1. بَدَت وجوههمُ كالشمسِ والقَمرِ

    يا صاحبَّ إذا ما شِئتُما خَبري

    Their faces appeared like the sun and the moon.

    O my two companions, if you wish for news of me,

  2. إني بعاصمةِ التَّمدينِ والحَضَرِ

    أُمَتِّعُ الطَّرفَ لا بالغُنجِ والحَورِ

    I am in the capital of civilization and urban life.

    I delight my gaze, not with coquetry and dark-eyed beauty,

  3. لكن بما أبدَعتَهُ فكرةُ البَشَرِ

    إني بلندن وباريس وليتَهُما

    but with what human thought has created.

    I am in London and Paris, and would that they both

  4. قد أشفَقا عن فَتىً مُغرىٍ بِحُسنِهما

    وقل إذا رُمتَ وصفاً كاشفاً لَهُما

    had felt compassion for a youth enthralled by their beauty.

    And say, if you seek a revealing description of them:

  5. سِيانِ لندن وباريس وبينَهُما

    في الذَّوقِ بَونٌ وما العِيانُ كالخَبرِ

    London and Paris are alike, yet between them

    lies a gulf in taste; seeing is not like being told.

  6. إن لم تَزُرها فَليسَ الوصفُ يُتقنِها

    وكلُّ ما قيل في الأوصاف أحسَنُها

    If you have not visited it, description cannot do it justice.

    And of all that has been said in descriptions, the finest

  7. قولُ حليفِ القَوافي الغُرِّ أفتَنُها

    ألدارُ دارٌ وحُورُ العينِ يَسكنُها

    is the saying of the companion of radiant rhymes—the most enchanting of them:

    “The dwelling is a dwelling, and beauties with large, dark eyes inhabit it;

  8. والناس ناسٌ وما الياقوتُ كالحَجَرِ

    أشواقُ قلبي إليها ليس يَبلُغُها

    and people are people, yet a ruby is not like a stone.”

    My heart's longings for it cannot be matched

  9. شوقٌ سوى شوقِ أوطانِ تَحيَّتها

    قلتُ لِرَسمي لِكى لها يُبَلِّغُها

    by any longing save longing for homelands. A greeting to it

    I uttered to my portrait, so that it might convey it there:

  10. يا رَسمُ حَيِّ رُبوعاً ليس يُشبِهُها

    لُندن وباريسُ والدنيا إلى النَّشرِ

    “O portrait, greet abodes that are not equaled by

    London, Paris, or the world until the Resurrection.”