عجبتُ من معشرٍ بعقوتنا

باتوا نَبيطاً وأصبحوا عَربَا

I'm amazed by a group that we hosted

Who went to bed as commoners and woke up as Arabs

مثلَ أبي الصقرِ إن فيه وفي

دعواهُ شيبانَ آيةً عجبا

Like Abu Al-Saqr, for in him and his

Claim are amazing signs and wonders

بيناهُ عِلْجاً على جِبلَّتهِ

إذ مسَّه الكيمياء فانقلبا

While trying to cure his nature

When alchemy touched him, he was transformed

عرَّبَهُ جَدُّهُ السعيدُ كما

حَولَّ زِرْنيخَ جدِّهِ ذهبا

His blessed grandfather Arabized him just as

His grandfather turned tin into gold

وهَكذا هذه الجدودُ لها

إكسير صدقٍ يُعرِّبُ النسبا

And so these ancestors have

An elixir of truth that Arabizes lineage

بدَّلك الدهرُ يا أبا الصقر من

خالِكَ خالاً ومن أبيكَ أبا

O Abu Al-Saqr, time has changed for you

Your maternal uncle into a paternal uncle and your father into a father

فهل يراكَ الإلهُ معترفاً

بشكر نعمائه التي وهبا

Does God see you grateful

For the blessings He bestowed?

يا عربياً آباؤهُ نَبَطٌ

يا نبعةً كان أصلُها غَرَبا

O Arab whose fathers were Nabataeans

O spring whose origin was foreign

كم لك من والدٍ ووالدةٍ

لو غرسا الشوكَ أثمرَ العنبا

You have so many fathers and mothers

That if they planted thorns, it would bear grapes

بل لو يَهُزّان هزةً نثرت

من رأس هذا وهذه رُطبا

Rather, if they shook a shake, it would rain

Fresh dates from the head of this man and woman

لم يعرفا خيمةً ولا وَتِداً

ولا عموداً لها ولا طُنُبا

They knew no tent, nor peg

No pole for it, nor rope