لَقَد عَلِمَت يَحيى مُوافِيَةُ العُلا
فَضائِلُ آباءٍ تَلَتها فَضائِلُه
Yahya has indeed been known as one who unfailingly attains the heights—
by ancestral virtues, followed in turn by virtues of his own.
فَحازَ طَريفَ المَجدِ بَعدَ تَليدِهِ
رَفيعٌ يَطولُ النَجمَ حينَ يُطاوِلُه
Thus he won glory newly earned, after the glory inherited of old:
lofty, he overtops the star whenever it vies with him.
فَتى غُرَّةُ الأَيّامِ حُسنُ صَنيعِهِ
وَتيجانُها أَخلاقُهُ وَشَمائِلُه
A youth whose fair deeds are the radiant brow of the days,
and whose character and noble traits are their crowns.
وَما هُوَ إِلّا المُزنُ تَصفو خِلالُهُ
وَيَعلو مُبَوّاهُ وَيَبكُرُ هاطِلُه
He is nothing but the rain cloud: pure are his qualities,
high is his station, and early comes his downpour.
وَكَيفَ يَبيتُ الجارُ مِنكَ عَلى صَدى
وَكَفُّكَ بَحرٌ لُجَّةُ الجودِ ساحِلُه
How could your neighbor pass the night parched with thirst,
when your hand is a sea whose very shore is generosity's abyss?
Sol 5.6