هذا مَقامُ أبيكَ فاسْمُ بمجدِه

فالشّهمُ يروي عن أبيه وجدِّهِ

This is the abode of your father, so glorify him with praise

For the valiant one narrates of his father and grandfather

ما إن ركبْتَ مقلِّداً بحُسامِه

حتى مشَيْتَ موشِّحاً في بُردِه

Since you have girded his sword as an imitator

You have walked adorned in his mail coat

ولقد أشَمْتَ الثغر منك مهنّداً

خِلناهُ ذاك العَضْبَ رُدَّ لغِمْدِه

And you have certainly sniffed the lips as if kissing them

We left that scabbard, returning the sword to its sheath

فكأنّ عدلَك أُقحوانةُ ثغرِه

وكأن بأسكَ جُلّنارة خدّه

So your justice is like the blade of his mouth

And your might is like the apple of his cheek

فاعْقُدْ عليه البدرَ تاجاً وانتظِمْ

زهرَ الكواكب لؤلؤاً في عِقدِه

So set the full moon as a crown upon him and string

The planets' flowers as pearls in his necklace

واسحَبْ بعسكرك السحابَ فبيضَهُ

من برقِه وصهيلَه من رعدِه

And unleash your armies, the clouds, so whiten them

With its lightning and the rumbling of its thunder

من كلِّ مشحوذِ الظُبى كلسانه

أو كل ممتدّ اللواءِ كقدّه

From every daring lion with eloquent tongue

Or every lofty banner’s extended arm

يهدَونَ منكَ بضوءِ بدرٍ أقسمَتْ

أن لا تفارقَهُ كواكبُ سعدِه

They promise you by the light of a full moon they swore

That its planets of good fortune will not abandon it

جيشٌ تولى النصرُ حملَ لوائه

واستوثَقَ الإقبالَ مُحكمُ عقدِه

An army victory has assumed carrying its banners

And good fortune grasped firmly its alliance

حتى إذا صرفَ الصُروفَ وردّها

فجرَتْ بطاعةِ صِرفِه في ردّه

Until when vicissitudes turned against it and returned them

They flowed with obedience to its workings in its defense

وأفاضَ بين مسائلٍ أو سائلٍ

عذْباً بحارَ الأرضِ نُطفةُ ثَمْدِه

And it overflowed between issues or questioners

With sweet oceans’ draughts, the droplets of its clouds’ burst

فاستطْعمَ العُلماءَ من أوصافِه

ما لم يبِنْ صبرُ الزمان بشهدِه

So the scholars sought from its attributes

What the patience of time had not made clear with its honey

حتى لقد رجعوا هناك ورجّعوا

قُلْ كلُّ خيرٍ عندنا من عِندِه

That they went back there and turned around, saying

“Every good thing is with us from it”

من ندِّه ولو انّهُ متصوّر

من عنبرِ المَلكوتِ أو من ندِّه

From its benevolence, even if it is imagined

From the ambergris of the heavenly kingdom, or from its benevolence

متزيّنٌ من نفسه بمحاسِنٍ

هي في الحُسامِ العضْبِ ماءُ فِرنْدِه

Adorned by itself with moral beauties

Which in the gleaming sword are the water of its hilt’s silver

ليس الزمانُ لديهِ سُنْدُسُ آسِه

وتذهّبَتْ أعلامُه من وردِه

The vicissitudes of time have no iris bloom near it

And its banners have faded of their roses

كفى أميرَ المؤمنينَ مناقِباً

أنّ المعظَّم واحدٌ من جُندِه

It is enough for the Commander of the Faithful as virtues

That the Most Venerated is one of its soldiers

هو واحدٌ بالعين إلا أنه

يُربي على الآلافِ ساعة عدِّه

He is peerless except that

He mentors thousands in an hour of its counting

لبسَتْ به الإسكندريةُ لأمَةً

ردّتْ على داودَ مُحكمَ سردِه

Alexandria has worn it for a nation

Turning back at David the firmly knottedliness of its knitting

فحمى مسارحَها وكانتْ قبلَه

كالغيلِ فارقَهُ مقدَّمُ أُسْدِه

So it protected its theaters, and before it was

Like darkness which its lion vanguard had left

لا تبكِ للإسكندَرِ الماضي فذا ال

إسكندرُ الماضي أتى من بعدِه

Don’t cry for bygone Alexander, for this

Alexander of now has come after him

يُغنيكَ عن أعراقِه أخلاقُه

كالعضْبِ يُشبه حدَّهُ في حدِّه

His character suffices you from its pillars

Like the gleaming sword, its sharpness matches its sharpness

شرفاً لدهرٍ قد أتى بك مالكاً

ودّ الزمانُ الحرُّ رتبةَ عبدِه

An honor for an age that has come, making you its ruler

Time adored the free one, raising the status of its servant

أصبحتَ تاجاً يستنيرُ برأسه

وغدوْتَ حُلياً تستبينُ بزَندِه

You have become a crown illuminated by the head it adorns

And you have become a necklace made clear by its pendant

وخلُصْتَ كالذهبِ الخلاصَ ولم يزَلْ

أبداً يَزيدُ بسَبْكِه في نقْدِه

And you have been refined like pure gold, and it has not ceased

To always increase in its purity by its refining

مرضُ الأسودِ الاجتمامُ ورعدةُ الصم

صامِ تُطربُ قدّهُ في قدِّه

The gathering of warriors and the shiver of the resolute

Throb its forearm in its forearm

والروضُ أفوحُ بالنسيم وطالما

نفحَتْ بطيبِ العودِ لفحةُ وتْدِه

And the garden is fragrant with breeze, and often

The wafting with the incense of aloes has perfumed its fervor

فلكَ الهناءُ وللعُلا بسلامةٍ

لا ينتهي فهْي الهناءُ لحدّه

So joy is yours and to elevation in safety

With no end, for it is endless joy in its limit

وإليكَ من حوكِ البديعِ قصيدةً

صمِتَتْ ولكنْ ترجمَتْ عن قصدِه

And to you from the talented poet a poem

That fell silent but translated its intention

جاءَتْكَ كالترَفِ الشمائلُ واعِداً

بوصالِه متحفِّزاً من صدّه

It has come to you like gentle beauty, promising

Its arrival, motivated from its dissuasion

دأبَ البديعُ بها فسلسلَ لفظُها

راحاً تؤمّنُ شارباً من حدِّه

The talented one has persisted in it, so its wording flows

At ease, securing a drinker from its sharpness

فاسلَمْ فذكرُك عارضٌ متعرِّضٌ

ينهلُّ في غورِ المديحِ ونجدِه

So be safe, for your mention is a tangent, digressing

To plunge into praise’s ravine and its generosity