1. بَينَ لَيلى وَسُعاد وَمُنى

    حارَ إِلياس كَما حرت أَنا

    Between Layla, Suad, and Muna,

    Elias was bewildered, just as I was.

  2. غَير أَني لا أَرى مِن عَجب

    أَن يَكون الاسم قَد حيرنا

    Yet I see nothing strange

    In the name having bewildered us.

  3. تَكثر الأَسماء في شَيء إِذا

    كَثُرَ المَعنى بِهِ أَو حسنا

    A thing has many names when

    Its meaning is abundant or beautiful.

  4. طفلة عَن والديها نسخة

    كرمت أَصلاً وَطابَت مَعدَنا

    A little girl, a copy of her parents,

    Noble in lineage and pure in nature.

  5. قُل لِوَجه البَدر إِن قابلَتها

    جاءَكَ الحُسن اِنعِكاساً مِن هُنا

    Tell the face of the full moon, if you meet her:

    “Beauty came to you reflected from here.”

  6. لَكن البُشرى بِلَيلى إِنَّها

    أَول الأَزهار في رَوض الهَنا

    But the glad tidings are of Layla: she is

    The first of the flowers in the garden of joy.

  7. أَطعم العزّاب رَبّي مثلها

    رَبِّ ما ضَرك لَو أَطعَمتنا

    May my Lord grant bachelors one like her.

    My Lord, what harm would it do you if you granted us one?

  8. ربِّ أطعمني غَلاماً شاعِراً

    لِدَواعي الحُسن مثلي مذعنا

    My Lord, grant me a boy who is a poet,

    Yielding, like me, to beauty’s calls.

  9. وَليَكُن مَجنون لَيلى وَليَكُن

    طيّب القَلب ظَريفاً لَسِنا

    And let him be Layla’s Majnun, and let him be

    Kindhearted, witty, and eloquent.

  10. وَليَكُن مثل أَبيه إِنَّنا

    لَم نوفِّر غادة في شعرِنا

    And let him be like his father: indeed, we

    Have spared no maiden in our poetry.