يَدُ الشَكوى أَتَتكَ عَلى البَريدِ

تَمُدُّ بِها القَصائِدُ بِالنَشيدِ

The hand of complaint has come to you in the mail

It sends poems with melody

تُقَلِّبُ بَينَها أَمَلاً جَديداً

تَدَرَّعَ حُلَّتي طَمَعٍ جَديدِ

It turns between them a new hope

My desire has dressed in a new ambition

شَكَوتُ إِلى الزَمانِ نُحولَ جِسمي

فَأَرشَدَني إِلى عَبدِ الحَميدِ

I complained to time of my thin body

So it guided me to Abdel Hamid

فَجِئتُكَ راكِباً أَمَلَ القَوافي

عَلى ثِقَةٍ مِنَ البَلَدِ البَعيدِ

I came to you riding the rhymes of hope

With trust from a faraway land

أُرَجّي أَن تَكونَ مَحَلَّ يُسري

وَمُنتَصَري عَلى الزَمَنِ الكَنودِ

I hope you will be a place of ease for me

And supporter against the spiteful time

فَقَد لاذَت بِكَ الآمالُ مِنّي

كَما لاذَ الوَرى بِاِبنِ الرَشيدِ

So my hopes have taken refuge in you

As people took refuge in Al-Rashid's son

وَقَد أَلقى الزَمانُ عِنانَ يُسري

وَصافَحَني الغَداةَ بِكَفِّ سيدِ

Time has let loose its ease

And greeted me in the morning with a lord's palm

فَلا تَجعَل جَوابَكَ في يَدَي لا

فَأَكتُبَ ما رَجَوتُ عَلى الجَليدِ

So do not leave your answer unsatisfying in my hands

For me to write what I wished on the parchment

فَلَولا أَنَّ آمالي أَرَتني

لَدَيكَ سَحابَتَي كَرَمٍ وَجودِ

If it wasn't for my hopes showing me

Your clouds of generosity and bounty

لَأَصبَحَ حَبلُ شِعري طَوقَ غُلٍّ

مِنَ الأَيّامِ في عُنُقي وَجيدي

My poetry's rope would've been a choking collar

From the days around my neck and chest

وَقَد حَرَّرتُ في مَديحِكَ جَهدي

فَحَرِّر بِالنَدى صِلَةَ القَصيدِ

I have written in your praise my effort

So grace the poem with your rain of generosity