وَلا تودِعِ السرَّ المَصونَ عَنِ الوَرى

وَلا تودِعِ السرَّ المَصونَ عَنِ الوَرى

لِغَيرِ شَقيقٍ فَهوَ في كَتمِهِ أَحرى

لِغَيرِ شَقيقٍ فَهوَ في كَتمِهِ أَحرى

And do not entrust the secret guarded from humankind

Do not entrust your guarded secret to another

To anyone but a full brother, for he is better suited to concealing it.

For he who guards it is more worthy than others

فَقَد جَعلَ الوردُ الشقيقَ شَقيقَه

فَقَد جَعلَ الوردُ الشقيقَ شَقيقَه

وَأَودَعهُ كَالزّهرِ مِن عَرفِهِ سرَّا

وَأَودَعهُ كَالزّهرِ مِن عَرفِهِ سرَّا

For the rose made the anemone its brother

The rose has made the rose its confidant

And entrusted it, as it did the flowers, with a secret of its fragrance.

And entrusted it with its innermost secret like a flower's fragrance

فَكلُّ زُهورِ الرّوضِ باحَ بِسِرِّهِ

فَكلُّ زُهورِ الرّوضِ باحَ بِسِرِّهِ

وَلَم يُفشِهِ عَنهُ الشّقيقُ وَلا أَطرى

وَلَم يُفشِهِ عَنهُ الشّقيقُ وَلا أَطرى

So all the garden’s flowers divulged its secret,

All the flowers of the garden confide in it

Yet the anemone did not divulge the rose’s secret, nor lavish praise.

Yet the rose reveals not its secret, nor does it betray