مهَنَّدُكَ المَيمونُ كَالسَيفِ صورةً

وَلَكن فِرِندُ السَيفِ ماءٌ بِمُزنَةِ

Your auspicious sword is like an image of a sword,

But the edge of a sword is water in a scabbard.

لَئِن كانَ يَحكي الماءَ لُطفاً وَرِقَّةً

فَكَم هامَةٍ في ذَلِكَ الما غَريقَةِ

If water speaks of gentleness and tenderness,

Then how many distinguished men has that water drowned?

فِرِندٌ لَو اَنَّ الجِنَّ لَيلاً تَمُرُّ بي

سَناءً رَأَتها الأُنسُ مِن بَعدِ خِفيَةِ

An edge - if jinn passed it at night

The intimate would see it from afar in darkness.

عَبيدُكَ خَيّاطونَ في الحَربِ قَد رَأَوا

لَها بِذِراعِ الرُّمحِ أَبدان بُهمةِ

Your slaves are tailors in war, they have seen

For it bodies with the arm of a spear enfeebled.

وَقَد قَطَّعوها بِالسُيوفِ وَخَيّطوا

بأسهُمِهِم فَتقَ الجُسومِ العَصِيَّةِ

And they have cut them with swords and sewn

With their arrows rent asunder the resistant corpses.

وَبَحرُ دِماءٍ زَورَقُ الشَمسِ غارِقٌ

بِهِ وَنُجومٌ كَالحَبابِ بِخَمرةِ

And a sea of blood the boat of sun sunken

In it and stars like bubbles in a wine-skin.

فَلَو أَذهَبَت ريحٌ تُرابَ جَنابِكُمُ

إِلى النار أَضحَت ماءَ رَوضٍ بِجَنَّةٍ

If a wind took the dust of your flanks

To the fire, it would become water of a garden in paradise.

وَلَو حَلَّ في مِصرَ دُخانُ بلائِكُم

إِذَن بَلغَ الأَهرام حلق بَعوضَةِ

And if the smoke of your tribulations came to Egypt

Then it would reach the pyramids like a mosquito.

وَلَو أَنَّ مَلكاً رامَ لَثمَ ركابِكُم

وَقَد حَطَّ تَحتَ الرجل أَعلى مَكانَةِ

And if a king wanted to kiss your feet

While you have trodden underfoot the highest station,

كَراسيّ أَفلاكِ العُلا التِسعُ لَم يَصِل

لِتَقبيلِه إِلا بِأَوهامِ فِكرةِ

The nine celestial spheres would not attain

Kissing them except in flights of thought.

مَليكٌ علا الأَملاك عِزاً وَرفعةً

يُقَصِّر عَن إِدراكِها كُلُّ رِفعةِ

A king most high in sovereignty and glory

All loftiness falls short of fathoming him.

محمد في الأَفلاكِ شَمس وَإِنَّهُم

نُجومٌ مَتى يَبدو سَناهُ اِضمَحَلَّتِ

Muhammad in the spheres is a sun and they

Are stars: when his glory shows they are eclipsed.

أَقامَ مَنارَ الشَرعِ شرعِ محمدٍ

وَقامَ بِنَصرِ المِلَّةِ الحَنفيةِ

He established the beacon of the law, the law of Muhammad,

And stood for the victory of the Hanifite faith.

دَعا دَعوةً في مِصرَ يا لَمحمدٍ

فَكُلُّ مُلوكِ الشَرقِ طاعَت وَلَبَّتِ

He made a call in Egypt: O for Muhammad!

So all the kings of East obeyed and yielded.

إِذا آنَسَت عَيني سَناءَ عُلاكُمُ

فَقَد بَلَغَت مِن دَهرِها ما تَمَنَّتِ

When my eyes behold your sublime glory,

They have attained from time what they yearned for.

وَرُحتُ كَمثلِ الشَيخ عادَ شَبابُهُ

أَو المَيتِ يَحيا في نَعيمٍ وَغبطةِ

And I have become like an old man whose youth returned,

Or a dead man living in bliss and fortune.