1. Was I not gentle with rhymes, taming
Them, until they were obedient, pliant or stubborn?

2. They almost moan in pain when
The squeezing of thought presses them.

3. Am I not proud of dew I grow?
Proud, glowing with dew?

4. Did not the hand of kindness fruit for me
When its roots thrived, grew deep or spread?

5. So how can I compose a poem
Beyond proper bounds, coarse or vulgar?

6. And how many a struggler strove mightily
Yet his real truth fell short of metaphor?

7. Through weakness he seeks miracles, ignorant that
How can he catch with a lure a falcon?

8. I will spread the tongue of truthful praise,
Ramble and improvise at length.

9. Its billows roar a tumultuous sea
And its shore foams wrathfully.

10. Perhaps the happiness of my praise may win
A youth fortunate, and the age was blessed through him.

11. So I will reward the best of leaders, he deserves
My bounty, and is far too noble to be rewarded.

12. Who am I to thank him
Or allure with what I prepare as recompense?

13. Praising burdens me, I cannot bear it,
Yet ingratitude to him is not an option for me.

14. He saw war between me and fate
I endure, in single combat or the field.

15. The white swords long for it
And the spears in it desire to lunge.

16. You brought forth from your virtues a sword
To defend against marauding nights.

17. I found refuge and solace in it
From the most generous of protectors and requiters.

18. Since the nights challenged me
I am devoted to generosity, committed.

19. To the uniquely praiseworthy
His bounty set him apart, made him exclusive.

20. The most clement, when they are generous,
The weightiest when they are forbearing.

21. Too high to compete or contend,
Too upright to be matched or rivaled.

22. The least avaricious of men’s wealth
The most protective of men’s glory.

23. Easy for the asker is the road to him
Though remote, secluded and withdrawn.

24. A young man who never yielded to fate
And hardship did not overwhelm him,

25. Whose munificence was no transient passion
To seize an opportunity, snatch and be gone.

26. A crucible, when the nights refine it
And other than the spring, it is unyielding.

27. He overpowers, overawes,
Takes cheaply and takes by force.

28. Sublime, inflaming the enemies’ eyes
And implanting agony in their hearts.

29. O intimate friend, how many a stance I have had
Before you, and how much I gained and won!

30. I blame myself for your bounty; yet it was
Right for your generosity to pardon and excuse.

31. My charging steeds have nothing to fear from you,
So their galloping is safe from my plunder.

32. You quenched Syria’s thirst, and when
Syria was sated, you roused the Hejaz.

33. Rain was granted to it, and you poured a rain
That contained the fertile season’s abundance and stored it away.

34. It watered the plain of Mecca, and the sanctuary,
It softened the land of Taif and Al-Azaz.

35. Whenever you trod on a land’s soil
Its Lord prospered through you and shook with fervor.

36. When the clouds did not rain upon it intentionally,
It was enough for them to pass over it.

37. The pilgrims saw on the day you made pilgrimage a full moon
And a sea they could never fathom or cross.

38. They drank and grazed thanks to your bounty, not drawing
O most bountiful and most forgiving!

39. You allowed them security, they had no doubts,
And who is like you has allowed?

40. The sword is most terrifying when sharpened,
If the sword parts from its sheath.

41. And how many proofs you have, in which you left
No excuse for censure, hidden away.

42. How many honours you have raised to glory
And by them built triumphs!

43. None rivaled you in merit, yet you did not
Take the full measure of merit.

44. None matched you in sublimity, but you alone
Attained it, uniquely and exclusively.

45. You wore the garment of virtues with pride
Yet it was you who were its embroiderer.

46. No peer in bounty, you surpassed all rivalry,
Nor taken fully the bounds of bounty.

47. The virtues you wore, yet you were
Their fashioner, their embroiderer.