يا من بليغ المعاني من عبارته

ومن صريح المعاني من إشارته

O you whose speech yields eloquent meanings,

And whose hints yield clear meanings,

ومن تروح المنايا في إمارته

جنداً وتغدو الأماني في أمارته

And you under whose command the fates of death go forth at dusk,

As soldiers, while hopes go forth at dawn at your signal;

ومن إذا جد في يومي ندى وردى

فالليث والغيث نزر في غزارته

And you who, when in earnest on bounty's day and death's,

Make lion and rain seem scant beside your abundance:

هل أنت مصغ إلى شكواي حر جوى

لو شئت بردت ما بي من حرارته

Will you listen to my complaint of burning anguish?

If you wished, you could cool its heat within me.

إعراض مثلك عن مثلي بصفحته

شر تذوب الرواسي من شرارته

For one like you to turn his face away from one like me

Is an evil whose spark melts the steadfast mountains.

ولو صددت عن الأيام ما عرفت

فيها حلاوة عيش من مرارته

And were you to turn away from the days, none could tell

Life's sweetness in them from its bitterness.

ما بال من شيدت أفعاله شرفاً

لعامر يتعامى عن عمارته

What ails him whose deeds have built up honor

For ʿAmir, that he feigns blindness to his ʿUmara?

فليت شعري أبا الماضي يزيد على ال

ماضي فواغبن حظي من خسارته

If only my poetry, Abu al-Madi, could surpass the

past—alas for my fortune, cheated by its loss!

وأنت أول من دل الرجال على

فضلي وأسفر حظي من سفارته

And you were the first to direct men toward

My merit; my fortune brightened through your advocacy.

نادى نداك على شعري ليرفعه

سوماً وأربح شعري في تجارته

Your bounty called for bids on my poetry, to raise

Its price, and made my poetry profitable in its trade.

وكنت مثل أتي السيل مغترباً

لولاك ما قر سيلي في قرارته

And I was a wanderer, like floodwater coming from afar;

But for you, my torrent would not have settled in its bed.

إن أكثر الناس في قول مدحت به

فبان نزح شوط من مهابته

If people have made much of a verse with which I praised you,

Then the vast reach of its majesty has become plain;

فقد تجمع في بيت مدحت به

علاك ماكثروه من نزارته

For gathered in one verse with which I praised

Your greatness is all they deemed abundant, though it is scant:

بيت ترى كل سمع حين أنشده

يقضي فريضة حج في زيارته

A verse: when I recite it, you see every ear

Perform the duty of pilgrimage in visiting it:

لله درك عز الدين من ملك

أضحت ممالك مصر في خفارته

God bless you, ʿIzz al-Din—what a king,

Under whose protection Egypt's realms have come!