1. Ahmad my son, to you has my longing grown long
And my sighs have intensified in their burning

2. Seek the books, some following others' tracks
That I may heal my eyes with them

3. You are to me the sprouting of life, so after you
There is no living I find sweet to taste

4. Sorrow for you has filled the ocean's hand to overflowing
And tears of yearning poured forth

5. Foolish was my quest, but more foolish my opinion
When I journeyed seeking glory while the caravan panicked

6. I roamed all the lands, thinking fortune
Is something sold in the markets

7. I wandered in the faces of the nights' quest
And I threw the rising full moon into eclipse

8. From the declining of fate, from my ashes
From the joking of its hands, from my agonies

9. Arise, let us open our palms and hope
For a gift from the Bestower’s blessings