العيد أنت وهذا عيدنا الثاني

ما للهنا عن قلوب الخلق من ثاني

This is your feast, and this is our second feast

What is there in people's hearts comparable to it

عيدانِ قد أطربا ملكاً فراسلها

بمطرباتٍ من الأقلام عيدانِ

Two feasts that delighted a wise king, so he sent

Entertainers with pens, two feasts

فاهْنأ به وبألفٍ مثله أمماً

وأنتما في بروجِ السعد إلفانِ

Congratulations to him and to a thousand like it to the nations

While you two are in the mansions of good fortune, familiar

مفطّراً فيه أكباد العدَاة كما

فطرت أفواهَ أحبابٍ بإحسانِ

Breaking the livers of enemies therein just as

The mouths of loved ones were gladdened graciously

في عمر نوح لأن الفال أفهمنا

لما أتى جودك الأوفى بطوفانِ

In the age of Noah, because the omen made us understand

When your most faithful generosity came with the flood

تجرِي بأمداحك الأقلام نافذة

بالمبدعات لأسماعٍ وآذانِ

Pens flow with your praises effectively

With masterpieces for hearings and ears

يا ناصر الدِّين والدنيا لقد نفذتْ

أقلام مدحك في الدنيا بسلطانِ

O supporter of the religion and the world, indeed

Pens praising you have circulated in the world by authority

مقام ملكك في عزٍّ ومنتسب

كسرى بنسبته من آل ساسانِ

The position of your kingship is in honor and attributed

To Kisra by his attribution to the family of the Sassanids

فضلته بأوانينٍ ومعدلةٍ

زادت فكيف بتوحيدٍ وإيمانِ

You have surpassed him with services and refinement

So what about the oneness of God and faith

لك المفاخر في عجمٍ وفي عربٍ

وهيبة الملك في إنسٍ وفي جانِ

You have the glories among Persians and Arabs

And the awe of the king among humans and jinn

فلا حسود لشان قد بلغت فقد

عظمتَ عن حاسدٍ فيه وعن شاني

So there is no envier of a condition you have reached

You became too great for any envious or fault-finding person

وهل يقايس بهرام الزمان بمن

علا على قدر بهرامٍ وكيوانِ

Can Bahram of the times be compared to one

Who surpassed the worth of Bahram and Kayan?

وهل يماثل بالنعمان ذو خدمٍ

له على كلّ بابٍ ألفُ نعمانِ

Can al-Nu'man, owner of servants, be equalled

To him who has a thousand Nu'mans at every door?

دانت لك الخلق من بدوٍ ومن حضر

وفاضَ جودك في قاصٍ وفي داني

People of Bedouin descent and cities have surrendered to you

And your generosity has overflowed to near and far

هذي المدائن من أقصى مشارقها

لمنتهى الغرب في طوعٍ وإذعانِ

These cities from the farthest east

To the farthest west are obedient and submissive

والسدّ تسرح أسراب الوحوش به

بالأمنِ ما بين آسادٍ وغزلانِ

And the dam lets herds of wild animals wander about it

Safely, in between lions and gazelles

لا تقطع الطرق عن سارٍ إلى بلدٍ

إلا منازه أنهار وغدرانِ

No roads are cut off from anyone traveling to a town

Except for their narrow mountain passes and rugged ground

إن يسم سلطان مصرٍ في حمى بلدٍ

تزجف على أنَّها آذان حيطانِ

If the sultan of Egypt travels for recreation in a land

Its minarets tremble as if they are ears of walls

كأنَّ جودك قد قالتْ سوابقه

الأرض ظلِّي وكلّ الناس ضيفانِ

It's as if your generosity has told its precedents

"The land is my shade and all people are my guests"

نعم لك الملك موروث ومكتسب

وفى وزاد فنعم البانُ والباني

Yes, yours is the kingdom, inherited and acquired

Loyal and provisioned - excellent are the provider and builder

زادت أياديك عن حدِّ القياس فما

ألفاظ قسٍّ وما ألفاظ سحبانِ

Your hands have surpassed the bounds of measurement, so what

Are the words of any enumerator or praiser?

لو تسأل الشهب عن علياء أسرته

ألفيته جازَ عنها منذ أزمانِ

If you were to ask the meteors about the loftiness of his family

You would find it has transcended them since bygone times

محمد قد نشا في حجره حسنٌ

وقصر الحظّ بي عن لفظ حسَّانِ

Muhammad was raised in his chest, and good fortune was stingy with me

From articulating "Al-Hasan"

ولكنه بالوَلا والنظم أرشدني

حتى لحقت بحسَّانٍ وسلمانِ

But he guided me to poetry and prose until I attained

Al-Hasan and Sulayman

له بشعريَ إمساكٌ بمعرفةٍ

وفي البسيطة تسريحٌ بإحسانِ

In my poetry he holds understanding and benevolence

And excellence in simplicity and eloquence

وأمسك الضعف نطقي برهة فرقى

بالمدحِ منظر ما قد كانَ أولاني

And the weakness of my speech held me back for a while, then it ascended,

Praising, from what had not been before

ضعفٌ تضاعف في فكري وفي بدني

حتَّى تحيف إسراري وإعلاني

Weakness redoubled in my thinking and body

Even perverting my secrets and proclamations

وعطلتني عن الأوزانِ أنظمها

مدحاً وما عطلت جدواه ميزاني

And distracted me from prosody and poems

In praise - but it did not impede my talents

إن أمتدحه بشعري أو بكسوته

فسوف تمدحهُ في التربِ أكفاني

If I praise him with my poetry or dress myself in his gifts

Then my shrouds will praise him in the soil

كفَّان في الجودِ جادتْ لي جوائزها

وكانَ خير سماع الشعر كفاني

His gifts were generous, and hearing poetry was the best reward,

And the palm of my hand was the best ear

وقدمتني على الأقران ذو نعم

حتَّى جدعت به أنف ابن جدعانِ

He brought me forward over my peers, to the point that

I split the nose of Ibn Jad'an

وقالَ قوم بما قد نلت تقدمة

فقلت مذ أمر السلطان ديواني

And some said, because of what I attained first,

So I said, "Since the sultan's order is my bureau"