انظر إلى العرش على مائة

سفينة تجري بأسمائِهِ

Look at the Throne upon a hundred

ships sailing by its names.

واعجبْ له من مكربٍ دائر

قد أودعَ الخلقَ بأحشائِهِ

And marvel at it—a revolving [vessel?],

which has lodged creation within its entrails.

يسبح في بحر بلا ساحلٍ

فيحِندِسِ الغيب وظلمائه

It swims in a sea without a shore,

in the pitch-darkness of the unseen and its gloom.

وموجه أحوالُ عشّاقه

وريحه أنفاسُ أبنائه

Its waves are the states of its lovers,

and its wind the breaths of its sons.

فلو تراه بالورى سائراً

من ألِفِ الخط إلى يائه

So if only you could see it journeying with all creatures,

from the alif of writing to its yāʾ.

ويرجع العود على بدئه

ولا نهايات لإبدائه

And the return goes back to its beginning,

and there are no limits to its bringing-forth.

يكوِّر الصبحَ على ليلِه

وصبحه يفنى بإمسائه

It wraps the dawn over its night,

and its dawn perishes as its evening comes.

فانظر إلى الحكمة سيارةً

في وسط الفلك وأرجائه

So look at wisdom traveling

in the midst of the sphere and its reaches.

ومن أتى يرغب في شانه

يقعد في الدنيا بسيسائه

And whoever comes, taking interest in its affair,

sits in this world upon its backbone,

حتى يرع في نفسه فلكه

وصنعة الله بإنشائه

until he tends his sphere within himself,

and God's handiwork in bringing it into being.