ليهنَكَ أن أفطرتَ لا متطلعاً

إلى الفطر كي تغشى من اللهو مَحْرما

May it gladden you that you have broken your fast, without looking forward

to breaking it while fearing lest you stray into forbidden diversion;

ولا نهماً فيه وإن كنت إنما

تحب من الأضياف من كان أَنْهما

nor ravenous for it—though among your guests you love

the one who is most ravenous.

وما كنتَ لولا حُبُّك الجودَ بالذي

تُحبّ من القوم الشَّنيءَ المذمَّما

Were it not that you love generosity, you would never

love, among sayings, the ugly and blameworthy one.

بدا الفطْر فاستقبلتَه باسطاً يداً

بمعروفك المعروف لا فاغراً فما

The Feast appeared, and you welcomed it with an outstretched hand,

with your renowned kindness—not with a gaping mouth.

ظللتَ وذو الهمّ القصيرِ قد انتشى

من الزادِ حتى مال سكراً فنوَّما

All day you kept giving, while the man of narrow concern grew elated

with provisions, until he swayed as if drunk and fell asleep.

طعامُك إطعامُ الطعام ولم يزلْ

لديك طعام يا ابنَ يحيى مُقدَّما

Your feast is the feeding of food; and food has never ceased

to take pride of place in your house, O son of Yahya.

نصبتَ وكانت عادةً تستعيدها

موائدَ غادرنَ المجاوعَ رُعَّما

You set out—as is your custom, ever renewed—

tables that sent the hungry away replete.

عليهنَّ خيراتٌ حسانٌ كأنها

مضاحِكُ من ربْعيِّ روضٍ تبسما

Upon them lay lovely bounties, as though they were

the smiles of a spring meadow bursting into bloom.

نحرتَ لصُغْراهنَّ حتى تركْتنا

نرى الفطر أضحى من إراقتكَ الدما

You slaughtered for those gathered around them, until you left us

seeing the Feast of Breaking become the Feast of Sacrifice through the blood you shed.

وكنتَ إذا أفطرتَ شمرتَ مُجْلباً

لتُطْعمَ والجبسُ الهِدانُ ليُطْعما

Whenever you broke your fast, you girded yourself and hurried forth

to feed, while the sluggish, ignoble dullard waited to be fed.

حلفتُ لأضحى الفطر حين لبستَه

بلُبسك إياه مَزيناً مُكَرَّما

I swear, the Feast of Breaking became the Feast of Sacrifice when you clothed it,

for your clothing left it adorned and honored.

ولِمْ لا وقد أصبحتَ للمُلك مِدْرَهاً

وللمجد سُرسُوراً وللدّين مَعْلَمَا

And why should it not, when you have become a manifestation of kingship,

a delight to glory and an emblem of religion?

غدوتَ غداةَ الفطر عيداً لعيدهِ

وما زلتَ للأعياد عيداً معظّما

On the morning of the Feast of Breaking, you became a feast for its feast,

as you have always been a magnificent banquet for festivals.

ولما تأملتَ الهلال ابن ليلة

تَكَبَّرَ إذ عاينتَه وتعظَّما

When you contemplated the crescent, a child but one night old,

it grew great beneath your gaze and magnified itself.

طغَى بك طغيان المحبّ ارعوى له

حبيبٌ قَراه الصدَّ حولاً مجرَّما

Through you it swelled with a lover’s impetuous passion when his beloved relented—

a beloved who had dealt him rejection for one full, inviolate year.

ويا عجباً أن لا يكونَ بدا لنا

كشمس الضحى لا بل أجلَّ وأعظما

How wondrous that it did not appear to us

like the morning sun—nay, more glorious and greater!

أليس حقيقاً من تأملتَ وجهه

بذاك بلى كلَّ الحقيق وأنعما

Is not one whose face you contemplate entitled to that?

Indeed he is—most fully entitled, and more besides.

لعمري لقد ودعتَ بالأمس صاحباً

عفيفاً وإن كان الذي اعتضتَ أكرما

By my life, yesterday you bade farewell to a companion

chaste—though the one received in exchange is nobler.

مضى صاحب عفٌّ وأَعقب صاحباً

جواداً أراه كان منك تعلَّما

A companion of abstinence departed and was succeeded by one

generous—one that, I think, learned generosity from you.

غدا مُطعماً من دان دينَ محمدٍ

ومن فضلِك الفياضِ في الناس أَطعما

He came feeding whoever professes the faith of Muhammad,

feeding them from your bounty, which overflows among the people.

خليلٌ أتى من بعد ما غابَ نوبةً

وكنتَ إليه جِدَّ ظمآنَ أهْيما

A friend returned in his turn after an absence,

while you thirsted fiercely for him and wandered in yearning.

وليس لشيء ما خلا بَذْلك القِرى

نهاراً وقدماً كنت بالبذل مغرما

That return was for nothing but the lavish offer of hospitality

by day; long before, you had been enamored of it by night.

وقد كان ما تَقريه بالليل كافياً

ولكن ترى ما ازددت من ذاك مغنما

What you did by night had already been enough,

yet whatever more you add to it you reckon as gain.

ولستَ براضٍ عن زمانك أو تَرى

فعالَك فيه ما أضاء وأَظلما

You are not content with your lifetime unless you see

your deeds throughout it wherever day shines and night grows dark.

ومثلك لا يَستحسنُ البُرْدَ ملبساً

إذا كان من إحدى نواحيه مُعلَما

One like you does not deem a mantle beautiful to wear

when it is patterned on only one of its sides.

ولكنْ إذا أعلامُه كَمُلَتْ له

فذاك إذا ما كان أيضاً مُسَهَّما

But when all its embroidered bands have been completed,

only then is it fully figured and adorned.

وما زلتَ تَقلى الجودَ إلا مُكمَّلا

وتأبى اصطناع العُرف إلا مُتَمَّما

You have never practiced generosity without bringing it to completion,

and you refuse to fashion beneficence unless it is perfected.

وتبني العلا حتى يخالك معشرٌ

وما أَبعدوا تبني إلى المجد سُلَّما

You build eminence until whole companies who behold you imagine—

and they are not far wrong—that you are building a stairway to glory.

فعِش أبداً ما دام مجدُك باقياً

ولم يَعْنِ من يعنيه إلا يرمرما

So live forever, for as long as your glory endures,

and may whoever tends that glory never cease restoring it.

تصومُ ولم تعدمْ من العلم عصمةً

وتُفطر محموداً ولم تأتِ مأثما

You fast, never lacking the protection of learning,

and break your fast praised, having committed no sin.

تقوت بنات النفسِ أقواتَ حكمةٍ

وتطوي حشاً دون الخبائث أهضما

You sustain the daughters of the soul with portions of wisdom,

and fold your belly away from foul things, keeping it lean—

حَشاً لم يزلْ تقوَى الإله يكفُّهُ

بما خفَّ من زاد وما آب مطعما

a belly forever restrained by fear of God,

content with scant provisions, never returning to demand a meal.