أَرى المائَةَ أَلفا صادِقاً قَد وُعِدتُها

أَرى المائَةَ أَلفا صادِقاً قَد وُعِدتُها

لِمَرثِيَّةِ المَهدِيِّ غَيرَ كَثيرِ

لِمَرثِيَّةِ المَهدِيِّ غَيرَ كَثيرِ

I consider the hundred thousand, faithfully promised me,

I see the hundred thousand promised me

I deem the hundred thousand, truly promised to me,

for an elegy for al-Mahdi, no great sum.

For the elegy of Al-Mahdi, no great sum -

For the elegy of Al-Mahdi, to be no excessive sum.

وَلَو غَيرُ هارونَ يَجودُ بِوَعدِها

وَلَو غَيرُ هارونَ يَجودُ بِوَعدِها

لِما عُجتُ مِن مَوعودِهِ بِنَقيرِ

لِما عُجتُ مِن مَوعودِهِ بِنَقيرِ

And were anyone but Harun generous in promising it,

Had any but Haroun promised them to me

Yet had anyone other than Harun been generous with such a pledge,

I would not have valued his promise at even a date-stone's hollow.

I had not hoped from his promise a crumb -

I would not have gained from his promise the weight of a speck.

شَبيهُ أَبيهِ في السَماحَةِ وَالنَدى

شَبيهُ أَبيهِ في السَماحَةِ وَالنَدى

فَإِن قالَ لَم يَأخُذ بِحَبلِ غُرورِ

فَإِن قالَ لَم يَأخُذ بِحَبلِ غُرورِ

He resembles his father in generosity and bounty;

Like his sire in bounty and open-hand,

He is the likeness of his father in magnanimity and bounty;

so if he speaks, he does not grasp a rope of deceit.

When he speaks he grasps no rope of deceit.

For if he speaks, he grasps not at a rope of deceit.