أيا من غدا في اللُّغز سبّاقَ غاية

فغادرني أهدي إليه الأحاجيا

O you who tomorrow races towards the finish line

Leave me be, I gift you this riddle

فما اسمٌ ثلاثي شرود موانس

تركَّبَ من عشرٍ ويلفي ثمانيا

For it is not a three-letter name of chatting friends

Made of ten and wrapped in eight

تعلقْتُه حتى وردت نميره

وأصبحتُ منه بالفرائد حاليا

I clung to it until its bells rang

And I became lost in its unique wonders

فلو كنتُ في عهد ابن حمدان ماثلاً

لغادر زندي منه بالحدِّ واريا

Had I been in the time of Ibn Hamdan alive

I would have left its secret as a bare witness

ورحتُ لما قال ابنُ ميمون منشداً

أَحثُّ به نَحْوَ الديارِ المهاريا

And went when Ibn Maymun recited saying

I hurry with it towards the skillful abodes

دعاني فأدناني وقرَّبَ مَجْلسي

ورَّحبَ بي وانتاشني واصطفانيا

He called me, brought me near and honored my gathering

Welcoming me, choosing me, and drawing me close

أجب عن يتيمٍ ماتَ في الناس أهلهُ

ودُم في ذُرى الآدابِ فَرْداً يمانيا

Answer the orphan who died among people without kin

His blood spilled in the valleys of literature, singularly Yemeni