1. The world has appointed me for every merit
That reconciles enemy and friend alike

2. So I do not resent the days of my life
Nor hate the tyranny of nights

3. It is enough status for me that I became unique
So what have I to do with high ambitions

4. Whenever I appear on people’s horizons
They point at me like the crescent moon

5. Whenever they say Abu Hayyan has arrived
The cream of men hasten to see me

6. They wish I were their savior
To gain meaning and high values from me

7. I elucidate obscure conundrums for them
When minds turn dull and dim

8. And express arcane meanings
When the eloquent fall mute

9. Time lacked a leader, so my excellence
Became its ornament in this condition

10. I followed a legal school that was
The way people followed in past eras

11. I abandoned bias in some matters
And attained the utmost of my hopes

12. The sons of my time do not know me
Can the flawed perceive perfection?

13. They saw a phantom resembling them
So deemed me their like, but the difference is vast

14. If analogies yielded anything
Rocks would be made of pearls

15. I dwelled in their land twenty years
And five more, disappointing hopes

16. Never sullying my hopes with their money
Or theirs with mine for a single day

17. An ascetic's nature disdains their wealth
Content with knowledge, not power or riches