أعزيزَ بغدادٍ أعِدْ نظَراً لنا

فلقد سَمعْتَ عزيزَ مصْرٍ ما فَعَلْ

My dear Baghdad, be prepared for us

For you have heard what your dear Egypt has done

ولقد أبَى دِينٌ غَدوْتَ عَزيزَه

أن تُستضامَ رجالُه أو تُستذَلْ

And this religion, of which you are the beloved,

Refuses for its men to be wronged or disgraced

ولنا حُقوقٌ إن لحَظْتَ وكيدةٌ

سيَما ولاحِقُها بسابقها اتَّصَل

We have rights - if you reflect - and a plot

Especially as its sequel is linked to its precedent

حَقّانِ قد وجَبا عليكَ فسالفاً

حَقُّ الودادِ وآنِفاً حقُّ الأمَل

Two rights have befallen you, so in the past

There is the right of affection, and now the right of hope

فامنُنْ وأوْفِ لنا بِملْءِ رَجائنا

كَيْلاً لعَمْري فيه قَبلَك لم يُكَل

So favor us and fulfill our hopes completely

An amount that, by my life, none before you has fulfilled

إنّا لنسأَلُ منك مَنْ في طَبْعهِ

أن يَبْتدي كَرماً وإن هو لم يُسَل

We ask from you one whose nature

Is to begin generosity even when not asked

وأقَلُّ فِكْرِك في أجلِّ أُمورِنا

كافٍ ولكنْ هل لنا ذاك الأقَلّ

Your slightest consideration of our greatest affairs

Is enough, but do we even have that least amount?

خَلَلاً إليك وخَلّةً نشكو فمُرْ

بسَدادِ خَلَّتِنا وتَسديدِ الخَلَل

A breach to you and an intimacy in which we complain, so pass

Judgment on the righteousness of our intimacy and rectify the breach

فالدّهرُ كالقلَمِ الّذي لكَ طاعةً

ما قُلتَ قامَ برأْسهِ لك وامتْثَل

For time is like a pen that obeys you

Whatever you say, it carries out immediately

جِئْنا نُحاكِمهُ إليك فلا تَمِلْ

ونُطيلُ شَكواهُ عليكَ فلا تَمَلّ

We have come to arbitrate it through you so do not weary

And we prolong complaining of it to you so do not tire

زمَنٌ أطاعَك فاعتلَى بك قَدْرُه

لِمْ صار يَقْصِدُنا ونحن لك الخَوَل

A time that obeyed you, so its fate was elevated through you

Why does it now target us while we are your followers?

حُيّيِتَ غَيثَ فضائلٍ وفَواضِلٍ

ما شِيمَ بَرقُ سَحابهِ إلاّ هَطَل

You were showered with virtuous merits

Its clouds did not spark lightning except to pour rain

مَولىً إذا كَفَلَتْ عِنايتُه بنا

نِلْنا المُنَى كَمَلاً وإلاَّ لم نَنَل

A guardian - if his care takes us into its charge -

We attain our wishes completely, otherwise we do not attain

مُذْ صِرْتُ مُتَّكِلاً عليه غَفلْتُ عن

نَفْسي إليه وقلتُ نِعْمَ المُتَّكَل

Since I became reliant on Him, I neglected

Myself and said, “What an excellent Trustee!”

فكأنّني بحَوائجي مَقْضِيّةً

مَقْطورةً تَسري إليَّ على عَجَل

So it is as if my needs are fulfilled

Bundled up and brought hastily to me

مَزْفوفةٌ مثْلَ العَرائسِ أصبحَتْ

في الحَلْي نَجلوها عليك وفي الحُلَل

Like brides adorned in beauty and fine clothes

We sent them to you adorned and clothed

يا مالِكي بشَمائلٍ كَمُلَتْ له

لمّا رأَى صَدْري على الوُدِّ اشْتَمل

O you whose praiseworthy traits have reached perfection

When my heart saw your affection, it embraced

كَرمٌ إكْرامٌ لدَيك ولم يَزَلْ

وَحْشُ المَوَدّةِ بالكَرامةِ يُحتْبَل

Generosity and honor are with you and have not ceased

The captivation of love flows abundantly with generosity

فابْسُطْ على الإخْلالِ عُذْرَ مُقَصِّرٍ

فبِواجِب الإخلاصِ يوماً ما أخَلْ

So extend the excuse of one deficient

In his duty of loyalty for one day he slipped

إن لم يكُنْ لك باللّقاء مُواصلاً

فالمُتبغَى منه الدُّعاءُ وقد وَصَل

If he is not continuously keeping company with you

Then what is sought from him is supplication, and it has arrived

لو غابَ عنك لِنَظْمِ مَدْحِك غَيْبةً

قَعَدَتْ به فاعْذِرْ فَعنْك بهِ اشْتغَل

If he was absent from composing your praise inverses

His preoccupation with you excuses him

أبَتِ المدائحُ أَن تَزيدَكَ رتْبةً

حتّى لصارَ لك التّحلّي كالعَطَل

Eulogies refused to increase your status

Until praising you became like something in disuse

فُتَّ المدائحَ بالمَنائح واغْتدَى

بكَلامِنا وكِرامِنا منها خَجَل

Decorate eulogies with elegies and be content

With our words and generosity from them ashamed

فإذا منَنْتَ فَعَلْتَ ما لَم يَفْعلوا

وإذا شكَرْنا لم نَقُلْ ما لم يُقَل

So when you bestow favor, you do what they did not

And when we thank, we do not say what was not said

قسَماً لأنتَ أجَلُّ مَن ألِفَ النَّدى

خُلُقاً فحُلَّ من العُلا أعلَى مَحَلّ

I swear you are the noblest of those the dew has nourished

In character, so solve this loftiest station

وهواكَ عندي مثْلُ شِعرٍ قُلتُه

فإذا ادَّعاهُ سِوايَ قلتُ قد انْتحَل

And your love to me is like poetry I recited

So if anyone other than me claims it, I say he has falsely attributed it

ووُقوفُ أَمْري فوقَ هذا رُبّما

سَمِعَ الحسودُ به ومَنْ يَسمَعْ يَخَل

And my matter standing above this - perhaps

The envious heard of it, and whoever hears is split

دُمْ دِيمةً للجودِ واحْيَ حياً له

في ظلّ إقبال وعزٍّ مُقْتَبَل

Remain eternally generous and eternally alive

In the shade of influence and power soon to come

كالشّمسِ لا كالبَدْرِ يَطلُعُ دائماً

فالبَدْرُ يَنقُصُ كُلّما قالوا كَمَل

Like the sun - not the moon - rising eternally

For the moon wanes every time they say it has reached its fullness

في دَولةٍ مَوْعودةٍ بدَوامها

مَحْسودةٍ أيّامُها بَينَ الدُّوَل

In a state promised to eternally remain

Its days envied among nations