تطهّر بماء الحياة الذي

لصنعتنا فبه تطهر

Purify yourself with the Water of Life that

belongs to our craft; by it, become pure.

إذا عرض فر من جوهر

خبيث صغا ذلك الجوهرُ

If an accident flees from a substance

that has grown impure, that substance inclines.

فخلوا الظواهر واستنبطوا ال

علوم وللحكمة استظهروا

So set outward forms aside, and draw forth the

sciences; take wisdom as your support.

فإنّ بواطن أعمالنا

خلاف الظواهر لا تنكرُ

For the inner realities of our operations

run counter to outward appearances—do not deny it.

ألم ترَ أسربّنا أسوداً

وباطنه الذهب الأحمر

Have you not seen our lead as black,

while within it lies red gold?

وأن الحديد له باطن

رصاص يصر إذا يسبرُ

And that iron has an inner part—

lead that cries out when it is probed?

ولما أريد ظهور الكمون

ليبرز من ذلك ما يسترُ

And when I wished the latent to appear,

so that what lay concealed might emerge from it,

أمدّت بواطن أركاننا

بامثالها فغدت تظهرُ

I reinforced the inner parts of our elements

with their likes, and they began to appear.

وذلك قانون أعمالنا

به تمّ طلّسمنا الأكبرُ

Such is the law of our operations;

through it our greatest talisman was completed.

ففكر لتعرف ما قد ذكرت

ففيه فوائد لا تحصرُ

Reflect, then, that you may understand what I have mentioned:

within it are benefits beyond counting.