وقد كان لي منه شفيع مشفع

به يمحق الله الذنوب ويغفر

And from him I had an intercessor whose intercession was accepted,

Through him God effaces sins and forgives.

فهل يقبل الصوم الذي أنا صائم

لبعدي عنه أو أثاب فأوجر

So will the fast that I am keeping be accepted,

Given my distance from him—or shall I be recompensed and rewarded?

لقد ود هذا الشهر أن دام سرمدا

عليك دراكا يتبع العصر أعصر

Indeed, this month wished that it might last forever

Upon you unceasingly, age following upon age;

كما ود هذا الشهر لو لم يفز به

سواك حنيف في العباد مطهر

Just as this month wished that no one might attain it

Except you, an upright monotheist, purified among the worshippers.

وجددته وهو الجديد بقاؤه

وواصلت منه كل ما كنت تهجر

And you renewed it, though its continuance is ever new,

And you resumed all of it that you used to forsake.

وانك لو لم تعتد لبنائه

بنته الليالي والقضاء المقدر

And indeed, had you not prepared to build it,

The nights and preordained destiny would have built it.

لئن كان اكبارا يعظم شأنه

فكل عظيم عند قدرك يصغر

If its standing is indeed exalted out of reverence,

Then every great thing grows small beside your stature.

فما للعلى من خلفه متقدم

وما للعلى من بعده متأخر

So none advances toward glory from behind him,

And none comes late to glory after him.

كأن الكحيل الجون والروض وقد

مجامره مسك عليها وعنبر

As though the jet-black tar and the meadow were fuel

For its censers, with musk and ambergris upon them.

وأكثر من ألبانها من يخصها

اذا جاءها عاف من الناس مقتر

And more bountiful than their milk is he who favors them,

Whenever a needy petitioner from among the people comes to them.

يفرقها في الجود ألفا لواحد

ورعيانها فيها وما ينتظر

He gives them away in generosity—a thousand to one man,

And their herdsmen are included; he does not delay.

وما مثلها مما تعاظم في الندى

ولا غيرها مما يقل ويكثر

And nothing matches them among grand acts of generosity,

Nor among other things, whether scant or plentiful.

فيا مالكا لم يعلم الناس كنهه

وفي خلقه علم عليه مستر

So, O sovereign whose true nature people have not known,

And in his nature lies a concealed sign of him.

ويا شرفا لا يستخص قبيله

ويا مثلا في الغابرين يسير

And O nobility that does not favor its own tribe alone,

And O exemplar that circulates among generations to come.

أرى الناس أفواجا أليك كأنما

من الزاب بعث أو من الزاب محشر

I see people flocking toward you, as though

A resurrection had come from al-Zab, or from al-Zab a gathering.

لأنت لمن قد مزق الدهر شمله

ومعشره بالبين أهل ومعشر

You are indeed, to one whose bonds Time has torn apart,

And whose people it has scattered through separation, a family and a community.

وما للندى والبذل تمدح انما

مدحناك للحق الذي ليس ينكر

And not for generosity and giving are you praised; rather,

We have praised you for the truth that is not denied.