الحمد لله العلي القادر

ذي النعيم البواطن الظواهرِ

Praise be to God, the Most High, the All-Powerful,

Possessor of bounty, hidden and manifest.

والصلوات عدد القطارِ

على النبي المصطفى المختارِ

And blessings, as many as the raindrops,

Upon the Prophet, the chosen, the elect.

وبعد فالتركيب سر غامض

بحر عميق لم يخضه خائضُ

Now then: compounding is an obscure secret,

A deep sea that no wader has entered.

وهو الذي قد حار فيه الناسُ

وحاد عن طريقه القياسُ

And it is what has left people bewildered,

And analogical reasoning has strayed from its path.

تحالف القوم على كتمانِه

وأضربوا في الكتب عن بيانهِ

The people swore together to conceal it,

And refrained from explaining it in books.

فكرت عشر حجج كواملِ

في سره فلم أفز بطائلِ

I reflected for ten complete years

On its secret, but gained nothing worthwhile.

حتى إذا استولى عليّ الياسُ

وطار عن مقلتي النعاسُ

Until, when despair overcame me,

And drowsiness flew from my eye,

فزعت في ذاك إلى التضرعِ

وهو لمن وفق خير مصرعِ

At that, I turned to supplication,

And for one granted success, it is the best place to fall.

نذرت أن أتركه مكتوما

سراً بختم ربه مختوما

I vowed to leave it concealed,

A secret sealed with its Lord's seal.

أصوم إظهاره لا أفطرُ

وإن علمت إنّ روحي تهدرُ

I fast from revealing it; I do not break my fast,

And even if I knew my life would be forfeit,

إلا بسر غامض مماطلِ

يلوح للعاقل دون الجاهلِ

Except through an obscure, elusive secret,

Which glimmers to the discerning, but not the ignorant.

فاعمل بما قلت ولا تخالف

وإنه من أفضل المعارفِ

So act on what I have said, and do not disobey,

And it is among the finest branches of knowledge.

بيّض نحاساً محرقا فهو جسد

قد زالت الظلمة عنه والحسد

Whiten calcined copper, for it is a body

From which darkness and envy have vanished.

ثم اعقد الدهن بماء البحرِ

فإنه صابون هذا الأمرِ

Then coagulate the oil with the water of the sea,

For it is the soap of this operation.

وبعده فاعمد لأسريقونِ

مستخرج من عنصر الصابونِ

And after that, turn to asrīqūn,

Extracted from the substance of the soap:

جزأين مجموعين في التدبيرِ

قد قدرا بأعدل التقديرِ

Two parts brought together in the preparation,

Measured in the most balanced proportions.

لونين صارا واحداً فازدوجا

بالسقي والسحق معاً فامتزجا

Two colors became one, and so were paired;

By watering and grinding together, they blended.

يطبخ في أداتنا المكتومة

مدته الموقوتة المعلومة

It is cooked in our concealed apparatus

For its appointed, known duration,

حتى يصيرا زعفراناً عرقا

وقبل ذاك قد عقدت زئبقا

Until the two become sweating saffron,

And before that, you have already fixed mercury.

فاجمعهما ثم بوزن واحدِ

ينعقدا انعقاد زيت جامدِ

So combine the two next in equal weight;

They will congeal like solid oil.

وبرّهما في السحق بالعمياء

فإنها تعكس قطر الماءِ

And tend the two kindly, grinding with the blind one,

For it turns back the drops of water.

والشبّ قيد الآبق الفرّارِ

قَيّد به فهو من الأسرارِ

And alum is a fetter for the ever-fleeing runaway;

Bind it with this, for it is among the secrets.

وعد إلى الناهك من أجسادِ

مغسولة مبيضّة شدادِ

And return to the exhausting one among bodies,

Washed, whitened, and hard.

ثم أطل عذابها في النارِ

مطروحة في جاحم الأوارِ

Then prolong their torment in the fire,

Cast into fiercely blazing heat,

حتى تصير تربة عطشانه

عزيزة في عزها ريانة

Until they become a thirsty earth,

Precious and, in its might, well-watered.

كالحوت لا يرويه شيء يلهمه

يصبح عطشانا وفي البحر فمه

Like a fish, quenched by nothing it swallows,

It wakes thirsty, and its mouth is in the sea.

ضمّ إليها نفسها المبيّضة

نفسا غدت مذهبة منضَّضة

Join to it its whitened soul,

A soul that has become gilded and silvered.

واسحقهما بمائنا المصفى

واسقهما حقهما موفّى

And grind the two with our purified water,

And give the two their due of water in full.

وخذ من الزيت العتيق الأولِ

مثلهما في وزنه المعدّلِ

And take of the old, original oil

An amount equal to both, in its balanced weight.

واطبخهما في الاله المستورة

فهي التي تعطي كمال الصورة

And cook the two in the concealed apparatus,

For it is what imparts perfection of form:

قيامة الأرواح في الأجسادِ

لأربع صرن إلى اتحاد

The resurrection of spirits within bodies,

For four that have come to union.

والرفق ثم الرفق بالنيرانِ

فإنها من أكبر الأعوانِ

And gentleness, then gentleness, with the fires,

For they are among the greatest helpers,

إلا إذا عقدتها بالرفقِ

وفزت من تدبيرها بالحقِ

Except when you have fixed it gently,

And gained the truth from its preparation.

وهي عطاء الله للأبرارِ

تنجيهمُ من فقر هذي الدار

And it is God's gift to the righteous;

It saves them from poverty in this abode.

فالله في كتمانه إن فزتا

فالملك لا يعدل ما قد حزتا

So heed God in concealing it, if you succeed;

For kingship cannot equal what you have gained.

فاسعَ لعقباك فقد كفيتا

مؤونة الدنيا بما أوتيتا

So strive for your hereafter, for you have been spared

The burden of this world by what you have been given.