حَيِّ رَسماً لِمَن تُحيِّي ثَراهُ

نَسَماتُ الرِّضى وَبَردُ العِهادِ

Greet with a portrait the one whose grave you greet

The breezes of contentment and the coolness of devotion appeared in it

لاحَ فيهِ مِثالهُ بَل مِثال ال

فَضلِ وَالنُّبلِ وَالوَفاءِ الودادِ

No image of perfection, but the image of

Virtue, nobility, and affectionate loyalty

رَسَمتْهُ يَدي وَفي القَلبِ مِنهُ

مِثل ما قَد رَسَمْتهُ بِالأَيادي

My hands drew it and in my heart of it

Is what I have drawn with my hands

فَكَأَنّي نَقَلتهُ عَن فُؤادي

أَو كَأَنِّي جَعَلتُ فيهِ فُؤادي

So it is as if I transferred it from my inner self

Or as if I placed my inner self in it

وَقائل صِفْ لَنا ما الحُسن قُلت لَهُ

هَذا الَّذي لَيسَ لِلتَّعريفِ فيهِ يَدُ

And someone said describe for us what is beauty, I said to him

This that hands cannot define

لا يَجهلُ الحسنَ ما بَينَ الوَرى أَحَداً

وَلَيسَ يَعلمُ مِنهُم كُنْههُ أَحَدُ

No one among all people is ignorant of beauty

And none of them knows its essence

سِرٌّ يَلوحُ وَراءَ الحسِّ مُرتَسِماً

في النَفس وَهوَ عَن الإِدراك مُنفَردُ

A secret flickers behind perception, inscribed

In the soul, and it is uniquely out of reach

لَكن تَرى العَينَ مِنهُ شَكلَ حامِلهِ

وَإِنَّما حَظَّها مَما تَرى الجَسَدُ

But the eye sees in it the shape of its bearer

And its share is only what the body sees