1. لقيتُ في الحب ما لاقاه من هِممى

    فقَصْدُه ضدُّ ما تَرْضَى به شِيَمِي

    In love I experienced what it experienced from my lofty aspirations;

    for its aim opposes what my noble traits approve.

  2. فليس يَظْهر حتى في تَمكُّنه

    إلا بلَحْظةِ عينٍ أو بقَوْلِ فم

    Even at its strongest it does not show itself

    except in a glance of the eye or a word from the mouth.

  3. فخَلْوَتي ليس يرتاب الغيور بها

    مع التجني على المِسْواك واللُّثُم

    My seclusion arouses no suspicion in the jealous,

    despite unjust accusations against the tooth-stick and mouth-veils.

  4. ولست أَرضَى لمن اَهْوَى وإنْ رَضِيتْ

    طِباعُه بالذي يدعو إلى الندم

    I will not approve for the one I love, even if

    his nature approves, of anything that leads to regret.

  5. أَعَفُّ معْ ما أُلاقِي عند مقدرتي

    فلستُ فيه على أمرٍ بمتَّهم

    I remain chaste, despite what I endure, when I have the power;

    so I am suspected of no wrongdoing in it.

  6. لوَأنّ وهمي أتى ما يُسْتَراب به

    في الطيفِ جَنَّبتُ عيني لذةَ الحُلُم

    Were my imagination to do anything arousing suspicion

    in a dream-vision, I would deny my eyes the delight of dreams.

  7. هَبِ المآثمَ لا تَخْشَى عَواقبَها

    نفسُ الفتى أين منه نخوة الكرم

    Suppose the consequences of sins are not feared

    by a young man's soul—where, then, is his noble pride?

  8. لولا نتائجُ ما تقِضى العقولُ به

    على النفوسِ لكانَ الناسُ كالنَّعَم

    Were it not for the effects of what reason decrees

    upon souls, people would be like livestock.

  9. إنْ لم تكن بوجودِ العيشِ مُجْتِلبا

    كَسْبَ الفضائلِ كان الفضلُ للعَدَم

    If, through living, you do not acquire

    virtues, then nonexistence has the advantage.

  10. من لم يُفِدْ حكمةً أو يُستفادُ به

    فما لصورته فضلٌ على الصنم

    Whoever neither gains wisdom nor is of use

    has a form no better than an idol.

  11. لولا المعاني التي يرجو الحياةَ لها

    ذوو النُّهَى كانتِ الأحياءُ كالرِّمَم

    Were it not for the ideals for which life is desired

    by the wise, the living would be like moldering bones.

  12. يَحْظَى اللبيبُ بما يَشْقى الجهولُ به

    كفاصدِ العرقِ يَبْغِى البُرْءِ بالألم

    The wise man thrives on what makes the ignorant suffer,

    like one opening a vein, seeking healing through pain.

  13. طِيبُ الثناءِ حياةٌ لا نَفادَ لها

    محروسةٌ من عَوادِى الشيبِ والهَرَم

    Good repute is a life that never ends,

    guarded against the ravages of gray hair and old age.

  14. فانهضْ إذا كانتِ العَلياءُ ماثلةً

    أولا فقُمْ في تَرجِّيها على قَدَم

    So rise when high honor stands before you,

    or, if it does not, stand steadfast in hope of it.

  15. فآفةُ المرءِ في كسبِ العُلى سببٌ

    من قوله سوف أو من قوله فكم

    For the bane of a man's pursuit of eminence arises

    from his saying 'later,' or his saying 'then how much?'

  16. لا تتكل في تَرقِّيها على نسبٍ

    واعملْ لنفسِك واحذرْ خطةَ السَّأمِ

    Do not rely on ancestry in rising to it,

    and work for yourself; beware the course of weariness.

  17. هذا ابنُ مَنْ دانتِ الدنيا لِهمَّتِه

    واستعبدَ الخلقَ من عُرْبٍ ومن عجم

    This is the son of one to whose resolve the world submitted,

    who subjected all people, Arabs and non-Arabs:

  18. الأفضل الملك العَدْل الذي عَظُمتْ

    أَخْطارُه فهْي تستغنى عن العِظَم

    Al-Afdal, the just king, so great have grown

    his dignities that they need no greatness.

  19. هَذاكَ ملْكُ يديه والملوكُ له

    والدهرُ والفَلَك الجاري من الخدم

    That is his hands' dominion; kings are his,

    and Time and the revolving celestial sphere are his servants.

  20. لم يرضَ أنْ ملك العلياءَ أجمعَها

    حتى بَنى باللُّهَى والسيف والقلم

    He was not content merely to possess all lofty honor,

    until he built with bounty, the sword, and the pen,

  21. والعزمِ والحزمِ والآراءِ صائبةً

    والعلمِ والحلمِ والتوفيقِ والشِّيَم

    with resolve, prudence, and sound judgments,

    with knowledge, forbearance, success, and noble traits.

  22. إنْ شئتَ أنْ تبصرَ الدنيا ومن جَمَعتْ

    فانظرْ إلى بابِ دارِ المُلْك من أَمَم

    If you wish to see the world and all the people it holds,

    look at the gate of the royal palace from nearby.

  23. تُبصِرْ جِباهَ ملوكِ الأرضِ ساجِدةً

    على ثرىً هو فيها أشرفُ الذَّمم

    You will see the brows of earth's kings prostrate

    upon soil that offers earth's noblest protection.

  24. ثَرىً تَودُّ نجومُ الأفقِ لو جُعلتْ

    حَصْباءَهُ وعَلا منها على القمم

    Soil the stars of the horizon wish they were made

    its pebbles; it has risen above their summits.

  25. دارٌ تدور الليالي عن أوامره

    فيها لمُحتَرَمٍ سامٍ ومجترِم

    A house where the nights turn at his commands,

    within it, for the honored and exalted, and for the offender.

  26. هو الورى وهي الدنيا وساعتُها

    عُمْرٌ وزائرُها للأمن في حَرَم

    He is all mankind, it is the world, and an hour in it

    is a lifetime; its visitor is in a sanctuary of safety.

  27. أقلُّ ما أَسْأرتْ فيها مَواهبُه

    أضعافُ ما قيل في الأخبار عن إِرَم

    The least that his gifts have left there

    is many times what tales have told of Iram.

  28. مواهبٌ جمعتْ شملَ الثناءِ له

    ببعضِ ما فَرَّقت في الناس من نِعَم

    Gifts that gathered all praise together for him

    with a fraction of the favors they scattered among people.

  29. مَثِّلْ بوَهْمِك شاهِنْشاهَ واقترحِ ال

    جَدْوَى عليه وخُذْها غيرَ متهم

    Picture Shahanshah in your mind, and ask for the

    bounty from him; take it without misgivings.

  30. إن لم تَمُنَّ على الدنيا مَواهبُه

    بصَحْوةٍ غَرِقَتْ في سَيِله العَرِم

    If his gifts did not grant the world

    clear weather, it would drown in his raging torrent.

  31. هذا على أن سَجْلا من صَوارِمه

    يُعيدها من طُلا الأعداءِ بحرَ دمِ

    All this, though a bucketful from his sharp swords

    makes it, from the enemies' necks, a sea of blood.

  32. صَوارمٌ أَضرمتْ فيها عَزائُمه

    نارا تعود بها الأبطالُ كالحُمَم

    Sharp swords in which his resolves have kindled

    a fire by which champions become like charcoal.

  33. عزائمٌ ما يَشيم الدهرُ وامِضَها

    إلا نَخوَّف منها خوفَ منتِقم

    Resolves whose flashes Time never watches

    without our rousing fear of them, as of an avenger.

  34. فما تمر بمَلْكٍ غيرِ مُنعفرٍ

    ولا تقابل جيشاً غير منهزمٍ

    Thus they pass no king but he lies cast in the dust,

    and confront no army that is not defeated.

  35. يخافُها القَدَرُ الجاري فتأمره

    بكلِّ ما تبتغيه أمرَ مُحتكِم

    Fate in its course fears them, so they command it

    to do whatever they desire, with an arbiter's authority.

  36. تَبيتُ من أجلها العَنْقاءُ خائفةً

    والعُصْمُ في النِّيق والآسادُ في الأجَم

    The Anqa spends the night in fear of them,

    and white-footed ibex on the summit, and lions in the thickets,

  37. والفُتْخ في الجو والنِّينان في لُجج

    والشُّهْب في أُفْقها والجِنُّ في الظُّلَم

    and broad-winged eagles in the sky, and fish in the depths,

    and meteors in their sky, and jinn in the darkness.

  38. كم صارعتْ من قُوىَ خَطْبٍ فما وَهَنتْ

    وصارعتْ من سَنا صعب فلم تَخِم

    How often they wrestled with the forces of calamity, yet never weakened,

    and wrestled with fierce radiance, yet never flinched.

  39. جلستَ إذ قامتِ الأَملاكُ خائفةً

    وقُمتَ إذ قَعدتْ عجزا فلم تَقُم

    You sat firm when kings rose in fear,

    and you rose when, helpless, they sat and could not rise.

  40. لبَيَّتَ صارخَ دينِ اللهِ منتصِرا

    له وأَسماعُهم للخوفِ في صَمَم

    You answered the cry of God's faith, championing

    it, while fear had made their ears deaf,

  41. حتى أعدتَ له روحَ الحياةِ وقد

    أودى بحدِّ اعتزامٍ غيرِ مُنثلِم

    until you restored to it the spirit of life, though it

    had perished, with the edge of an unnotched resolve.

  42. مَناقبٌ خَصَّك الفضلُ العَميم بها

    وكلُّ ما لم يكن في الطبع لم يَدُم

    Virtues with which abundant grace singled you out;

    whatever is not innate cannot endure.

  43. تكميلُ وصفِك بالإسهاب ممتنِعٌ

    ومرتجِى ذاك ممسوسٌ من اللَّمَم

    Completing your description, even at length, is impossible,

    and whoever hopes to do so is touched by madness,

  44. كالمُبتغِى كَيْلَ ماءِ البحرِ في لُججٍ

    وحاسبِ القَطْرِ في مُستغزِر الدِّيَم

    like one seeking to measure out the sea's deep waters,

    and one counting raindrops in abundant, ceaseless rain.

  45. هيهاتَ قَصَّرتِ الأوصافُ عنك مع ال

    إطنابِ فيك وحارتْ أعينُ الحَكَم

    Impossible! Descriptions fall short of you, despite the

    expansive praise of you, and the judge's eyes are bewildered.

  46. إنِ اخْتَصرتُ قَريضي في المديحِ فقد

    يُنال سامي العُلَى بالباترِ الخذم

    If I abridge my verse in praise, after all,

    the loftiest honors can be attained with a keen, severing sword.

  47. ويبلغُ النَّبْلُ للرامي على قِصَرٍ

    فيها أتمَّ المُنَى من أنفُسِ البُهُم

    Arrows win for the archer, despite their shortness,

    his fullest wishes from the lives of valiant warriors.

  48. إنْ كان لا بدَّ من عجزِ المُطيل فلل

    تقَّصيرُ أَوْلَى بطبعِ الحاذق الفَهِم

    If the long-winded must inevitably fall short, then

    brevity better suits the skillful and discerning.

  49. فأَحكمُ القولِ إيجازٌ يبين به ال

    معنى فإن طال زالتْ حِكمةُ الكَلِم

    The wisest speech is brevity that makes the

    meaning clear; if it lengthens, words lose their wisdom.

  50. فاسَعْد بعامِك واستقبلْ بَشائرَه

    في نعمةٍ وبقاءٍ غيرِ منُصرِم

    So rejoice in your year and welcome its glad tidings,

    in blessing and life without an end.

  51. عامٌ يَعُمُّ ببُشراهُ التي نطقتْ

    بطولِ عمرك فيه سائرُ الأمم

    A year that embraces, with glad tidings proclaiming

    your long life within it, all nations.

  52. حَيِيتَ فيه وفي أمثاله أبداً

    طَيِّبَ الحياةِ على التَّأْبيد والقِدَم

    May you live in it and in years like it forever,

    with a joyful life, in perpetuity and timelessness.