أيا ابنَ رجاءٍ وابنَهُ الخيرَ لا يزلْ

رجاءٌ نحيفٌ يَغْتَدي بكَ بادنا

O son of hope, and his virtuous son, may hope

Never cease being a lean meal that fattens because of you both

مَنَحْتُكَ من وُدِّي مُقيماً مكانَهُ

يُبارِي ثَناءً لم يزلْ فيكَ ظاعنا

I have given you my affection to stay in its place

Rivaling praise that has never stopped blaming you

أَعُدُّكَ في الزُّهْر التي هي سبعةٌ

بديئاً ويأبَى الحقُّ عَدِّيكَ ثامنا

I count you among the seven planets

As the eighth, though the truth refuses my counting you

وإنْ كان فيها المشتري وهو سعدُها

وشمسُ الضُّحى والبدرُ غُرَّاً أَيامِنا

And though among them is the Buyer, its luck,

And the sun of morning, and the full moon of our days

ولا بدَّ مِن صِدْقيكَ والصِّدقُ واجبٌ

لكل صديقٍ يَسْتصِحُّ البطائنا

Truthfulness towards you is a must, and truthfulness is a duty

For every sincere friend who examines the essence

بشعرِكَ عَيْبٌ فاحشٌ غيرَ أَنَّهُ

إذا عُدَّ زَيْن لم يزل لك زائنا

Your poetry has a glaring fault, except

That if counted as ornament, it has never ceased adorning you

أُبوَّة آباء إذا قِيسَ مجدُهُمْ

بشعرِكَ عفَّى منه تلك المحاسنا

The glory of fathers, if compared

To your poetry, has absolved those virtues

وإن كان شعراً للضمير ملائماً

حلالاً ولطفاً للنظيرِ مُبائنا

And if it is poetry conforming to conscience

Lawful and gentle towards its matching peer

أُدِقَّتْ معانيهِ وفُخِّمَ لفظُه

فغادر أشتاتَ القلوبِ قرائنا

Its meanings were refined, and its words made grand,

So it deserted the scattered hearts, a reciter

غدا غيرَ ملحون غُدوَّ مُلَحَّنٍ

وراح بأسرارِ البلاغة لاحنا

Became unsung after being sung, and carried away

The secrets of rhetoric, chanting,

فألهَى امْرَأً تسكينُهُ متحركاً

وأبكى امرَأً تحريكهُ منه ساكنا

Alluring a restless man to be calmed,

And making a calm man weep from its movement

فَمُلِّئْتَهُ لا باذلاً حُرَّ وَجههِ

ومُلِّئتُما فَضلاً من الله صائنا

You have filled it, not wastefully showing its face,

And filled it with God’s grace, guarded