جاءَ الرَّبيعُ بوردِهِ وبهارِهِ

فَلْيَسْعَ ساقينا بكأس عقاره

Spring came with its roses and blooms

So let our cupbearer quench us with a cup of its perfume

وليشربنَّ الرَّاح ناشد لذَّة

لم يُلفِها إلاَّ لدى أزهاره

And let the breeze drink, craving the pleasure

That it found only near its flowers

يا أيُّها الندماء دونكم الَّتي

تشفي نجيَّ الهمِّ بعد بواره

O you, my boon companions, you have wine

That heals the worries of one in distress after misery

صفراء صافية تزيل بصفوها

ما كابدَ الإِنسان من أكداره

Yellow, pure, it eliminates with its purity

What man has endured of troubles

يسعى بها أحوى أغنُّ كأَنَّه

ريمُ الفلاة بجيده ونفاره

With it the love-sick wanders as rich as

A desert rain in its prime and fecundity

في مجلسٍ بزغَتْ شموسُ مرامه

وجلى لنا فيه سنا أقماره

In a gathering where its hopes have blossomed

And its moons and suns were revealed to us

لله ما فعلَ السُّرور بموطنٍ

تجري كُمَيْتُ الرَّاح في مضماره

What joy did to a place

Where the gentle breeze blows in its expanse

أمبادرَ اللّذّات أَيَّةَ آية

أجرى بسعي منادمٍ وبداره

Hastening pleasures, which verse

Set in motion in the assembly and its abode

خذها إذا اكْتَسَتِ الكؤوس بصبغها

خلع الوَقُورُ بها ثياب وقاره

Take it when cups are filled with its color

As solemnity takes off its clothes and gravity

ومورد الوَجَنات إنْ حيَّيْتَه

حيّى بوجنته وآس عذاره

And if you greet its elbow-crooked one

He will greet you with his bent arm and forearm

ظبيٌ أُسودُ الغاب من قُتَلائِه

وصوارم الأَلحاظ من أنصاره

A black antelope of the forest, deadly to its hunters

And sharp swords to its supporters

قمرٌ إذا ما لاحَ ضوءُ جبينه

أَصلى فؤادَ الصَّبِّ جذوةَ ناره

A moon that when the light of its forehead appeared

Set aflame the heart of the beholder with its fire

ويقول ثائر من أُبيدَ بلحظه

من آخذٌ يا للرجال بثاره

And a rebel says, when annihilated by its glance,

Who will take vengeance, O men, for his vengeance?

إنِّي لأعْلَمُ أَنَّه في ريقه

ما راح يسقي الرَّاح في مِسْطاره

I know that in its saliva

The breeze did not quench its thirst at its watering place

فرشَ الرَّبيعُ لنا خمائِلَ سُنْدُسٍ

خضرٍ تَفوحُ برنده وعراره

Spring has laid out for us green pillows of chintz

Whose blossoms and flowers exude fragrance

شكراً لآثار الغَمام بروضهِ

فَلَهُ اليدُ البيضاءُ في آثاره

Thanks for the traces of clouds in its meadow

For it has the white hand in its traces

روضٌ محاسنُ أَرضِه كسمائه

وشروقُ بهجة ليله كنهاره

A meadow whose beauties are like its sky

And the rising of its joy like its daytime

فاشرب على النَّغمات من أطياره

فكأَنَّها النغماتُ من أوتاره

So drink to the melodies of its birds

As if they are melodies from its strings

تتراقَصُ الأَغصان من طربٍ به

ما بينَ شدوِ حمامه وهزاره

The branches dance out of rapture through it

Between the cooing of its doves and their murmurs

لا تنكروا ميلَ الغصونِ فإنَّما

هذي الغصونُ شَرِبْنَ من أنهاره

Do not deny the branches' inclination, for they are

Branches that drank from its rivers

وإذا أَتى فصلُ الرَّبيع فبادروا

لتناهب اللّذّات في آذاره

And when the spring season comes, hasten

To pluck pleasures in its months

فكأَنَّه وَجْه الخرائد مسفراً

كلّ الجمال يلوحُ في أسفاره

It is as if it were the radiant face of virgins

All beauty shining through in their unveiling

وتَنَزَّهوا في كلّ روضٍ معشبٍ

لا سيَّما بالغضِّ من نوَّاره

And go on a promenade in every verdant garden

Especially those with Soft breezes and ripples

ولقد أسَرَّ لي النَّسيم أَريجَه

خبراً رواه العِطر عن عَطَّاره

And the breeze has whispered to me the fragrance

Of news that the perfume told about its perfumer

فإذا تَنَفَّستِ الصّبا باحتْ بما

كتمته بالأَنفاس من أسراره

So when the morning breeze exhales with what

It has concealed of secrets in its breath

يا حبَّذا زمنٌ يزيدك بهجةً

يحكي عليَّ القدر باستيثاره

O excellent is a time that increases your delight

When fate relates to me in its monopoly

متهلّل للوافدين كأَنَّه

روضٌ سقاه الغيث من مدراره

Joyful to newcomers as if it were

A meadow watered by heavy rains from its cloudburst

فتعطَّرَتْ أنفاسه وتبرَّجت

أزهاره في وَبْلِهِ وقطاره

Its breaths then became fragrant and

Its flowers bloomed in its wetness and train

نَشَرَتْ محاسنُ طيّه من بعد ما

سَحَبَ السَّحاب عليه فضلَ إزاره

The beauties of its fold spread after

The clouds drew away their overhanging hem

ذاكَ النَّقيب له مناقبُ جَمَّةٌ

عَدَدَ النُّجوم يَلُحْنَ من آثاره

That leader has many merits

As many as the stars, his traces declare

بأبي الشَّريف الهاشميّ فإنَّه

سادَ الأنامَ بمجده وفخاره

By my father, the noble Hashimite, he

Has surpassed all people with his glory and pride

زاكي العناصر طيِّبٌ من طيِّبٍ

فَرْعٌ رسول الله أَصْلُ نجاره

Fine-natured from the good, a twig

Of the Messenger of God, the root of his carpenter

نورُ النُّبوَّة ساطعٌ من وجهه

أوَ ما نرى ما لاحَ من أنواره

The light of prophecy radiant from his face

Or do we not see what shines from his lights?

عذب النوال لسائليه وإنَّه

كالشّهد تجنيه يدا مشتاره

Sweet of gifts to those who ask, and he

Is like honey, harvested by a hand that picks it

تيَّار ذاك البحر يعذُبُ ماؤه

فاغرفْ نميرَ الماء من تيَّاره

The current of that sea, its water is sweet

So draw a drink of the water from its currents

كرِّرْ حديثك لي بمدْح ممجَّدٍ

يحلو إلى الأَسماع في تكراره

Repeat to me your words praising the glorious

Whose repetition is sweet to hear

إنْ أَمْتَدِحْهُ بألفِ ألف قصيدةٍ

لم أَبْلُغِ المعشار من معشاره

If I were to praise him with a thousand eulogies

I would not reach a tenth of a tenth of him

جَرَّدْته لوَ انَّ الدهر حازَ أمانه

ما جارَ معتدياً على أحراره

If fate had guaranteed him safety

No transgressor would have wronged his freemen

هو رحمةٌ نزلتْ على أخياره

وهو الخيار المصطفى لخياره

He is a mercy sent down upon his virtuous ones

And he is the elite chosen ones for his elite

فَلَقَدْ تعالى في علوِّ مقامه

حتَّى رأيت البدر من أنظاره

He has indeed transcended in the loftiness of his status

Until I saw the moon from his eyes

أَمِنَ المخوفَ من الزَّمان كأَنّما

أخَذَ العهودَ عليه من أخطاره

He feels safe from the frightening world as if

He had taken covenants from its dangers

اليُمن كوَّن واليسارُ كلاهما

في الدَّهر طوع يمينه ويساره

Good fortune he created and luck - both

In life obey his right hand and his left

أميسّر الأَمر العسير أَعِدْ إلى

عبدٍ يراكَ اليسر في إعساره

He has facilitated the difficult matter - return to

A servant whom you see easiness in his hardship

نظراً تريه به السَّعادة كلَّها

يا مَن يراه السَّعد في أنظاره

A look you give him with which he sees all

Good fortune, O he whom fortune sees in his eyes

مستحضر فيك المديح وحاضرٌ

منك الغنى أبداً مع استحضاره

In you is praise ready and with you

Wealth forever while remembering it

يا سيِّداً لا زال في إحسانه

من فضله بلجينه ونضاره

O master, your benevolence does not cease

To distinguish him with its freshness and youth

أوليته منك المكارم فاجتنى

ثمرات غرسِ يديك من أفكاره

You have granted him your generosity so he has gained

Fruits from the orchards of your ideas

فلكم غرستَ من الجميل مغارساً

كانَ الثناء عليك من أثماره

So how many beautiful orchards have you planted

Whose praises of you were among its fruits?

واقْبَلْ من الدَّاعي لمجدك عُمْرَهُ

ما يستقلّ لديك من أشعاره

And accept from one who prays for your glory his lifetime

However little he can offer of his poetry