يا باطلاً وهَّمْتنيهِ مخائلُه

يا باطلاً وهَّمْتنيهِ مخائلُه

بلا دليلٍ ولا تثبيتِ برهانِ

بلا دليلٍ ولا تثبيتِ برهانِ

O nonentity, whose outward signs made me imagine you real,

O empty one who deluded me with his chatter

Without evidence or substantiation by proof.

With neither evidence nor proof

قُلْ لابن بورانَ إن كان ابنَ بورانِ

قُلْ لابن بورانَ إن كان ابنَ بورانِ

وما إخال ابن بورانٍ بإنسانِ

وما إخال ابن بورانٍ بإنسانِ

Tell Ibn Buran, if he is Ibn Buran,

Say to the son of wind if he is the son of wind

And I do not think Ibn Buran a human being:

And the son of wind is not like a human

ما أنتَ إلا خيالٌ طاف طائفُهُ

ما أنتَ إلا خيالٌ طاف طائفُهُ

ولا هِجائيكَ إلا هُجْرُ وسَنان

ولا هِجائيكَ إلا هُجْرُ وسَنان

You are nothing but a phantom whose apparition passed by,

You are but an illusion that wandered around

And my satire of you is only a drowsy man's babble.

And my satire of you is but estrangement and teeth grinding

قد كنتُ أحسبُهُ شيئاً فأهْجُوَهُ

قد كنتُ أحسبُهُ شيئاً فأهْجُوَهُ

حتى أزالَ ظنوني فيه حُسبْاني

حتى أزالَ ظنوني فيه حُسبْاني

I once thought him something, and so would lampoon him,

I used to think you were something so I satirized you

Until my reckoning dispelled my assumptions about him.

Until my suspicions about you were removed by my reasoning