1. قَضيب تَثنى في غلائله الخُضر

    وَأطلع وَجه البَدر مِن غَيهب الشعر

    A bough swayed in his green robes,

    and revealed the full moon's face from the darkness of his hair.

  2. يَصول بِلحظ عِندهُ تَحجم الظبا

    وَقَد تَلاشَت دونَهُ دَولة السمر

    He charges with a glance before which sword-blades shrink,

    and the dominion of tawny spears has vanished before it.

  3. وَفي عَينه هاروت أَودَع سحره

    أَلَم تَرها تَسبي الضَياغم بِالسحر

    And in his eye Harut has deposited his magic;

    have you not seen it take lions captive through sorcery?

  4. وَفي خَده نار خبتها أَضالعي

    إِذا ما سرى في مُهجَتي حرها يَسري

    And in his cheek is a fire my ribs have concealed;

    when he journeys by night, its heat courses through my heart.

  5. وَقَد مَكرت بالخال فَاسود لَونه

    ألا فَانظروا يا قَوم عاقبة المكر

    And it has schemed against the beauty mark, till its color turned black—

    behold, my people, the outcome of deceit!

  6. ألا بِأَبي ذاكَ الرضاب وَما بِه

    مِن الشهدة البَيضاء وَالسُكر المصري

    Ah, may my father be ransom for that sweet saliva and what it holds

    of white honeycomb and Egyptian sugar.

  7. رضاب تيقنا بِأَن مدامه

    إِذا حَلَ جَوفاً كانَ أَقوى مِن الخَمر

    Sweet saliva: we know for certain that its wine,

    once it enters a belly, is stronger than wine.

  8. وَأَي فَتى مِن دنه مص نَهلة

    مَدى الدَهر لا تَصحو قواه مِن السُكر

    And any youth who sucks a draught from its wine-jar—

    for all time, his faculties never grow sober from intoxication.

  9. يَفوق عَلى عقد العَقيق عقيقه

    وَيروي بِأُم الدر مبسمة الدري

    His carnelian surpasses a necklace of carnelian,

    and his pearly smiling mouth quenches thirst with the mother of pearls.

  10. رَعى اللَه أَياماً برامة قَد مَضَت

    وَعِندي من آرامها شادن القَصر

    May God watch over days gone by at Rama,

    and with me, from among its gazelles, was the palace's fawn.

  11. أَحوط بحد المشرفي رباعه

    وَأحمي حماه بِالمهندة البتر

    I guard his dwellings with the edge of a Mashrafi sword,

    and protect his sanctuary with keen-cutting Indian swords.

  12. وَكَم لَيلة قَد بت وَهوَ معانقي

    بِخَد إلى خَد وَصدر إِلى صَدر

    And many a night I have spent with him embracing me,

    cheek to cheek, and breast to breast.

  13. إِذا ما طَلَبت الورد أَهوى بِخَده

    وَإِن رمت صافي الوَرد عجل بِالثغر

    When I sought roses, he inclined his cheek toward me;

    and if I sought a clear draught, he hastened to offer his lips.

  14. فَلَم أر قَبلي ضَيغماً ضم ربرباً

    وَلا جَبَلاً قامَت بِه طَلعة البَدر

    So never before had I seen a lion embrace a herd of gazelles,

    nor a mountain upon which the full moon's face appeared.

  15. سَقى اللَه أَياماً سَقَتنا يَد الصبا

    بِأَيامِها كَأس المَسَرة وَالبشر

    May God water days when youth's hand served us

    in its days, the cup of joy and gladness.

  16. نُجوم تَسامى الدَهر مِن ضوئِها كَما

    بِأَحمَد تَسمو قيمة النَثر وَالشعر

    Stars by whose light Time rose high, just as

    through Ahmad the worth of prose and poetry rises.

  17. سَليل كِرام يَعشق الجود كفهم

    وَتخضر مِن آثارهم دمنة القفر

    A scion of noble men whose hands generosity adores,

    and from whose traces the desert's abandoned campsite turns green.

  18. رقوا مِن هِضاب المَجد أرفع شامخ

    تَضاءل عَن إِدراكه طائر النسر

    They climbed the loftiest towering peak among glory's hills;

    the flying eagle was humbled, unable to reach it.

  19. وَشادوا مِن الجود العَميم مَفاخِراً

    إِلى مُنتَهى الدُنيا مخلدة الذكر

    And from all-embracing generosity they built glories

    immortal in remembrance until the world's end.

  20. أَتى بعدهم شَمس بَدَت بعد أَنجُم

    وَفذلكة الحِساب في العَد وَالحَصر

    He came after them, a sun appearing after stars,

    and the sum total of the account, in tally and reckoning.

  21. وَقَد جاءَ في العَصر الأَخير لأَنَّهُ

    عَلى رغم أَنف الدَهر خاتمة العَصر

    And he came in the latter age because he is

    in defiance of Time, the crowning seal of the age.

  22. هُوَ الصارم الظامي إِذا سل متنه

    كَسَرنا بِهِ يَوم اللقا هامة الدَهر

    He is the thirsty, keen sword; when its blade is drawn,

    with it, on the day of battle, we shatter Time's skull.

  23. هُوَ العامل الخطي إِن هز في النَدى

    تحل بِأَهل البُخل قاصمة الظَهر

    He is the supple Khatti spear; if brandished in generosity,

    a back-breaking blow befalls the miserly.

  24. هُوَ البارق الوَسمي بَل نور عَزمه

    تفرق مِن إِيماضه غسق الفقر

    He is the first rains' lightning—rather, his resolve's light,

    whose flashes have dispersed the darkness of poverty.

  25. هُوَ البَحر ما فاضَت طَوافح كَفه

    لوافده إِلا خشينا عَلى البَحر

    He is the sea: never have his palm's overflowing tides poured forth

    for one who came to him without our fearing for the sea.

  26. هُوَ النار في حَد القَريحة وَالذكا

    أَلَم تَرَ في أَحداقه أَثَر الجَمر

    He is fire in the keenness of native wit and intelligence;

    have you not seen the trace of embers in his pupils?

  27. هُوَ الجَبَل الراسي إِذا طاشَ طائش

    وَخفت حلوم الصَيد في الفر وَالكَر

    He is the steadfast mountain when a rash man loses composure,

    and noble chiefs' judgment falters in retreat and charge.

  28. فَضائل عَنها كُل ذهني وَخاطري

    فَلا مَدَها يَفنى وَلا خاطري يَجري

    Virtues before which my mind and imagination have grown weary:

    their reach never ends, nor can my imagination flow.

  29. فَعُذراً وَإِن قصرت مَدحاً فَإِنَّني

    بليت بِأَيام خَلعت بِها عذري

    So pardon me if I have fallen short in praise, for I

    have been afflicted by days in which I cast off my excuse.

  30. تَهن بعيد الفطر يا نور عَينه

    وَيا زاكي الأَعمال في الصوم وَالفطر

    Take joy in Eid al-Fitr, O light of its eye,

    and O you whose deeds are pure in fasting and in breaking the fast.

  31. فلَم يَرضَ هَذا الشَهر أنكَ عيده

    لأَنَّك في شَهر العلى لَيلة القَدر

    For this month was not content that you be its feast,

    because in the month of glory you are the Night of Decree.

  32. فَلا زِلتَ بَدراً في سَماء مفاخر

    تشير إِلَيك الناس بِالأَنمل العَشر

    So may you ever remain a full moon in a heaven of glories;

    people point toward you with all ten fingertips.