خُذِ القلَمَ العالي إليك مُوقِّعاً

خُذِ القلَمَ العالي إليك مُوقِّعاً

خِلالَ فُصولي بالّذي يَمْتري شُكْري

خِلالَ فُصولي بالّذي يَمْتري شُكْري

Take up the lofty pen, and let it sign

Take up the lofty pen and inscribe

amid the sections of my work what will draw forth my thanks.

Amid my passages what draws forth my thanks.

وأَجْرِ اليدَ البيضاءَ في صَفَحاتِها

وأَجْرِ اليدَ البيضاءَ في صَفَحاتِها

لِيُعجَبَ من نَظْمي ونَثْرِكَ بالدُّرّ

لِيُعجَبَ من نَظْمي ونَثْرِكَ بالدُّرّ

And let your white hand course across their pages,

And let your white hand run across their pages,

so one may marvel at my verse and your pearl-strewn prose.

So that one may marvel at the pearls of my verse and your prose.

فمِفتاحُ آمالي أنامِلُك الّتي

فمِفتاحُ آمالي أنامِلُك الّتي

تَحُلُّ بها من مَطْلَبي عُقَدَ الدَّهْر

تَحُلُّ بها من مَطْلَبي عُقَدَ الدَّهْر

For your fingertips are the key to all my hopes;

For the key to my hopes is your fingertips, which

with them you undo Time’s knots in all I seek.

You use to undo time’s knots that bind my request.

وما أنا إلاّ سائرُ المدحِ فيكمُ

وما أنا إلاّ سائرُ المدحِ فيكمُ

فما لي على أَبوابكمْ واقفَ الأَمر

فما لي على أَبوابكمْ واقفَ الأَمر

I am but praise in motion among you—

And I am but one whose praise of you travels;

why, then, does my affair stand still at your gates?

Why, then, is my request at a standstill at your gates?

وقد كنتُ أَروَى والثِّمادُ مَوارِدي

وقد كنتُ أَروَى والثِّمادُ مَوارِدي

فما ليَ أَظْما بعدَ قُرْبى منَ البحر

فما ليَ أَظْما بعدَ قُرْبى منَ البحر

Once I drank my fill, though shallow pools were my watering places;

Yet I once drank my fill, though shallow pools were my watering places;

why should I thirst now, after drawing near the sea?

Why, then, do I thirst after drawing near the sea?