1. يا دارَ عاتِكَة الَّتي بِالأَزهَرِ

    أَو فَوقَهُ بِقَفا الكَثِيبِ الأَحمَرِ

    O abode of ʿAtika, which is at al-Azhar,

    Or above it, behind the red sand dune.

  2. لَم أَلقَ أَهلَكِ بَعدَ عامَ لَقِيتُهُم

    يا لَيتَ أَنَّ لِقاءَهُم لَم يَقدُرِ

    I have not met your people since the year I met them—

    Oh, if only meeting them had never been decreed!

  3. بِفِناءِ بَيتِكِ وَاِبن مُشعَبَ حاضِرٌ

    في سامِرٍ عَطِرٍ وَلَيلٍ مُقمِرِ

    In the courtyard of your house, with Ibn Mushʿab present,

    In a fragrant evening gathering, on a moonlit night,

  4. مُستَشعِرِينَ مَلاحِفاً هَرَويَّةً

    بِالزَعفَرانِ صِباغها وَالعُصفُر

    Wearing Herati wraps next to their skin,

    Dyed with saffron and safflower.

  5. باتا بِأَنعَمِ لَيلَةٍ حَتّى بَدا

    صُبحٌ تَلَوَّحَ كَالأَغَرِّ الأَشقَرِ

    The two spent a most blissful night, until there appeared

    A dawn that gleamed like a white-blazed chestnut horse.

  6. فَتَلازَما عِندَ الفِراقِ صَبابَةً

    أَخذَ الغَرِيمِ بِفَضلِ ثَوبِ المُعسِرِ

    Then they clung to one another at parting, out of longing,

    As a creditor grasps the loose end of an insolvent debtor’s robe.