جَلَّ فِي خَلْقِهِ البَدِيعُ القَدِيرُ

مَا الهَيُولى مَا بَدْؤُهَا مَا المَصِيرُ

The Originator, the All Powerful, is sublime in His creation

What is primordial matter? How did it start? What is its end?

إِنَّ رُوحِي مِنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّي

وَمَا يَكْشِفُ عَنْهَا الحِجَابَ إِلاَّ الضَّمِيرُ

My soul is by my Lord's command

Nothing but the conscience can unveil its mystery

غَيْرَ أَنَّي أَرَى الهَيُولى قَدِيماً

يَعْتَرِيهَا التَّبدِيلُ وَالتَّغيِيرُ

Yet I see that primordial matter is ancient

Subject to change and alteration

وَهْيَ لَيْسَتْ عَلى التحَوُّلِ إِلاَّ

لَمَعَات مَآبُهَا الدَّيْجُورُ

It only changes

Like flashes of lightning in thick clouds

تتجَلَّى الشَّموسُ مِنْهَا لآِنٍ

ثُمَّ تأْتِي آجَالُهَا فَتَغورُ

Suns manifest from it for a while

Then their time comes and they set

صُوَرٌ تَنقَضِي وَتحْدُثُ أَخْرَى

وَالذُّرَيْرَاتُ فِي الفَضَاءِ تَمُورُ

Images dissolve and others emerge

And atoms swirl in space

وَكَهَذِي الأَرْضِ الصَّغيرَةِ كَمْ أَرْ

ضٍ عَلى نَفْسِهَا لِحِينٍ تَدُورُ

And like this little Earth

That turns on itself for a while

مَا لَهَا لا وَلا لِحِيٍّ عَليْهَا

مِنْ خُلُودٍ إِنَّ الحَيَاةَ عُبُورُ

It and those upon it have no permanence

For life is but a crossing

مَا الَّذِِي تَبْتَغِي الْخِشَاشُ وَمَاذَا

تَتَوَخَّاهُ فِي العَنَانِ النُّسورُ

What does the hummingbird seek and

What does the eagle envision in its flight?

خُلِّ هَذِي الأَفْلاكَ تجْرِي إِلى مَا

لَسْتَ تدَرِي وَغَن يَا عُصْفُورُ

Leave these orbiting spheres be

You know not where they go, oh little bird