بدع من الأمر إذ حلت جلالته

تلك السراية في الأفلاك لم تطر

It is a marvel that, when His Majesty took up residence,

that palace did not soar among the celestial spheres.

نعم لها العذر كرسي له قدر

لو فارق الأرض لم تثبت على قدر

Yes, it has its excuse: a throne of such high standing

that, were it to leave the earth, the earth would lose its balance.

سراية حسدتها الشمس في شرف

حتى الكواكب حساد لذي خطر

A palace the sun envied for its eminence,

even the stars envy one of such exalted rank.

قد حلها العالم الأعلى بأجمعه

تجوهرت نفسه في قالب البشر

The higher world in its entirety has taken up residence there,

its soul assuming substance in a human mold.

خليفة من رجال الله تشمله

سيما الملائك في أطواره الزهر

A caliph among the men of God, encompassed

by the angels' mark in his radiant states.

محاسن الدهر من إحسانه فرط

وما بدا فشعاع الشمس في القمر

Time's beauties are forerunners of his beneficence,

and what appears is the sun's radiance in the moon.

أسائل الدهر عن معنى فضائله

فيعرب الدهر معنى غير منحصر

I question Time about the meaning of his virtues,

and Time declares a meaning without bounds.

لو صور الدهر منطيقاً لأعجزه

ما في حقائق معناه من الصور

Were Time fashioned as an eloquent speaker, it would be confounded

by the forms within the realities of his essence.

يفارق العقل فيه نور فطرته

فمدرك العقل منه موقف النظر

In contemplating him, reason parts from its innate light;

thus reason's grasp of him is the stopping point of contemplation.

ظواهر الحمد تستوفي الثناء له

ما الشأن في حمد ما يخفى على الفكر

His manifest merits receive their full measure of praise;

what, then, of praising what is hidden from thought?

وجوهر من صميم الحمد عنصره

فذاك للحمد منا غير مفتقر

And a jewel whose substance comes from the very heart of praise—

such a one has no need of praise from us.

مقام مقداره من ذكر مادحه

مقام ذات الضحى من رؤية البصر

His greatness stands in relation to his praiser's words

as the very light of morning stands to the eye's sight.

ما ينشر القول ذكراً من محامده

إلا ويصدر مطوياً على غرر

No speech unfolds a mention of his merits

without coming forth enfolded in uncertainty.

تهوى البلاغة أن تطوي له مدحاً

وأبلغ القول فيه مثل مقتصر

Eloquence yearns to encompass praise of him,

yet the most eloquent speech of him is like one who says little.

خليفة الله هل أبقيت من شرف

إلا وعندك منه أشرف الأثر

Caliph of God, have you left any honor

of which the noblest mark is not yours?

تناقلتك من الأصقاع أشرفها

سجية الشمس في الأبراج والقمر

The noblest regions have passed you from one to another,

the way of the sun in the zodiac, and of the moon.

حبوت ملكك حظاً من مشاهدة

فشاهد العين واستغنى عن الخبر

You granted your kingdom a share of seeing you,

so it beheld you in person and had no need of reports.

وظل يرفل والأيام شاخصة

وسط الممالك بين العز والظفر

And it strutted proudly while the days gazed,

amid the kingdoms, between glory and victory.

كم بلدة بدلتها منك عارفة

مرعى النضار بمرعى الماء والشجر

How many a town your kindness has endowed

with a pasture of gold instead of a pasture of water and trees!

يخضر دارس قطر حيث تنزله

كأن رجلك فيه راحة الخضر

The waste of a land grows green wherever you alight,

as though your foot upon it were the palm of al-Khidr.

باركت أفريقيا لما سفرت بها

أنت المبارك في حل وفي سفر

You blessed Africa when you journeyed through it;

you are blessed in residence and in travel.

فما تركت شقياً غير مستعد

ولا تركت كسيراً غير منجبر

Thus you left no wretched soul unprepared,

nor any broken soul unmended.

وأنت بين هضاب المجد منبسط

تصرف الدهر في ورد وفي صدر

And you are at ease amid the heights of glory,

directing Time in its coming to water and its departure.

لا يفقد الدهر جداً منك مرتحل

ولا سكون لهم منك في حضر

No traveler ever lacks good fortune from you,

nor do they lack the repose you give when they are settled.

إذا ترحلت عن قطر وجدت به

لما تقيم به من صالح الأثر

When you depart from a region, you are still found there

through the good effects you establish within it.

كأن نفسك في الأكوان سارية

والجوهر الفرد قالوا غير منشطر

As though your soul pervades all worlds,

though the single atom, they say, cannot be split.

وكوكب الشمس فرد في حقيقته

وليس عن سائر الدنيا بمستتر

And the sun's orb is single in its essence,

yet it is hidden from no part of the world.

ولو مكثت ولم ترحل لما قعدت

سياسة منك عزت حيطة الفطر

Even if you stayed and did not travel, never would lie idle

your statecraft, beyond the grasp of innate minds.

تحشو الليالي ما يبقى ولو بليت

من المفاخر حتى لات مفتخر

You fill the nights with what endures, even if they wear away,

with glorious deeds, until none else can boast.

نازعتني الدر والياقوت أنظمة

مدحاً وتنثره في كف مفتقر

You have rivaled me in pearls and rubies, strung

as praise, while you scatter it into a needy person's palm.

كأن شعري في أخشاء مبغضكم

ومبغضي مثل حد الصارم الذكر

It is as though my verse, in the entrails of those who hate you

and hate me, were like the edge of a hard-steeled sword.

ولن أفارق نهجي في مدائحكم

أو يفرق الله بين الأرض والمطر

And I shall not forsake my path in praising you,

unless God parts the earth from the rain.