioness whose lion was absent from her thicket,

    So she withdrew from him into a distant wood.

  7. واختفت بين نسوة كالسعالي

    وهي الآن بعدُ في تهديد

    And she hid among women like she-ghouls,

    And even now she is still under threat.

  8. لم تزل تطلب الخلاص وأنّي

    هي خشف قد أُحدِقت بقرود

    She still seeks deliverance—and how can she?

    She is a gazelle fawn, already surrounded by monkeys.

  9. لست عن نصرها تخلّفتُ لكن

    أنا وحدي وخصمها في عديد

    I have not held back from aiding her, but

    I am alone, while her adversaries are many.