هنيئاً لأفق الفضل إنك بدرهُ

وإن سجاياك الكريمة زُهره

Congratulations to the horizon of virtue, you are its full moon

And your noble qualities are its flowers

قدمت قدومَ الغيث يهمي نواله

ويعبق ريَّاه ويبسم ثغره

You brought the coming of rain that pours its drink

And its scent wafts, and its lips smile

وقبلك لم تبصر بنو الشام وابلاً

من الغيثِ تهدِيه إلى الشامِ مصره

Before you, the people of Syria never saw rainclouds

Bring rain to Syria from Egypt, its place of departure

وأقبلت إقبالَ البدور حقيقةً

على جائر الأيام أظلم دهره

You came like the full moons, truly

To the injustice of time, the darkest of its eras

وما كانَ لولا نور وجهك طالعاً

من الغربِ بدرٌ يملأ الأرض بشره

If not for the light of your face rising

From the west, a full moon filling the earth with its light

وأنت الذي في مصر والشام أشرقت

معاليه فاسْتولى على النجمِ قدره

You are the one who in Egypt and Syria shone

Your glories, so it dominated the star of fate

لك الصدر من ديوان تلك وإنَّما

لصدرِك من هذا مدى الدهر سرّه

Yours is the heart from the diary of that, and only

For your heart is the secret of this lifetime

وكم أفقٍ طالت قوامُ نجمه

يقصر عن أدنى خوافيك نسره

And how many horizons stretched the standing of its star

That falls short of the lowest of your nests in height

تقر لك السادات طوعاً وعنوةً

ويحسن سرّ الفضل فيك وجهره

The masters surrender to you willingly and forcibly

And the secret of virtue in you is good openly and privately

كأنَّك في العليا أبوك سقى ثرى

أبيكَ حياً يهمي فلله درّه

It's as if in the Most High your father watered the soil

Of your father alive, pouring - so for that is his merit

وقارك في حزم الأمور وَقارُه

وبشرك في صنع المعارف بشره

Your dignity in resolute matters is his dignity

And your good tidings in the making of knowledge is his good tidings

ترحلت يا يحيى وفضلك خالدٌ

هو البحر إلاَّ أنَّ جعفرَ نهره

You traveled, O Yahya, and your virtue is eternal

It is the sea except that Ja'far is its river

إلهي أطلْ للدهرِ في عمرِ أحمدٍ

فيا حبَّذا الشخص الكريم ودهره

My God, prolong for the world Ahmed's life

So excellent is the generous person and his time

يؤَازِرُ أملاك الزَّمان كما ترى

فيشتدُّ بنيان الزَّمان وأزره

He assists the domains of time as you see

So the structure of time is strengthened and its pillars

ويعجبهُ فعلُ الجميل مطابقاً

فيحفظ علياه ويبذل وفره

And he admires doing good corresponding

So he preserves its heights and spends his abundance

ولا عيبَ فيه غير إفراط سؤددٍ

يشقُّ على جهد المدائح حصره

No fault in him but excess of oozing generosity

That strains the effort of praise to limit it

فتى النسب الوضَّاح والشيمِ التي

يقلّ لها من بارع الحمد كثرُه

The lad of clear lineage and morals which

Even the most eloquent eulogy falls short of abundantly praising

وذو البيت أما آلُ يحيى فنظمه

وأما أبو حفصِ الإمام فبحره

And of the house - as for the family of Yahya, its structure

And as for Abu Hafs the Imam, its ocean

تقر له السادات طوعاً وعنوةً

ويحسن سرّ الفضل فيه وجهره

The masters surrender to him willingly and forcibly

And the secret of virtue in him is good openly and privately

له قلمٌ ينحو الجميل فرفعه

لرتبة داعيه وللضدّ كسره

He has a pen that inclines to beauty, so he raised it

To the rank of its caller, and to opposites, he broke it

إذا قامَ يحيى دولة بسوادهِ

عنت دونه بيض القرَاع وسمره

When Yahya rose to power with his darkness

The white domes and red towers yielded to him

قصيرٌ لأمرٍ ما يجدّع أنفه

إلى أن رأينا الملك قد عزَّ نصره

Short for a matter he does not haughtily turn up his nose

Until we saw the king had strengthened his victory

بكف فتىً لو كان للبحر جودُهُ

لفاضَ كما فاضَ في الطرسِ درّه

With the palm of a lad who, if the sea had his munificence

It would overflow as it overflowed from his pearls

وممتدح يلقاك منه إذا بدَا

مديد العلى باهي المحيا أغرّه

And the one who praises you, when he appeared

Outstretching glory, beautiful of cheek, most youthful

يرنحه شدْوُ السؤال كأنما

تثنَّت بعطفيه وحاشاه خمره

The passion of asking bends him as if

His shoulders and cheeks were bent by his wine

أنجلَ العلى قابلتني ساعة العلى

مقابلةً لاقى بها القلبَ جبره

Most glorious you met me in the hour of glory

A meeting which mended my heart

إذا شيد في نظمِ امتداحك بيته

فما هو إلا في ذوي النظم قصره

If he builds in composing your praise his verse

It is nothing but a palace among those skilled in verse

لمدحك يا معنى النسيب تأخرت

قوافي نسيبٍ طالما طار شعره

For praising you, O essence of nobility, I was late

Rhymes of nobility long flew with its poetry

على أنني مغرًى بكلّ مقرطقٍ

بما خدّه ماءُ الحياة وخضره

Though I am tempted by every bright faced one

Touched by the water of life and its greenery

عجبت له في كأس مرشفه الطلاً

وفينا ولم يقرب من الكأس سكره

I wondered at him, in his overflowing cup, the Tallā*

While in us, and he did not come near the cup in drunkenness

ثناؤك أشهى من لماه إلى فمي

ولفظك لا حلو الوصال ومرّه

Your praise is more delicious to my mouth than its moisture

And your utterance - not the sweetness of union and its bitterness

فحسبك من قلبي صفاه وودّه

وحسبك من لفظي دعاه وشكره

So suffice you from my heart its clarity and love

And suffice you from my tongue its supplication and thanks

وحسبك عبدٌ بالجميل ملكتهُ

على أنه مستمجد القلب حرُّه

And suffice you a slave whom your kindness possessed

Though he is free in spirit, his heart is free

بقيت لداعي المدح وجهك عيده

وأنمل كفيك الكريمة عشره

There remained for the praiser of praise your face his feast

And the palms of your generous hands his decoration