حَيَّرَ الُّلبَّ مَا بِذِي الأَوْرَاقِ

مِنُ نَفِيسٍ لِأَلْطَفِ الْحُذَّاقِ

What lies within these pages has bewildered the mind,

With precious works from the most refined of masters.

إِنْ أَصِفْهَا بِالْحُسْنِ وَالإِشْرَاقِ

كُنْتُ شَبَّهْتُهَا بِذَاتِ الْمِحَاقِ

If I were to describe it with beauty and radiance,

I would be comparing it to the waning moon.

أَوْ تَكَلَّفْتُ وَصْفَهَا بِسِوَى مَا

لاَحَ مَا صُنْتُهَا مِنَ الإِغْرَاقِ

Or if I strained to describe it with anything other than what

Is evident, I would not have spared it from exaggeration.

غَيْرَ أَنِّي أَقُولُ وَالْحَقُّ أَوْلَى

بِالْفَتَى ذِي مَكَارِمِ الأَخْلاَقِ

Yet I say—and the truth is most fitting

For a youth endowed with noble morals—

جَمَعَتْ مِنْ نَفَائِسِ الأَعْلاَقِ

مَا يُبَارِي جَوَاهِرَ الأَطْوَاقِ

It has gathered among the most exquisite of treasures

That which rivals the jewels adorning necklaces.