أَتى موسى بِآيَةِ خالِ خَدٍّ

أَتى موسى بِآيَةِ خالِ خَدٍّ

حَمَتهُ صَوارِمُ الحَدَقِ المِراضِ

حَمَتهُ صَوارِمُ الحَدَقِ المِراضِ

Musa came with the sign of a mole upon a cheek,

Moses came with a sign of a shining cheek

guarded by the swords of languid eyes.

Protected by piercing gazes harboring ailment

فَجاءَ بِضِدِّ ما قَد جاءَ موسى

فَجاءَ بِضِدِّ ما قَد جاءَ موسى

كَليمُ اللَهِ في الحُقَبِ المَواضي

كَليمُ اللَهِ في الحُقَبِ المَواضي

Thus he brought the opposite of what Moses had brought,

So he came with the opposite of what Moses brought

God’s interlocutor, in ages past.

The confidant of God in time gone by

فَآيَةُ ذا بَياضٌ في سَوادٍ

فَآيَةُ ذا بَياضٌ في سَوادٍ

وَأَيَةُ ذا سَوادٌ في بَياضِ

وَأَيَةُ ذا سَوادٌ في بَياضِ

For one’s sign is whiteness amid blackness,

Thus this one's sign is whiteness in blackness

and the other’s sign is blackness amid whiteness.

And that one's is blackness in whiteness