يا رب يمّن طلعة المولودِ

واحفظ أباه أخا الندى والجودِ

O Lord, make the newborn’s advent auspicious,

and preserve his father, brother to munificence and bounty.

سمحت به الأيام أبيض تنجلي

عنابه ظلم الخطوب السودِ

The days have bestowed him, radiant-white, so that

through him the darkness of black calamities clears away.

حكمت له الأفلاك بالسعد الذي

لا ينقضي وقضت به بخلودِ

The celestial spheres have decreed for him a fortune that

shall never end, ordaining it to endure forever.

قد قلت إذ كنوه كنية جده

بشرى فتلك علامة المجدودِ

I said, when they gave him his grandfather’s kunya:

“Glad tidings! That is the sign of one favored by fortune.”

ستراه مثلك صاعدا قلل العلا

عال على الحافظ كل حسودِ

You will see him, like yourself, ascending glory’s peaks,

lofty above the guards of every envious man.

قد جد في طلب المعالي يقتدى

بآباء آباء له وجدودِ

Already he strives in pursuit of high honors, following

the fathers of his fathers—his forebears and grandsires.

بك يا بهاء الدين يا ابن محمد

بلغ المقصد غاية المقصودِ

Through you, O Baha al-Din, O son of Muhammad,

the aim has attained the utmost end desired.

بوجود جودك لاعدمنا سيبه

غصن المنى لدن وريق العودِ

With your bounty present—may we never lack its outpouring—

hope’s branch is supple, its stem fresh with leaves.

قسما بأنعمك اللواتي أطلقت

بالجود من أسر المطامع جيدي

I swear by your favors, those that have set free

through generosity my neck from captivity to desires.

لقد استندت إلى الفلاح ولاح لي

فيه دليل سعادة وسعودِ

I have indeed leaned upon prosperity, and there appeared to me

in him a sign of happiness and good fortune.

فمدحته في المهد أشهد أنه

عيسى السماحة عاش في تمهيدِ

So I praised him in the cradle, bearing witness that he is

the Jesus of generosity—may he live cradled in ease.

فبلغت فيه ما توصل ساحها

يا ابن الكرام ملاءة المحسودِ

In praising him I attained what one ranging its breadth may reach.

O son of nobles, mantle of the envied one!

ولقد أتيتك مادحا عن خبرة

لما مدحت سواك بالتقليدِ

I have come to you as a praising poet, speaking from experience,

for when I praised anyone but you, it was by imitation.