أرعى النجوم كأنني كلفت أن

أرعى جميع ثبوتها والخنس

I tend the stars as though I were charged

I watch the stars as though I were charged

To tend their fixity and their eclipse

To guard all their fixed constellations and the wandering planets;

فكأنها والليل نيران الجوى

قد أضرمت في فكرتي من حندس

As though they and the night were fiery flowers

As though they and the night were the fires of passion

That in my thoughts were kindled out of craze

Kindled within my thoughts out of pitch-black darkness;

وكأنني أمسيت حارس روضةٍ

خضراء وشح نبتها بالنرجس

And as though I in the evening were become

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

The keeper of a green garden hung with narcissus

Lush and green, whose plants are adorned with narcissus;

لو عاش بطليموس أيقن أنني

أقوى الورى في رصد جري الكنس

If Ptolemy still lived he would be sure

Had Ptolemy lived, he would have known for certain

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.