شَارَفَتْنَا طَلاَئِعُ المَهْرَجَانِ

مُخْبِرَاتٌ بِطِيْبِ فَضْلِ الزَّمَانِ

The harbingers of the festival have come near,

Bringing good tidings of the excellence of time,

وَالهَدَايَا فِي المَهْرَجَانِ قَدِيْمَاً

وَحَدِيْثَاً مِنْ سُنَّةِ الدِّهْقَانِ

And gifts in the festival were anciently

And lately, of the customs of the village chief,

وَتَفَكَّرْتُ فِي الهَدَايَا وَفِيْمَا

بَعَثَ الفِكْرُ مِنْ لَطِيْفِ المَعَانِي

And I pondered on the gifts and what

Thought roused of subtle meanings,

أَيُّ شَيْءٍ أُهْدِي لِأَحْسَنِ شَيْءٍ

قُرِنَ الحُسْنُ فِيْهِ بِالإِحْسَانِ

What thing shall I give to the best thing

Beauty and benevolence were paired in it?

فَرَأَيْتُ الأَشْيَاءَ تَقْصُرُ عَنْ وَجْ

هِ عَلاَ أَنْ يُرَى لَهُ مِنْ مُدَانِي

So I saw that things fell short of the as-

pect, unless there appeared in it something of my gifts.

فَبَعَثْتُ الَّتِي يَرَى مِنْهُ فِيْهَا

كُلَّ مَا لاَ يَرَاهُ فِي البُسْتَانِ

So I sent that in which may be seen in it

All that is not seen in the garden,

بِمِرَآةٍ إِلى مِرَآةٍ تَهَادَى ال

حُسْنُ مِنْهَا وَمِنْهُ مِرْآتَانِ

With a mirror unto a mirror, beauty

Exchanged between it and it, two mirrors,

أُخْتُ شَمْسِ الضُّحَى فِي الشَّكْلِ والإِشْ

رَاقِ غَيْرَ الإِعْشَاءِ للأَجْفَانِ

Sister of the sun of morning in form and brightness,

Not closing the eyelids for sleep,

جَوْنَةُ الصَّقْلِ فَضْلُهَا فِي المَرَايَا

فَضْلُ أَذْهَانِكِمْ عَلَى الأَذْهَانِ

Lustrous in polish, its excellence in mirrors

Is the excellence of your minds over minds,

خَطَّ مِنْهَا شَكْلَ المُدَوَّرِ قَدَّاً

وَاعْتِدَالاً إِقْلِيْدُسُ اليُونَانِي

Traced in it the shape of the circle exactly

And proportionately Euclid the Greek described it,

ذَاتُ طَوْقٍ مُشْرِقٍ مِنْ لُجَيْنٍ

أُجْرِيَتْ فِيْهِ صُفْرَةُ العِقْيَانِ

Of a collar shining with chrysolite

In which the colour of sulphur was made to flow,

فَهْوَ كَالْهَالَةِ المُحِيْطَةِ بِالْبَدْ

رِ لِسِتٍّ مَضَيْنَ بَعْدَ ثَمَانِ

So it is as the halo encompassing the full moon

For a sixth [day] after eight have passed.

وُرِثَتْ عَنْ مُتَوَّجِيْنَ وَأَدَّا

هَا إِلَيْنَا تَعَاقُبُ الأَزْمَانِ

Inherited from crowned kings, and it reached

Us by the succession of times,

وَعَلَى ظَهْرِهَا فَوَارِسُ تَلْهُو

بِبُزَاةْ تَعْدُو عَلَى غِزْلاَنِ

And on its back chargers that sport

With coats of mail galloping on colts

لَكَ فِيْهَا إِذَا تَأَمَّلْتَ حُسْنٌ

مُخْبِرٌ فَضْلُهُ بِنَبِيْلِ الأَمَانِي

For you in it, when you observe, a beauty

Informing of the excellence of noble wishes,

خُسْرُوَانِيَّةُ المَنَاسِبِ إِلاَّ

أَنَّهَا فِي نِصَابِ جَزْعٍ يَمَانِي

Persian in its fitness, except that

It is in the position of a Yemeni agate,

خُطَّ فِيَهَا مِثَالُ كِسْرَى كَمَا مَثَّ

لَ كِسْرَى أَبَاكَ فِي التِّيْجَانِ

Traced on it is the figure of Chosroes as if he

Were pictured on the crown,

وَتُرِيْكَ المَكَانَ فِيْهَا وَإِنْ كُنْ

تَ تَرَاهُا وَغَيْرَهَا فِي المَكَانِ

And it shows you the place in it, and if you were

To see it and others in place,

لَمْ يَكُنْ قَبْلَهَا مِنَ المَاءِ جِرْمٌ

حَاصِرٌ نَفْسَهُ بِغَيْرِ أَوَانِ

Before it there was not in water a body

Besieging itself without time,

عَدَّلَتْ عَكْسَهَا الشُّعَاعُ فَمَبْدَا

هَا إِلُيْهِ وَرَجْعُهَا سِيَّانِ

Its reflection amended by rays so its beginning

To it and its return are equal,

هِيَ دُنْيَا بِهَا تَفَاءَلْتُ إِلاَّ

أَنَّهَا خِلْوَةٌ مِنَ الأَحْزَانِ

It is a world in which I took good omen

Except that it is a privacy from sorrows,

هِيَ شَمْسٌ فَإِنْ مِثَالُكَ يَوْمَاً

لاَحَ فِيْهَا فَأَنْتُمَا شَمْسَانِ

It is a sun, so if your image one day

Appeared in it, you are two suns,

أَيْنَمَا قَابَلَتْ مِثَالَكَ مِنْ أَرْ

ضٍ فَفِيْهَا تَقَابَلَ النَّيِّرَانِ

Wherever it met your image in any

Land, therein the two fires encountered,

فَالْقَهَا مِنْكَ بِالَّذِي مَا رَآهُ

خَائِفٌ فَانْثَنَى بِغَيْرِ أَمَانِ

So cast it away from you by that which no

Fearful one has seen and then recoiled without safety,

وَعَلَى المُصْطَفَى فَصَلِّ فَقَدْ يُعْ

رَفُ فَضْلُ العُيُونِ بِالأَعْيَانِ

And bestow prayers on the Chosen One, for the excellence

Of eyes may be known by entities.