أنجوم أفق أم نجوم خميلة

قد ازهرت للمجتنى والمجتلي

Are these stars on the horizon, or stars in a leafy grove,

blossoming for the gatherer and the beholder?

أم خرد هيف المعاطف قلدّت

بفريد درّ بالجمان مفصل

Or bashful maidens, slender-waisted, necklaced

with choice pearls, interspersed with pearl-beads?

وسلافة حمراء يسطع نورها

في كف مصقول السوالف اكحل

And crimson wine whose light shines

in the palm of one smooth-necked and kohl-eyed,

يسقى الندامى راح ريق سلسل

فهم نشاوى بالرحيق السلسل

who serves his drinking companions the wine of sweet-flowing saliva,

so they are drunk on that sweet-flowing nectar.

ويهز عسّال المعاطف باسماً

عن اشنب حلو الرّضاب معسّل

And the supple-waisted one sways, smiling

to reveal a white-toothed mouth with sweet, honeyed saliva.

أم نثر منتظم قديم فخاره

بحديث فخر في الأنام مسلسل

Or is this ordered prose, whose ancient glory

is linked with fresh renown among humankind?

حبر يمدّ البحر زاخر فضله

فله عليه منة المتفضل

A scholar whose overflowing bounty feeds the sea,

so the sea owes him the gratitude due a benefactor.

الماجد الحسب الرضا نجل الحسين

سليل باقر علمها المتطول

Al-Rida, noble in ancestral honor, son of al-Husayn,

scion of Baqir, the bountiful revealer of humanity's learning.

ومسلسل الآباء يهتف علمهم

يا طالباً خبر العوالم سل سل

And heir to an unbroken line of forefathers, whose learning calls:

“O seeker of knowledge of the worlds, ask, ask!”

متفرّد جمع الفضائل فاهتدت

منه الأفاضل بالفريد الأفضل

Peerless, he gathered the virtues; thus were guided

the worthy, through him—the peerless, the most excellent.

وافى بها غررا تلوح كانها

زهر تضيئ بجنح ليل اليل

He brought them forth as radiant beauties, gleaming as though

they were bright stars shining in the wing of a pitch-dark night.

نسقت فرائدها بعقد نوادر

حلت من الآداب كل معطل

Their choice pearls were strung in a necklace of rarities,

adorning every unadorned neck in literature.

سطعت نوافح مسكهن نوافحاً

في كل ناد في البلاد ومحفل

Their musk's fragrant wafts rose, spreading scent

in every gathering and assembly throughout the lands,

في مثل طيب الروض باكره الندى

وسرت بليلا فيه ريح الشمأل

like the scent of a garden visited at dawn by dew,

and through which the cool, moist north wind has passed.

وسم القريض محاسناً يزهو بها

زهو الرّياض بزهرها المستقبل

He marked poetry with beauties in which it glories,

as gardens glory in their newly opening flowers.

ونضا على أهل العمود حسامه

فهوى عمودهم بضربة فيصل

And he drew his sword against the adherents of the poetic pillar,

so their pillar fell beneath a cleaving blade's stroke.

ولقد أقول الحق غير مراقب

أحداً وقول الحق أمنع معقل

And I do speak the truth, without regard

for anyone; speaking truth is the strongest fortress.

إن البديع محسّن ما لم يكن

بتكلف وتعسف وتوغل

Indeed, rhetorical ornament beautifies, so long as it is not

contrived, strained, and pursued to excess.

فمن البديع منمق لفظاً بلا

معنى وذلك شرّ داء معضل

For some ornament is polished in wording, without

meaning—and that is the worst of intractable maladies.

مثل السّراب معلل بشرابه

ظمأ بغير الرى لم يتعلل

Like a mirage, it offers its drink to soothe

a thirst that nothing but quenching can appease.

لا ينفع السيف الأنيث غراره

ما أرهفت منه بنان الصيق

A soft sword is not helped by its edge,

however keenly the polisher's fingertips hone it.

وعلى القديم ملاحة وطلاوة

غذيت نضارتها بأعذب منهل

And the old style wears grace and charm,

whose freshness was nourished from the sweetest spring.

والغانيات إذا تكامل حسنها

غنيت بحسن الحلى عن حسن الحلى

And fair women, when their beauty is complete,

need no lovely jewels, thanks to their lovely features.

فاعشق إذا ما كنت صباً مغرماً

غيداء تخطر في الطراز الأول

So, if ever you are a passionate, love-struck lover, love

a graceful maiden, swaying in the foremost style.

ولرب موحشة توعرّ نهجها

فتعثرّ الساري بصم الجندل

And many a forbidding poem has grown rugged in its course,

so the night traveler stumbles on hard, unyielding rocks;

وتعقدّ جمع المصاقع حله

فتفرقوا عنه بغير تعقل

and its unraveling baffles the assembled masters of eloquence,

so they scatter from it without understanding,

بسؤال رسم دارس متغيرّ

أو وصف علبة أمون عندل

through questions to a faded, altered trace of ruins,

or a description of a stout, sure-footed, massive she-camel.

والمحدثون لهم فضائل جمة

ومحاسن معروفة لم تجهل

And the newer poets have abundant merits,

and well-known beauties that have not gone unrecognized,

ولطائف وظرائف وطرائف

فاقت برائق حسنها المستكمل

and subtleties, witticisms, and novelties,

whose perfected beauty shines with surpassing brilliance.

فتخيرّ المعنى البديع وصغ له

اللفظ الفصيح الرائق الحسن الجلي

So choose an original meaning, and fashion for it

eloquent, graceful, beautiful, lucid wording,

متتبعاً نهج الرضا ان الرضا

نعم الدليل لحائر ومضلل

following al-Rida's path; indeed, al-Rida

is an excellent guide for the bewildered and the misled.

سلك المحجة موضحاً ومبيناً

للمهتدي سنن الطريق الأمثل

He trod the clear highway, clarifying and explaining

for the guided traveler the course of the best path.