1. حروفُ الهجا عشرتها لتكون لي

    ذخيرة خيرٍ للسعادةِ شاملَة

    I kept company with the alphabet's letters, that they might be for me

    an all-embracing store of goodness for happiness.

  2. فضمنتها علماً وأنشأتُ صورة

    مخلقة عند المحقِّق كاملَهْ

    So I filled them with knowledge and fashioned a form,

    fully formed, perfect in the eyes of the realized knower.

  3. وصوَّرتها مثل الهيولى لأنها

    إلى صورةِ الألفاظ بالذات قابله

    And I shaped them like prime matter, for they

    are intrinsically receptive to the form of words.

  4. فأظهرتُها للعينِ شمساً منيرةَ

    على صِفة تفني الزوائدَ فاضله

    So I revealed them to the eye as a radiant sun,

    with an excellent quality that eliminates excess.

  5. تراها إذا خاطبتها بذواتها

    تردُّ جوابي فهي قول وقائله

    You see them, when you address them through their own essences,

    return my answer: they are speech and speaker.

  6. فأمنتها من كلِّ تحريفٍ لافظٍ

    وآمنتها من كلِّ مكرٍ وغائله

    So I trusted them to be free of every speaker's distortion,

    and secured them against every deceit and hidden harm.

  7. يترجم عما في الضمير وجودها

    إذا أفردت أو ركبت هي باذله

    Their existence expresses what lies in the inner mind;

    when used singly or combined, they give freely.

  8. بها وحايةُ العلمِ عشرت ذاتها

    هي الروح إلا أنها فيه فاصله

    Through them—by the life of knowledge [uncertain reading]—I kept company with their essence.

    They are the spirit, yet within it they make divisions.

  9. تقسمه تقسيمَ خرِ ممكن

    خبير بما لي فهي للخيرِ واصله

    They apportion it as a free [uncertain reading], empowered person would,

    one versed in what is mine; thus they lead to goodness.

  10. تراها على النعيين مهما تكلمتْ

    بها ألسنُ ما بين حالٍ وعاطله

    You see them distinctly [uncertain reading], whenever they are uttered

    by tongues, whether adorned or unadorned.

  11. إذا ما أبانت فهي أعدلُ شاهد

    وإنْ لم تبن كانت عن الحقِّ عادله

    When they make things plain, they are the most just witness,

    and if they do not make things plain, they turn aside from the truth.