يا مَن يَعِزُّ على النُّجومِ نظامُهُ

حَسَداً فَيفدِي الحاسِدُ المحسودا

O you whose system the stars envy

So the envious would ransom the envied

رُعتَ الكواكَبَ بالكواكبِ زِينَةً

وهدايَةً وإنارَةً وسُعودا

You have adorned the planets with the planets, an ornament

And guidance and illumination and fortune

يَهنيكَ ميراثُ الزَّمانِ فإنَّهُ

ببقائِهِ تَرِثُ الزَّمانَ خُلودا

Your inheritance of time congratulates you, for by

Its survival, you inherit time eternally

أَم أنهَبَتكَ بهِ العَذارى حُسنَها

فجلوتَهُ للناظرينَ خُدودا

Have the maidens robbed you of their beauty so you

Unveiled it to beholders, cheeks

أمَ كُنتَ تعلَمُ سَلوَتي فبعثتَهُ

سَكَناً لأَيّام الغَرام مُعيدا

Or did you know my solace so you sent it

A dwelling for the days of love returning

أَم كانَ عندك أنّ عِندِيَ غُلَّةً

فَرفَفتَ منهُ ألى الوُرودِ برودا

Or was it in your possession that I had a glob

So you shook from it to the roses, coolness

أم شئت تشريفاً لعُمري بَعدَهُ

فجعلتَهُ والفضلَ ينشأُ عِيدا

Or did you want honor for my life after it

So you made it and merit grow up festive

مَن لي بتكليفِ الشَّريف فإنَّني

كُلّفتُ شأواً في القَريضِ بَعيدا

Who do I have to oblige the noble one, for I

Was obliged far-fetched in verse

من بعد ما أَعفَيتُ منهُ خَواطري

وركِبتُ من فكري إليهِ قعودا

After I relieved my thoughts of it

And mounted from my thinking to it, sitting

ونشَرتُ من أُصُلِ المشيب عَمائِماً

وَطَوَيتُ من بُكَرِ الشبابِ بُرودا

And I spread from the origin of old age turbans

And folded from the virginity of youth, coolness

مَن ذا يُساجِلُه تليدَ بَلاغَةٍ

خيرُ البَلاغةِ ما يكونُ تَليدا

Who can contend with him, aged in eloquence

The best eloquence is that which is aged

ريَّانُ من ماءِ البَيانِ يَمُجُّهُ

والعُربُ قد جَفَّت وحَفَّتِ عُودا

Flowing from the water of rhetoric, it pours him

And the Arabs had dried and kindled firewood

نَظَمَ الخلافَةَ في طريقِ بيانِهِ

سَرداً كما نَظَمَ الحِسَانُ فَريدا

He composed the caliphate in the way of his rhetoric

Strung just as Al-Hissan composed unmatched

واستلَّ فيه كُلَّ ماضٍ لَهذَمٍ

ما ضَرَّه أَلَّا يكونَ حَديدا

And he borrowed in it every past for the transient

It did not harm him that it would not be iron

مِن كلِّ مَن يَغنَى بَغربِ لِسانِهِ

عَنِ غَربِ كُلِّ مهنَّدٍ تَجريدا

From everyone who is needless of the eloquence of his tongue

Of the eloquence of every Westerner, stripping

قومٌ لهم فَصلُ الخِطابِ وحِكمةٌ

نيطت عَلى نَحرِ الزَّمانِ عُقودا

A people who have the wording of speech and wisdom

Tied to the neck of time, knots

مُثرٍ منَ الأَملاكِ فَخراً إن يَشَأ

ضَاهي بهم شُهبَ السَّماء عَديدا

Arrogant over the angels, if he wills

Competing with them, the multitudinous stars

نَسَبٌ كأنَّ عليهِ مِن شمس الضُّحى

نوراً ومن فَلَقِ الصَّباحِ عَمُودا

A lineage as if the light of the morning sun

Were upon it, and from the horizon daylight pillars

يا مَن سَقاني من سلافَه نَثرِهِ

صِرفاً وغَنَّى شِعرُهُ تَغريدا

O you who quenched me from the prose of his ancestors

Diverting, and his poetry sang twittering

واستلَّ لي عَهدَ الرَّبيعِ فشِمتُهُ

في طِرسِهِ غضَّ الفِرَندِ جَديدا

And he borrowed for me the era of spring, so I sensed it

In its covering, the smooth silk, renewed

ما شئتَ من معنىً صقيلٍ نورُه

قد أُلبسَ التَّذهيبَ وَالتَّجسيدا

Whatever meaning you polished, its light

Was clad in gilding and embodiment

ينشقُّ عنه الحِبرُ نُوراً ساطعاً

كالنَّجمَ أَتلَعَ في الدُّجُنَّة جيدا

The ink splits from it shining light

Like a star flashed in the darkness, excellent

عَلِقَ الفَؤادُ بهِ كأنَّ مِدادَهُ

أَمسى بمحض سَوادِهِ مَمدودا

The heart clung to it as if its ink

Had spent the night in sheer blackness, outstretched

وكأَنَّما الخِيلانُ كانَت ذَوبَهُ

أو نازَعَ الحَلَمَ العَذارى الغيدا

And as if the two racehorses were its fusion

Or competed with the dream, the slumbering young women

أو جَرَّ فيه المسكُ فضلَ ذُؤابَةٍ

تَرَكت بأسطُرِهِ رُسوماً سُودا

Or musk had dragged in it the surplus of its scent

Leaving in its lines, black figures