1. Is that a smile blossoming?
Or is that gentle grace embodied?

2. Or is it a garden singing
With the melody of its warbler?

3. Or is it a breeze reminding us
Of the fragrance of days gone by?

4. Or is it the north wind in the thorn-bushes
With the scent of Wadi Qanan?

5. Or is it youth when it blew
And removed cares and sorrows?

6. Or is it the Numan's lightning
When it appeared with illusory light?

7. Or is it a nightingale distilling
The essence of beauty?

8. Or is it the days of pilgrimage
When the vale inclined towards Muzdalifa?

9. Long I blamed fate
And thought fate ungenerous.

10. Often I doubted it
And said, "O fate, enough, enough!"

11. How many ignorant whine
And how many virtuous suffer!

12. Ignorance spreads while merit
Goes unrecognized.

13. How often I sought elevation
Only to be told, "No, no!"

14. And I said, "O fate, bah, bah!"
But it deafened and muted me.

15. So I said, "My fate is stingy
With merit, though God is generous."

16. And my mind almost proclaimed
"The heights of glory are crumbling!"

17. Until I witnessed a wonder
From your dazzling grace,

18. And it said to praise you
Is an obligation imposed on me.

19. While to praise another
Would be improper.

20. Thus merit appears
Through investigation, while ignorance hides it.

21. This is the glory, so understand it
And praise it if you comprehend.

22. This is Ali bin Taiy
This is the exalted majestic one.

23. This is the son of an ancient house
Beside Kada and Muhatim.

24. This is the son of Mecca, so look
To whom its sacred precincts belong.

25. God is greatest! This
Is the station of one who aimed to succeed.

26. This is a noble station
Of a source above blame.

27. An origin of Quraish
Saying, "There is no blemish."

28. A unique pearl necklace
Fostered by the Sacred House.

29. Its pastures are Najd's virgins
And the meadows of the Valley of Tuhamah.

30. Its beauties cannot be counted;
Its limit cannot be known.

31. And if you seek its end,
You will be confounded, and silence is best.

32. O unmatched one of the age in kindness,
O son of Hujr and Zamzam,

33. O son of the first ones from Quraish
Who won the shared lead,

34. Surpassing humanity in struggle,
Through effort, birth, and upbringing.

35. You are the freely chosen Imam
Whether hostility ceases or persists.

36. You attained a glory sufficient
To satisfy all people, if divided.

37. If Badi' al-Zaman Hamadhani saw you,
Or Sa'd had Sa'd's good fortune,

38. He would learn from you.
So God has guided your steps with fortune in meaning and expression.

39. I ransom your steps and words,
Produced through hand and mouth.

40. If I say your writing is fine,
Your fortune is higher and greater.

41. Or if I say your memory is strong,
Your understanding is stronger and more upright.

42. Or if I say you are a refined branch,
The origin is a venerated crown.

43. I do not blame fate
For what is past; that would be a crime.

44. I pardoned my fate when
I saw it favor you.

45. And since I found your speech
Arranging scattered pearls,

46. I said: "Merits are gifts
Even if you are the last of them."

47. Your pearl, my lord, is ink
You have given in merit what none other has.

48. Every word of yours is gentle,
And every meaning of yours is solid.

49. If you use rhetorical devices,
You are the perfect rhetorician.

50. And if you compose verse,
You put every enamored one to shame.

51. And if you speak prose,
You express it though it is obscure.

52. And everything you say
Is the words of a submitter.

53. And if you present evidence,
It is the most upright evidence.

54. What can I say when I wish
To speak of you?

55. Your sublime traits surpassed
What I can grasp or know.

56. O fate, you have favored me, so forgive
What I have done and have mercy.

57. And O my tongue, be patient,
And O my composing, proceed,

58. And say: He is a unique pearl
Through whom time is honored.

59. He has no peer
In essence, quality or quantity.

60. Every beautiful description
Is perfected in him.

61. And how can I praise him
When his abundant merit is supreme?

62. The ultimate point is that I
Am incapable, and God knows best.