1. Your radiant, cheerful face welcomes
An assembly where arts are freely discussed

2. Do you hear me, though I'm but a deputy
For you, who judge more aptly?

3. The quail asked a question seeking an answer;
His query concerned the past, full of feeling.

4. If the speech benefits him, to disappoint
His hopes would clearly be wrong.

5. And if the opponent says "I didn't intend
To disappoint him," we say "No excuses."

6. If a pilgrim dies from a hunter's neglect
Punishment for it is decreed.

7. Nor can a meal be paid for with its like
Later - that act we condemn.

8. So the amount that equals it must be judged;
Whatever exceeds that is best.

9. And if one wants to act, let him turn to
A just arbiter, knowledgeable and able.

10. Ali Al-Basha ibn Al-Hussein, whose times
Are sunlit days and moonlit nights,

11. Witty, charming - his talk never wearies,
Until one wearies of a prosperous life.

12. With every moment, his kindness increases,
A hue sweeter than old, more splendid.

13. And Ali - the gifts of his favor proliferate,
The choicest; and you are the chooser.

14. When serious, he clearly embodies
Aristotle's wonders and marvels.

15. Issues throng his debate halls,
Sometimes tame, sometimes fierce.

16. He returns the stray ones with a prior thought
To which even rocky cliffs submit.

17. Often he benefits those who don't watch
Themselves; I see more clearly the benefit.

18. So focused on the subtlety of the discourse,
He claims what he barely understands.

19. Wondrous, an original joke whose point
Only the keenest perceives, though many witness it.

20. Yet the prince's manners shun anything
He deems ugly, and cover it.

21. He still seeks any benefit,
While old age smiles at him happily.

22. How much you have heard from him, strange things you haven't,
Of which it suffices to mention a bit.

23. The jurists said: in collecting the alms tax
Most give priority to the smaller amount:

24. A third from the buffalo, while the one
Who completes the sixty is the young cow.

25. His mind raced to the conclusion
That the "heads" come first.

26. Since it is greater, he said, "No,
Rather, the latter of the two is greater."

27. They said, how strange! He answered them:
"To me it has an aspect that makes sense:"

28. Deduct the thirty that came from the first
Part, and the rest can be considered.

29. The greater part is the twenty left over,
As required by the remainder of the alms tax.

30. Is this image not rejected?
After battling, they retreated before a subtly

31. That none but the prince could conceive or appreciate-
A taste befitting his essence in gentleness,

32. And both always enchant.
His slender, beautiful face merits generosity,