تَأَمَّمْتُ رُكْنَ الْبُرْنُسِيِّ الْمُؤَسِّسَا

تَأَمَّمْتُ رُكْنَ الْبُرْنُسِيِّ الْمُؤَسِّسَا

لِيُلْبِسَنِي مِنْ سَابِغِ الْفَضْلِ بُرْنُسَا

لِيُلْبِسَنِي مِنْ سَابِغِ الْفَضْلِ بُرْنُسَا

I sought al-Burnusi’s foundational pillar,

I contemplated the cornerstone laid down by the Founder

I sought out the firmly established pillar of Al-Burnusi,

so he might clothe me in a burnous of ample bounty,

That he may dress me in abundant grace like a cloak

that he might clothe me in a burnous of overflowing grace,

عَلَى حِينَ قَلْبِي مِنْ ذُنُوبِي قَدْ قَسَا

عَلَى حِينَ قَلْبِي مِنْ ذُنُوبِي قَدْ قَسَا

وَفَادِحُ ضَُرِّي فِي ذُرَى الْجِسْمِ عَرَّسَا

وَفَادِحُ ضَُرِّي فِي ذُرَى الْجِسْمِ عَرَّسَا

at a time when my heart had hardened from my sins,

While my heart from my sins has hardened

at a time when my heart had grown hard from my sins,

and the crushing burden of my affliction had encamped in the body’s heights.

And my terrible poverty in this bodily frame exposed

and my heavy affliction had pitched its camp upon the heights of my body.