1. O inkpot, make your ink into roses
For the delegations of pens now and then

2. And let it be like time, state after state
Sometimes intimate, and other times a confidant

3. Honor knowledge, and grant its servants
Your precious, elite, valuable water

4. And dispense the pure, the sanctified from it
To the guides of mysteries, our leaders

5. And if injustice and darkness sought aid
One ill-omened day, from the most ignorant

6. And drew from evil their ink
Then make it for the share of the oppressors

7. And toss the drop in which
The wrath of the vanquisher laid in wait

8. So one may heed, if they penned a line
Forsaking truth, content with disgrace as religion

9. And if there is an evil drop in you
Formed of wickedness in its creation

10. Then make it the portion of those who made lawful
The sanctity of the weak in politics

11. And if you fear the babble
Of tongues that translate for listeners

12. Then be miserly with ink, miserly, even if
You gave hundreds then hundreds again

13. So if ink is devoid of a doctor
Who diagnoses the illness constantly seeking aid

14. Then grant it from us, as a gift and honor
And regard well the help of benefactors

15. And if the pigeons' hearts proffered
A secret drop, from the most devout

16. Then make it for affections an endowment
And gift it to the messages of the ardent

17. Then if your heart contains nothing
Except what sincerity prepared for the devout

18. Make it my line, so I may write from it
An explanation of my state for the Master of Messengers