وراع صاحب كسرى أن رأى عمرا

The emissary of Chosroes was astounded when he saw Umar, amidst the flock, stripped of guards while he was their shepherd.

His experience with Persian kings taught him that they are ever shielded by walls of soldiers and sentinels.

He found him lost in sleep, yet beheld within it majesty in its most sublime meanings.

Upon the bare earth beneath the shadow of the trees, wrapped in a cloak whose long usage had nearly worn it out.

Thus dwindled in his sight whatever he once magnified of the Chosroes and a world held in their hands.

And he spoke a word of truth that became a proverb, which generation after generation continues to recount.

You secured your people when you established justice among them, so I slept the sleep of one whose eye is cooled and content.