يا ليلةً طالتْ كأنَّ نجومَها

يا ليلةً طالتْ كأنَّ نجومَها

غُرَماءُ أرقبَهُم لِدَيْنٍ واجبِ

غُرَماءُ أرقبَهُم لِدَيْنٍ واجبِ

O night grown long, as though its stars

O night that dragged on as if its stars

Were debtors I watch for a debt due.

were sleepless lovers bound by duty,

والبَدْرُ كالشَّيْخِ الأجَلِّ تَمَنْطَقَتْ

والبَدْرُ كالشَّيْخِ الأجَلِّ تَمَنْطَقَتْ

قُدَّامَهُ الجَوْزاءُ مثلَ الحاجِبِ

قُدَّامَهُ الجَوْزاءُ مثلَ الحاجِبِ

And the full moon is like an august sheikh; girded,

The moon like an aged man declaiming

Before him stands Orion, like a chamberlain.

as the Pleiades gesticulated before him.