قالوا امتدح فخر البرية أحمدا

بقصيدة تشدو برفعة شانه

They said, “Praise Ahmad, the pride of creation,

in a poem that sings of his lofty standing.”

فأجبتهم ماذا أقول بمدح من

اثنى عليه الله في فرقانه

I answered them: What can I say in praise of one

whom God has praised in His Criterion?

كالشمس قد حفت بنور ساطع

ليس السواد هناك من الوانه

Like the sun, he is surrounded by radiant light;

there is no blackness among its colors.

اكبر باصلاح اقام مناره

يهدي به والجهل في طغيانه

How great the reform whose beacon he raised,

guiding by it while ignorance runs rampant!

وبنى به رب العباد لحزبه

دينا سيظهره على اديانه

And through him the Lord of humankind built for His followers

a faith He will make prevail over His other faiths.

ما اسطاعت الاحداث مهما حاولت

نقضاً لركن قام من اركانه

Time’s vicissitudes, however much they tried, could not

demolish a single standing pillar among its pillars.

حسب العروبة انها ارتفعت به

شأنا وعزّ الحق بعد هوانه

It is enough for Arabhood that through him it rose

in stature, and truth grew mighty after its abasement.

وتوسع الملك الذي اسطاعوا له

فتحا مبينا زاد في عمرانه

And the realm expanded, for which they achieved

a clear conquest that added to its prosperity.

ليت العروبة حافظت في سيرها

بعد الظهور به على سلطانه

Would that Arabhood, along its course, had preserved,

after its ascendancy through him, its sovereignty.

ليت الشعوب تظافرت ما بينها

لتعيد مجداً زال في ريعانه

Would that the peoples joined forces among themselves,

to restore a glory that vanished in its prime.

انا لست للملأ الشتيت مكلما

ما ليس حين يهمّ في امكانه

I do not speak to the scattered multitude

of what lies beyond its power when it resolves to act.

المؤمنون وان تناءوا اخوة

والمرء محتاج الى اخوانه

Believers, though far apart, are brothers,

and a man has need of his brothers.

ليس الحياة سوى جهاد دائم

لا تنكص الابطال عن ميدانه

Life is nothing but ceaseless struggle;

heroes do not retreat from its arena.

ولرب امر ليس يعرف ماله

من قيمة الا لدى فقدانه

And many a thing goes unrecognized

for its worth, save when it is lost.

اما الكتاب فقاطع برهانه

من صدق لهجته وحسن بيانه

As for the Book, its proof is decisive,

through the truth of its speech and the beauty of its expression.

قد لاح وجه الحق في توحيده

عند انغماس الشرك في بطلانه

The face of truth shone forth in its affirmation of God’s oneness,

while polytheism lay steeped in its falsehood.

ولو انني اعملت فكري حقبة

ما زدت برهانا على برهانه

And even if I set my mind to work for an age,

I could add no proof to its proof.

من ذا اناحتي اقوم بمدحه

بل اين شعري من علو مكانه

Who am I to undertake his praise?

Rather, where does my verse stand beside his lofty station?

كم قد رددت الشعر عنه قائلا

هذا مجال لست من فرسانه

How often I have held my verse back from him, saying:

“This is an arena; I am not one of its horsemen.”

شعري كطفل قد مشى متعثراً

يهدي اليه الورد في اردانه

My verse is like a child taking stumbling steps,

offering him roses in his sleeves.

الشعر في معناه سر جلاله

لا في قواقيه ولا اوزانه

The secret of poetry’s grandeur lies in its meaning,

not in its rhymes, nor in its meters.

اما معاني ما اقول فانها

دون الذي ارمى الى احسانه

As for the meanings of what I say, they are

short of what I aspire to perfect.

اني لمعترف بعجزي وهولي

عذر يضيق الصدر عن كتمانه

Indeed, I confess my inability; it serves me as

an excuse my breast cannot bear to conceal.

واذا امرؤ ظن الكمال لنفسه

فالظن برهان على نقصانه

And if a man supposes himself perfect,

that supposition is proof of his imperfection.