أكواب زهر قد تنظم

أم خرد عرب تبسم

Are these cups of blossoms, strung together,

or bashful, amorous maidens smiling?

أم روضة هب الشمال

على خمائلها ونسم

Or a garden, where the north wind blew

over its leafy groves and wafted softly?

أم نظم دره راق نظ

مه ابن بجدتها المسلم

Or verse whose pearls delight, composed

by its acknowledged master?

نظم تود الغانيات

ثغورها منه تنظم

Verse that lovely women wish

their teeth might be strung with pearls from it.

بوركت من نظم زهى

حسناً وبورك من منظم

Blessed are you, verse that shines

in beauty; and blessed be the composer.

وموشح في النجوم الز

زهر عمر الدهر تنجم

And a strophic poem among the stars,

the bright ones, shining as a star throughout time.

لو كلم الميت الرميم

بسره جهراً تكلم

If it addressed the moldering dead,

with its secret power, they would speak aloud.

وبلاغة لو شامها قس

س لدان لها وسلم

And eloquence that, had Quss beheld it,

he would have submitted to it and conceded.

أين ابن اوس والفرز

دق والمهلهل أو متمم

Where are Ibn Aws and al-Farazdaq,

and al-Muhalhil, or Mutammim?

يا من بسيماه الورى

سيماء أهليه توسم

O you, in whose features humankind

discerns the features of your kin,

جرعت من جاراك لما

كل عند الجري علقم

you made whoever raced you swallow, when

he faltered in the race, bitter colocynth.

فأحكم على من شئت فيه

فأنت أهل أن تحكم

So judge whomever you wish in it;

for you are worthy to judge.

فلأنت من قوم بهم

رب العلى يبدي ويختم

For you are indeed of a people through whom

the Lord of the heights brings forth and brings to an end.

لولا وجودهم لما

قام الوجود وما تقوم

Were it not for their existence, never

would existence have arisen or stood firm.

بهم استجاب لآدم

دعواه والأسماء علم

Through them He answered Adam's

prayer, and taught him the names.

ونورهم سجد الملائك

حين اشرق لا لآدم

And to their light the angels bowed,

when it shone—not to Adam.

لولاهم لم ينج نوح

في سفينته ويسلم

Without them, Noah would not have survived

in his ark and remained safe.

وعلى الخيل بهم أحال

النار برداً حين تضرم

And for the horses, through them, He turned

the fire to coolness when it blazed.

وبسرهم موسى الكليم

لربه في الطور كلم

And through their secret, Moses, the interlocutor,

spoke to his Lord upon the Mount.

وبهم أعاد الميت حيا

داعياً عيسى بن مريم

And through them the dead were restored to life

by Jesus son of Mary, as he prayed.

وأنال يعقوب المنى

وأزال عنه الهم والغم

And He granted Jacob his wishes,

and removed from him worry and grief.

وبهم تجاذو النون

لما سبح الرحمن في اليم

And through them, Dhu al-Nun apparently escaped,

when he glorified the All-Merciful in the sea.

أقمار تم أشرقت

منهم بأفق الدين أنجم

Full moons; there have shone

from them, on faith's horizon, stars,

كالصالح الفعل الذي بال

فضل خص وبالندى عم

like the man of righteous deeds, who in

excellence was distinguished, and with bounty embraced all.

أسد إذا ما عبست

أسد الشرى خوفاً تبسم

A lion: whenever they scowl—

the lions of al-Shara—in fear, he smiles.

ومعظم يعنو إلى

عليائه الملك المعظم

And a revered man: bowing before

his eminence is the exalted king.

فاق الأنام فمن تأخر

عن علاه كمن تقدم

He surpassed humankind; whoever lagged

behind his eminence was like whoever advanced.

ما ضن يوماً عارض

إلا بعارضه تكرم

No raincloud ever withheld its rain

but grew generous through his cloud.

يعنو له يحيى بن أكتم

والفتى زيد بن أرقم

Yahya ibn Aktam bows to him,

and the youth Zayd ibn Arqam.

أرغمت آنافاً بغيرك

لم تكن تاللَه ترغم

You rubbed noses in the dust; by anyone but you

they had not, by God, been humbled.

بنظام عقد فرائد

تأريخها العقد المنظم

By stringing a necklace of peerless pearls,

whose chronogram is 'The Strung Necklace.'