1. Come, if poverty has made you frail, ascend
A mountain high above you, where wealth abounds,

2. Seize it and restore it to its origin
From which its being branched and was compound.

3. A gentle mist without a speck of dross,
And water of high life and great renown,

4. Protect them both from all things and confine
Them in clear glass of polished metal bound.

5. Impregnable, with tightly fastened lid
Sealing within the wind that whirls around,

6. And weary not in grinding it, for it
Conceals the secret that was there embrowned.

7. If then the gracious earth beneath conceives,
It gives a flower to delight your heart in hues.

8. The earth's now pregnant and will bear ere long,
By fire the babe, by water the more robust.

9. Allow no seeds that you have thrown away
To dry; else you'll forego all you could reap.

10. Neglect not the fire's fostering, for it turns
All things to front and back as you would keep.

11. And nurture it for ages, do not tire
Of feeding it, that it be strong and hale.

12. For that's the knot of severance, in its grip
Are interlaced its parts in fusion frail.

13. And if the knots you have undone with ease
Often in sequence, it will cost you dear.

14. But if you cast the twins forth from it, drip
The shell with blood, though scarred, distinct and clear.

15. Revealed is now my secret and my craft,
Proclaimed the secret purpose God ordained.

16. But if you're ignorant of it, then apply
Your minds to leave what is beyond your ken.

17. For by our minds we've grasped what was unknown
When we have made it a habitual rule.

18. Conceal it not if you have come to know,
But be for God's secret a treasured tool.

19. My Lord has granted me this knowledge, teaching
And clarifying what they made obscure.

20. Scorn it not if you attain what I have said,
Seek by it the helpless, and all blessings secure.