شَدَتْ فَجَلَتْ أَسْماعَنَا بِمُخَفّفٍ

يُحَدِّثُهَا عن سِرِّهَا وتُحَدِّثُهْ

It captivated our ears with a gentle tune

Conversing with it about its secret, and it converses with him

مَشَاكلَةٌ أَوتارَهُ في طِباعِهَا

عناصِرُ منها أَلَّفَ الخَلْقَ مُحْدِثُهْ

A conversation whose strings are tuned to its moods

Elements from it, its speaker has composed creation

فللنَّارِ منه الزِبرُ والأَرْضُ بمُّهُ

وللريح مَثْنَاهُ ولِلْمَاءِ مَثْلَثُهْ

For fire is from it zabr, and earth from it mubah

For wind its octave, and for water its fifth

وكلًّ امرئٍ تشتاقُهُ مِنْه نَغَمَةٌ

على حَسَبِ الطَّبْعِ الذي مِنْهُ يَبْعَثُهْ

And every person yearns for a melody from it

According to the nature from which it originates

شَكَا ضَرْبَ يُمْنَاهَا فَظَلَّتْ يَسَارُها

تُطَوِّقُهُ طَوْراً وطَوْراً تُرَعِّثُهْ

It complained of the stroke of its right, so its left

Encircled it for a while, stirring it

فما بَرِحَتْ حتى أَرَتْني مُخَارِقاً

تُجَاوِبُهُ في أحسن الشَّدْوِ عَثْعَثَهْ

Until it showed me, while I was departing

Responding to it in the most beautiful humming and buzzing

وحَتّى حَسِبْتُ البابِلِيّينَ أَلْقَيَا

على لَفْظِها السّحْرَ الذي مِنْهُ تَنْفِثُهْ

That I reckoned the Babylonians had cast

On its words the magic with which it breathes