أرعى النجوم كأنني كلفت أن

أرعى النجوم كأنني كلفت أن

أرعى جميع ثبوتها والخنس

أرعى جميع ثبوتها والخنس

I watch over the stars, as though I were charged to

I tend the stars as though I were charged

I watch the stars as though I were charged

watch all their fixed ones and the retreating planets.

To tend their fixity and their eclipse

To guard all their fixed constellations and the wandering planets;

فكأنها والليل نيران الجوى

فكأنها والليل نيران الجوى

قد أضرمت في فكرتي من حندس

قد أضرمت في فكرتي من حندس

So they and the night seem like fires of love's anguish,

As though they and the night were fiery flowers

As though they and the night were the fires of passion

that have been kindled in my thoughts out of deep darkness.

That in my thoughts were kindled out of craze

Kindled within my thoughts out of pitch-black darkness;

وكأنني أمسيت حارس روضةٍ

وكأنني أمسيت حارس روضةٍ

خضراء وشح نبتها بالنرجس

خضراء وشح نبتها بالنرجس

And I seem to have become, at evening, the keeper of a garden,

And as though I in the evening were become

And as though I had become the keeper of a meadow,

green, its plants adorned with narcissus flowers.

The keeper of a green garden hung with narcissus

Lush and green, whose plants are adorned with narcissus;

لو عاش بطليموس أيقن أنني

لو عاش بطليموس أيقن أنني

أقوى الورى في رصد جري الكنس

أقوى الورى في رصد جري الكنس

If Ptolemy were alive, he would know for certain that I am

If Ptolemy still lived he would be sure

Had Ptolemy lived, he would have known for certain

the ablest of mortals at observing the motion of the hiding planets.

That I am mightiest in star-lore and the solve

That I am the foremost of mortals in tracking the course of the celestial stars.