قَرى في حياض المجد عِدُّ فخارهِ

فروَّى قُلوباً بالثَّناءِ وألْسُنا

He built villages in the meadows of glory,

Whose dwellers' hearts sang his praises, their tongues lauding him.

وفاخرهُ أهل العُلى فغدا له

أجَلُّهمُ يومَ التَّفاخرِ مُذْعِنا

The nobles vied to exalt him, so he became,

On their day of vying, the most exalted of them.

وعاد زمانُ الفضل صُبْحاً بجوده

وقد كان لولا جودُه العُمرَ موْهنا

The days of virtue returned like morn because of his generosity,

Else a lifetime of meanness would have worn life down.

ولو أنَّ للعلياءِ فيالناس معْدِناً

لكانَ لها دون العشائرِ مَعْدِنا

Had the noble clans possessed a mine of bounty,

It would have lain with none but them.

يفوقُ نميرَ الماء ليناً ورِقَّةً

ويفضلُ في البأس الصَّوارم والقنا

More pliant than soft water, gentler than the palm frond,

And in war fiercer than swords and spears,

يهونُ عليه في العُلى بذلُ مالِهِ

ويعلمُ أنَّ الحمد لا النَّشب الغِنى

Giving his wealth for glory was nothing to him;

He knew that praise, not greed, was the mark of the noble.

بنى للوزير الزَّينبيِّ جدُودُه

ولم يكْفهِ حتى أنافَ على البِنا

His ancestors built for the Minister Zainab

Palaces, yet he thought them too paltry for him.