1. My esteemed sirs, to you I give my utmost respect
And unto you my greetings and peace

2. And to you I present some words
Wise sayings, glorious in speech

3. I was an infant in my father's lap
My thoughts on crying or sleeping

4. Then after that I became a child
Suffering only the pain of weaning

5. When I grew up, God gave me speech
Dispensing kindness and grace

6. Bestowing hearing, sight and insight
Granting minds and understanding

7. Then I distinguished everything I saw
And knew the light from the darkness

8. And God willed to destine good for me
And I was blessed with the greatest portion

9. So He brought me to schools, my family's
And I made the sciences my goal there

10. My notebook was my companion, my tablet my friend
And my book before me in every art

11. So I learned what I learned
To boast of this knowledge among people

12. Hoping to one day be, through knowledge
Among the great men of my country

13. To build schools, placing knowledge in high esteem
For the downtrodden and the orphans

14. And to nurture in the people love for them
So they may rise above the nations

15. My lords, spread knowledge to heal
What ails the country of illnesses

16. For it is its spirit, and without the spirit
There can be no life in bodies