تجلَّى فقلت البدر والليل شعره

وماسَ فقلت الغصن والحلي زهره

He appeared, so I said the full moon and the night is his hair

And he touched, so I said the branch and the jewelry is his flower

وأفصح عن ألفاظه وابتسامه

فأعجبني نظم الجمان ونثره

And he spoke eloquently with his words and smile

So I admired the prose of beauty and its poetry

مليح يغيظُ الوردَ حمرةَ خدّه

ويطوي حديث العنبر الورد نشره

Beautiful, angering the rose with the redness of his cheek

And folding the speech of amber, the rose opened its petals

كأنَّ بما في الثغر نظم عقدُه

وإلاَّ بما في العقد نظّم ثغره

As if with what is in his mouth, his necklace was composed

Otherwise with what is in his necklace, his mouth was composed

عجبت لمخضرّ العِذار بخدِّه

على أنَّه يذكو ويلهب جمره

I was amazed by the greenness of passion on his cheek

That it ignites and inflames its embers

وليس عِذاراً ما أرى غير أنَّه

لماءِ حياةِ الرِّيق أقبل خضره

It is not passion what I see except that

Its greenness came from the water of life’s saliva

كلفت بهِ حلوَ اللَّمى بابليه

فمن أين يحلو عنه للمرء صبره

I tasked the sweet blame, Babylon

So where can patience be sweet for a person from him

وأسكنته قلبي الذي طارَ فرحةً

فطائره قلبي الحزين ووكره

And I settled him in my heart that flew happily

So my flying heart, its nest and burrow

ووالله ما وفيته حقَّ نزله

إذا كانَ في نارِ الحشا مستقره

By Allah I did not fulfill his right of lodging

If he stays in the fire of passion

عليَّ له أن أبذل القلب والحشا

على ما يرى في الحبِّ والأمر أمره

It is upon me to give my heart and passion for him

For what he sees in love and the matter is his matter

ويعجبني طرفٌ تدرُّ دموعه

على حسنه الغالي فلله درّه

And I like an eye that sheds its tears

On his precious beauty, so for him is its pearls

أحنُّ لوجهٍ تهتُ فيه صبابةً

فلله صبّ ضلّ إذ لاح بدرُه

I yearn for a face that youthfulness wanders in

So for Allah pours misguided as its full moon appeared

وأنصب طرفي نحو طرف يشوقني

إذا ما الْتقى في الحبِّ نصبي وكسره

And I direct my gaze towards a gaze that excites me

When they meet in love, my erection and its breakage

أما والذي قاست عليهِ جوانحي

من الضنك ما قاسَى من الردف خصره

By the one whom my wings endured from anguish

What the tight waist endured from harness

لقد زيَّن قلبي المستهام بحبِّه

كما بشهاب الدِّين قد زيّن دهره

He adorned my passionate heart with his love

As the era was adorned with the meteors of religion

رئيس كما ترضى السيادة والعلى

بهِ زال ذلّ الدهر واشْتدَّ أزره

A chief who is pleased with supremacy and highness

Through him the era’s humiliation disappeared and its burden strengthened

كثير الأيادي البيض في كلِّ مقصدٍ

إذا ما غدت تسعى على الطرس حمره

Of many white hands in every purpose

When the red horses race in the morning

عليك به إن عافت المدح الورى

وضاق به سهل الرَّجاءِ ووعره

Rely on him if the praise of mankind is wholesome

And its easy hope narrowed and roughened

سجاياه لا زَهر الرِّياض وعرفها

وجدواه لا ظلّ الغمام وقطره

His traits not the flowers of gardens and their fragrance

And his substance not the shade of clouds and their drops

إذا رمت أن تتلو على يدهِ الرَّجا

فتيسير عنوان الندى منه نشره

If you wish to recite hope through his hand

Then the diffusion of dew from him is its broadcast

رأيت لهُ فضلاً على جامعي الثنا

كما فضل الشهر المحرَّم عشره

I saw for him virtues over the collectors of praise

As the virtue of the sacred month over the ten

وقدراً إذا أضحى به الذكر طائراً

غدا واقعاً عنه من الليل نسره

And a power if the mention soars by it

It becomes incumbent from it an eagle of the night

من الباذلي الأموال والقامعي العدا

فأعداؤهُ تشكو النثارَ ونثره

From those who give wealth and suppress enemies

So his enemies complain of scattering and broadcast

له قلمٌ تنهلّ بالجودِ سحبه

وتشرق في أفق الفضائلِ زُهره

He has a pen whose clouds give generously

And its flowers shine on the horizon of virtues

عجبت له من طاهر اللفظ ظاهر

على أنه قد حاقَ في الناسِ سحره

I was amazed by the pure eloquence the manifest

That he has reached the people’s sorcery

أما وأبي العليا لقد سادَ في الورى

سيادة من أربى على الحصرِ شكره

By my father the most high he prevailed in the land

A supremacy from one who cultivated beyond gratitude

أثاب فقلنا الغيث أبداه شامه

وزادَ فقلنا النيل أهدته مصره

He rewarded so we said the rain disclosed its sky

And he gave more so we said the Nile gifted its Egypt

هو المتلقي رفعةً بتواضعٍ

ورُبَّ رفيع حطَّ علياه كبره

He is the receiver of supremacy with humility

And many a high one lowered his arrogance

وأفعاله أوفى ندًى من مقاله

وأكرم من أخباره الغرّ خبره

His actions are truer freshness than his words

And his news is more generous than reports

وأفسح من بحرِ البلاد وبرّها

ومدحي وآمالي نداه وصدره

And more spacious than the land and sea coasts

And my praise and hopes, its caller and its composure

علقت بحبل من مودته التي

هيَ الذَّخر لا بيض الثراء وصفره

I held on a rope of his affection which

Is the treasure not the white of wealth and its yellow

وعاودته بالقصدِ أجلو مدائحي

على فكرِه الأذكى وحسبي فكره

And I frequented him the best of my praises

To his most prudent mind and my mind suffices

ومن كانَ مثلي واثقاً بولائه

فيا ليت شعري ما يحاول شعره

And whoever is like me, confident in his loyalty

I wish I know what his poetry tries