تَمَتَّعتُ مِن شِعرِكَ الباهِرِ

بِمُعلَمِ ديباجِهِ الناضِرِ

I delighted in your radiant poetry

With its shining, embroidered teacher

وَنَزَّهتُ عَقلِيَ في رَوضَةٍ

عَلى زَهرِ أَلفاظِكَ الزاهِرِ

And I purified my mind in a garden

On the blossoming flower of your vivid words

فَإِن أَنتَ فاخَرتَ شِعري بِهِ

فَلِمَ لا تُفاخِرُ بِالفاخِرِ

So if you prided my poetry against it

Why don’t you pride yourself on the proud one?

فَتِه ما اِستَطَعتَ بِمَنظومِهِ

فَما فيهِ بَيتٌ سِوى نادِرِ

Knit what you were able with his composition

In which there is no verse but only the rare

أَما وَمَلاحَةِ تَشبيهِهِ

وَما فيهِ مِن مَثَلٍ سائِرِ

As for the proficiency of its similes

And what it contains of current examples

لَقَد رَقَّ حَتّى تَوَهَّمتُهُ

نَسيماً بِعَقبِ نَدىً قاطِرِ

It has surely softened until I imagined it

A breeze after pouring rain

وَطَبعَكَ قَد فاتَ طَبعي فَإِن

تَأَخَّرتُ عَنكَ فَكُن عاذِري

And your composition has surpassed my composition, so if

I lagged behind you, then pardon me

فَما مِثلُ سابِقِهِ إِذ جَرى

يُؤَمِّلُ إِدراكَهُ خاطِري

For none can equal the forerunner when he ran

Hoping my mind would catch up to him