1. Ask time about your virtues, so it may inform
Of glory matching yours, seen by none before

2. Or if not, then claim the noble rank yourself
That left all mankind confounded, with none to refute

3. Your right needed no witness to uphold it
It banished all doubt and prevailed outright

4. You've gathered such traits as none other collected
Renowned, that none ever heard or interpreted

5. You won hearts' desires with your bounties
Blanketing all, making gratitude the easiest

6. Favor glistening on brows inscribed
And passion ruling hearts, keeping them captive

7. Had the times not installed you as their leader
Powers would have weakened and reins grown slack

8. So seek perfection, for you are the firmest
In bearing adversity and quickest at resolving

9. You kept vigil guarding realms, and it is glory
That you stay wakeful while others sleep

10. Since your deterrence, peace is like war
Your valor's firmness and calm like raging ahead

11. None expected this nor fancied it before
You made it perceptible and clear to all

12. Your grandsire surpassed your uncle's glory
Though lions cowered before your uncle's might

13. If that grandsire subjugated Tubba' in fright
Then that uncle terrified Caesar in his palace

14. So pride yourself, a sheathed sword partitioning
The enemy's pinnacles, a dozing lion pouncing

15. You unsheathed your judgment while swords stayed sheathed
It sufficed them to be brandished, nothing more

16. Had chaos flared up, your alliance would suffice
To foil the tyrants' schemes, as you had devised

17. Why not prevail, you rare jewel of a dynasty
Whose prominent stars have deemed unconquerable

18. Your name has come to substitute for your spear
And it suffices to horrify the foe when named

19. You are a treasure for the splendid state
Outshining all, deserving to be treasured

20. O sword of its past and champion, take pride
In your lofty position over all mankind

21. Since testing your loyalty, the caliphs
Entitled you to the highest noble rank

22. The just ruler enjoined this to his son
And the triumphant al-Mansur advised likewise

23. Disdaining one who braves danger arrogantly
Yet when generous, conceals it in modesty

24. Sheer gallantry his deeds were wrought from
And sheer brilliance shaped his composition

25. A heart aloof from the dubious and profane
Refusing excess, however plentiful

26. Had praise not squandered gold, or been merchandise
O son of the lofty, their deeds proclaimed

27. None deserves this glory but you and your like
Whenever disaster darkened the horizon

28. The feeble of tongue and arm withered
Unable to defeat the foe until broken

29. They were repelled by armor in tatters
That refused to be shattered by their strikes

30. It matters not who you've determined to confront
Dawn finds you resolving by your will, appearing and vanishing at will

31. No land has our Creator favored with your presence
Except it attained the greatest prosperity

32. You were in Alexandria once before
And showed it your justice, becoming its Alexander

33. The enemy vainly tries to extinguish your fire
But this only kindles the blaze, making it roar

34. Precede the princes, with none to rival you
Behind your glory all others' luster pales

35. If they strive to match your endeavor, they fail
Let them emulate your composure and dignity

36. Between your glory and theirs lies an expanse
Like that separating Sirius from the earth

37. You've become matchless, though had they persisted
Competing for your praise, it would flow forever

38. As for fasting, you fulfilled its obligation
With a conviction from which you never wavered

39. For one esteemed by you, it sufficed with thanks
And was independent in thanking your favor

40. A month whose blessings proliferated, so it
Donned a gift never to be dispelled

41. A month in which the Book was revealed, giving us
The Book, informing us of what pleases you

42. News preceded by its fragrance to us
That the herald arrived like news revisited

43. Its scent greeted you before the herald
As though when it came, it came repeated

44. Had its seal not poured out freely
Its scent's downpour would have sufficed for its proclamation

45. With its advent, the bliss of wishes arrived
And through it perspectives and minds reconciled

46. Always prepared when his trusted ones are counted
None but the sincerest selected for him

47. From the crown of leadership he chose one in whom
Surpassed all leaders in thought and discretion

48. When the pride of kingship turned from him
He remained the kingdom's pillar of triumph

49. Since donning his name, authority has flourished
Humiliating some in his shade, elevating others

50. It yielded the delectable, gentle fruit
To the optimistic, not the arrogant bully

51. Thanks for what time and our advocate performed
Had he reversed them, or at least deferred them

52. So delight in a feast succeeding the news
Whose fulfilling nights conveyed it to pass

53. And the life of my father Abu Ali has elapsed
He was a branch that bent, telling of frailty

54. He aspired to your rank, even rose to it
Striving to match your achievements, and raced to them

55. He sought beauty, surpassing the best and most eloquent
And grasped perfection, exceeding the most graceful

56. His resolves surpassed, yet understandably
It befits the son of al-Ghadanfar to be like al-Ghadanfar

57. Let him catch up to al-Numan in his sultanate
Rather, surpass him, for you exceeded al-Mundhir

58. You paved for me the path of riches though before
I had not found it rugged

59. But you attained, and my state blossomed
Watering it with your munificence until it bore fruit

60. A generosity that fulfilled hopes instantly
Neither enumerated nor confined

61. If lawful wine pleased you, I will keep circling
Goblets of praise to intoxicate you

62. A drunkenness that if Abu Nuwas once tasted
Would make him forget the old wines of 'Uqbari

63. From my sea of thought pearls are obtained
That exhausted all peers who contemplated

64. So I will string necklaces for that sublime one
Containing these captive words

65. They appear to beholders as gems
And their fragrance seems like ambergris

66. My hopes and gains thrived through you
And I became abundant in wealth and pride

67. Forsaking the times' riches, frequenting
This noble one, and rightfully forsaking them

68. Had I sought your equal there, I would miss it
Or sought your like, finding it would be impossible

69. Dispute the seas with your tranquility, for it is
An ocean containing your boundless seas

70. And submit to the good you elevated a beacon for
That proliferated in your land once you suppressed evil

71. And pride yourself on being the source of those traditions
Whose circulation left the times forever fragrant

72. I gained through you, though I had not traversed it before
A rugged path of wealth you made smooth