أَعَن إِذني تَهُبُّ الريحُ رَهواً

أَعَن إِذني تَهُبُّ الريحُ رَهواً

وَيَسري كُلَّما شِئتُ الغَمامُ

وَيَسري كُلَّما شِئتُ الغَمامُ

Is it by my leave that the wind blows gently?

So my soul can sense when gentle winds breathe free

Is it by my leave the wind blows soft and steady,

And do the clouds travel by night whenever I wish?

And clouds will go wherever I may want or be

And the clouds drift onward whenever I desire?

وَلَكِنَّ الغَمامَ لَهُ طِباعٌ

وَلَكِنَّ الغَمامَ لَهُ طِباعٌ

تَبَجُّسُهُ بِها وَكَذا الكِرامُ

تَبَجُّسُهُ بِها وَكَذا الكِرامُ

Yet the clouds have innate dispositions;

Yet clouds are temperamental, that is true

Nay, but the clouds possess an inherent nature,

Their outpouring springs from these—and so it is with the generous.

The noble and the clouds: their whims I must construe

To pour forth rain, and such is the way of the noble.