جَنَّبَكَ اللَّهُ عَارِضَ العِلَلِ

وَنِلْتَ مَا عِشْتَ أَبْعَدَ الأَمَلِ

May God spare you the onset of affliction,

And may you attain the most distant hope.

يَا سَيِّدَاً كُلُّ سَيِّدٍ تَبَعٌ

لَهُ وَطَوْعٌ فِي الصَّرْفِ وَالعَمَلِ

O master, every master is your subordinate,

Obedient to your command in good and bad.

وَكَاتِبَاً تَشْهَدُ البَلاَغَةُ

بِالْفَضْلِ لَهُ فِي التَّفْصِيْلِ وَالجُمَلِ

And a scribe whose eloquence testifies

To his excellence in detail and summary.

يُعْزَلُ قَوْمٌ فَيَيْقُصُونَ وَلاَ

تَنْقُصُ يَا ذَ الجَلاَلِ والمُثُلِ

Some are dismissed and find themselves lacking, but

You, of majesty and exemplar, are never found wanting.

يَظْهَرُ بِالْعَزْلِ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِنْ

آثَارِكَ المُسْتَثِيْرَةِ السُّبُلِ

Dismissal reveals what your past deeds have sown,

Your rousing traces on the path.

تُتْعِبُ واللَّهِ صَارِفِيْكَ كَمَا

يَفْضَحُ مَنْ بَعْدَهُ بِذَاكَ بُلِي

By God, your dismissals exhaust successors,

Just as the former’s faults shame his replacement.

مُسْتَدِْكٌ مَا أَضَاعَ ذَاكَ وَذَا

حَاوَلَ مَا نِلْتَهُ فَلَمْ يَنَلِ

Assertive in recovering what the other lost

And failed to attain what you grasped and held fast.

إِنِّي وَمَا سَيِّدٌ بمُحْتَشِمٍ

وَلاَ وَلِيٌّ أَيْضَاً بِمُحَتَفِلِ

I am no master of humility or minister

Of joyous celebration.

حَضَرْتُ بِالأَمْسِ مَا أُشِيْرَ بِهِ

مِنَ التَّغَذِّي بِمُخْلِفِ الحَجَلِ

I came yesterday with what was hinted

Of provision from the mountaineer’s den.

فَلَمْ أَزَلْ أَبْتغِيْهِ مُجْتَهِدَاً

فِي السَّهْلِ مِنْ أَرْضِهِ وَفِي الجَبَلِ

I strove tirelessly to seek it out

On the flat land and in the hills.

حَتَّى تَقَنَّصْنُ مَا بَعَثْتُ بِهِ

وَالبَرُّ بَرٌّ فِي الدِّقِّ وَالجَلَلِ

Until I hunted down what I was sent to find,

And duty is duty in famine or plenty.

تَفَاؤُلاً فِيْهِ بِالرِّيَاشِ وَبِالحَجِّ

الَّذِي بَرٌّ فِي حُرُوفِهِ الأُوَلِ

With hopeful omens in the winds and the pilgrimage

Whose letters are auspicious in the beginning.

وَهَذِهِ أُنْسَةٌ سَلَكَتْ بِهَا

مَسَالِكَ الأَوْلِيَاءِ وَالخَوْلِ

This is a familiarity that treads the path

Of saints and intimate friendship.

فَإِنْ تَطَوَّلْتَ فِي القَبُولِ لَهُ

فَهَذِهِ نِعْمَةٌ تُجَرَّدُ لِي

If you are slow to accept it,

Then this is a gift offered freely to me.

لِأَنَّ فِي رَدِّهِ مُصَحَّفَةٌ

فَصُنْ رِسُولِي عَنْ ذِلَّةِ الخَجَلِ

For refusing it carries disgrace,

So spare my messenger the shame of rejection.