لَو هاجَ مِثلُ الفَضلِ خاطِرَ شاعِرٍ

أَلقَيتَ بَينَ يَدَي سِواكَ بَواكِري

If the liking of merit had inspired a poet's mind like yours

I would have cast my first works before you

أَو لَو وَجَدَت بِمِثلِ فَضلِكَ عاذِلاً

كانَ الكَمالُ إِذا سَلَوتُكَ عاذِري

Or if I had found with merit like yours a critic

Perfection would have been mine if I asked your pardon

لَكِن سَطَوتُ عَلى القَريضِ بِأَسرِهِ

وَغَدَوتُ أَعذَبَ مَنهَلٍ لِلخاطِرِ

But I gained mastery over poetry in its entirety

And became the sweetest spring for the mind

فَزَهَوتُ بَينَ مَدارِكٍ وَمَشاهِدٍ

وَسَمَوتُ بَينَ بَصائِرٍ وَبَواصِرِ

So I triumphed among positions and sights

And soared between visions and insights

أَو كَيفَ لا تَسمو وَمِثلُكَ مَن حَوى

بِأَعَزِّ نَفسٍ كُلِّ خَلقٍ باهِرِ

Or how could I not soar when one like you contained

The noblest soul of all existent beings

عَلَمٌ عَلى عَمَلٍ عَلى قَلَمٍ غَدا

في الخَطبِ يَهزَأُ بِالحُسامِ الباتِرِ

A flag above a deed above a pen that marched

In speeches mocking the piercing sword

وَفَضائِلٌ تَستَنطِقُ الأَفواهُ مِن

كُلِّ البَرِيَّةِ بِالثَناءِ العاطِرِ

And virtues that make all mouths speak

Of all humanity with fragrant praise

عَلامَةَ العُلَماءِ وَالبَحرِ الَّذي

لا يَنتَهي مِثلَ البِحارِ لِآخِرِ

The sign of scholars and the sea that

Does not end like seas to the last

يا أَيُّها العِلمُ الَّذي أَوصافُهُ

أَضحَت رِياضَ قَرائِحٍ وَضَمائِرِ

O knowledge whose descriptions

Have become gardens of intuitions and consciences

شَهِدَ الزَمانُ لَنا بِأَنَّكَ فَردُهُ

مِن كُلِّ بادٍ في الأَنامِ وَحاضِرِ

Time has testified for us that you are its unique one

From every wind among people of past and present

يا أَوحَدَ العَصرِ الَّذي عَقَدَت عَلى

تَقديمِهِ في الفَضلِ خَيرُ خَناصِرِ

O unique one of the age for whom the best

Of successors competed in superior merit

لا غَروَ أَن أُهدي إِلَيكَ رَقائِقي

وَأَنا رَقيقُ فَضائِلٍ وَمَآثِرِ

No wonder I dedicate to you my gentle poems

While I am gentle in merits and glories

لَيسَ القَريضُ سِوى تَأَثُّرُ خاطِرٍ

مِمّا بِهِ لِلمَرءِ قُرَّةُ ناظِرِ

Poetry is but the feeling of a moved mind

With which one's gaze finds comfort

تُمسي المَحاسِنُ وَهيَ فيهِ بِواعِثٌ

لِلشِعرِ بَينَ مُسَبِّبٍ وَمُباشِرِ

Beauties, while arousing in it, are reasons

For poetry between causer and effector

غُرَرٌ عَلى الأَيّامِ لَولاها لَما

لاحَت وُجوهُ الدَهرِ غَيرَ بَواسِرِ

Rarities across days without which

The faces of time would not shine but glower

لَم تُبرِحِ الشُعَراءُ صَرعى نَشوَةٍ

بِرَحيقِها مِن سالِفٍ وَمَحاصِرِ

Poets have not ceased victims of rapture

By its nectar from ancient to recent

فَإِذا اِنجَلَت في مِثلِ ذاتِكَ مَرَّةً

كُنتُ أُلاحِقُ بِكُلِّ مَقولٍ شاكِرِ

So if it coalesces in one like you once

I would match every utterance with gratitude

يا مَن غَدا بِعَوارِفٍ وَمَعارِفٍ

يُزري عَلى لَجَجِ العُبابِ الزاخِرِ

O you who with customs and knowledge

Laughs at the nonsense of the teeming riffraff

أُهديكَ بَعضاً مِن عَقيقِ قَريحَتي

يا بَحرُ لَكِن لا أَقولُ جَواهِري

I gift you some of my heart's coral

O sea, but I do not say my jewels

أَبياتُ إِحسانٍ وَلَيسَ جَميعُها

مِن كُلِّ بَيتٍ بِالمَحاسِنِ عامِرِ

Verses of devotion not all of which

Are filled with beauties from each verse

قَد جادَها صَوبَ الصِبا وَبِنَشرِها

نَمَّ الصِبا عَن كُلِّ عُرفٍ زافِرِ

He flowed them towards youth, and by disseminating them

Youth slept from every customary bond

دَرَجَت مَعي أَطوارُ عُمرٍ واصِلٍ

ما جاشَ مِن يَومٍ بِلَيلٍ ساهِرِ

I went through stages of an intimate life

That knew no day or night of wakefulness

قَد باكَرَتني قَبلَ صادِقِ فَجرِهِ

مُذكُنتُ مِن أَعوامِهِ في العاشِرِ

It surprised me before the truthful dawn

Since I was ten years old

أَو حَت إِلى قَلبي الهَوى فَشَعَرتُ إِذ

غُصنَ الصَبابَةِ لا يَميلُ لِهاصِرِ

Or until passion crept into my heart when

The branch of youth bends not towards a plucker

فَمَضَيتُ بَينَ كَمائِلٍ وَمَفاخِرٍ

وَمَشَيتُ بَينَ خَمائِلٍ وَأَزاهِرِ

So I went on between perfections and glories

And walked between beauties and flowers

ما قُلتُ ذا فَخراً وَلا عَجَباً وَما

مِن مُعجِبٍ في نَظمِها أَو فاخِرِ

I spoke this neither boasting nor marveling and there is not

Among its composers one boastful or proud

لَكِن لَتَرفَقَ غَيرَ مَأَمورٍ بِها

فَلَكُم خَطَت طَوراً لِنَيلِ الحاضِرِ

But so it may treat gently one not commanded by it

For you it marched a stretch to gain the present

مَكَنتُها بَعدَ النِزاعِ وَكَم حَكَت

قَلَقَ القِداحِ بَدَت بِكَفَّي ياسِرِ

I enabled it after strife, and how often it described

The shaking of lances that appeared in my hands dexterous

حَتّى أَتَت مِن بَعدِ تَربِيَتي لَها

حَسبي وَأَن لَم تَغدُ مِلءَ مَحاجِري

Until after my cultivation of it, it came to have

Enough for me that it did not fill my grasp

عَوَّضتُ ما خَسِرتُهُ مِن حُسنٍ بِما

رُفِعَت إِلَيكَ فَلَم أَكُن بِالخاسِرِ

I compensated what beauty I lost with what

Was raised to you, so I was no loser

فَكُنِ الوَصِيَّ عَلى يَتامى ناظِمٍ

وَبَناتِ فِكرٍ في ثَناكَ قَواصِرِ

So be the guardian over the orphans of a composer

And daughters of thought in your embrace still young

أَهدَيتُها لا كَي تَليقُ وَطالَما

قَبلُ الكَبيرُ هَدِيَّةً مِن صاغِرِ

I gifted them not so they may suit, and often

The great accepts a gift from the small

هِيَ دونَ ما يُهدي إِلَيكَ وَإِنَّما

مِثلي عَلى ما فاقَ لَيسَ بِقادِرِ

They are beneath what is gifted you, but one like me

Is not able beyond the superior