الدهر قد حسنت بكم أيامه

وزها ببيتكم البديع نظامه

Time's days have grown fair through you,

and its order has shone through your wondrous house.

وبكم قد اعتدل الزمان وأشرقت

أوقاته وزهت لكم أعوامه

Through you time found balance, and radiant grew

its hours; for you its years flourished.

وبمثلكم في الكون أقسم لم يجد

أبدا ولم تحنث بكم أقسامه

And time swore it had found no one like you in the world,

ever; nor have its oaths concerning you proved false.

ودمشق حين حللتم ساحاتها

أنسَ الغريب بها فطاب مقامه

And Damascus, when you alighted in its precincts—

the stranger felt at ease there, and his stay became sweet.

وسمت على الشهباء بالشقرا التي

قد ساد أبلقها وعز مرامه

It rose above al-Shahba through al-Shaqra, whose

al-Ablaq reigned supreme and was hard to attain.

واخضر مربعها ومرتعها الذي

لي ريم رامة اذكرت آرامه

And green grew its spring grounds and its pasture, whose

gazelles recalled to me the gazelle of Rama.

وتقمص الدوح الشذا من نشركم

فزها ومنه تفتحت اكمامه

The great trees donned fragrance from your perfume;

they flourished, and from it their buds unfolded.

وربت بكم في الحسن ربوتها التي

قد زاد عاشقها بكم نهيامه

Through you its hill rose higher in beauty,

its lover's passion growing stronger through you.

وافتر ملثمها فأنسى ماؤهُ

ريقَ الحبيب وما حواه لثامه

And its veiled one smiled; his water made one forget

the beloved's saliva and all his veil enclosed.

والجامع الامويّ أصبح مفرداً

علما وقد رفعت بكم أعلامه

And the Umayyad Mosque has become peerless,

a beacon, its banners raised through you.

ورقى بمنبره خطيب جمالكم

وتلا فاطرب سجعه وكلامه

The preacher of your beauty climbed its pulpit,

and recited; his rhymed prose and words delighted.

والشرع قد رفعت قواعده بكم

وعلت بفضل كمالكم احكامه

The foundations of sacred law have been raised through you,

and its rulings rose high by virtue of your perfection.

قاضي القضاة المالكي ومن سمت

في كل اقليم به اقلارمه

Chief judge of the Maliki school, whose

pens rose high through him in every land;

من سعده ما زال يخدمه الى

ان قلت هذا عبده وغلامه

one whose good fortune has served him unceasingly, until

I said: 'This is his slave and his page.'

مولى رقى درج العلا وسما بها

حتى علا فوق السماك مقامه

A lord who climbed the steps of glory and rose through it,

until his station rose above al-Simak.

فالدر يحسن من يديه نثاره

ويشوقني من لفظ فيه نظامه

Beautiful are the pearls scattered from his hands;

and their strings, in the words from his mouth, stir my longing.

لا يعتريه في العطا ملل ولا

يثنيه عن طلب العلا لوامه

Giving never brings him weariness, nor

do his reproachers turn him from pursuing glory.

عقدت لعلياه الخناصر في الورى

وعن الزمان به انجلى ابهامه

Among mankind, little fingers are folded to mark his greatness,

and through him time's obscurity was dispelled.

حرم به من حل عنه خطوبه

رفعت وحطت في الورى آثامه

He is a sanctuary; whoever lodges with him finds his troubles

lifted away, and his sins remitted among mankind.

فالغيث ليس له كنائله ولا

لليث في يوم الوغى اقدامه

For rain has no bounty to match his, nor

does the lion have his daring on the day of battle.

فيراعه يوم الكتيبة لدنه

ولسانه يوم الجدل حسامه

His reed pen on the day of battle is his supple spear,

and his tongue on the day of debate is his sword.

ما حاتم في الجةود ان ذكر الندى

ما عنتر في البأس ما بسطامه

What is Hatim in generosity, when bounty is mentioned?

What is Antar in valor? What is the age's Bistam?

تهتز للجدوى شمائله كما

يهتز من فرط الدلال قوامه

His noble traits stir at generosity, just as

his figure sways with overflowing coquetry.

لا عيب فيه غير ان نزيله

عنه تذب عبوده وذمامه

No flaw has he, save that his guest

is shielded by his slaves and his pledge of protection.

سقيا له من روض علم زاهر

قد فاح من طيب الثناء خزامه

May rain bless him, a flourishing garden of learning,

whose lavender has spread the sweet fragrance of praise.

بالفجر اقسم انه في عصره

وتر الزمان وفرده وامامه

By dawn I swear that in his age

he is time's unmatched one, its unique man and its leader.

بحر اذا استمطرت سحب اكفه

يوم النوال عليك جاد غمامه

A sea: if you ask the clouds of his palms for rain,

on the day of bounty his clouds pour generously upon you.

عارا ارى عنه القعود بمدحه

وهو الذي في الله كان قيامه

I deem it shameful to hold back from praising him,

for he is the one whose stand was for God.

يا ابن الكرام الطيبين ومن بهم

قد زال عن كبد العليل سقامه

O son of the noble and pure, and of those through whom

the sufferer's sickness has left his liver.

رفعت عن العاني الخطوب بكم كما

حطت عن الجاني بكم آثامه

Through you, troubles are lifted from the captive, just as

through you the offender's sins are remitted.

يكفيكم شرفا بان عليكم

تتلى صلاة الله ثم سلامه

It is honor enough for you that upon you

God's blessing is recited, followed by His peace.

لا زال يزهو الابتداء بذكركم

وبمدحكم يحلو المديح ختامه

May the opening ever shine with mention of you,

and the ending of praise grow sweet in praising you.