1. If I wanted to praise you as you deserve
I would be at a loss for words, for you have four traits:

2. Generosity, when generosity is scarce, you give freely;
Justice, keener than the sword's edge, nay, more cutting.

3. Forbearance, when hotheads have lost all patience,
Yours remains unshaken, staid.

4. A radiance in your nature, sweetening your grace.
As gently as wine that sparkles when poured.

5. On any single virtue a man's fame rests secure,
Yet yours ring endless, doubling honor's score.

6. Let mankind feign generosity if it suits them;
your bounty is true, it needs no pose or ploy.

7. You embrace excellence and glory;
lesser men scramble after wealth and pride.

8. Daily you grow more humble, loftier in worth,
You soar as high as any star in the sky.

9. My joy this feast day, since you grace the show
Dawn gleams when your smile lights all aglow

10. Survey the age, you hold sway to impart
Gifts or denial as you elect the way

11. Sans you no moon would rise, no sun display
Her morning radiance across night's cloak.

12. For you, ten thousand rhymes remain unsung
Though their words could flow smooth as honeyed wine.

13. My wit, whose darts unerring hit their mark,
Has met its match. To your greatness, I resign.

14. Yet though my verse rings hollow to your ear,
Like tinkling cymbals, dry, without the wine

15. Of praise, whose perfume is a sweet surprise,
When its petals unfold, a fragrant vine.