قلْ للأمير أدامَ اللَّهُ نعماكا

وزادَ جدَّك إسعاداً وأبقاكا

Say to the prince—may Allah make your bounty last,

And may He increase your grandfather’s joy and prolong your life—

يسقي السحابُ فتحكيه فتشبهُه

ولا يشبَّه سقياه بسقياكا

The clouds water, yet you resemble them,

Though none resembles you in watering.

نضحتَ بالماء في يومٍ وقد نفحت

في عامهِ كلِّه بالماء كفّاكا

You sprinkled water one day, and you have breathed

Throughout the whole year nothing but water from your palm.

وما أردتَ بإغباب الندى قسماً

إجمامَ مالكَ بل إجمام حَسْراكا

You did not intend, by holding back the dew, to keep

Your wealth for yourself, but only to restrain your sorrow.

أجممت حسرى أياديك التي ثَقُلتْ

على الكواهل حتى آدها ذاكا

You held back the sorrow of your hands which had become

Heavy on the shoulders until they hurt.

كي يستريحوا فيزدادوا براحتِهم

فضلَ اضطلاعِ بما تُسدي يميناكا

So that they might rest, and by their rest, increase

The surplus of bearing what your right hand gives away.

وما مللتَ العطايا فاسترحْتَ إلى

إغبابها بل همُ ملّوا عطاياكا

You never grew weary of gifts, so took repose

By holding them back. No! They grew weary of your gifts.

وما نهتْهم عن المرعَى وخامتُه

لكنه أسنقَ الراعين مرعاكا

You did not prevent them from the pasture, though its seal

Was but the Shepherd’s mark of your pasture.

تدبَّرَ الناسُ ما دبرْتَهم فإذا

عليهمُ لا على الأموالِ بُقياكا

People pondered what you had arranged for them and found

It was for them, not for wealth, that you made provision.

أمسكتَ سيْبَكَ إضراءً لرغبتهم

وما بخلتَ وما أمسكتَ ممْساكا

You held back your sword, vexing their cravings,

And you were neither miserly nor grudging in withholding.

هذا على أنّ ظني فيك يخبرني

أن قد أتيتَ من الإفضال مأتاكا

Yet I think well of you, and my heart tells me

That you have excelled in bounty and in plenty given.

وإن لهوتَ بنضحِ الماء آونةً

فما أراه عن المعروفِ ألهاكا

And if you sported awhile with sprinkling water,

I do not see it turned you from kindness.

بل قد أقمتَ لعيد اللهو سُنَّتهُ

وما عدوتَ من الإحسان مجراكا

Rather, you kept the custom of play at its feast,

And never once turned aside from doing good.

لا شأنَ يُلهيك عن شأنِ النَّدَى أبداً

إلا نظيرٌ له من شأنِ تقواكا

No business diverts you from the business of dew eternally

Except a like one, part of your pious duties.

قد كنتُ أخطئُ في أيامِ تهنئتي

بالمهرجانِ وبالنَّيروز إياكا

I used to err, congratulating you

Upon festival and New Year.

وكان أصوبَ من هذاك تهنئتي

إياهما بك لو لُقِّيتُ هذاكا

More fitting than that were congratulations

To them, from me, if we had met, on you!

إنَّ الزمانَ الذي تحيا فتبلغُهُ

يا ابنَ الكرام لمغبوطٌ بمحْياكا

For time in which you live to reach it, O son of nobles,

Is blessed, through your life, and highly favored.

فالآن أُهدي إلى النيروز تهنئتي

والمهرجانِ إذا آنا فزاراكا

So now my congratulations go to New Year

And Festival, should they chance to visit you,

ليشكرا لك أنْ فخمْتَ شأنهما

عن غير مَيْلٍ إلى الإلحادِ حاشاكا

Thanking you that undiscouraged by impiety

You magnified their status beyond all compare.

لم تأتِ مأتاك في تعظيم قدرهما

من بابِ دينك بل من بابِ دنياكا

You did not do this for their sake out of your religion,

But for your life’s sake, from a worldly cause.

كادا يقاسان بالعيدين إذْ وُسِما

بوسمِ يَوْمَيْنِ من أيامِ مَلهاكا

They almost equaled the two Feasts, since they were marked

By the brand of two days of your pleasures.

ليسا بعيديْ صلاةٍ غيرَ أنهما

عيدا نوالٍ لمن يعترُّ جدواكا

They are no festival prayers, but they are holidays

For whoever is honored by your neighborhood.

لراحتيك إذا وافى صباحَهما

جِدٌّ وأنت تراه من هُوَيناكا

At their dawn, when seriousness mixed with play

Comes to you, you see it as your familiar companion,

تعطي رغابَ العطايا لاعباً فكِهاً

وأنت تُحيي خلال الهزل هُلّاكا

Giving the craved gifts playfully, jesting,

While you enliven, amidst the jokes, your dissolution.

فمهرجانُك والنيروز قد غدوا

سيان عند ذوي التقوى وعيداكا

So your festival and New Year have become

Alike, in pious men’s eyes, and your Feasts.

إذ فيهما كل بر أنت فاعله

في يومِ فطرِك أو في يوم أضحاكا

For in both every kindness you are its doer

On your day of Fastbreaking or your day of Sacrifice.