1. يا أبا الصقر إنَّ شُكْري لمعْرو

    فِكَ شكرٌ باقٍ على الأيامِ

    O Abu al-Saqr, my gratitude for your

    kindness is gratitude that endures through the days.

  2. فاستدمْهُ فإنما تصحب النعْ

    مةُ من كان دائم الإنعام

    So keep it enduring: blessings accompany only

    those whose giving is constant.

  3. لك صفو المديح والشكر مني

    في نظام وصلته بنظامِ

    Yours is my purest praise and gratitude,

    in verse I have linked to verse,

  4. وعيونٍ ما مثلها من عيونٍ

    آخذاتٍ مختارَ كُلِّ كلام

    and choice verses unequaled among choice verses,

    taking the choicest of all speech.

  5. لا أذُمُّ الزمانَ ما كنتَ ترعى

    يا أبا الصَّقرِ حُرمَتي وذِمامي

    I will not blame Time so long as you safeguard,

    O Abu al-Saqr, my honor and my claim to protection.

  6. لم أزل منك في نعيم مقيم

    لم يزل عند رِحلتي ومُقامي

    Through you I have always lived in abiding bliss,

    which has never left me in my travels or my stays.

  7. ضلَّ من قد دعوتُ دونَكَ عني

    ووجدت الكرامَ غيرَ كرام

    Those I had called upon instead of you were lost to me,

    and I found the noble anything but noble.

  8. وضمانٌ على مديحي وشُكري

    لك حُسْنُ الثَّناءِ في الأقوام

    And a guarantee for my praise and gratitude

    to you is fair acclaim among the peoples.

  9. وبِحَسْبي بأنَّ شكري لمعرو

    فِكَ مما أُريتُهُ في المنام

    And it is enough for me that my gratitude for your

    kindness is among what I was shown in a dream.

  10. نابَ عَنْ صِدْقِهِ وصِدْقِ وفائي

    لك بالشكر صادقُ الأحلام

    For its sincerity and my sincere loyalty,

    in thanking you, a true dream served as witness.

  11. صُمْتُ عمَّنْ سواكَ من سائر النَّا

    س ففطْري بذاكَ عند صيامي

    I have fasted from all others among

    mankind; through that I break my fast even as I fast.

  12. لستُ ممن ينام عن واجب الحْق

    قِ عليه وأنت غَيْثُ الأنام

    I am not one who sleeps heedless of the rightful duty

    he owes, while you are humankind's life-giving rain.

  13. قد يُحَثُّ الجوادُ غيرَ بطيءٍ

    ويُهَزُّ الحسامُ غيرَ كهام

    A noble steed may be urged on though it is not slow,

    and a keen sword brandished though it is not blunt.