حملَ الريحُ بالأصيلِ سلامَهْ

وأعارَ البرقَ اللموعَ غرامَهْ

The wind carried his greetings,

And lightning lent its flashes his passion.

فجرَتْ هذه رُخاءً وأذْكى

ذاك في سَدْفِهِ الظلامَ ضِرامَهْ

So the former flowed with ease, while the latter

Ignited in its clouds its darkness' heat.

فرأى منهما شمائلَ هندٍ

طيبَ نَشْرٍ سَرى وحسنَ ابتسامَهْ

In both he saw the features of a Hindi maiden:

A sweet dispersal that wandered, and the beauty of her smile.

غادةٌ تفتنُ القلوبَ بطَرْفٍ

لا تُرجّي القلوبُ منه سلامَهْ

A singing gazelle who seduces hearts with a glance -

Hearts cannot wish safety from her.

أنا صبٌّ بوصلِها مستهامٌ

وهي بالهَجْرِ صبّةٌ مستهامَهْ

I am a lover intoxicated with her company,

While she, estranged, is a gazelle intoxicated.

عجَباً لي أشكو التباعُدَ منها

وهي ريمٌ لها لقلبي رامَهْ

How strange that I complain of distance from her,

When she is a meadow doe who has made my heart her pasture.

يا عَذولي إليكَ عنّي فإنّي

قلّ ما استحوذَتْ عليّ الملامَهْ

O you who have distanced yourself from me,

Rarely has blame clung to me.

إنّ مَنْ شفّني هواهُ وأغرَتْ

بفؤادي ألحاظُهُ أسقامَهْ

For she who cured me with her love,

And captivated my heart with her glances, is sick.

حالَ من دونِه الصُدودُ وتوخي

دُ مطيٍّ ليستْ تشَكّى سآمَهْ

Obstacles stand between us, while she hopes

For a messenger uncomplaining of fatigue.

أيها الغيثُ إن طرَقْتَ تهامَهْ

فاسْقِ وادي الغَضا وحيّ خِيامَهْ

O clouds, if you pass by Tihama,

Quench the valley of al-Ghadha and revive its tents.

وأقِمْ بُرهةً بربعٍ شجاني

بعدَ يأسِ تذكّري أيامَهْ

And stay a while in a wooded glade,

After despair of your remembering its days.

طلَلٌ طالَ ما بكيتُ فأروي

تُ بدمعي عَرارَهُ وبَشامَهْ

A relic whose tears I wept long, until I watered

Its bald hills and stony ground with my tears.

وفسيحِ الخُطا جرى وجرى البر

قُ الى غايةٍ فكان إمامَهْ

Spacious of error the path ran and ran;

And the rain ran to its goal and became its imam.

راح عنهُ لعِلمِه أنّ أزْكى الن

اسِ قدراً ومنصِباً قدّامَهْ

He departed it, knowing that the most precious

In rank and office have preceded him.

الأثيرُ المحلُّ والسيّدُ المَصْ

قَعُ منهم والأوحدُ العلاّمَهْ

The excellent, the noble place, the unmatched lord,

They and the guiding scholar rose above them.

شرعَ الجود مذهباً وأقامَهْ

وعليهِ أجرى لنا أحْكامَهْ

The bountiful embarked upon it as a creed, establishing it,

And subjected to us through it his rulings.

وانْثَنى فابْتَنى من المجدِ داراً

نالَ فيها بعزمِهِ ما رامَهْ

He strove, so built of glory a house,

Attaining in it by resolve what he desired.

حتّم اللهُ أن علياكَ لا تَف

نَى برُغْم الحَسودِ حتى القيامَهْ

God ordained that despite enviers you shall not

Perish until the Day of Resurrection.

حيثُ تُزْجي ريحُ ارتياحِك للمع

روفِ من غيثِ راحتَيْكَ رُكامَهْ

Where the wind of your well-being for virtue blows

From a raincloud of your comfort its treasures.

قد رأينا من ناصرِ الدولةِ البد

رَ تماماً والغيثَ والصَمْصامَهْ

Indeed we have seen in al-Malik al-Nasir

The full moon and the pouring rain and lightning flash.

وصَحِبْناهُ برهةً فكأنّا

قد صحِبْنا متالعاً وإكامَهْ

We accompanied him a while as though we accompanied

A glittering star and its decisive setting.

وتناجَتْ أقلامُه فسمِعْنا

لفظَ سحبانَ من بيانِ قُدامَهْ

His pens whispered; we heard

The utterance of Suhban in the eloquence of the ancients,

بمعانٍ راقتْ ورقّتْ فأبْدَتْ

بهجةَ الروضِ في صفاءِ المُدامَهْ

With subtle, delicate meanings that showed

The delight of a garden in the limpidity of wine.

كلّما صافَحَتْ مسامعَ خَصْمٍ

خفضَتْ منه قدرَهُ وكَلامَهْ

Whenever his opponent's hearing was greeted,

It lowered his worth and speech.

وإذا الخيلُ في الوَقيعةِ ثارَتْ

فأثارتْ من الغُبارِ غَمامَهْ

When the horses raged in battle

And stirred up clouds of dust,

ركضَ الدهرُ سابحاً وانْتَضى المق

دارُ سيفاً واستَصْحَبَ السعدَ لامَهْ

Time raced swimmingly; destinies leapt up, swords unsheathed,

And good fortune donned its armor.

فإذا جادَ قلتُ حاتمُ طيٍّ

وإذا صالَ قلتُ كعبُ بنُ مامَهْ

When he gave generously, I said: "Hatem al-Ta'i;"

When he was valiant, I said: "Ka'b ibn Mamah."

يا أبا القاسمِ المقسِّمُ للحا

سِدِ هُلْكاً وللموالي سلامَهْ

O Abu l-Qasim the distributor of destruction to the envious

And safety to the loyal,

صُمْ سعيداً فأنت أكرمُ مَولىً

قبِل اللهُ نَسْكَهُ وصِيامَهْ

Be prosperous, for you are a generous patron -

May God accept your ritual purity and fasting.