قُلْ لابن بورانَ إن كان ابنَ بوران

قُلْ لابن بورانَ إن كان ابنَ بوران

فإنَّ شكّيَ فيه جُلُّ إيماني

فإنَّ شكّيَ فيه جُلُّ إيماني

Tell Ibn Buran, if he is Ibn Buran,

Say to Ibn Buran, if he is Ibn Buran

For my doubt about him is most of my belief.

Then my doubt in him consumes all my faith

يا باطلاً أوهمْتنيه مَخايلُه

يا باطلاً أوهمْتنيه مَخايلُه

بلا دليل ولا تثبيتِ بُرهانِ

بلا دليل ولا تثبيتِ بُرهانِ

O nonentity, whose outward signs made me imagine you,

O you who deluded me with your pretensions

Without evidence or any firmly established proof.

Without proof or any evidence

ما أنتَ إلا خيالٌ طاف طائفه

ما أنتَ إلا خيالٌ طاف طائفه

وما هجائيك إلا هجْرُ وسْنان

وما هجائيك إلا هجْرُ وسْنان

You are nothing but a phantom whose apparition passed by,

You are but a mirage that passed by

And my satire of you is nothing but a drowsy man's babble.

And my satire of you is but estrangement and parting

قد كنتُ أحسبه شيئاً فأهجوه

قد كنتُ أحسبه شيئاً فأهجوه

حتى أزاح يقيني فيه حسباني

حتى أزاح يقيني فيه حسباني

I had thought him something, and so satirized him,

I had thought you were something, so I satirized you

Until my certainty about him dispelled my supposition.

Until certainty about you removed my assumptions