نظمنا سنىَّ التهنئات نزفها

نظمنا سنىَّ التهنئات نزفها

إلى علم بين النوابغ مفرد

إلى علم بين النوابغ مفرد

We composed splendid congratulations, bearing them in procession

We composed poems of congratulations, we present them

To a luminary, peerless among the gifted.

To a banner among the geniuses, singular

ولو أن من أقلامه في أكفنا

ولو أن من أقلامه في أكفنا

وقلنا لجاء القول إنجيل مهتد

وقلنا لجاء القول إنجيل مهتد

And if one of his pens were in our hands,

If only some of his pens were in our palms

And we spoke, our words would be a gospel of one rightly guided.

And we spoke, the words would come as enlightened Gospel

ومن يتعهد للرجال صداقة

ومن يتعهد للرجال صداقة

يطلب بالذي سر الصديق ويسعد

يطلب بالذي سر الصديق ويسعد

And whoever nurtures friendship with men

He who undertakes friendship with men

Is sought out with what gladdened his friend, and is made happy.

Seeks with it the secret of the bosom friend and is gratified

ومن يحفظ الخلان يحفظ مدارعا

ومن يحفظ الخلان يحفظ مدارعا

عليه ويستثمر غراس التودد

عليه ويستثمر غراس التودد

And whoever safeguards his friends safeguards coats of mail

He who keeps intimates, keeps cultivated fields

Upon himself, and reaps the fruits of affection's plantings.

For him, and invests the saplings of affection

وما حافظ إلا بناء مكارم

وما حافظ إلا بناء مكارم

وزاخر عرفان وهضبة سؤدد

وزاخر عرفان وهضبة سؤدد

And Hafiz is but an edifice of noble virtues,

No preserver except the edifice of virtues

And a sea brimming with knowledge, and a lofty hill of eminence.

Abundant in knowledge and plateau of happiness

فتى يرفع الأشعار ما شاء قدرها

فتى يرفع الأشعار ما شاء قدرها

وترفعه الأشعار رتبة مخلد

وترفعه الأشعار رتبة مخلد

A young man who raises poetry's stature as high as he wishes,

A youth who elevates poetry as much as its destiny elevates him

And poetry raises him to an immortal's rank.

To the rank of eternity

ويلقى عليه في السلام وفي الوغى

ويلقى عليه في السلام وفي الوغى

رجاء يراع أو رجاء مهند

رجاء يراع أو رجاء مهند

And upon him, in peace and in battle, is laid

And upon him in peace and in calamity

The hope of a reed pen, or the hope of an Indian-steel sword.

Hope looks after or demolished hope

ألا عند مصر والبيان وأهله

ألا عند مصر والبيان وأهله

يد للمعالي صادفت حافظ اليد

يد للمعالي صادفت حافظ اليد

Lo, Egypt, eloquence, and its people are indebted

Behold! In Egypt, rhetoric and its people

To greatness for a helping hand that found Hafiz, who remembers favors.

A hand for the lofty, found preserver of the hand