في اللَيل عَمق وَفي الدُجى نَفق

لَو صَبَ فيهِ الزَمان لابتلعه

In the night there is depth, and in gloom there is a tunnel

If time poured into it, it would swallow it

لَو مَزَق الرَعد مَسمَعي أَحَد

في عُمق ذاكَ الدُجى لَمّا سَمعه

If thunder tore my hearing someone

In the depth of that gloom it would not hear it

لَو أَفرَغ الفَجر ذُو الجَوانب في

أَدنى إِناء مِن عِندَه وَسغه

If dawn with its edges poured in

The smallest vessel in its possession and flooded it

تَظَل في صَدرِهِ كَواكبه

غَرقى وأم النُجوم مَضطجَعَه

Its stars would remain drowned in its chest

And the mother of stars lying in its bed

تَضل فيهِ الحَياة عالمها

كَما يَضَل الغَريب مَرتبعه

Life would lose its world in it

As the stranger loses his dwelling place

وَيَنزَوي العالم العَريض إِلى

رُكن مَنيع لا يَستَبين مَعَه

And the vast world would shrink into

A sturdy corner that nothing can be seen with it

يَمسَح ما لِلوجود مَن أَثَر

مَكانه في الزَمان أَو ضَيعه

It would wipe out whatever traces existence has

Its place in time or lost it

وَيَطمس القَبح وَالجَمال فَما

في الكَون مَعنى إِلّا وَقَد نَزَعَه

And would erase ugliness and beauty, so that

In the universe there would be no meaning left that it had not taken away

في حَيث أَضفى المَسوح تَحسبه

أَرث حَبل الحَياة فَاِقتَطَعه

In where the wiping clouds it, you would think it

Inherited the rope of life and cut it off

مَرَت عَلَيهِ الحَياة تَعبره

في زَورَق أَعرف الَّذي صَنَعَه

Life passed over it crossing it

In a boat that I know who built it

حَتّى إِذا ما اِستَقَل آذيه

طَغى عَلَيهِ العَباب فَاِبتَلَعَه

Until when its banks became independent

The deep swallowed it

وَكانَ دَهر وَنَكبت حقب

وَالجَهل يَغرى عَلى ثَرى سَبعه

And there was an age and eras fell down

And ignorance inciting over its dusty ground

يَرد سَهم الضِياء دارعه

وَيَحتَمي بِالكُهوف أَن تزعه

Repelling the arrow of light with its shield

And taking refuge in caves so that it would not shake it off

حَتّى أَفاضَ الضِياء وَاِنفَجَرَت

عَين مِن النُور شَرَدَت بدعه

Until the light overflowed and a

Source of light gushed out, its innovation astray

فَاليَوم لا مَركَب الضُحى عسر

وَلا مَراقي السَماء مُمتنعه

So today no boat of morning is difficult

Nor are the harbors of the sky inaccessible

ضوء مِن العلم في مدارجه

نَسعى وللعلم في الوُجود سِعَه

A light from knowledge on its steps

We strive and for knowledge in existence there is capacity