ومجردٍ كالسيف جَرَّد نفسه

ومجردٍ كالسيف جَرَّد نفسه

لمجرّد يكسوه ما لا يُنسَجُ

لمجرّد يكسوه ما لا يُنسَجُ

And a man, bare as a sword, stripped himself

He stripped himself bare like a sword,

for another bare man, who clothes him in what is not woven:

To be clothed only in what is not woven,

ثوبٌ تمزِّقه الأناملُ رقةً

ثوبٌ تمزِّقه الأناملُ رقةً

ويُذيبه الماء القَراح فينْهَجُ

ويُذيبه الماء القَراح فينْهَجُ

a garment so delicate that fingertips tear it,

A garment torn by fingers through delicacy,

and pure water dissolves it, so it wears away.

And dissolved by cooling water till it runs.

فكأنه لما استوى في خصره

فكأنه لما استوى في خصره

نصفان ذا عاجٌ وذا فيروزجُ

نصفان ذا عاجٌ وذا فيروزجُ

So he seemed, when it lay evenly about his waist,

So it seems when poised at his waist

two halves: this one ivory, and that one turquoise.

He is half ivory, half sapphire.