فدًى لكَ مسلوب الرقاد شريده

يعاودهُ برْح الأسى ويعوده

A ransom for the one deprived of sleep, wandering

Sorrow recurs to him and returns to him

إذا ما ذكا في فحمةِ الليلِ بارقٌ

تبينَ في الأحشاءِ أين وَقوده

When a flash lights up the darkness of night

It shows in his heart where is its fuel

وإن نظمت ريح الصبا عقد حزْنه

تناثر من سلك الجفون فريده

And if the morning breeze strings his necklace of sorrow

Its unique beads scatter from the lid of his eyes

وإن ألقتْ الوُرْقُ السواجعُ درسها

أعادَ الأسى بين الضلوع معيده

And if the leaves finish their lesson

Sorrow repeats between his ribs its repeater

بروحيَ من أعطافَهُ وعذارُهُ

هي القصد لا بانُ الحمى وزرُ وده

By my soul, his compassion and his condition

Are the intention, not the appearance of fever and its fuel

ومن شيبت عشاقه زمن الصبى

شوائبُ عشقٍ لا ينادى وليده

And the one whose lovers old age whitened in the days of youth

Are the discolorations of love that doesn't call its newborn

محا رسم مغناه الغمام وما محا

لدمعيَ رسماً لا يزال يجوده

The clouds erased the drawing of his love song and didn't erase

The drawing of my tears that keeps pouring

ورُبَّ مدامٍ ثغرُه وحبابها

سواءٌ ولفظي والبكا وعقوده

How often a wine's lip and bubbles

Are equal, and my words and crying and its beads

شربت على وردِ الرُّبى وهو خدّه

وإلاَّ على سوسانها وهو جيده

I drank on the roses of bile, which are his cheeks

Unless on its lilies, which are his skin

ونبهت عيداني بنوحٍ على الدّجى

وما ناحَ قمريٌّ ولا ماسَ عوده

And I woke up my friends with crying in the darkness

Neither did my moonmate cry nor did his lute play

سروراً بإقبالِ الزمانِ وحبَّذا

سرورُ زمانٍ محكمات سعوده

Happily with the approach of time, how good

Is the happiness of time with its firmly rooted authority

وقد رقمت وشيَ الرّبى أبرُ الحيا

وجرَّت على وادِي دمشق برُوده

And the lord of bile has marked the water skins

And it dragged over the valley of Damascus its coldness

وعادت وكانَ العودُ أحمدَ دولةٌ

لها النصرُ إرثٌ زاكيات شهوده

And it returned as if the lute were the most blessed state

For it belongs victory, an inherited righteous testimony

يهزُّ ابن فضلِ الله بيض قواضبٍ

إذا هي هزَّت في المهارِقِ سوده

Ibn Fadlallah brandishes the whites of the lances

When they brandished in the battlefields their blacks

يؤَازِرُ ربّ الملك ربّ كتابةٍ

كأنَّ طروس الخط منها جنوده

Assistant of the Lord of the property, Lord of writing

As if the feathers of its lines are his soldiers

ويجري بأمرِ الملك سودَ يراعهِ

فيا حبَّذا ساداتنا وعبيده

And it runs by the order of the King the pasture of his cows

So good are our masters and their servants

وتبسم أرجاء الثغورِ مسرةً

بأبلج لا تعبان إلاَّ حسوده

And the corners of the fortresses smile happily

With a brilliance that doesn't tire except the envious

سعيد مساعٍ أو سعيد مناسبٍ

فقد سعدت في كلِّ حالٍ جدوده

Happy with compatibility or happy with occasion

So you were happy in every case, its ancient

وشهمٌ ولكن جنده من سطورِهِ

وقاضٍ ولكنَّ المعاني شهوده

And valiant, but his soldiers are from his lines

And judge, but the meanings are his testimonies

روى فرعه عن دوحةٍ عمريةٍ

قديم فخارٍ لا يشابُ جديده

Its branch flows from an Umaritic palm tree

Ancient pottery whose new doesn't resemble

فأيَّ فخارٍ أوَّل لا يجده

وأيَّ فخارٍ آخر لا يجيده

So which first pottery does he not find?

And which last pottery does he not do?

وأيَّ مقامٍ في العلى لا يسوسه

وأيَّ همامٍ في الورى لا يسوده

And which position in the height it does not rule?

And which ambition in the land it does not master?

رأيت ابن فضلِ الله فاضل دهره

إذا اعْتبرت ألفاظهُ وسعوده

I saw Ibn Fadlallah the superior of his time

If you consider his wording and its fortune

إذا ابن عليٍّ وابن يحيى تساجلا

فقل طارف المجد الرَّضي وتليده

When the son of Ali and the son of Yahya argue

Say the nimble glory and its renewal

أعادت علاه بيتَ فضل منظماً

فلله بيتٌ طيبٌ يستعيده

It restored through a house of superiority organized

By God a good house that reclaims it

وعلمنا صوغَ الكلام بحمدهِ

فها نحنُ نحيي لفظهُ ونعيده

And it taught us the making of speech with his praise

And it saved us with righteousness from the heat of an accident

وأنقذنا بالبرِّ من وهج حادثٍ

يذوبُ بهِ من كلِّ عانٍ جليده

In which anyone sheltering melts his ice

I looked at Abul Abbass a looking of a smiling one

نظرت أبا العباس نظرة باسمٍ

لحالِ امرئٍ كادَ الزمانُ يبيده

To the state of a man whom time almost destroyed

And he was in the state of Al Hussein from sheltering

وكانَ على حالِ الحسين من الظما

إلى وِرْدِ غوثٍ والزمانُ يزيده

To the roses of help and time increases him

So I revived him after the misery, or I erected him

فأحييته بعد الرَّدى أو أقمته

وقد طالَ من تحتِ التراب هموده

While the dust's bran had long covered him

And I purified, O son of Al Majlee, a hidden one

وجلّيتها يا ابن المجلي ضمينة

خلودَ الفتى إنَّ الثناءَ خلوده

The eternity of the young man, praise is his eternity

So towards you from my hastily composed poem praising

فدونك من نظمي عجالة مادحٍ

إليك تناهى قصده وقصيده

To you its intention and its poem arrive

They say “Look at the one praised, agreeing with the praiser”

يقال انْظروا الممدوح وافقَ مادِحاً

فذا فاضلُ الدُّنيا وهذا سعيده

So this is the superior of the life and that is its happy one