سلامٌ كنشر الروض لفَّ بمدرجٍ

سلامٌ كنشر الروض لفَّ بمدرجٍ

يريك بديع الحب في اللف والنشر

يريك بديع الحب في اللف والنشر

A greeting like the garden’s fragrance, folded in a scroll,

Greetings spread like a meadow lined with terraces

showing you love’s wondrous artistry in folding and unfolding,

Showing you the beauty of love in gather and scatter

عليك أخا العلياء والعلم والحجى

عليك أخا العلياء والعلم والحجى

وفضل الندى واليأس والنظم والنثر

وفضل الندى واليأس والنظم والنثر

to you, O brother of eminence, learning, and wisdom,

Upon you my noble brother, knowledge, wisdom and eloquence

and of excellence in generosity, despair, verse, and prose.

And the merit of bounty, despair, poetry and prose

لعمري لقد حملت بينك في الورى

لعمري لقد حملت بينك في الورى

من الشهب العالي السنا ومن الشعر

من الشهب العالي السنا ومن الشعر

By my life, you have carried [“between you” is unclear here] among humankind

By my life you have carried between us in this world

something of the meteors’ lofty radiance, and of poetry.

From the lofty stars, glory, and from hair, nobility

ولو شفعتك المكرمات بآخر

ولو شفعتك المكرمات بآخر

لما باتَ شاكي الدهر منه على وتر

لما باتَ شاكي الدهر منه على وتر

And had noble virtues paired you with another,

If your virtues had interceded at the end

no one complaining of Time would have spent the night with a grievance against it.

You would not have spent the night complaining of fate's twist