علاك إليه ناظر السعد ناظر

ووجهك مثر بالجمال وناضر

The eye of good fortune gazes toward your exalted rank.

And your face is rich in beauty and radiant.

وأبدت بك الدنيا سروراً وبهجة

وقد أعلنت بالبشر فيها البشائر

Through you, the world has displayed joy and delight.

And glad tidings have proclaimed gladness within it.

وما انت الا الغيث جوداً ونائلاً

وما انت الا الروض زاو وزاهر

You are nothing but rain in generosity and bounty,

And nothing but a garden, flourishing and in bloom.

ومقدمك الميمون بالعيد طالعا

اتى وبه قد سر باد وحاضر

And your auspicious arrival, dawning with the feast,

Came and gladdened desert-dweller and townsman alike.

وسارت بك الامثال شرقا ومغربا

ولا مثل الا بذكرك سائر

And proverbs of you have traveled east and west;

No proverb circulates except with mention of you.

وايدك الرحمن منه بنصرةٍ

وانت يحمد الله للضدّ فاطر

The Merciful has aided you with victory from Him;

And you, God be praised, are a breaker of the foe.

وسعدك في مسراك ولد نصرة

وشكلك فيه دل انك ظافر

Your good fortune on your night journey begot victory;

And your aspect therein showed you to be victorious.

وللّه سرٌّ في علاك فما عسى

يقول حسودٌ او عدو يجاهر

God has a secret in your exalted rank; what, then, could

An envious man or an openly hostile foe say?

واضحت دمشق الشام بالحسن جنة

عليها جمال منك باه وباهر

Damascus of al-Shām became a paradise in its beauty;

Upon it lies beauty from you, splendid and dazzling.

وحاكت لها ايدي السحاب مطارفا

موشعة قد دبجتها الازاهر

The hands of the clouds wove cloaks for it,

Patterned, brocaded by the flowers.

وروض الهنا بالدق نفر طيره

وغنى على العيدان والريح زامر

In the garden of joy, its birds took fright at the beating,

And sang upon the boughs, while the wind was a piper.

وايامها لما حلت بها حلت

وكاد من الاعدا تشق المرائر

Its days grew sweet when you alighted in it,

And its enemies' gallbladders all but split.

وجامعها بالحسن اصبح مفرداً

وقد اعربت بالوصف عنه الضمائبر

Its congregational mosque became unrivaled in beauty,

And inner thoughts spoke eloquently in describing it.

وصار عليه من شعارك رونقٌ

وفيه لقد اضحت تقام الشعائر

Your insignia lent it a luster,

And within it the sacred rites came to be performed.

ومنبره لما به قمت خاطبا

تمنت بان تسعى اليك المنابر

When you stood preaching upon its pulpit,

The pulpits wished they could hasten to you.

وردت مع الايام ليلا لاهلها

ووافت وحي الشوق بالانس عامر

And with the days, Laylā was restored to her people;

She arrived, while longing's abode was alive with companionship.

فقل للذي اضحى يضاهيه في العلا

كفاك المحيا منه والفرق ظاهر

So tell the man who has come to rival him in eminence:

His countenance suffices you; the difference is plain.

لعمري لقد زاد التعدي جهالة

وحاولت امرا عنه فعلك قاصر

By my life, your overreaching has deepened your folly,

And you attempted something of which your deeds fall short.

فهذا هو البحر الذي عن نواله

موارده قد اعربت والمصادر

For this is the sea whose bounty

Its inlets and outlets have plainly declared.

سريع العطايا بالندا متدارك

بسيط مديد كامل الجود وافر

Swift with gifts, quick to succor with generosity,

Open-handed, far-reaching, perfect in giving, abundant.

يشار اليه بالاصابع في العلا

وقد عقدت فضلا عليه الخناصر

Fingers point to him for his eminence,

And little fingers are bent, counting him first in excellence.

على فعله دلت شمائله كما

مكارمه دلت عليها المآثر

His qualities attest to his deeds, just as

His glorious deeds attest to his noble qualities.

اخو الجود من كفيه يستمطر الندى

وما هو الا الغيث بالجود ماطر

A brother of generosity, from whose palms bounty is sought like rain,

He is nothing but rain, showering generosity.

وتروي حديث الجود يمناه عن عطا

وهذا حديث في الورى متواتر

His right hand narrates generosity's tradition from ʿAṭāʾ,

A tradition widely attested among mankind.

والفاظه الاسماع بالدر شنفت

وما هذه الالفاظ الا جواهر

His words have adorned the ears with pearls,

And these words are nothing but jewels.

وليس له في فعله من مضارع

وما مثله في الحال ناه وآمر

There is no rival to him in his deeds,

Nor, at present, is anyone who forbids and commands his equal.

واقلامه السمر الرشاق كأنها

رياض والحاظ الظباء المحابر

His slender, brown pens are like

Gardens, and the inkwells are gazelles' eyes.

اذا ما جرت قوق الطروس تمدها

يداه بها عنه تضيق الدفاتر

When they run over the pages, supplied

By his hands, notebooks cannot hold what flows from him through them.

امولاي يا قاضي القضاة ومن به

تضيء سما العليا وتسمو المفاخر

O my master, judge of judges, through whom

The sky of eminence shines and glories soar,

اليك فخذها من لساني حديقة

يشوع الشذا من نشرها وهو عاطر

Here, take it from my tongue: a garden

From whose unfolding fragrance wafts, sweet-scented.

من الزرد المنظوم احكمت نسجها

فكانت دروعا للقا ومغافر

I perfected its weave of linked mail-rings,

So it became coats of mail for battle and mail helmets.

وليس على منوالها ونسيجها

يحوك ابن برد لا ولا حاك شاعر

Nor upon its loom, nor in its weave,

Does Ibn Burd weave—no, nor has any poet woven.

فدونك مدحا قد تنظم دره

له انت يا بحر المكارم ناشر

Take, then, praise whose pearls have been strung;

You, O sea of noble virtues, spread it abroad.

وجد لي بمال قد تقدم ذكره

فاني على طول المدا لك ذاكر

And be generous to me with the money already mentioned,

For I shall remember you through the long course of time.

وما غبت عن عيني وان كنت غائبا

فشخصك في قلبي كأنك حاضر

You have not left my sight, even when you were absent;

Your image is in my heart, as though you were present.

واني لارجو الجود منك تكرماً

لأنك بالافضال والجود غامر

And I do hope for generosity from you, as an act of grace,

For you overflow with beneficence and generosity.

ومن ذا الذي يخشى صروف زمانه

وانت له يوما ولي وناصر

Who is there that fears the vicissitudes of his time,

When you are his guardian and helper, even for a day?

فلا زلت ترقى في سما المجد صاعدا

وتعنو لعلياك النجوم الزواهر

So may you never cease to climb, rising in the sky of glory,

And may the radiant stars bow before your exalted rank.

ودمت مدى الايام هبت الصبا

وما حركت عوداً وغرد طائر

May you endure through the days, while the east wind blows,

And as long as it stirs a bough and a bird sings.