هذا كِتابٌ فُصِّلت آياتُهُ

بِفَرائدٍ أَزرَت عُقودَ الجَوهَرِ

This is a book whose verses are detailed

With pearls that adorned necklaces of jewels

فاقَت فَواصِلُه القَوافي إِذ أَتَتْ

بِبَديعِ لَفظٍ بِالبَيانِ محبَّرِ

Its rhymes surpassed the intervals when they came

With eloquent words embellished with rhetoric

أَملى بِهِ الإسكندرُ الحِكَمَ الَّتي

لَم يَملِ آرسطو عَلى الاسكندرِ

Alexander dictated therein wisdoms

That Aristotle did not tire of instilling in Alexander

حِكَمٌ تُفيد ذَوي النُهى في ساعةٍ

ما لا تُفيدُهُمُ تَجارُبِ أَدهُرِ

Wisdoms that benefit the people of wisdom in an hour

What their lifelong experiences do not benefit them

أَهدى لِأَفكارِ الملا رَيحانةً

مِن رَوضِ فكرٍ بِالبَلاغةِ مُثمِرِ

He gifted the ideas of scholars fragrance

From a garden of thought fruitful with eloquence

بَرَزَت لَنا مِثل العَروسِ تَزينُها

حِبَرُ الفَصاحةِ تَحتَ رَقمٍ عَبقَري

There appeared to us examples like a bride adorned

With the ink of eloquence under masterful composition

عَربيةُ السِّربالِ ضِمنَ وَشاحِها

بِكرٌ مِن الأَعجامِ ذاتُ تَسَتُّرِ

Arabic in dress, within its cloak

A virgin of foreign origin in concealment

نَطَقَت بِمُختَرعِ الحَديثِ وَنُزِّهَت

فيما رَوتْهُ عَن مَقامِ المُفتَري

It spoke of the inventor of hadith and was purified

In what it narrated of the stance of the slanderer

لِلّهِ مُنشِئها اللَبيب فَكَم بَدَت

مِنهُ نَوابغُ حِكمةٍ لَم تُنكَرِ

To its wise originator, for how many appeared from him

Ingenuities of wisdom that cannot be denied

قَد جاءَ ما فاتَ الذينَ تَقَدَّموا

فَلِذاكَ قُلنا الفَضلُ لِلمُتَأَخِّرِ

What eluded those who came before has arrived

So we say merit belongs to the latecomer