إذا عُدَّتْ سَراةُ الجودِ طُرَّاً

فسعد الدين متبوعُ السَّماحِ

If generosity's instincts are reckoned as faults

Then Sa'd al-Din is accused of indulgence.

طليقُ الوجهِ لا جَهْمٌ قطوبٌ

ولا هيَّابةٌ عند الكفاحِ

With a bright face, neither frowning nor dejected,

Nor timid when the struggle looms ahead.

إذا ما اسْتَنَّ في بأسٍ وجُودٍ

أبَرَّ على الغوادي والصِّفاحِ

When he girds for valor and bounty intertwined

He charges the peaks and the rugged terrain.

رضاهُ وسُخْطُهُ في مُعْتَفِيهِ

وفي الأعداء من سَمٍّ ورَاحِ

His pleasure and anger toward his proteges

Are a poison and balm toward hostile men.

بنانٌ مثلُ سَحِّ الغَيْثِ رِفْداً

وودهٌ مثلُ مُنْبَلَج الصَّباحِ

His gifts are rain pouring from the clouds,

His affection, the radiant light of dawn.

شَبا الأقوالِ والأقلام منهُ

أشدُّ من المواضي والرماحِ

Pens and words are humbled before his glory,

More helpless than meadows against the spear.

تصولُ لها ذِمٌ وشِفارُ بيضٍ

فيهزمُهنَّ بالغُرِّ الفِصاحِ

Though slander assails him like flashes of white swords,

His eloquence scatters them in defeat.

بقلبي من سَجايا المجْدِ فيه

هوى العِزْ هاةٍ بالخوْدِ الرَّداحِ

Deep in my heart, with its battle-scarred walls,

Lives a passion for glory and high renown.