1. رب أودعتني المعايير

    للحسن في البشر

    Lord, You entrusted me with the standards

    for beauty among humankind.

  2. ثم هيأت لي الجميل

    وبي الذوق والبصر

    Then You prepared the beautiful for me,

    and within me are taste and sight.

  3. ها فؤادي فراشةٌ

    أبصر النارَ فاستعر

    Behold my heart, a butterfly:

    it saw the fire and burst into flame.

  4. ولك الأمرُ فاهدلي

    جامع الظرف في نفر

    And Yours is the command, so grant me

    one embodying the charm found in a group.

  5. ذاك قولٌ يقوله

    من به الجب والقصر

    That is a saying uttered

    by one afflicted with impotence and limitation.

  6. والذي من وليهِ

    يطلب الشيء لا مفر

    And whoever, from his guardian,

    asks for something—inevitably—

  7. قولُ طفلٍ لوالد

    هاتِ يا والدي القمر

    speaks as a child to a father:

    “Bring me the moon, Father!”

  8. فإذا لم يجئ له

    باتَ في الغمِّ والسهر

    And if it does not come to him,

    he spends the night in grief and sleeplessness.

  9. رب إن كنت شئت لي

    عصمةَ القلب والنظر

    Lord, if You have willed for me

    the safeguarding of my heart and gaze,

  10. إمسح الذوقَ في أو

    وحد الحسنَ في الصور

    erase taste within me, or

    unify beauty in all forms.

  11. أأرى رب ما أرى

    من جمالٍ ومِن حَوَر

    Am I to see, Lord, what I see

    of beauty and eyes of vivid black and white,

  12. ثم أمضى كأنني

    عنهُ في غفلةٍ حجر

    then pass on as though I were

    a stone, heedless of it?

  13. صورةٌ أعجبتك في

    خلقها درةُ الدرر

    A form that pleased You in

    its creation, the pearl of pearls—

  14. كيف لم أرضها ومن

    لم يؤامن بها كفر

    how could I not be pleased with it? And whoever

    does not believe in it has become an unbeliever.