عزّتْ ضمائرُهُ على كتمانِه

فلذاكَ عبّرَ شأنُهُ عن شانِه

His virtues made him discreet,

So his worth portrayed his elite.

وأقامَ يمسحُ عِطْفَ شوقٍ جامحٍ

في راحةِ العَبَراتِ ثُنْيُ عِنانِه

He gently wiped the shoulder of ardent longing,

With the ease of eloquence bending its rein.

وثَنى الفؤادَ له جناحا طائرٍ

لولا الضلوعُ لَطارَ عن جُثمانِه

And inclined his heart with a soaring wing,

If not for the ribs, it would have flown from his body.

حتى إذا ركِبَ الغرامُ مطيّةً

تحدو بها الزفراتُ من أشجانِه

Until when love mounted its steed,

Sighs raced with it from his sorrows.

أوما الى جيدِ العقيقِ بمدْمَعٍ

لم يرضَ لؤلؤُهُ بلا مَرجانِه

Has not a pearl shed tears down the cheek of carnelian,

Its luster dissatisfied without its coral.

ربعٌ لبستُ به التصابي مَعلماً

ورفلتُ في المَسحوبِ من أردانِه

I wore a garment with which I adorned revelry,

And promenaded in what I tailored from silk brocade.

فكأنما الأعطافُ من أغصانِه

كانتْ أو الأردافُ من كُثْبانِه

As if the shoulders were branches from its boughs,

Or the hips were from its dunes.

في حيثُ يسعى بالشُمولِ شمالُه

فيميلُ سُكْراً في معاطفِ بانِه

Where the left hand hustles with inclusion,

Intoxicated it tilts in its robes.

وتُرجِّعُ الأوراقُ في أوراقِه

شجواً يضيعُ اللحنُ في ألحانِه

And the leaves turn in their pages,

With sorrows the tunes are lost in its melodies.

ضم الفراقُ فاقتصّ منْ

أظعانِه ما كان من إظعانِه

Separation has picked and chosen,

From his lamentations what was of its lamentations.

وأريجةِ النفَحاتِ سارتْ كاسمها

تُغني بذاك الروحِ عن رَيْحانِه

And the fragrance of sighs went forth by its name,

Singing to the soul without its basil.

فخلعتُ عن عِطفَيْهِ خلعةَ قهوةٍ

ألبستُها فغدوتُ في سُلطانِه

So I took off from his shoulder a mocha-colored robe,

And dressed him in it so I rose in his domain.

إني وإن أمعنتُ من خمرِ الصِبى

وجنيتُ فيها العزَّ من أفنانِه

And even if I indulged in the wine of youth,

And collected glory from its cups.

وركضتُ في المدْحِ الخطيرِ بخاطرٍ

يُقْضى له بالسَبْقِ في مَيدانِه

And raced in perilous praise with a mind,

To which is allotted precedence in its arena.

وفتقتُ ريحَ ثنائه من عنبرٍ

بالعنبرِ المَشمومِ دون دُخانِه

And opened the scent of his praise from ambergris,

With seasoned ambergris without its smoke.

وبعثتُ منه غريبَه لجلالِه

فأقرّهُ بالبَذْلِ في أوطانِه

And sent from it his stranger to his majesty,

Who returned it with generosity in his homeland.

كالمَشْرِقيّ زَها بماءِ فِرِنْدِه

والسمهريّ هَفا بنارِ بِنانِه

Like the Mashriqi who adorned with the water of Firind,

And the Samhari who prided with the fire of Binan.

ما ضرّ مَنْ عُقِدَتْ يداهُ بحبْلِه

أن لا يكونَ الدهرُ من أعوانِه

It would not harm he whose hands are bound by his rope,

If fate is not of his aides.

ندْبٌ يُنيلُك من بديعِ ثُباتِه

حُلْماً يُضافُ الى بديعِ بَيانِه

A grief that diminishes you from the unique of his resolve,

Added to the unique of his eloquence.

سِيّانِ إنْ أمضى غُروبَ حُسامِه

في الخَطْبِ أو أمضى غُروبَ لِسانِه

Two swords, if the sunset of his decrees passes,

Or the sunset of his tongue passes.

ومدبّرٍ لو باشرَ الوحشَ انثنَتْ

آسادُه تحْنو على غِزْلانِه

And a strategist, if he engaged the wild beasts,

Their lions would cower to his fawns.

عدْلٌ تقسّمَ في الرعيةِ مُقْسِماً

أن لا يُميلَ الجورَ في مِيزانِه

Justice that apportions in the subjects impartially,

Not tilting injustice in its scale.

ومَضاءُ عزمٍ كالشِهابِ تطايرَتْ

في جوّهِ شُعَلٌ الى شيطانِه

The luster of a firm resolve flew in its atmosphere,

Torches to its devil.

لا الصارمُ البتّارُ من أصحابِه

يوماً ولا الخطيُّ من أخوانِه

Neither the unrelenting warrior among his comrades,

Nor the literary man from his brothers.

نظرتْ به الاسكندريّةُ همّةَ ال

اسكندرِ الماضي وبُعْدِ مَكانِه

Alexandria looked upon it as the ambition,

Of Alexander gone and remote his place.

للهِ دَرُّكَ من مُحصِّلِ نعمةٍ

لم يرضَ غيرَ البَذْلِ من خُزّانه

God reward you, you who collect blessings,

Who would not accept other than generosity from his treasury.

قد قلتُ للمُثْني على إحسانِه

خذ رايةَ التقريظِ من حسّانِه

I said to the one praising his benevolence,

Take the banner of eulogy from his eulogizer.

لم لا وقد صادفتَ بحراً لو أتى

أولادُ جَفنةَ غُرِّقوا بجِفانِه

Why not, when you have met an ocean, if

The children of Jafnah were drowned in its abyss.

يا أسعدَ السعداءِ جودُك قد طَما

فغرقتُ لولا العَوْمُ في طوفانِه

O happiest of the happy, your generosity has indeed

Flooded me, were it not for swimming I would have drowned in its deluge.

ما أشعرُ الشُعراءِ إلا مادحٌ

طرزتَ باسمِكَ طُرّتَيْ ديوانِه

None feels poetry but one praising

Whose couplets embroidered your name upon its compilation.

كُفْراً بكافورٍ وقُبْحاً بعدَه

لابنِ الحسينِ الفردِ في إحسانِه

Blasphemy to camphor and ugliness after it,

To the unique son of Hussein in his generosity.

إن كان يا عيسى مثالَك مالُك

من قبلُ أو من بعدُ في أزمانِه

If the example of Jesus before you,

Or after you in times was your parallel.

فبرئتُ حينئذٍ براءةَ مُشركٍ

من أحمدَ الماضي ومن إيمانِه

Then I become absolved with the absolution of a polytheist,

From Ahmad of the past and from his faith.

إن قدّموا فلقدْ سبقت مؤخراً

باسمِ الكتابِ أجلّ من عُنوانِه

If they preceded, I have succeeded latterly,

With the name of the book, superior to its title.

أو كان كافورٌ بمعجِزِ أحمدٍ

قد كان إنساناً لعينِ زمانِه

Or camphor was with Ahmad’s miracles,

If he was human to the time of his time.

فالدهرُ يعلمُ أنّك الكُحْلُ الذي

خلعَ الجمالَ به على إنسانِه

For fate knows you are the kohl,

With which it conferred beauty upon mankind.

ولَمى مراشفِهِ وخالُ خُدودِه

وأحمُّ فَوْدَيْهِ وسرُّ جَنانِه

And dyed his pillows and the moles upon his cheeks,

And kindled his affection and the secret of his soul.

لونٌ بوجهِ البدرِ منه إشارةٌ

شانَتْ سواهُ فرفّعَتْ من شانِه

A hue in the face of the full moon from it a sign,

Elevated others so raised his status.

وكأنّما علِقَ الشبابُ بحبّه

فأعارَهُ ما راقَ من رَيْعانِه

As if youth clung to his love,

And lent him what delighted of its prime.

فاسلمْ وشِدْ بيتَ المكارمِ والعُلا

والمأثُراتِ وشُدّ من أركانِه

So make peace, and reconstruct the house of virtues, sublimity,

Beneficence and reinforce its pillars.