1. If I could, I would make lightning my pen
And the sky my paper and rain my ink

2. And I would fill the horizons with praise
Scattered for you, arranged and composed

3. And that would still fall short of the merit you gained
Becoming a fire on the hills or a light with sublime beauty

4. O treasure of endless merit and knowledge
That is spent and generous despite its continuance

5. The precious is hard to attain once
You have given it to us as spoils for whoever wins spoils

6. Like the sun who gives her brilliance to all who can see
Though some may not know her value

7. O garden of merit, flowering and fruiting
As if the mind in plucking its fruits

8. Its shade and boughs in their freshness
And its tree grown healthy in its goodness and growth

9. We wish to exaggerate in poetry about you but
Cannot do so or fulfill what is required

10. Poetry necessarily requires exaggeration
Except in describing you, for it is overwhelmed by words

11. You are the healer for the bodies of people and the
Minds and souls who have fallen ill

12. The philosopher who compiled the sciences and made
Them a fountain for the suffering, a shelter

13. But the preferred learned man is one of confidence
Who taught people, not one who kept the knowledge for himself

14. You are called the wise man and if we do not call you that
Then healer is valid for you, and both are correct

15. And whoever says it has dispensed with mentioning a name
For your reputation has become a sign for you

16. O you who neglect yourself for the benefit
Of others, may you be rewarded with good and bounty

17. It is as if people are your wards, for if
One complains, you share his pain

18. All try in this life to serve themselves
O you who sought, before that, to benefit the nations

19. You intend only, by doing good, the face
Of the Guardian, glorified is His essence and His loftiness

20. And mercy for the servants of God, which you consider
An obligation from the Merciful that is binding

21. And service to humankind stemming
From pure nature, which you see as a duty

22. You did not excuse yourself from what fate demands
Rather, fate excused you, taking from others the resolves

23. You were created with a nature that drives you
To never encounter boredom in your deeds

24. For if you wished - God forbid - harm upon someone
It would change into benefit, and good traits would ensue

25. O you who transfers illnesses from the body of the sick
To your body, so he awakens cured

26. If others complain of your praise falling
Short, my tongue complains of still more