1. هات اِسقِني مِن شِفاهٍ سكَّريّاتِ

    فَقَد صفا الوَقت وَازدادَت مسراتي

    Come, give me drink from sugar-sweet lips.

    For the time has grown serene, and my joys have increased.

  2. وَبشَّرت بِاللقا ورقٌ مطوّقةٌ

    فجُدتُ بِالروح للورق البشيرات

    And ring-necked gray doves announced reunion,

    so I gave my soul to the heralding gray doves.

  3. وَكَم كَتمت غرامي خَوف ذي عذل

    فَباح دَمعي بأسراري الخفيّات

    How often I concealed my passion, fearing a reproacher,

    yet my tears divulged my hidden secrets.

  4. وَكم سترت الهَوى كيما أُغالطه

    فَدل سقمي عَلى ما في طوياتي

    And how often I hid my love to outwit him,

    yet my sickness revealed what lay in my hidden depths.

  5. علام تعذل في ظبيٍ ينازلني

    من قده بِعوالٍ سمهريات

    Why reproach me over a gazelle who battles me

    with the lofty Samhari spears of his stature?

  6. مهفهف قد روى عن سحر مقلته

    هاروتُهُ نَفَثاتٍ بابليات

    A slender one, whose eye's enchantment has been recounted

    by his Harut in Babylonian incantations.

  7. يدير من خده كأساً مشعشعةً

    لو ذقتُها لتخطتني منيّاتي

    He passes round from his cheek a cup of wine mixed with water;

    had I tasted it, my destined deaths would have passed me by.

  8. أَغار إِن قال عُوّادي فُدِيتَ وَهل

    أَبغى الفِدا من ضعيفات قويات

    I grow jealous if my sickbed visitors say, “May you be ransomed!”—and would I

    seek ransom from frail yet mighty ones?

  9. سود إِذا ما رنت أَصمت وما ظهرت

    من الجُفون ظهور المشرفيات

    Black eyes: when they gaze, they kill outright, though they do not emerge

    from their eyelids as Mashrafi swords are drawn.

  10. وَكَيفَ يُجدي مَلامٌ في هَوى رَشأ

    سَبى الوَرى بِحلاه اليوسفيات

    And how can blame avail in loving a gazelle fawn

    who has taken mankind captive with his Joseph-like charms?

  11. أَم كَيفَ يَسلوه مُفتون بطرته

    وَعَنبرٍ في خُدود عَندَمِيّات

    Or how can one bewitched by his forelock forget him,

    and by ambergris on vermilion cheeks,

  12. وَمبسم جَوهَري طَيبُ نكهته

    مِن طيب أَخلاق وَالينا الزَكيات

    and by a jewel-like mouth, whose breath draws its sweetness

    from the sweetness of our governor's pure virtues?

  13. هُوَ الحَفيد حَليف العَدل ناصره

    عَباس الآصفي رب المبرات

    He is the grandson, justice's ally and champion,

    Abbas, Asaf-like, master of benefactions.

  14. صَدر صدارته العُظمى لَهُ صَدَرَت

    مِن ذي المآثر سُلطان البريات

    A chief minister, whose grand vizierate was conferred upon him

    by the possessor of noble deeds, the sovereign of creation.

  15. عَزيز مصر وَمَولاها الَّذي قَمعت

    أَسياف آرائه خَطب الملمات

    Egypt's mighty lord and master, who quelled

    the terror of calamities with the swords of his counsel.

  16. فَيا لَهُ مِن أَمير طاب عنصرُه

    أَذلَّ بِالعَزم آنافاً أَبيّات

    Ah, what a prince he is, of noble stock!

    With resolve he humbled defiant noses.

  17. دار الخِلافة لما زارها فرحت

    وَقابلته بِأَنواع التحيات

    The abode of the caliphate rejoiced when he visited it,

    and received him with all manner of greetings.

  18. ونال ما نال من عز وَمِن شَرَف

    أَربى سَناه عَلى الزُهر المُنيرات

    And he gained what he gained of might and honor;

    his radiance surpassed the shining stars.

  19. وَهنِّئت مَصرنا الغرّا بطلعته

    وَبرّه وَسنيه الكسرويات

    And our radiant Egypt was congratulated on his coming,

    his beneficence, and his Khosrau-like years.

  20. هذا الوَزير الَّذي أَنسى ابن زائدة

    وحاتماً بالمبرّات الجَزيلات

    This is the minister who made people forget Ibn Za'ida

    and Hatim through his abundant benefactions.

  21. هَذا الَّذي لَم يَزل لِلعَدل ينشره

    حَتّى غَدا الجور مطويّ السجلات

    This is he who has never ceased spreading justice,

    until oppression's records were rolled up.

  22. يا مَصر تِيهي برب المَجد وَاِغتَفِري

    لِلدَهر مِن أَجله كل الإساآت

    O Egypt, glory in the lord of majesty, and forgive

    Time, for his sake, all its wrongs.

  23. لإن تشرَّف أَقوامٌ بمرتبة

    لَمّا رَقوها وَسادوا بِالمَقامات

    If some men have gained honor through a rank

    when they attained it and gained eminence through office,

  24. فَأَوحَد العَصر مَولانا بِهِ شرفت

    مَناصب قَد سمت فَوق السَموات

    then our master, peerless in his age, has ennobled

    offices that have risen above the heavens.

  25. وَالدَهر جاد عَلى مَصر وَساكنها

    بِأَسمَح الناس مِن ماض وَمِن آت

    And Time has favored Egypt and those who dwell in her

    with the most generous of men, past and yet to come.

  26. وَأَصبَحت مَصر في عز وَفي شَرَف

    بَعدل رَبّ السَجايا العادليات

    And Egypt now enjoys might and honor

    through the justice of the lord of just virtues.

  27. وَأَنشدت صَدرها لَما أَلم بِها

    هُنِّئت بِالفَوز مِن دار السَعادات

    And she recited to her chief minister when he visited her:

    “Congratulations on your triumph from the Abode of Felicities!”

  28. وَهاكَ مني عروساً بالحُلَى ابتهجت

    مِن حُسن مَدحك لا حُسن الجناسات

    And take from me a bride, rejoicing in her ornaments,

    from the beauty of praising you, not the beauty of puns.

  29. وَكَيفَ لا ولها يا سَيدي شبهٌ

    بِطيب أَخلاقك الغر النديّات

    And how could she not, my lord, when she bears a likeness

    to the sweetness of your radiant, generous virtues?

  30. تَرجو القبول وَقد جاءَتكَ مُنشدةً

    هاتَ اسقني مِن شِفاهٍ سُكَّريات

    She hopes for acceptance and has come to you reciting:

    “Come, give me drink from sugar-sweet lips.”