شموس لهن الخدر والبدر مغرب

شموس لهن الخدر والبدر مغرب

فطالعها بالبين والهجر غاربُ

فطالعها بالبين والهجر غاربُ

Suns whose setting place is the curtained chamber and the full moon;

Suns whose rising and setting brought torment,

So their rising sun sets through parting and estrangement.

So I turned from them, estranged, to darker hours,

ولكنما شمس المعالي خلافها

ولكنما شمس المعالي خلافها

مشارقه ليست لهن مغاربُ

مشارقه ليست لهن مغاربُ

But Shams al-Ma‘ali is unlike them:

But you, the sun of excellence, differ from those:

His places of rising have no places of setting.

Your dawning allows no setting ever after.

فما لقبوه الشمس إلا وقد رَوَوا

فما لقبوه الشمس إلا وقد رَوَوا

بأنك شمس والملوك كواكبُ

بأنك شمس والملوك كواكبُ

For they called him “the Sun” only after reciting

If they entitled you “the Sun,” it was because

That you are a sun, and kings are stars.

To them you were the sun, and kings but stars.