1. I fled the pasture, weary and fleeing
From insights that bridle thoughts

2. And went out into a night whose stars
Were like sparrows struck by fire

3. I came to the island and found no companion
While the Nile surrounded me, unveiling no secrets

4. Until the light of dawn appeared and I sensed it
The light of guidance, so I sought it earnestly

5. And I asked about the secret of this existence
Revelation that lifts the veil of existence

6. So the secret of existence answered me in a page
Folded, so I said, reveal, I believe without doubt

7. I sought the secret and purpose of existence
And asked the soothsayers and learned men

8. I read what they wrote but found no convincing answer
And wrote what they said, but I have no proof

9. The fish of this Nile cannot be counted and in
Their history they have crossed the ages

10. They lived and died between love or agony
Complaining and hardening, with no passion or revenge

11. In war and peace, assault and conflict
You see among them no partisans

12. And the throngs of living beings, their attributes
Try the eloquence and exceed enumeration

13. Like a wretched afflicted one who cannot see
Or a crocodile who crossed the rivers

14. And the Nile - say what you will in glorifying it
A river that flowed to reach the seas

15. If a thousand Niles were gathered they would not equal
One fraction of a single ocean

16. A turbulent sea, filled with creatures
Seeking survival, while rushing to extinction

17. Thus it was in past ages
Ruins remain on the shore as relics

18. From them were born the rocks and often
Tomorrow's pebble becomes a boulder and water a pit

19. And birds in their kinds and forms
Soaring in intelligence, flying and sojourning

20. Their flocks setting out at dawn and migrating
Fearing destruction, while rushing to destruction

21. And the plants of this earth from cedars to
Zoofa, perish, though they withstand storms

22. Why then this creation, if
Its fate is extinction while people vanish in it

23. Then a hidden voice answered me saying
Listen and repeat my words, believe without doubt

24. All these creatures are particles
And the universe is made of their sum

25. While the individual among them is only
Fleeting dust or speck disappearing

26. And the evolution of this universe requires
The demise of particles and waste and ruin

27. These are the teachings of early philosophers
They made the darkness of night radiant day

28. We die in the path of evolution, sacrificed
To become for the sake of evolution dust

29. The light of creatures is the source of light that
Guides the orbiting stars in the heavens

30. If the mind of man is not enlightened
He will not find the light of guidance but will recoil

31. So enlighten, O light of insight, a multitude
Who made truth a deficiency and motto

32. They confined reason's elements so it was eclipsed
And they halted purpose so it increased fleeing

33. Darkness, while reason's light fell short of guidance
Without Your light we cannot ignite a beacon