الدهر قد حسنت بكم أيامه

وزها ببيتكم البديع نظامه

Time's days have grown fair through you,

And its order shines through your wondrous house.

وبكم قد اعتدل الزمان وأشرقت

أوقاته وزهت لكم أعوامه

Through you time has found balance, and radiant are

Its hours; for you its years have flourished.

وبمثلكم في الكون أقسم لم يجد

أبدا ولم تحنث بكم أقسامه

I swear, it has bestowed none like you upon the world,

Ever; nor have its oaths by you proved false.

ودمشق حين حللتم ساحاتها

أنسَ الغريب بها فطاب مقامه

And Damascus, when you entered its precincts,

The stranger felt at home there, and his stay grew sweet.

وسمت على الشهباء بالشقرا التي

قد ساد أبلقها وعز مرامه

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

Ablaq has reigned supreme and is hard to attain.

واخضر مربعها ومرتعها الذي

لي ريم رامة اذكرت آرامه

Its spring grounds and its pasture grew green, whose

Gazelles recalled for me the gazelle of Rama.

وتقمص الدوح الشذا من نشركم

فزها ومنه تفتحت اكمامه

The great trees clothed themselves in fragrance from your perfume,

And flourished; from it their buds unfolded.

وربت بكم في الحسن ربوتها التي

قد زاد عاشقها بكم نهيامه

Through you its hill has risen in beauty, that hill

Whose lover's passion has grown greater through you.

وافتر ملثمها فأنسى ماؤهُ

ريقَ الحبيب وما حواه لثامه

Its veiled one smiled, its water making one forget

The beloved's saliva and what his veil concealed.

والجامع الامويّ أصبح مفرداً

علما وقد رفعت بكم أعلامه

And the Umayyad Mosque has become peerless,

A beacon, with its banners raised through you.

ورقى بمنبره خطيب جمالكم

وتلا فاطرب سجعه وكلامه

The preacher of your beauty ascended its pulpit,

And recited; his rhymed prose and speech stirred delight.

والشرع قد رفعت قواعده بكم

وعلت بفضل كمالكم احكامه

The foundations of sacred law have been raised through you,

And its rulings exalted by virtue of your perfection.

قاضي القضاة المالكي ومن سمت

في كل اقليم به اقلارمه

The Maliki chief judge, through whom have risen high

His pens in every region.

من سعده ما زال يخدمه الى

ان قلت هذا عبده وغلامه

He whose good fortune has kept serving him, 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 eminence and soared thereby,

Until his station rose above the star al-Simak.

فالدر يحسن من يديه نثاره

ويشوقني من لفظ فيه نظامه

Pearls are lovely when scattered from his hands,

And their stringing in his spoken words fills me with longing.

لا يعتريه في العطا ملل ولا

يثنيه عن طلب العلا لوامه

No weariness overtakes him in giving, nor

Do his reproachers deter him from seeking eminence.

عقدت لعلياه الخناصر في الورى

وعن الزمان به انجلى ابهامه

People bend their little fingers in acknowledgment of his eminence,

And through him time's obscurity is dispelled.

حرم به من حل عنه خطوبه

رفعت وحطت في الورى آثامه

He is a sanctuary: whoever dwells with him has his troubles

Lifted and his sins among humankind cast off.

فالغيث ليس له كنائله ولا

لليث في يوم الوغى اقدامه

Rain has no bounty like his, nor

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

فيراعه يوم الكتيبة لدنه

ولسانه يوم الجدل حسامه

For his reed pen, on the battalion's day, is his supple spear,

And his tongue, on the day of disputation, 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 his Bistam?

تهتز للجدوى شمائله كما

يهتز من فرط الدلال قوامه

His noble traits stir to generosity, just as

His figure sways with an excess of coquetry.

لا عيب فيه غير ان نزيله

عنه تذب عبوده وذمامه

He has no fault, except that his guest

Is defended by his slaves and his pledged protection.

سقيا له من روض علم زاهر

قد فاح من طيب الثناء خزامه

May rain bless him, a blooming garden of learning,

Whose lavender has spread the perfume of praise.

بالفجر اقسم انه في عصره

وتر الزمان وفرده وامامه

By dawn I swear that in his age

He is time's unique one, its peerless one and its leader.

بحر اذا استمطرت سحب اكفه

يوم النوال عليك جاد غمامه

An ocean: if you ask the clouds of his palms for rain,

On the day of giving, his rainclouds pour upon you.

عارا ارى عنه القعود بمدحه

وهو الذي في الله كان قيامه

I deem it shameful to sit back from praising him,

When his own standing was for God's sake.

يا ابن الكرام الطيبين ومن بهم

قد زال عن كبد العليل سقامه

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

Sickness has departed from the sufferer's liver.

رفعت عن العاني الخطوب بكم كما

حطت عن الجاني بكم آثامه

Through you afflictions are lifted from the captive, just as

Through you the sinner's sins are lifted from him.

يكفيكم شرفا بان عليكم

تتلى صلاة الله ثم سلامه

It is honor enough for you that upon you

God's blessing is recited, and then His peace.

لا زال يزهو الابتداء بذكركم

وبمدحكم يحلو المديح ختامه

May the beginning ever flourish with mention of you,

And may praise's ending grow sweet with praising you.