أرنَّ في عَذَباتِ الأيكِ مِرْنانُ

ولاحَ للبرْقِ إِسرارٌ وإِعلانُ

The birds sing melodiously in the thickets,

As lightning flashes mysteriously in revelation.

فاهتاجَ قلبي زهير في الضلوع إلى

ذكر الأحبَّة والإِسكان جَنّانُ

So my heart flutters within my ribs

Remembering my loved ones and homes so dear.

ونازعٌ من رسيسِ الحبِّ مدّكرٌ

وراءَهُ جيرةً شَطَّتْ وأوطانُ

And one who skirts the edge of passion’s domain

Leaving behind the lands of his people.

مراتعٌ للصبا ميثاءٌ مُمرِعةٌ

ومأْلَفٌ كلُّه حسنٌ وإِحسان

Pastures for youth, refuges of intimacy,

Where all is beauty and bounty intertwined.

وفتيةٌ هُمْ على إِعمالِ ما بَلَغتْ

إِليه خيلُ المنى في السرِّ أعوانُ

And lads engaged in the feats

To which the steeds of desire drove them insistently.

أيامَ روضُ والحمى تندى أراكَتُه

والعيشُ مُسترِقُ اللَّذاتِ فيْنانُ

Days of verdant meadows with tents bedewed,

And life stealing pleasure’s delights irresistibly.

وصَرْحنا من شياتِ الزهرِ في حِبَرٍ

للوشي يحسدها في الحُسنِ غُمْدانُ

Our lodgings amid blossoms’ bowers in wells,

Which palm trees envy in beauty enormously.

وفي مطالعه بدرٌ على غُصُنٍ

لقد تنازَعَهُ الخطيُّ والبَانُ

In its horizon a full moon on a branch,

Contested by the brightest star and the moon visibly.

يرنو بمنْهُوكةِ الألحاظِ فاترةٍ

كأنّما جَفْنُها بالسحْرِ غصَّانُ

It gazes with half-lowered, weary glances,

As though its lids were branches enchanted.

ما رَنَّقَتْ فيه يوماً للكرى سِنَةٌ

إِلا حسبناهُ يرنو وهو يَقْظَانُ

Never in its eyes has regret for the past

Glimmered, it still watches wakefully.

أبانَ في ملعبِ الأطواقِ عن جَيَدٍ

لم يُحْصَ فيهنَّ بالتهييفِ غَرثانُ

It shines in the playing field with a neck

Whose graceful curves cannot be counted fully.

بَدا لنا في أكاليلِ البَهارِ ضحىً

ودون إِعجابه كسرى وخاقانُ

It dawns on us in spring’s coronets like morn,

Without its graces Chosroes and the Khaqan are none.

فما نَفَضْتُ يدي عن وصفِ طلْعَتِه

حتى أناخَ بنا للفضلِ عُنوانُ

I cannot withdraw my hand from depicting its image

Until the standard of superiority stands erect loftily.

شَهْمٌ له في فنون العلمِ جامعةٌ

وراءَها منه تحقيقٌ وإِتقانُ

Arrows of knowledge in various disciplines fill his quiver,

While his achievements attest to his great mastery.

ولهجةٌ أَفصحت عنها بلاغَتُهُ

فليسَ يُدْركُها قُسٌّ وسَحْبانُ

An eloquence his rhetoric makes apparent,

Which no stubborn dullard can grasp completely.

صدرُ المحافلِ قاضي مصرَ مَنْ شَرُفَتْ

به دمشقُ وقد أضحى لها شانُ

The chief judge of Egypt whose nobility

Has brought esteem to Damascus deservedly.

وسوفَ تزهو به مصرٌ ويوسعها

فخراً فتحسدها في الشرق بَغدانُ

Egypt will soon glory in him proudly

So the East envies her deservedly.

وسوف يحيا بها رَبعُ الكمالِ به

ويستقيم لها بالشرع ميزانُ

Through him the district of perfection will thrive;

The balances of canon law will be weighted properly.

وتغتدي بثناه روضةً أُنُفاً

كأنّما حفَّها بالشِعب بَوّانُ

Through his brilliance it will don a mantle of splendor,

As though its flanks were shielded by high mountains.

مولاي هاكَ فتاةً بنتَ ليلتها

تهدّلتْ فوقها للسِحْر أغصانُ

My lord, here is a girl, daughter of his night,

Upon whom magic cast its cover irresistibly.

جاءت بتأريخ حُسْنٍ وهي مخجلةٌ

في بيتِ شِعْرٍ له في النَقدِ رجحان

She came with a date of beauty in shy silence

In a line of his verse weighted with authority.

حيّا الإله واحيى مصرَ من بلدٍ

بالجودِ والعلم وافاها سليمان

May God grant life, and grant Egypt life

With generosity, knowledge – render it Solomon!