عبثت به الحمّى فورَّدَ وجهَهُ

عبثت به الحمّى فورَّدَ وجهَهُ

وعك الحمى وتلهب المحرورِ

وعك الحمى وتلهب المحرورِ

Fever toyed with him, and his face was made rosy

Fever toyed with him and flushed his face,

by fever's aching and the fever-stricken man's burning.

The fever raged and the sick burned,

وبدا به الجُدرِيُّ فهو كلؤلؤٍ

وبدا به الجُدرِيُّ فهو كلؤلؤٍ

فوقَ العقيقِ مُنَضَّدٍ مسطورِ

فوقَ العقيقِ مُنَضَّدٍ مسطورِ

And smallpox appeared on him: it is like pearls

The measles emerged and he was like a pearl

upon carnelian, arranged in tiers and rows.

Laid out on red agate in rows,

وأتاه ينثره فحاكى عصفراً

وأتاه ينثره فحاكى عصفراً

قد رُشَّ رشّاً في بياض حرير

قد رُشَّ رشّاً في بياض حرير

And it came upon him, scattering its spots, resembling safflower

And it came upon him scattering like a little sparrow

that had been sprinkled over white silk.

Sprinkled with sprinkles on white silk.

الآن حاكى البدر إذ حاكى لنا

الآن حاكى البدر إذ حاكى لنا

نَمَشُ البدور مواقعَ التجدير

نَمَشُ البدور مواقعَ التجدير

Now he resembles the full moon, for we see reflected

Now it resembled the moon when it resembled for us

in the freckles of full moons the sites of smallpox.

Dewdrops falling on places of beauty,

فكأنه ورق المصاحف زانَهُ

فكأنه ورق المصاحف زانَهُ

نقطٌ وشكل في خلال عشورِ

نقطٌ وشكل في خلال عشورِ

So he is like the pages of Qur'an copies, adorned

So it was as if the pages of the scripture adorned him,

with dots and vowel marks amid the ten-verse markers.

Dots and lines amid verses.