1. We left the desert in confusion
They did not recognize our course

2. Their calcination is not our calcination
Their purification is not our purification

3. Their sublimation is not our sublimation
Their distillation is not our distillation

4. Their mercury and lead acetates
Are not fit for our elixir

5. They have their ore and we have ours
Which suits the subtlety of our operations

6. He who is ignorant of the principles
Should not perish through our expressions

7. Indeed the ancients were ignorant of our knowledge
And did not understand our interpretations

8. Their measures and scales
Are all contrary to our scales

9. And we are not to blame, for we
Met them with our apologies