يُجيلون عَن لَيل بَهيمٍ ظُنونَهُم

يُجيلون عَن لَيل بَهيمٍ ظُنونَهُم

فَإِن قالَ جَلّى اللَّيلُ عَنهُم سَمادِرَه

فَإِن قالَ جَلّى اللَّيلُ عَنهُم سَمادِرَه

They turn over their conjectures about a pitch-dark night.

They harbor suspicions about a dreadful night,

Then, if he speaks, the night clears its murk away from them.

If it says the night has uncovered its darkness for them,

وَإِن زالَ وَالأَمرُ البَعيد وَجدتَه

وَإِن زالَ وَالأَمرُ البَعيد وَجدتَه

مُعَدّاً يَرى عَن أَوّل الأَمر آخِرَه

مُعَدّاً يَرى عَن أَوّل الأَمر آخِرَه

And if he moves, while the matter is far off, you find him

And if it passes, though the matter is far, you will find it

prepared, seeing the matter’s end from its beginning.

Ready, it sees its end from its beginning.

فَلا أَدركوا بِالجَهد منهم أَناتَه

فَلا أَدركوا بِالجَهد منهم أَناتَه

وَلا بَلَغوا بِالفِكر منهُم خَواطِره

وَلا بَلَغوا بِالفِكر منهُم خَواطِره

So none of them, through striving, matched his deliberation,

So they could not reach its reprieve through strife,

nor did any of them, through reflection, reach his thoughts.

Nor with thought attain its notions.