1. A gift to those of blissful pleasure,
Or an approach to those of righteous guidance?

2. Nay, an approach - and what youth remains after the word
That came from Umm 'Amrah and her happiness?

3. The two singers said, when old age lit
Its fires in his temples and barged into kindling them:

4. "The gazelle has fled from you, O wearer of grey hair,
With the gazelle's flight from its hunter."

5. And when old age hunts you down, pursue
A gazelle! You weren't made to be the hunter.

6. You're not, to the hunters, one who takes the prey;
You are, to the hunters, one of the hunted.

7. So take comfort: the sixty-year-old escapes
Hunting the gazelle when it comes time to hunt it.

8. It would be shameful for an old man, even if
He could forcibly control the antelope and tug it by its lead rope.

9. How can green growth shake with joy
When grey hairs have proclaimed the time for harvest?

10. Time entertained my youth
With the sweetest of pleasures and bitters of sorrows,

11. As an excuse for survival - while it remains
A hostage to the whitening of temples after their blackening.

12. To one who lives, an end must come, so let him anticipate
His death sentence and prepare for its implementation,

13. As an excuse for life, while death is inevitable,
And for spending time, in hopes of getting it back.

14. Morning's freshness is there to be innovated,
Can one be happy with life if morning hasn't smiled on him?

15. Let the antelope enjoy the ripe fruit of your branch
To delight you, before it withers,

16. With its clusters of grapes, apples, sweet pomegranates
And the blessing of its guardian.

17. Not in every dynasty will you have prestige
With a censured superior of meaner character.

18. Grey hairs laughed out at me, so I dyed them;
Their whiteness then faded, mixed with my dye.

19. So make peace with grey hairs - it's greatly ignoble
To sell your blossoming for a trade in white mushrooms.

20. O grey-haired one darkly masquerading!
When destitute, yet pretending to riches.

21. Don't be fooled by the color of your danger -
It is more perilous to the antelope than its slaughter.

22. The extent of one who follows youth with dye
Is that he will neglect duty when the time for condolences comes.

23. My regret is for the finery of my attire,
My craving is for the youthfulness of my prime.

24. You won't see the eulogizer of youth extending
A hand to poverty - and you can get whatever you wish from his patrons!

25. I saw time walking slowly,
While the imminent overtaking was during its siesta.

26. Don't complain, my brother, of what has boiled
My innermost being with complaints to its physician.

27. Hard-hearted friends - nay, hard-hearted comrades
Who aided time in lying in ambush for me.

28. They denied me my rights as time has denied me;
They prepared against me as it made preparations.

29. I seek compensation from the teats of my early companionship -
My friend - and his mention of me and his visitation.

30. Not a drink! Not an audition! And if his provision is scarce
When he stops by, even his frugal meal is too heavy a burden.

31. Oh how Wayh's affection has settled
In the most special place of the days, fixed, nay embodied in their essence!

32. So feel safe from the days' caprice, for indeed
The days have fallen truly in love with your radiance amidst their darkness.

33. Why does the days' deceiver slight you
When you are its pillar, you who uphold its pillars?

34. You who are not of its riffraff and dregs -
So I never ceased to be steeds of its purebred steeds.

35. Excess was added, due to you, to our already plentiful share,
So the spendthrift began spending extravagantly after his thrift.

36. You were not like a group who stripped away the riches
And what is a bee's wealth compared to that of locusts?

37. The far-fetched dream of the ambitious
Is nearer to attainment than what the frequenter attains daily.

38. The loner who comforts himself with solitude - how strange!
Individuality is more endearing to him than crowds.

39. In hearts he occupies what we do not see
Occupied in the hearts of loved ones or livers.

40. Sublime in nobility, refined in gentleness, he has become
The beloved of passions and minds, complying with his lead.

41. He cannot be labelled in a poet's versifying,
But rather in the most distinguished stock of forefathers.

42. Nay I name him, nay I give him a agnomen, nay I classify him
In ancestry, traced back to the heights of his towering heights.

43. The mountain of wisdom, the branches of knowledge -
Its foundations cannot be shaken nor undermined.

44. Thrones derive from him their stability,
And oceans acknowledge that from which they extend.

45. The most judicious wisdom, compared to him
All kinds of wiles are lesser, however crafty.

46. God did not hurl such obduracy and resoluteness together,
Through a determination to shape and mold him.

47. What opponent didn't he reconcile with?
What friend didn't he make amends with?

48. You don't see one fearful of exaggerating him
Nor one complacent with delimiting him.

49. When the days don their crafts upon him
And the signs of his peak fitness become apparent during his glory,

50. He remains shining elegantly, not priding himself,
Like the spring priding itself during the cold months.

51. His faults are merits attributed to him - sins absolved
And freedom bestowed due to his captivity.

52. One who wrongs himself for his own sake and principles
Is one appending his life to the hereafter.

53. Easy and difficult,
As well as sufficient gentleness and commendation.

54. He avoids shame in keeping promises,
Yet seeks to avoid betrayal in making them.

55. The flavor of coy glance from him to a visitor
Is sweeter to him than slumber.

56. Preoccupied - nay, frequenting positions of ministry,
Busy - tired of the frequent comings and goings.

57. The enormity of his superb generosity to us:
That we fall short in enumerating it.

58. We would not wish to be without that effort, for we
Are relieved, gentle in what he desires.

59. From the trusted supporters and aides of guidance,
The manifestation of proof and its strong pillars.

60. People are tested by merits and grace -
And what test in revealing his essence and purpose?

61. Let the praiser in him say little - for bounties from him
And ordeals are present during his most valuable days.

62. The throngs of praise do not match our passion for him,
So how can they match the throngs of his praisers?

63. How often did we visit, and how often did he reciprocate!
Yet, our frequenting remained distant from its destination.

64. Revisiting words with favors - for his giving
Is to be revisited, renewed with each bestowal.

65. Those who praise him fearspendimg,yetwithhim there's assurance
Of ample means before loss or diminution.

66. A peculiar marvel at his munificence
If it occurred without our begging and his extension.

67. He is like time whenever it passes while we pass,
Consuming lifespans through its vitality and support.

68. To all donatees, you are the one donated to
And people are but conduits to enrich you.

69. If there are holidays for time, then your days
Are holidays to time and its celebrations.

70. O Abu'l Qasim! None can compare
To the flowing of his issuing or insertion.

71. Fire feels safe, not mere flames, but the inferno,
Sheltered by the moistness of his rain-water collector.

72. How many luminosities your hand ignited -
So step forward.

73. How many towering flames you overpowered in their extinguishing.
O highest of whom I've called in this assembly,

74. Those known to me and those unbeknownst.
It isn't right, for one allowed to find means to aid you,

75. That he does not spend effortfully in your cause.
Nor for one blessed by your bliss -

76. That he does not increase in your prosperity.
Since subsidiary power has been assumed by the victorious,

77. You've become second to none in his support.
He has the right for you to enrich - so enrich him,

78. And be keen to take initiative in his gain.
Be certain that neither wealth is donated

79. But men who sacrifice, worthily, for his worthiness.
With you is acumen, embodied,

80. Nay with you is the sword in its scabbard!
Your excellent and blessed firstborn -

81. The best, most correct opinion, leadership and honest descent.
Don't distance him from you as vigor

82. Radiates from him - soundness isn't in separation.
Make him a sharp sword you've forged

83. For the eminent, altruistic, and aiding.
To wear it elegantly during peace or bear it,

84. Courageously wielding it against hardened heads.
So make him your trusted supporter and adviser

85. To fulfill any hopes you've invested in his qualification.
Far more penetrating than the sword is his management -

86. And highly effective at the onset and conclusion of affairs.
Highest peak at conducting

87. Without pause at full throttle and acceleration.
An unprecedented aid since Lancelot's prime

88. Or in their era - Shaddad or their equals;
Surpassing Kulayb, Jassas and Harith altogether

89. And the zeal of Muhalhil's partisans.
Towered over Muhalhil's place during expedition

90. And over his partisans and addition.
If you carry the strenuous burden of great weight,

91. Place its heaviness on his shoulder blades.
He bears its extreme weight, as well as Ash-Sharwara's,

92. And the heavy burdens of Dhubyan, Yadhbul, and their ilk,
Vanquisher of rivals, apparent is his argument

93. Against questioners of his capabilities.
May one who disputes what matches him be damned -

94. The trade in truth and Lord of reciprocity lies in ambush for him.
So be mindful of God and consequences and precipitancies

95. And consolidate his authority through his governorship.
Your hands have rectified for him the kingship -

96. Do not ruin it through corruption!
Lest critics say one who depended on you

97. Betrayed you when confidence in him had peaked.
An advisor's concealment of advice deliberately

98. From an imam who greatly relies on him is betrayal.
Not by drawing nearer to his brother is oppression increased upon him,

99. Rather, it adds to his strength and relation.
Grant Qasim's peerless brother a sibling -

100. Protection of a brother is a brother's sheltering.
The counsel of Abu Al Hussein Al Kawaf is enough -

101. As he is sufficient from his cynosure and guidance.
A reserve of sincerity, stronger in cohesion,

102. Not a flimsy one invited to dependence.
The utmost precision is an increase of merit

103. For pillars of a building or its pegs.
You see goodness in it, not deficient,

104. Except that contentment with increase is unattainable.
You have ruled sufficiently for the imam -

105. The protector in hardship, his rescuer from strangleholders;
As upright as a sword's straight blade,

106. The briskness of its sharpness and fluidity of acceleration.
Why not as a stalwart supporter, pride thereby

107. What is ideal aid and habit?
To fully aid the imam, support in its entirety,

108. A liberator, his plot against plotters.
No flaws can be imputed to you for acts,

109. But neglect in itself is a flaw unprevented.
Blame lies not in relinquishing your son, but rather

110. Recognition of the side of his brother and his cradle.
Rather, his judgement is warranted by justice -

111. So prepare ease for his brother and increase beyond the cushion.
The critics denied the exclusivity of your twin stars,

112. Yet a decided resolution lies in such exclusion.
O people! Inform us, fulfill the right

113. Of a martyr giving testimony to his witnesses:
Did an eminent, judicious leader proceed from you,

114. Matching the judicious, eminent one from his sons?
Passion plays no part in their presence, wavering

115. To an abundance of reason in its elevation.
So follow reason - it is the arbiter of God,

116. Walk not the path of its opposition!
Consider - does passion challenge a horn

117. To the steed of reason amid its soldiers?
How, when deceit lurks among its squadrons

118. And opinion, his brother, and victory, among its support?
Do not expose the propriety of your viewpoint

119. To rebuke from one deficient in propriety.
Plaudit may revert unplausibly

120. If you divert minds from applauding.
By iron is success attained ironclad -

121. So cast at it the iron in its blacksmith.
I have presented it undiluted by aversion's drunkenness

122. To be summoned by the divine to reclaim its own.
It is a disavowal - not of the accurst among them -

123. But the select, from the items of his select.
It appeals to people directly while draped

124. In silk, like melody from its lone innovator.
Did an outstanding composer gift it thus,

125. Or was it woven from prose by a weaver on his loom?
May God disfigure every sayer of a verse

126. Whose verse is unseemly despite his versifying.
Hearts spew their water when recited -

127. Before the air runs dry of ink moisture.
Each verse provokes delight

128. If it doesn't stir inert natures out of stillness.
Each is genuflection, even if the ignorant

129. Rejected courtesy, falling short of kneeling.
It was long-winded, harmonious, eloquent and talented

130. In bestowal upon one meriting bestowal.
Except that I matched it with one loftier -

131. Those who speak at length fall short before its breadth.