يا واحِداً في الفَضلِ حالَفَني نَدى
يَدِهِ مُحالَفَةَ النَدى لِمُحَلِّقِ
O One unmatched in nobility, the dew's alliance has favored me,
His hand allying with the dew to one aspiring,
فازَت مُنايَ بِهِ وَقَرَّت أَضلُعي
هاتيكَ لَم تُخفَق وَذي لَم تَخفِقِ
So my wishes have won through him and my ribs have settled,
These did not waver, nor did that waver.
فاضَت لُهاهُ وَأَطرَفَت في نَوعِها
أَذَهَبنَ مَذهَبَ مُغرِبٍ أَو مُغرِقِ
So it overflowed in its generosity and was most liberal in its type,
Whether it goes the way of a setting sun or a rising sun.
إِن يَكسُ عَطفي فَالسَماءُ بِجودِها
تَكسو الرُبى خِلَعَ النَباتِ المونِقِ
If my shoulder goes bare, the sky will clothe the meadows in its munificence,
With the raiment of delicate vegetation.
أَمّا نَداهُ فَكَوثَرٌ وَفِناؤُهُ
عَدنٌ وَهَذا الزِيُّ مِن إِستَبرَقِ
As for his dew, it is abundant; and his passing away
Is Eden, and this raiment is of the finest silk brocade.
ما زالَ يُظهِرُ فِيَّ آيَةَ جودِهِ
حَتّى كَساني بِالسَحابِ الأَزرَقِ
It continues to show me a sign of its munificence,
Until it has clothed me in greenish clouds.
زارَت سَحائِبُهُ البِقاعَ حَفاوَةً
حَيثُ السَحابُ مَعَ الثَرى لا يَلتَقي
Its clouds have visited places thirstily,
Wherever the clouds contact the earth they do not meet.
إِنّي سَجَعتُ حَمامَةً بِمَديحِهِ
فَأَفادَني لَونَ الحَمامِ الأَورَقِ
I have compared his praise to a gray dove,
So it has lent me the hue of the greenish dove.
وَلَقَد تَمَرَّسَ بي مَلِيّاً بَحرُهُ
حَتّى تَبَيَّنَ دُرُّهُ في مَنطِقي
And its sea has steadfastly equipped me with weapons,
Until its pearls appeared in my speech.
يا جودَهُ بَلَّغتَني ما أَشتَهي
وَمَلَّكتَني وَكَفَيتَني ما أَتَّقي
O Its generosity, You have conveyed me my desires,
And possessed me, and sufficed me what I fear.
كُن مَوسِماً لِمَطامِعي أَو مَيسَماً
في جَبهَتي أَو مِغفَراً في مَفرِقي
Be a season for my aspirations or a time
On my forehead, or forgiveness at my passing.
يُعطي وَيَحذو حَذوَهُ اِبنٌ ماجِدٌ
أَخذَ الرَبيعِ عَنِ الغَمامِ المُغدِقِ
He gives and his noble son emulates his example,
Having taken the spring from the abundant cloud.
ماحيلَتي بِنَداكُما وَقَدِ اِلتَقى
بَحرا سَماحٍ في مَجالٍ ضَيِّقِ
I am confounded by both your generosities, though
A spacious sea has met in a narrow scope.
ماذا التَأَنُّقُ في السَماحَةِ خَفِّفوا
عَنكُم وَعَن هَذا اللِسانِ المُرهَقِ
What is the need for refinement in munificence? Lighten up
On yourselves and on this overwhelmed tongue.
ما المُزنُ إِلّا مُحسِنٌ لَكِنَّكُم
حُزتُم شُفوفَ المُحسِنِ المُتَأَنِّقِ
The gloomy is only a benefactor, but you
Have assumed the character of the refined benefactor.
أَثقَلتُماني إِنَّما بِيَ خَجلَةٌ
مِن أَن أَقولَ لِهَبَّةِ الجودِ اِرفُقي
You have both burdened me, but in me is only
Shyness from saying: “Restrain the gift of generosity.”
قَومٌ إِذا اِرتَجَلوا المَكارِمَ نَمَّقوا
ما لا تُنَمِّقُهُ رَوِيَّةُ مُلفِقِ
A people, when they spontaneously manifest generosity, excel
What cannot be emulated by an artful composer.
أَعطَيتَها صُفراً كَأَنَّ بَوارِقاً
زارَت يَدي لَكِنَّها لَم تُقلِقِ
You have given it to me yellow as if lightning
Had visited my hand, but it did not startle.
حَيَّيتَ آمالي بِطاقَةِ نَرجِسٍ
أَدرَكتُ نَفحَتَها بِغَيرِ تَنَشُّقِ
You have enlivened my hopes with a narcissus bouquet,
I sensed its fragrance without it being plucked.
نَوَّرتَ مِنّي حالَةً دَهماءَ لَو
مَسَحَ الصَباحُ أَديمَها لَم تُشرِقِ
You have illuminated a gloomy state of mine which if
Dawn had stroked its surface, it would not have shone.
بَيَّضتَ عُمري كُلَّهُ وَأَعَدتَهُ
بَرّاً فَما هُوَ بِالعَقوقِ الأَبلَقِ
You have whitened all my life and made it
Innocent, for it is not stubbornly disobedient.
أَذهَبتَ عَنّي الجَدبَ حَتّى خِفتُ أَن
أُنمى إِلى الأَدَبِ اِنتِماءَ المُلصَقِ
You have removed my barrenness from me, until I feared
That I would devote myself to literature like one attached.
وَلَّيتَ إِحلالي لَواحِظَ نائِمٍ
وَرَأَيتَ خَلّاتي بِلَحظِ مُؤَرِّقِ
And you have replaced my lethargy with an alert watcher
And seen my worries with a disturbing gaze.
وَرَأَيتَ بي ضَنكاً وَهونَ بِضاعَةٍ
فَهَزَزتَ عِطفَ مُنَفِّسٍ وَمُنَفِّقِ
And you have seen me in hardship and insignificant wares,
So you have shaken the compassion of one who vents and grants access.
اِستَخلَصَ اِبنُ خَلاصٍ الهِمَمَ الَّتي
فُتنَ النُجومَ بِأَسعُدٍ وَتَأَلُّقِ
The son of deliverance has extracted the resolves that
Dazzled the stars with good fortune and brilliance.
صَدَقَت مَخايِلُ جودِهِ وَنَشَت كَما
تَبدو تَباشيرُ الصَباحِ المُشرِقِ
The imaginations of his generosity have proven true and sprouted as
The first tokens of dawn appear radiant.
لا مِثلُ جودٍ يَضمَحِلُّ كَأَنَّهُ
بُشرى هِلالِ الفِطرِ غَيرَ مُحَقَّقِ
There is no likeness to a generosity that decays as if
It is the tidings of the crescent of Eid without being realized.
كَالطَودِ لَكِن فيهِ هِزَّةُ عاطِفٍ
كَاللَيثِ لَكِن فيهِ شيمَةُ مُشفِقِ
Like an immense mountain, but in it is the throbbing of a compassionate one,
Like a lion, but in it is the quality of a gentle one.
كَالظِلِّ إِلّا نورُهُ وَثُبوتُهُ
كَالشَمسِ إِلّا في لَظاها المُحرِقِ
Like shade, except its light and permanence,
Like the sun, except in its burning heat.
أَحيا الصَحابَةَ وَالهِدايَةَ عَصرُهُ
وَأَماتَ مَغرِبُهُ حَديثَ المَشرِقِ
Its era revived the Companions and guidance,
And its sunset killed the news of the east.
يا أَهلَ سَبتَةَ هَذِهِ السِيَرُ الَّتي
أَبدَت فَضائِلَ مَن مَضى في مَن بَقي
O people of Ceuta! These are the biographies that
Clarified the virtues of those past and those present.
وَضَحَت وَلَم تَعثَر يَدا مُتَتَبِّعٍ
مِثلَ الحُروفِ لَمَسنَ فَوقَ المَهرِقِ
And they became clear and no hand of a researcher stumbled,
Like letters it touched atop the parchment.
يَلقاكَ بَينَ وَزارَتَيهِ وَبِشرِهِ
كَالسَيفِ راعَ بِمَضرِبَينِ وَرَونَقِ
May you meet him between his two ministries and good news,
Like the sword, overseeing with two edges and grace.
تَجني المَعالي مِن رُسومِ عُلاهُ ما
تَجني الصَنائِعُ مِن حُدودِ المَنطِقِ
You reap glories from the features of his ascent such as
The arts reap from the confines of reason.
وَإِذا تَعَرَّضَهُ الحَسودُ فَمِثلَنا
يَتَعَرَّضُ البُرهانَ قَولُ مُلَفِّقِ
And if the envious target him, then we, like
Reason’s proof, address the talk of a fabricator.
أَدرَكتُ سُؤلي مِن نَداكَ شَهامَةً
وَمَدائِحي في نَجدِ مَجدِكَ تَرتَقي
I have attained my request from your dew boldly,
And my praises of your glory in Najd ascend.
ما لاحَ سِرُّ الدَهرِ قَبلَكَ إِنَّما
كانَ الزَمانُ كَمامَةً لَم تُفتَقِ
No secret of fate has appeared before you, rather
The times were like a veil that was not lifted.
