1. I present to the high-stationed one
With the most refined greeting

2. And I say, thanks be to the Prince
Though little is my praise for his great aims

3. It is a blessing in which
Various immense blessings are combined

4. It crowned me with the crown of protection
Would that I had the chant of gratitude

5. And granted me an honor that I come with
Upon all people

6. I browsed the Prince’s journal
With what longing and care!

7. Lurking in its pages, I quenched my soul’s thirst
In a cup, then a cup

8. And when the wine of the soul was poured for us
It was not the spirit of wine

9. I had barely read the miracle
Of the Quran in that order

10. Until I leafed through the sky
And its blossoms were words before me

11. Wondrous is that pearl in
Those strands of speech

12. And the splendor in its waters
Kindled like the blaze of embers

13. A wondrous pearl from the harvest
Of an ocean abundant with the flood of knowledge

14. Did the East place its secret in it
So it was too hard for the ruffians

15. And the West gained by its crafting
Beauty atop existing beauty

16. O You who endowed His singular one
With a language that turns away all others

17. The language of the supreme French
They have reached the utmost level with it

18. And with eloquence and clarity
They brought it down in law

19. Until with its arts
It rose in glory above aspirations

20. Its glories contended with your number
Among its magnificent bringers

21. You plunged into it while the predecessors
Among its people were contending

22. So you seized the prize of the excellent
While the followers were in a crush

23. And you hit your mark beforehand in its
Aims with all sorts of arrows

24. You hit with confidence and were not
Once a shot of the random

25. That skill was not yours
Through resignation and stillness

26. But with toil in which you deny
Sleep the killing of sleep

27. How often, while the tears were pouring
And the sides were kindling,

28. Did you bring out a meadow from the growth
Of genius, not weeds

29. Its flowers vie in charm
Between separation and union

30. And its roses with carnations
For which my redemption flowed eternally

31. Its visitors scent the aroma of meadows in its breeze
And its narcissi are like the vision

32. Of a caller in its sleep
Poetry is nothing but your honest description

33. Between depicting and being depicted
Or that imaginary creative world

34. The true ever upright
Or that harmony in the measure

35. Of speech for the situation
Or that delicate phrasing

36. With clarity and coherence
Or each original draft whose qualities

37. Are unleashed without blemish
From the presented chances of genius

38. In an arena of protective zeal
It raids the slaves with an inclination and

39. Its raiders meet it with passion
A poetry that has the most delicious trembling in the souls and bones

40. Unbound thought in which
No meter confines it by commitment

41. And words that are clothed in imaginings
From the rainbow's cloak

42. And feeling that senses the unseen
From behind the veils of darkness

43. In solid structures of rhymes
With consonance, possessing adjustment

44. With these the revelation throws
Resolutely to the farthest hopes

45. These are the sufficient from a pact
These are the healing from afflictions

46. These are the grasps for advancement
The truth of lawful and unlawful

47. In everything it contains
Of wisdom or passion

48. Or craving for the Prince
With every mighty sought thing

49. The Prince’s concern with his status
And passion above passions

50. A concern with wings that
The galaxies court while he is towering

51. So his is the flight of an eagle, he does not
Swerve at anything while high

52. Not to mention the peaks of
Nobility, merit, and determination

53. To which the lion calls, rousing
Those sleeping

54. And the lion’s roar would be more beloved
Than the howl of beasts

55. Praise be to God for a prince
Whose manners are above blame

56. He is the adornment of Egypt’s youths and the cub
Of its honorable kings

57. He elevated leadership through magnanimity
Above leadership through the sword

58. He gave dignity its due right
More faithful with kindness and reverence

59. Free in noble traits, not
Bitter and not vengeful

60. Goodness is his whole purpose
In the war of time and in peace

61. And through him there is salvation for the weak
And aid for the oppressed

62. O poet, the language of hearts
Has cast its reins to you

63. Who can enable me
To fulfill what is owed you in my charge

64. That I may take on the burden
You have loaded me with some undertaking

65. Thanks for what you have granted me
Of that tremendous pride

66. In a eulogy marked by the traits
Of the most honorable eulogizer of sublime features

67. Its verses are strung like
The pearls of splendor, what stringing!

68. They shine like lights between the tears
Of overwhelming pride

69. In each verse is a marvel
Adorned with twin merit

70. Beauty and benevolence inscribe it
The most splendid division

71. That eulogy is my garb
On the day of boasting or my medal

72. It guaranteed for me fame that will be
Repeated by narrators forever

73. And it revealed to my eyes
Descendants who smile to me

74. I will make its text my imam
Until I fulfill it