يا مَن لويتُ به يدَ الخطبِ

وبه ثنيتُ طلايعَ الكربِ

O you around whom I have wound the hand of fortune,

And around whom I have bent the peaks of adversity,

ولقيتُ حدَّ الحادثاتِ به

فَفَللتُ ذا غربٍ بذي غرب

And with whom I have faced the limits of events,

So I escaped from the West with its West.

وأرحتُ آمالي بساحَتِه

فطرحتُ ثِقلَ الهمِّ عن قلبي

And I rested my hopes in your courtyard,

So I cast off the burden of worries from my heart.

بُشرى لهاشمَ حيثُ سالمني

فيك الزمانُ وكان من حَربي

Good tidings for Hashim wherever you greeted me,

Through you time passed as it was at war with me.

فلتشهدِ الدُنيا وساكنُها

أنِّي مخضتُ لخيرِهم وَطبي

So let the world and its inhabitants testify,

That I was loyal to their best and most virtuous.

وبحسبهم ذمًّا شهادتُها

أنِّي بغيرِك لم أقل حسبي

And it is enough, as far as they are concerned, that their testimony defames me,

That without you I did not say “enough for me”.

أنت الذي آباؤُه دَرجوا

وهمُ حُلِّيُ عواطل الحُقب

You are the one whose forefathers have become steps,

While they are the ornaments of the epochs.

يتناقلون الفخرَ بينهم

ندبٌ لهم يرويه عن ندبِ

They pass on the pride amongst themselves,

A tradition for them narrated from tradition.

ما زالَ صبٌّ بالعَلاءِ لهم

يتورَّثُ العلياءَ من صبِّ

Passion for the high did not cease for them,

Inheriting the sublime from passion.

حتَّى ورثتَ عظيمَ سؤددِهم

كرَم الغيوثِ ورفعةَ الشُهب

Until you inherited the great pride of their passion,

The generosity of pouring rains, and the loftiness of clouds.

فقبضتَ عن شرفٍ يدَ الجدب

وبسطتَ عن سَرفٍ يد الخصب

So you held back the hand of drought from honor,

And you extended the hand of fertility from bounty.

ومرى مكارمَك الثناءُ كما

يُمري النسيمُ حلائب السُحب

And the praise of your virtues passed by as

The breeze makes the udders of clouds pass by.

طبٌّ بأدواءِ الأمورِ لها

تَضَعُ الهناءَ مواضعَ النقبِ

A remedy for the ailments of matters, for it

Puts prosperity in the place of failure.

يفديك كلُّ أخي يدٍ هي في

خصبِ السنين أليفةُ الجدب

You are ransomed by every brotherly hand which is, during

The fertility of years, a friend of drought.

لا بالوَلودِ ولا اللبونِ ولا

برؤومِ غيرِ الشُحِّ من سَقب

Not by giving birth or fresh milk or

Any milk save the milk of the stingy udder.

من لو عصبتَ بنانَ راحته

بالسيفِ ما درّت على العصب

One whom if you girded the fingers of his comfort

With the sword, his fingers would not flow over the headband.

ما الريحُ ناعمةَ الهُبوبِ سرت

سَحراً على نُزَهٍ من العُشب

The gentle, softly blowing breeze did not pass,

In the charm of dawn, over more delicate grass than you.

بأرقَّ منك خلائقاً كرُمَت

ممزوجةُ الصهباء بالعذب

It did not create, in its nobleness, creatures more refined,

Mixed of ambergris and fresh water, than you.