وأقْسمُ لولا أحمدُ بنُ محمَّدٍ

أبو جعفرٍ رَبُّ العُلى والمَفاخِرِ

I swear, were it not for Ahmad ibn Muhammad

Abu Ja'far, Lord of the exalted and the glories

عصتني القوافي في الدجى وتعَذَّرتْ

عليَّ وأكْدَتْ في المقال خواطري

Rhymes would have disobeyed me in the darkness and evaded

Me, confirming my worries in speech

ولكنَّني نازلْءتُ هَمِّي بماجِدٍ

شديدِ مَضاء البأس جَمِّ المآثرِ

But I confronted my concerns with the glories

Of intense, brilliant valor and great achievements

فأصبح جُلْمود النُّهى وهو سلسلٌ

نميرٌ ومُغْبَرُّ الحِجا أيَّ ناضِرِ

So the frozen fright of prohibitions became

A tamed leopard and the dusty pilgrimage route glistening

بأبْلجَ مرفوعِ العمادِ مُظاهِرٍ

على الخطب نَعَّاش الجُدود العواثرِ

With a white banner raised high, manifestations

Of ancestry glorified in speeches

تُلاقيه عند الجدبِ أوشك مُطْعمٍ

وتلقاهُ عند الخطب أقربَ ناصِرِ

You meet him in droughts, soon providing relief

And find him in speeches, a helper most near

فتىً مِلْءُ ناديه من الصَّبر والندى

قعائِدُ عادِيٍّ ولُجَّةُ زاخِرِ

A young man, his tribe filled with patience and dew

Leader of the noble and courage of the blossoming

فبالذنب والإِجرامِ أيُّ مُسامِحٍ

وللفقْرِ والإِعدامِ أيُّ مُغامِرِ

With sin and crime, who is so forgiving?

And with poverty and annihilation, who is so risky?

كأنَّ السِّنينَ الغُبْر هامُ عُداتِه

ونعماءَه حدُّ السيوفِ البَواترِ

As if the years made his equipment an ambitious passion

And his prosperity the edge of sharp swords

ففتكتُهُ في المَحْل والمحْلُ عارقٌ

كفْتكِتهِ في الدارعينَ المساعرِ

So I destroyed him in battle, and the battle was raging

As I destroyed him in the armored breastplates, blazing

سَوابِقُهُ تَتْلو عَزائمَ نفْسِهِ

إذا أمْضيتْ في نَهْيهِ والأوامِرِ

His precedence reciting the resolves of his soul

When settled in his prohibitions and commands

فلا الرَّأيُ للخطبِ المَخوف بهائبٍ

ولا الطِّرفُ في الوعر العسوف بعاثر

Neither is opinion for the feared speech of horrors

Nor is sight in the rugged valley with stumbling

سحابٌ له برْقٌ من البِشْر لامعٌ

وصوبُ حياً هامٍ من الجودِ هامِر

A cloud with flashing lightning from good tidings

And downpour of generous hand, pouring

ولكنْ لماءِ المُعْصِراتِ مَواسِمٌ

وجودُ يَديْهِ مُسْتمرُّ المَواطِرِ

But for the pressed fruits, there are seasons

And his hands' generosity is rain ever pouring

وزيرٌ نَماهُ من تميم بن خِندفٍ

سَراةُ المعالي كابِراً بعد كابِرِ

A minister he nurtured from Tameem ibn Khindif

The lofty glories, great after greater

إذا ركبوا فالشمس والشمسُ جَوْنةٌ

سَليبة ضَوْءٍ بينَ خُفٍّ وحافِرِ

When they rode, the sun and the sun are

A morning of radiance between a hoof and a hoofprint

عَديدُهُمُ والمكرُماتُ لديْهُمُ

مَقامُ مَعالٍ ما لهُ من مُكاثِرِ

Their number and the generosities they possess

Are status of glory, none its rival

ودادي وما أوتيتُهُ منْ بَلاغَةٍ

أجادا مَديحي في الكريمِ العُراعِر

My affection and what eloquence I was given

Excelled in praising the generous, accomplished

فما كُلُّ منْ أبْدى وداداً بمخلصٍ

ولا كلُّ منْ صاغَ القَوافي بشاعر

For not all who profess affection sincerely

And not all who cast rhymes are poets