يا حسنَ كتَّاب الحساب وخلفَهم

يا حسنَ كتَّاب الحساب وخلفَهم

غلمانُهم بدفاترٍ وتعابي

غلمانُهم بدفاترٍ وتعابي

How lovely the accounting scribes, and behind them

O you who excel at arithmetic and those who follow,

Their young attendants, with ledgers and account sheets!

And their young assistants with ledgers and scribbles,

كم قد رجوتُ وفي حسابٍ مثلهم

كم قد رجوتُ وفي حسابٍ مثلهم

فلقيته لكن بغيرِ حساب

فلقيته لكن بغيرِ حساب

How often I hoped, in my reckoning, for one like them;

How often have I hoped for calculations like theirs,

Then I met him—but without reckoning.

Yet found them, though without any reckoning.