مَا اسْمُ مَا لَمْ يُدْرِكْهُ عَبْدٌ وَلاَ حُرّْ

لاَ وَلَمْ يَنْجُ مِنْهُ حُلْوٌ وَلاََ مُرّْ

What is the name of what no slave nor free man has attained?

What is the name of that which neither slave nor freeman has grasped,

That from which neither sweet nor bitter has escaped,

No, and from which neither sweet nor bitter has escaped?

وَالِدٌ كُلَّمَا زَمَانٍ وَحُبْلَى

شَكْلُ مُقْلُوبِهِ الْمُصَحَّفِ نَامُرْ

An ever-pregnant father time and again

A father to every time, yet pregnant,

Its miswritten visage, a fiery brand

The shape of its reversed, dot-altered form is "namur",

وَالذِي لَيْسَ فِيهِ قَلْبٌ طَعَامٌ

نَافِعُ الْقَلْبِ لَيْسَ فِيهِ لَنَا ضُرّْ

And that which lacks a heart has no food

And that which contains no heart is a food,

Useful for the heart, in it for us no harm

Beneficial to the heart, holding no harm for us.