بجلالِ قدرِك تفخر الأزمانُ

وأشدُّ مُفتَخِرٍ به رمضانُ

With the majesty of Your decree, time takes pride,

And the most prideful of it is Ramadan.

لو كان ينطق قال هَنوني به

لكنْ يُخلُّ به فمٌ ولسان

If it could speak, it would say "Make me glad with it,

But a mouth and tongue fail it."

لولا سيوفُك ما استقرَّ لنا به

صومٌ ولا نُسكٌ ولا قرآن

If not for Your swords, neither fasting nor devotion nor Quran would settle for us.

Your blessings have encompassed it, so it is devoid of none of them -

بركاتُك اشتملتْ عليه فما خَلا

منهن لا شهرٌ ولا إنسان

Neither a month, nor a human.

It did not arrive until Your bounty arrived above it,

ما حلَّ حتى حل فضُلك فوقَه

فله بذلك في المعالي شان

So it has a lofty rank because of that.

O King, by whom times and minds and bodies live,

يا أيُّها الملكُ الذي تَحيا به

الأزمانُ والأذهان والأبدان

You are the Bountiful - though bounty does not know You,

A bounty too majestic for evidence. Does the proof of

أنتَ الغريبُ الفضلِ معْ ما أنه

لولاك لم يَتعرَّفِ العِرفان

The midday sun need to be sought?

Your attributes were made great in hearing for the absent,

فضلٌ يَجِلُّ عن الدليلِ وهل على

شمسِ الظَّهيرةِ يُطْلَب البرهان

But seeing made hearing worthless for those present.

You manifested a beauty in the beautiful craftsmanship,

عَظُمَتْ صِفاتُك في السماعِ لغائب

ورُؤِيتَ فاحتقرَ السَّماعَ عيانُ

So beauty and benevolence were rendered deficient through it.

Your gifts encompassed all people, as though

أبدتْ جمالا في جميل صَنائعٍ

فافترَّ فيها الْحُسنُ والإِحسان

Every living being is provided for by the palm of Your generosity.

You commanded, so kings obeyed as if they were

عَمَّت مَواهُبك الأنام كأنما

من جودِ كفِّك يُرْزَق الحيوان

The capable limbs, and You the resolute soul.

You forbade, so time was wary in awe,

وأمرتَ فامتثلَ الملوكُ كأَنهم

أعضاء مُقْتدِر وأنت جَبان

As though You were raging seas, and it, gardens.

You intended, so the celestial sphere was as if

ونهيتَ فارتاع الزمانُ تَهيُّبا

فكأنك الهيجاء وهْو جنان

It followed You, or as if its reins were in Your hands.

You outsped it, so You surpassed it,

وعزمت فالفَلك الأثير كأنما

يتلوك أو بيديك منه عنان

And all existence became a wager for You.

A resolve, most perfect in scope and longest in duration

وكأنما سابْقتَه فسَبقْتَه

وجميعُ موجودٍ حَواهُ رِهان

In every expansive abode the present moment contains.

Your rule pleased the lands and their people,

عَزْمٌ أَتمُّ مَدىً وأطولُ مدةٍ

في كل شاسعةٍ نَواها الآنُ

As though it was a mother, and they, brethren.

You concealed the vastness of enmity - their graves

راضتْ سياستُك البلادَ وأهلَها

فكأنها أُمٌّ وهم إخوان

Became their homelands, and their shrouds, their garments.

And fear migrated, while Your sword gives drink,

وأَخفْتَ شاسعةَ العِدَا فقبورُهم

أوطانهم وثيابهم أكفان

Each of them solitary, and all of them thirsty.

O refuge of the generous, Your palm sufficed, it filled

والخوفُ هاجِرةٌ وسيفُك مَورِدٌ

فَرْدٌ وكلٌّ منهمُ ظمآن

The sea of bliss, so betrayals became insignificant.

Behold, the palm of the King of Kings overflows with dew

يا مُجْتَدى الكرماءِ حَسْبُك قد طَما

بحرُ النوالِ فهانتِ الغُدران

Generously, and I reckon it to be the flood.

Do not hoard for tomorrow, for its bestowal

ها كفُّ شاهِنْشاهَ تَزْخَرُ بالندى

غدِقا وظَنِّى أنه الطوفان

Will forever accompany every precious gift.

Your continuous generosity, throughout time, upon mankind

لا تَدَّخِرَّ لغدٍ فإنَّ نواله

أبداً بكلِّ نَفيسةٍ يَهْتان

Is flying. No place has been specified for them.

So it is as though, in every land, they are its thankfulness,

دِيَمٌ تجود مدى الزمانِ على الورى

طُرّا فلم يُخْصَص بهن مكان

And for every language, its addict.

Breaths repeat, while it remains before them

فكأنها في كل أرضٍ شكرُها

ولكلِّ ذي لغةٍ به إدمان

Forever - its range is a field for it.

Farfetched! No praiser adorns Your attribute,

تتكرر الأنفاسُ وهْو أمامها

أبدا فمَجْراها له ميدان

Rather, his praises are made graceful through it.

From You we derive what we say, yet

هيهاتَ ليس يَزينُ وصفَك مادحٌ

لكنْ مَدائحُه به تَزْدان

Your attributes only increase in weight.

You have, in the hidden sublimities, an alert conscience

منك استفدْنا ما نقول وإنما

تزداد في أوصافك الأوزان

No matter how heavy eyelids become with sleep.

And an intuition, sound in judgment,

لك في خفيّاتِ المَعالي خاطرٌ

يقظان مهما نامتِ الأجفان

That will suffice when endowed to Luqman.

Sword and pen have pride whenever

وبديهةٌ في صائبِ الرأي الذي

يُغنِي إذا أُرْوِى به لُقْمان

Your palm and fingers touch them.

Death and hopes set out from them -

للسيفِ والقلمِ افتخارٌ كلما

لَمستْها لك راحةٌ وبَنان

One, a breath; the other, teeth.

O You who is too transcendent to be compared to ones passed,

تغدو المنايا والآماني منهما

تجرى فذي نفْسٌ وتلك سِنان

Where are the non-Arabs to You? And the Arabians?

Who is more clear-sighted than Hatem? More eloquent than Antar?

يامن تَنزَّهَ أنْ يُقاسَ بمن مَضَى

أين الأعاجم منك والعربان

Stronger than Qays? More defiant than Sahban?

Than Aristotle? Than Alexander? Than Caesar?

مَن أَحْنَفٌ من حاتم من يَعْرُب

من عنتر من قُسُّ من سَحْبان

Or Anushirwan?

Farfetched! A portion of Your perfection falls short

من أَرْسَطاطاليسُ من إسكندر

من قيصر أم من أنوشِرْوان

Of encompassing it - either human or jinn.

O oasis of bounty, in whose shade

هيهاتَ جزءٌ من كمالك عاجزٌ

عنه الخليفةُ إنْسُها والجان

Mankind have safety from the tyranny of time.

Your origin in generosity is well-rooted and implanted,

يا دوحةَ الفضلِ التي في ظِلَّها

للخَلْقِ من جَوْرِ الزمانِ أمان

And peaks of splendor have flourished for You on high.

The clouds of every virtue watered Your goodness,

قد طاب أصُلك في المَكارمِ مَغْرِسا

وتَفنَّنتْ لك في العُلى أَفْنان

And the meadow of Your bestowal rose above it, quenched.

Hopes and wishes became, because of You,

وروى ثَراك سحابُ كلِّ فضيلةٍ

وعلاهُ روضُ نوالِك الرَّيان

Mere play and jest, and left You in loftiness.

Hopes compete in You, so no delight came

وغَدتْ لك الآمالُ وهْي من الطَّوى

هَزْلَى وراحت عنك وهْي سِمان

That did not bring joy, nor left, bringing sorrow.

Like the joy of the fasting month when it meets You,

تتنافس الآمالُ فيك فما أَتَى

فَرِحٌ وما فارقتَه أَسْيان

And sorrow that bids farewell with Sha'ban.

So You remained, for however long time continues, felicitated -

كسرورِ شهرِ الصومِ إذ قابلتَه

وتأسُّفٌ وَلَّى به شعبان

Through Your hands, safety and faith grow stronger.

فبقيتَ ما بقي الزمان مُهنَّأً

بيديك يَقْوَى الأمنُ والإيمان