سروا والوجد في الاحشا باق

فما طرفي لغيرهم بباق

They traveled, while passion remains in the innermost depths.

So my eyes are not directed at anyone else.

والقوني على مقلاة يأس

الاقي من اساه ما الاقي

Despair has cast me onto burning coals.

I find nothing but more sorrow.

فيا قلبي المعين على شوقي

ويا دمعي المعين من اشتياقي

O my heart that aids my longing,

O my tears that ease my yearning,

الام تخازمان على شقآي

وبينكما سياج الصبر شاق

You both vie to increase my misery,

With the fence of patience between you, so hard to bear.

وحتام التعلل بالاماني

وما تشفى العليل من الفراق

Certainly making wishes brings no healing

to one made frail by separation.

نحبت من البعاد فما اساني

وطول اساي لم ينف ائترافي

I loved from afar, and that brought me no solace,

My prolonged torment did not lessen my suffering.

وما رقأ المدامع طيب رجو

وما ارجى الفواجع طب راق

Neither has the shedding of tears brought joyful hope,

Nor have I hoped that calamities would bring soothing comfort.

ومن يك ضره منه فاني

يرجى النفع من فرق الرفاق

Whoever’s harm comes from himself,

Can hope for benefit from the parting of friends.

ومالي اكثر الشكوى هلوعا

ولي من فضل ابراهيم واق

Why should I excessively bemoan in anguish,

When I have the outstanding virtues of Abraham as a guardian?

من الحدب الذي يعني حنوا

له لقب لذي كرم ملاق

He who cares for me tenderly,

Whose name rings with generous favors.

امام العصر ان يفصل عدالا

فما هو بعد داع للشقاق

The Imam of the age, to judge justly,

No longer needing to arouse dissent.

اذا ما راب امر حاد عنه

ويسعى لليقين على استباق

If a perplexing matter evades him,

He strives for certainty and to foresee it.

يجئ لنا بدر القول نثرا

فيرخص عنده نظم العراق

He brings us the full moon of discourse as prose,

Where the compositions of Iraq seem superfluous to him.

وان رام القوافي طاوعته

فجلى محرزا قصب السباق

If he wishes the rhymes to comply,

He races ahead, a preserve for the stalks of the meadow.

تقاد له العلوم كانما قد

تلاها اذ تلاها بالوثاق

Knowledge is led to him as if

He had transmitted it, bound to it firmly.

وايا طفت مغتربا اطافت

مدائحه بسمعك كالنطاق

Wherever you wander isolated,

His praises revolve around you, uttered clearly.

ومهما صغت من وصف جميل

على اخلاقه فبالانطباق

And however much you hear of his admirable traits,

They conform precisely to his manners.

حليم عالم شهم كريم

تقي ماجد وقس البواقي

Forbearing, learned, courageous, generous,

Pious, glorious, and true to his word.

هو البحر الخضم فرده عذبا

ولا تردن سواه من السواقي

He is the boundless, sweet sea,

None but him can you seek from the water springs.

تشاخست المدائح في سواء

وفيه لم تزل ذات انتساق

Eulogies quarrel as equals,

While through him they continue to flow smoothly.

وبعض الناس مشربهم فرات

وبعضهم امر من الزعاق

Some people incline towards the Euphrates,

While others prefer the collecting pools.

ومنهم من الى العلياء يرقى

ومنهم من تزل به المراقي

Among them are those who ascend to the heights,

While others slip down the slopes.

وكان الشعر فيهم في كساد

فصار اليوم فيه في نفاق

Poetry was languishing among them,

But today through him it thrives with sincerity.

كاني حين انشد فيه مدجى

اعاطي الراح من كأس دهاق

It is as if when I recite in his honor,

I am given refreshing wine from a gleaming cup.

اذا فنى المديح على اناس

فمدحي فيه طول الدهر باق

When praise is exhausted for some people,

My praise of him remains for all time.