للَه درُّكَ يا عباس قارئةً

للَه درُّكَ يا عباس قارئةً

لقد عَلَوتَ فلم يبْلُغك مقياسُ

لقد عَلَوتَ فلم يبْلُغك مقياسُ

God bless you, Abbas—what a reciter!

O Abbas, may God reward you, you eminent reciter

Indeed, you have risen high, and no measure has reached you.

You have surpassed all, no measure can reach you

إن كان داودُ أبقى بعده خَلفاً

إن كان داودُ أبقى بعده خَلفاً

في حُسنِ نغمٍ وجُرم فهْو عباس

في حُسنِ نغمٍ وجُرم فهْو عباس

If David left a successor behind him,

If David left an heir after him

In beauty of melody and fullness of voice, that successor is Abbas.

In the beauty of melody, he is Abbas

صوتٌ نديٌّ وأنفاسٌ مساعدةٌ

صوتٌ نديٌّ وأنفاسٌ مساعدةٌ

كأنما نَفسٌ منهَن أنفاس

كأنما نَفسٌ منهَن أنفاس

A dewy voice and breaths that sustain it,

A vocal, tender breath and breaths that give support

As though one breath among them were many breaths.

As if a gentle soul breathed through them

يظلُّ سامعه لُدْناً مفاصلُهُ

يظلُّ سامعه لُدْناً مفاصلُهُ

كأنما فتَّرتْ أوصاله الكاس

كأنما فتَّرتْ أوصاله الكاس

His listener remains supple in his joints,

A listener remains limp, his joints slackened

As though the wine-cup had slackened his limbs.

As if his limbs were severed by a goblet

أحيا لنا سلَفَ القُرَّاء كلَّهمُ

أحيا لنا سلَفَ القُرَّاء كلَّهمُ

فأسمعونا وهم هامٌ وأرماس

فأسمعونا وهم هامٌ وأرماس

He brought all the reciters of old back to life for us,

He revived for us all the early reciters

So they made us hear them, though they are skulls and graves.

Letting us hear them, though they are dust and withered bones

لا ينكر اللَّه إثباتي فضيلتَهُ

لا ينكر اللَّه إثباتي فضيلتَهُ

ولا الملائكةُ الأبرارُ والناس

ولا الملائكةُ الأبرارُ والناس

God does not dispute my affirmation of his excellence,

Neither God would deny my extolling his virtue

Nor do the righteous angels or humankind.

Nor the righteous angels and mankind