من ذا ابنُ رعدٍ وهو ليس بصاعقهْ

وترى الصواعق للرعود ملاحقهْ

Who is this son of thunder yet no lightning bolt is he,

Though lightning bolts do chase the thunder ceaselessly,

ومن ابنُ أم اللَه أخبرْني ولن

يُدعَى إلهاً فيه ذاتٌ خالقه

And who is this son of the Goddess, tell me and don't

Let him be called a god whose maker he comes to be,

وله أخٌ وأخوه حرٌّ مطلقٌ

بِكرٌ وحيدٌ والقضية صادقه

He has a brother who of his own free will is set fully free,

The first born he, alone, and true is this story certainly,

ونرى له أمّاً رأته ابناً لها

في وقتِ موت أخيه بكراً عاتقه

And we see he has a mother who saw him as a son to her,

At the very time his brother Bakr breathed his last breath fleetingly,

وأحبَّ يوماً أمَّه من قبل أن

كان ابنَها والأم كانت وامقه

And one day he loved his mother before ever he

Could be her son, and the mother was kind-hearted and gentle certainly,

ومن العجائب أنه لم ينتبه

إلا بعينٍ في رقادٍ غارقه

Of wonders is that he was not aware

Save for an eye in slumber sunk completely,

وتعلم الحبَّ الوفيَّ بمقلةٍ

هَجْعَى وشرطُ الحب عينٌ رامقه

And he learned faithful love from a wink

Drowsy, and love's rule is a barely open eye certainly,

لما نُفي عن داره وبلاده

منها دنا والدار منه موافقه

When he was exiled from his land and home

He drew near it, though from him it did flee,

ورأى حياة الكون مائتةً ولم

تكن الحياة لطعم موتٍ ذائقه

And he saw life's span a scant two hundred years, not

As a life whose taste is death's adversity,

وقع الخلاف بموته مع أنه

بالطبع ميتٌ والحياة مفارقه

Dispute fell on his death, though by nature

He was dead, and from life cut off utterly,