أنظر إلى الأفق ضحا

بكل لون وضحا

Look to the horizon in the forenoon,

With every color shining clear and bright.

تفتح القلب لإشـ

ـراق به تفتحا

Open the heart to a radiance,

By which it blossoms and expands.

أنظر إلى قوس بدا

في عرضه مستملحا

Look at a bow that has appeared,

Across its breadth, delightful to behold.

من نوره قدحت زنـ

ـد الفكر حتى انقدحا

From its light I struck the flint

Of thought, until it sparked ablaze.

وشى به ذات البرو

ج ربنا ووشحا

Our Lord embroidered the constellation-filled sky

With it, and draped it like a sash.

لا غرو أن تزهو كالـ

ـخود به وتمرحا

No wonder the heavens strut like a young maiden

Adorned with it, dancing in joy.

كأنه أرجوحة

فيها السحاب ارتجحا

As if it were a swing,

In which the clouds sway back and forth.

أو خنجر به القضا

ء في الفضاء طوحا

Or a dagger which Fate

Has hurled into the vast expanse.

أو صحولجان في السما

ء بالسلام لوحا

Or a scepter in the sky,

Waving a signal of peace.

أو ذيل طاووس بها

في خلدها تفسحا

Or a peacock's tail therein,

Strolling through its eternal gardens.

أو كم حوراء به

تومي إلى من صلحا

Or the sleeve of a fair maiden,

Beckoning to the righteous one.

أو محجن الدهر على الـ

أرض به ترنحا

Or the staff of Time upon the earth,

Leaning on it as he staggers.

أو قوس نصر وسع النجـ

ـد بها والأبطحا

Or a triumphal arch spanning the highlands,

And the wide valleys beneath.

أو فلك بحر معلم الرأ

س إلى الحج انتحى

Or a ship of the sea with a marked prow,

Setting its course towards the Pilgrimage.

قوس أغر جل عن

أشباهه ورجحا

A glorious bow, exalted far above

Its likenesses, outweighing them all.

قد أطلق الشاعر فيـ

ـه طرفة وسرحا

The poet cast his gaze into it,

Letting his imagination roam free.

لاكنه سرعان ما

لاح له حتى امحى

But how quickly it appeared to him,

Only to vanish and fade away.

وغاب عنه بارحا

يا ليته ما برحا

It disappeared from him, departing;

Oh, would that it had never left!

ياقوس حيرت النهى

فمن راك سبحا

O Bow, you have bewildered the minds,

So whoever sees you glorifies the Lord.

لو وجد الإفصاح عنـ

ـك واصف لأفصحا

If a descriptor could find the eloquence

To express you, he would speak with clarity.

سر الطبيعة استوى

فيه (إياس) و(جحا)

A secret of nature in which

The genius and the fool are equal.

سبحان من بك جلا

عنا الأسى وزحزحا

Glory be to Him who, through you, cleared

Sorrow from us and cast it aside.

زان بك الأفق كما

زان الصباح بالضحى

He adorned the horizon with you, just as

He adorned the morning with the light of forenoon.

أراك قوس الله ما

أراك قوس قزحا

I see you as the Bow of God,

I do not see you as the bow of Qazah.