أينَ في عصرنا نرى لك مِثلا

جئتَ بعداً فَفُقتَ من جاءَ قبلا

Where in our age can we behold your equal?

You came later, yet became the one who had come first.

كلَّما قد بلغتَ غايةَ فضلٍ

زدت جِدًّا فزادَك الله فضلا

Whenever your merit reached its utmost goal,

you strove still harder, and God increased you in merit.

وإذا قيلَ بعضُ جدِّك هذا

لك كلُّ الفضل انتهى قلت كلاّ

And whenever someone said, “This is but part of your striving;

all excellence is yours—it has reached its end,” you said, “No.”

لم تزل هكذا تجدُّ إلى أن

قيلَ مهلاً لك انتهى الفضلُ كلاّ

So you went on, pressing forward, until

they said, “Gently! Excellence is exhausted.” Still you said, “No.”

نلتَ أقصى العُلى وتبغي مَزيداً

عزَّ مَن هكذا براكَ وجلاّ

You attained the furthest height, yet seek still more—

Mighty is He who fashioned you thus and brought your splendor to light.

لو على قدرِكَ اتخذتَ خليلاً

لاتخذتَ الهلالَ في الأُفقِ خِلاّ

Had you chosen a friend equal to your stature,

you would have taken the crescent in the sky as your companion.

أيّما خصلةٍ من المجدِ عنَّت

لم تفز من قِداحها بالمُعلّى

Whatever virtue of glory presented itself,

you won from its lot-arrows al-Muʿallā—the highest share.

قد بحثتَ العلومَ فنًّا ففنًّا

وبها قد أحطتَ عقلاً ونقلا

You awakened the sciences among us into flourishing branches,

and encompassed them through reason and transmitted learning.

وشحنتَ الزمانَ هدياً ونسكا

وقضيتَ الحقوقَ فرضاً ونفلا

You filled the age with guidance and devotion,

and discharged every right, obligatory and freely given.

فإِلى أينَ عنكَ يبغي انحرافٌ

ضلَّ من لا يراكَ لله ظِلاّ

So where could rectitude turn, seeking to veer away from you?

Astray is whoever does not see you as God’s shadow.

أيُّها المُقتفي الأئمَّةَ لا يُخطئُ

قولاً لهم ولم تعدُ فِعلا

O follower of the Imams: whatever claim

is spoken for them, you have turned into deed.

قل لمن يدَّعي النيابةَ عنهم

هكذا عنهم يُنابُ وإلاّ

Say to the one who claims to act in their stead:

this is how they are represented—or not at all.

أنت يا كعبةً إليها الرجا حجَّ

ويا قِبلةً لها المدحُ صلَّى

You are a Kaaba toward which hope makes pilgrimage,

and a qibla toward which praise performs its prayer.

مَشعر الحقّ مستجارُ ذوي الحقِّ

ومَن لم يقل بما قلتُ ضلاّ

A watering place of truth, a refuge for those who possess a rightful claim—

whoever does not say what I have said has gone astray.

فيك لو أُعطيت مُناها الثريَّا

لتمنَّت بأن تُرى لكَ نعلا

Were you to claim the Pleiades among your possessions,

they would wish to be seen as a sandal beneath your feet.

يا وقور النديَّ جئت بجيلٍ

خيرهم في ندِّيه طاش جهلا

O dignified lord of the gathering, you have come with a generation

whose finest man, even in his own assembly, reels with ignorance.

ما عسى أن يقولَ فيكَ مريبٌ

صقلت عَرضَك المكارمُ صقلا

What could any skeptic possibly say of you,

when noble deeds have sown your honor like a field?

لك أفدي مُعذَّباً بمعاليك

إليها يمدُّ باعاً أشلاّ

May I ransom you from one who lays claim to your lofty qualities,

stretching toward them an arm already withered.

يتعالى بجهله وهو يدري

أنَّ مِن مفرِقيه كعبَك أعلى

He exalts himself through ignorance, though he knows

that your heel stands higher than the crown of his head.

لو رأى الليثُ كيف رشّحت أشبا

لكَ لارتاحَ أَن يُرى لك شِبلا

Had meanness seen how you put Ashʿab forward,

it would rejoice to know that it had a cub of yours.

غُرراً قد نجلتها ليس ترضى

معها البدرَ ينتمي لكَ نجلا

You fathered a radiant glory that would not consent

unless the full moon too claimed descent from you as a son.

طبتَ نسلاً وكنتَ أزكى بني المج

دِ وما كلُّ مَن زكى طابَ نسلا

Noble in lineage, you were the purest of the sons of glory

in blood—and everyone pure in blood is noble in descent.

سُرجاً للعُلى ولدتَ وكلٌّ

كم له من نهار فخرٍ تجلّى

You were born for the heights, a master; and every

path of pride belonging to you shines manifest.

لك خلقٌ لو ذاقه مُجتني النحلِ

دعى ما جنيتُ ما عشتُ نحلا

Yours is a character that, had the honey-gatherer tasted it,

he would leave what he had gathered and never gather honey again.

ذاك للذائقين حلوٌ وهذا

في فم الذوق منه أَحلا وأَحلا

That is sweet to those who taste; but this,

upon the palate, is sweeter and sweeter still.

خفَّة الروح لا كأَخلاق قومٍ

أبداً في الأرواح تُحدِثُ ثِقلا

A lightness of spirit—not like the dispositions of people

who forever lay a burden upon spirits.

هو روضُ النُهى وقد جعلَ اللهُ

له منكَ رائقُ البشرِ طَلاّ

It is the garden of understanding, and God has made

your radiant good cheer its shade.

قد لعمري حملتَ أعباءَ جودٍ

لو بها الدهرُ يستقلُّ لكلاّ

By my life, you have borne the burdens of generosity—

burdens beneath which Time itself would fail.

ومن الرمل لو عطاؤك يُعطى

نفذ الرملُ من يديه وملاّ

Were your bounty given away from the sands,

the sand would run out from his hands, and he would weary.

لقد اختطَّ داركَ المجدُ للحمد

وفيها الندى ترعرعَ طِفلا

Glory made your house a dwelling place for praise,

and in it munificence grew up from childhood.

منه جيد المحبِّ يلبسُ طوقاً

ويدُ الكاشحينَ تحملُ غِلاّ

From it the host of lovers wears a collar of honor,

while the hands of the spiteful bear shackles.

دُم شكيمَ المصاقِع اللّد واسلم

شرفاً للخصيم تنطقَ فصلا

Break the defiance of contentious masters of speech, and remain

an honor to the adversary before whom you pronounce judgment.

بلسانٍ يُريه نَضنَضَةَ الصلِّ

فَيُغضي كيلا يُساورُ صِلاّ

With your tongue you show him the darting flicker

until whoever challenges the viper is called blunt.

أمطرتنا يداكَ طلاًّ ووبلاً

فوردنا نداكَ نهلاً وعلاّ

Your hands rained on us, now drizzle, now downpour;

we came to your bounty and drank first and again.

بهدايا يديكَ أُقسم لا أيدي

الهدايا يرمينَ نحو المصلّى

By the gifts of your hands, I swear: never were

gifts borne so sacrosanct toward their destination.

لجديراً أراكَ في أن أُهنِّيك

بمن نُبتَ عنه قولاً وفعلا

You deserve that I should offer you congratulations,

yet both my words and my deeds fall short of it.

ولأحلا الأيام يومُ يد الله

به سلَّت الحسامَ المُحلَّى

Sweetest of days was the day when the hand of God

through him drew the keen, decisive sword.

يومُ بعثٍ لمن سيُبعثُ فيه

مالئ المشرقينِ قِسطاً وعدلا

The day He sent you to those among whom will be sent

the one who fills the two horizons with equity and justice.

ذاكَ مَن كانَ قُربهُ قابَ قوسينِ

من الله إذ دَنى فتدلَّى

That one belongs to him whose nearness was “two bow-lengths”

from God, when he drew near and descended;

والبشيرُ الذي به قسمَ اللهُ

على العالمينَ لُطفاً وفضلا

and to the bearer of glad tidings through whom God apportioned

kindness and favor to all the worlds.

هو للخير كان أصلاً وفرعاً

وله الخيرُ كانَ فرعاً وأَصلا

He was the branch and source of all that is good,

and goodness itself was both his branch and his root.

أيُّها المجزلُ الوهوبُ سماحاً

هاكَ نظماً كجودِ كفَّيك جزلا

O lavish giver, prodigal in generosity,

take a poem abundant as the bounty of your hands—

بل كعلياك خُذه مُمتنعاً صعبَ

منالٍ ومثلَ خُلقِك سهلا

indeed, lofty as you are: take it, proud and hard

to attain, though in character gentle and easy.

زفَّ بكراً كفاك فيها هديًّا

لك تجلى وحسبُها بك بعلا

A virgin bride your hands have ushered forth as a gift;

she is unveiled for you, and glory enough that you are her bridegroom.