النور حولك مبهور السنا عجب

النور حولك مبهور السنا عجب

وبين جنبيك قلب شاعرٌ طرب

وبين جنبيك قلب شاعرٌ طرب

The light around you is dazzled in its radiance, wonderstruck.

The light around you dazzles the years in wonder

And within your breast is a heart—a poet, enraptured.

And between your sides a heart of a poet overjoys

وفرحة طافت الدنيا مُزَغردة

وفرحة طافت الدنيا مُزَغردة

شدّت لها فوق آفاق الرؤى طنب

شدّت لها فوق آفاق الرؤى طنب

And a joy circled the world, ululating;

And a happiness floated around the world twittering

Tent ropes were stretched for her above the horizons of visions.

She hauled over the horizons of visions a bouquet

عبدٌ وأهلٌ وإخوان وأمسية

عبدٌ وأهلٌ وإخوان وأمسية

فرحى وبشرى لديها يعجز الذرب

فرحى وبشرى لديها يعجز الذرب

A servant, family, brothers, and an evening

A servant and family and brothers and an evening

Full of joy, and glad tidings before which the eloquent falter.

My joy and good tidings for it fails to describe

والشعر ماذا يقول الشعر في أربٍ

والشعر ماذا يقول الشعر في أربٍ

يجثو أمام علاه الشعر والأدب

يجثو أمام علاه الشعر والأدب

And poetry—what can poetry say of a wish

And what does poetry say? Poetry in eloquence

Before whose loftiness poetry and literature kneel?

That bows before its supreme poetry and literature

عمّى أبَلّ تعالى اللضه كم نِعَمٍ

عمّى أبَلّ تعالى اللضه كم نِعَمٍ

له علينا فمنظور ومُحتجب

له علينا فمنظور ومُحتجب

My uncle has recovered—exalted is God! How many blessings

My blindness, how many blessings, oh Most High

He has bestowed upon us—some visible and some hidden!

For us so seen and unseen

أمنيةٌ طالما هزّت عواطفنا

أمنيةٌ طالما هزّت عواطفنا

شوقاً وكم سطرت في حبها الكتب

شوقاً وكم سطرت في حبها الكتب

A wish that so long stirred our feelings

A wish that has long shaken our emotions

With longing—and how many books were penned for love of it!

Yearning and how many books have been written of its love

وآذن اللَه أن تروى جوانحنا

وآذن اللَه أن تروى جوانحنا

بخمرة من شذاها يخلق العشب

بخمرة من شذاها يخلق العشب

And God proclaimed that our breasts should be quenched

And God decreed that our souls be sated

With a wine from whose fragrance grass is created.

With a cup of its nectar that brings about greenery

فالحمد للَه ما غنّت مطوّقة

فالحمد للَه ما غنّت مطوّقة

غريدة يتناهى عندها الطرب

غريدة يتناهى عندها الطرب

So praise be to God as long as a ring-necked dove sings,

So praise be to God for the singing nightingale

Sweet-voiced, in whose presence rapture reaches its height.

With a warble at which ecstasy ends

حمد لو أنّيَ أقلام وألسِنةٌ

حمد لو أنّيَ أقلام وألسِنةٌ

لكنتُ أعجز من قالوا ومن خطبوا

لكنتُ أعجز من قالوا ومن خطبوا

Praise such that, were I pens and tongues,

Praise if only I were pens and tongues

I would be the least able of those who spoke and those who gave speeches.

I would be the most eloquent of those who spoke and sermoned