خُلقتُ بساعةٍ فيها تجلَّت

خُلقتُ بساعةٍ فيها تجلَّت

نجومُ النحس في كَبد السماءِ

نجومُ النحس في كَبد السماءِ

I was born in an hour when there appeared

I was born in an hour when

The stars of ill fortune in the heart of the sky.

The stars of misfortune shone in the liver of the sky.

فقدّرَان اكونَ عديمَ حظٍّ

فقدّرَان اكونَ عديمَ حظٍّ

لذلك خُصَّ بي فرطُ الذكاءِ

لذلك خُصَّ بي فرطُ الذكاءِ

So it was decreed that I should be luckless—

So it was destined that I be unfortunate,

Thus an excess of intelligence was reserved for me—

That's why I was singled out with an excess of intelligence.

وان احي بأَرضٍ عُدَّ فيها

وان احي بأَرضٍ عُدَّ فيها

رجال الفضل من أهل الشقاءِ

رجال الفضل من أهل الشقاءِ

And that I should live in a land where they counted

And that I live in a land where

Men of merit among the wretched.

Men of merit are counted among the wretched.

أتعجبُ أن اكونَ إذن كئيباً

أتعجبُ أن اكونَ إذن كئيباً

كذاك يكون جارُ الأغبياءِ

كذاك يكون جارُ الأغبياءِ

Do you wonder, then, that I am dejected?

Is it any wonder that I am melancholy,

So fares the neighbor of fools.

Just as the neighbor of fools would be.