1. The beauty of virtues, not the beauty of muscles,
Is the quest of my hopes and the home of my praises.

2. So beauty to me is imperfect when not made perfect
By righteous returns.

3. And pride is not full pride but for one who is glorious,
Who wards off the turns of fate from each glorious one,

4. And prides himself on benevolence, patience and dew,
When the wealthy pride themselves on their boons.

5. Stand, O sons of my mother, on the summit of glory,
The banner of praise for Ibn al-Kahil the mujahid.

6. For one who tastes no water unless the throats
Of orphans are sated from springs of boons,

7. Who finds no sweet sleep unless he dispels
The cares of a friend or the vigil of a foe.

8. None is like Michael, a succorer of one who seeks aid,
None is like Michael, a sea for one who arrives.

9. A springtime, hearing supplication, a time of ruin,
His manliness plunder for adversities.

10. If the pearl cave turns pale and its color yellows,
And if the envious turn yellow-faced out of spite.

11. He attained the station of highest celestial pole and lofty
Bliss, and adorned it with a Shibri mantle and Mercury's grace.

12. He became, among his people, like the planet Jupiter,
And strayed not, like Mars, among the planets.

13. He remained, for people, beneficently like the sun,
And, for wakeful and sleeping, a lamp like the moon.

14. So none thankful to him remains ungrateful,
None praised by him remains unpraising,

15. None sought by him remains unseeking,
None envied by him remains unenvious.

16. I have cut with him the bond of hope in others,
And pinned my hopes and quests on him.

17. I have counted each limb against him as a grace,
And after him counted no thousands against one.

18. Our souls were lifted to his overflowing pool
Like the warbling of a singer over the most limpid springs.

19. And so gained from oceans of generosity
And gained his praise from oceans of poems.