أَحمد ابني إِليك طالَ اِشتِياقي

وَزَفيري قَد جَدَّ في إِحراقي

Ahmad my son, to you has my longing grown long

And my sighs have intensified in their burning

اتبع الكُتب بَعضَها أَثر بَعض

فَلَعَلي أَشفي بِها أَحداقي

Seek the books, some following others' tracks

That I may heal my eyes with them

أَنتَ لي نَشأة الحَياة فَما بَعد

ك عَيش يَلفى شَهي المَذاق

You are to me the sprouting of life, so after you

There is no living I find sweet to taste

مَلَئت حَسرة عَلَيك يَد الوُج

د وَفاضَت مَدامع الأَشواق

Sorrow for you has filled the ocean's hand to overflowing

And tears of yearning poured forth

أَحمَق السَعي كُنت بَل أَحمق الرَأ

ي إِذ سِرت مَجداً وَالرَكب في اقلاق

Foolish was my quest, but more foolish my opinion

When I journeyed seeking glory while the caravan panicked

جُبتُ كُل البِلاد أَحسَب أَنَّ الحَ

ظ شَيءٌ يُباع في الأَسواق

I roamed all the lands, thinking fortune

Is something sold in the markets

غَبرت في وُجوه سَعي اللَيالي

وَرُمت بَدر طالِعي بِالمحاق

I wandered in the faces of the nights' quest

And I threw the rising full moon into eclipse

مِن مُقيل مِن الزَمان عثاري

مِن مَزيح يَديهِ مِن أَطواقي

From the declining of fate, from my ashes

From the joking of its hands, from my agonies

قُم بِنا نَفتَح الأَكُف وَنَرجوا

نِعمَةً مِن مَواهب الخلّاق

Arise, let us open our palms and hope

For a gift from the Bestower’s blessings