سناكَ يا بنَ الكرامِ الكاتبينَ سبا

عظمْتَ قدراً وأرضيْتَ العلى نسبا

Your poetry, O son of honored writers, has been

Exalted and satisfied the highest lineage

قرأتُ أبياتَكَ السحرَ الحلالَ فما

أدري أنفحةُ مسكٍ أمْ نسيمُ صَبا

I read your magical, lawful verses and did not know

Whether it was the breeze of musk or the morning breeze of Saba

قصيدةٌ شِينَ صادُ لام بهجتها

يا عينَ مَنْ ألفَ الحسنى إذا كتبا

An ode whose beginning letter is Sheen then Saad has delighted me

O eye of whoever composed beautiful poems when he wrote

يائيةُ النظمِ لو أني أنقِّطُها

بنقطةِ القلبِ ما أدَّيْتُ ما وجبا

If I were to point out its imagery with a dot from my heart

I would not have fulfilled what was required

قدْ صيَّرتْ أدمعَ المملوكِ جاريةً

شوقاً إلى إلى صَدْرِ مصر بحرُه عَذُبا

It turned the tears of the slave into flowing

Yearning for the breast of Egypt whose water is sweet

هذا هدى قد غوى قلبي ببهجته

فصارَ كالصبِّ أصباهُ الهوى فصبا

This is a gift that has misled my heart with its delight

So it became like the pouring rain that the passion has poured

فهامَ في كلِّ وادٍ منه مجتنياً

ثمارَهُ ولقولِ العذْلِ مجتنبا

It has become infatuated in every valley seeking

Its fruits while avoiding idle words

قالتْ أغاني معانيهِ لسامعِها

اخلعْ ثيابَكَ منها ممعناً هربا

Its melodies said to its listener

Take off your clothes filled with purpose, fleeing

جددتَ آدابَ قومٍ بعد ما درسَتْ

فليسَ أطيبُ نصفيها الذي ذهبا

You have renewed the morals of a people after they were forgotten

So the best half of it that went away

هذا قريضٌ عنِ الأفلاكِ محتجبٌ

كأنهُ الروضُ أبدى منظراً عجبا

This is a poem veiled from the cosmos

As if it is the meadow that has revealed a wondrous sight

يا ملزمَ الشعرِ أمرَ الشرعِ دونَ ريا

أما تحاذرُ فيمنْ وازنوكَ ربا

O composer of poetry, the command of law comes before vanity

Do you not beware of those who weighed you down with usury?

فإنَّ وزناً بوزنٍ غيرَ أنَّ لما

نقولُ فضلاً عليهم سهلُهُ صَعُبا

For weighing with weighing is different than when we say

It was easy for them out of merit while it was difficult

إنْ كانَ يمكنهم أنْ ينظموا درراً

فليسَ يمكنهم أن ينظموا شهبا

If they can compose jewels in poetry

They cannot compose meteors

لم تبقِ للناظمينَ الناثرينَ مدى

إلا سبقْتَ إليهِ تخرقُ الحُجُبا

There is no more scope for composers and prose writers

Unless you have preceded them, piercing through the veils

فإنْ تجاوروا بمنظومٍ تدعْهُ سُدى

وإنْ تباروا بمنثورٍ تذرْهُ هَبَا

If they neighbor with a poem, leave it in vain

And if they compete with prose, scatter it as dust

قدْ شَرَّفَ اللهُ مصراً أنتَ ساكنُهُ

وزادَ بكَ الكتابَ والكُتُبا

God has honored Egypt, you are its inhabitant

And through you increased books and manuscripts

أنتَ المشارُ إليه بالضميرِ فلا

خُفِضْتَ يا علماً للعلمِ قَدْ نُصبا

You are the one referred to in the pronoun so you have not

Been lowered O a banner for knowledge, you were erected

لا بدَّ للمبتدا في الفضلِ مِنْ خبرٍ

يا حبذا مبتدا عنهُ الزمانُ نبا

There must be a predicate for the ultimate virtue

What an excellent subject when time proclaimed about him

فهل قضيةُ فضلٍ لا أبا حسنٍ

لها فلا عَتَبٌ إنْ نلثم العتبا

Is there an issue of virtue that has no Abu Hasan

For it? There is no blame if we kiss and embrace

صفواً ولا كدراً دراً ولا صفراً

بحراً ولا خطراً شمساً ولا حجبا

Neither pure nor murky, scattered or yellow

A sea, not a hazard, a sun not veils

أينكرُ الشعراءُ النورَ منكَ وهل

أتى نظيرُكَ يا مَنْ بالجمالِ سبا

How can the poets deny the light from you, and has

A peer of yours come O you who was acclaimed for beauty?

أصبحتَ نادرةً في العلمِ بادرةً

تنسي سواكَ وتنشي العلمَ والأدبا

You have become unmatched in knowledge taking the lead

Forgetting others and promoting knowledge and literature

فهلْ أردتَ بما أبدَيت مِنْ حكمٍ

أنْ تعذب الغي أو أن تغوي العذبا

Did you intend by the wisdom you put forth

To torture the mad or misguide the sweet?

أمْ هلْ قصدْتَ بما أهديْتَ مِنْ كلمٍ

أَنْ تطربَ الحيَّ أو أنْ تحيي الطربا

Or did you aim by the words you gifted

To delight the living or revive the ecstasy?

يا مَنْ حكى الدرعَ صوناً والمجنَّ تقى

والسمهريَّ أخاً والمشرفيَّ أبا

O you who told of armor as protection and smoothness as piety

And Sumayri as a brother and Mashrafi as a father

لي منطقٌ غيرُ مبذولٍ وأنتَ بهِ

أولى على أنَّ لي من بذله أَرَبا

I have logic I did not give out, and you are more

Deserving of it even though I am more attached to dispensing it

إذْ لمْ يزلْ يبلغُ المملوكَ ذكرُكُمُ

إياهُ جبراً وتأهيلاً ولا سببا

Since your mention of him continues to reach the slave

Forcibly, empowering him without any reason

لكمْ يراعٌ بفضلِ اللهِ ماضيةٌ

إنْ آثَرَتْ رغباً أو آثرَتْ رَهَبَا

You have principles brought about by God's grace that are sound

Whether it has preferred desire or preferred caution

تحلو وتعذبُ في سمعٍ وتملُحُ في

سبقٍ فمنْ كلِّ وجهٍ سُمِّيَتْ قَصَبَا

It is sweet and delicious in hearing and witty in

Outpacing so in every aspect it is called a reed

مظلومةُ القدِّ في تشبيهها غصنا

مظلومةُ الريقِ في تشبيهها ضَرَبَا

Wronged in resembling it to a branch,

Wronged in resembling it to a lightning strike