1. كم قَدْ أَلينُ لمن قسا بصدودِهِ

    حتَّى ظَنَنْتُ فؤادَه جلمودا

    How often I soften toward one grown hard in his rejection,

    until I thought his heart a boulder.

  2. ولَكَمْ أَسَلْتَ من العُيون مدامعاً

    وأَهَجْتَ من حَرِّ الغرام وقودا

    And how often you have made tears flow from eyes,

    and set fuel ablaze with the heat of passion.

  3. كبدٌ تذوبُ وحسرةٌ لا تنقضي

    ودموعُ طَرفٍ يأْلَفُ التسهيدا

    A liver melting, and anguish without end,

    and tears from an eye accustomed to sleeplessness.

  4. أَنكرتَ معرفتي على عهد النوى

    ومَنَحْتَني بَعدَ الوصال صدودا

    You denied knowing me in the days of separation,

    and granted me rejection after union.

  5. أَخْلَقْتَ صبري بَعدَ بُعدك بالنوى

    وكَسَوْتَني ثوبَ السّقام جديدا

    You wore my patience threadbare after you parted and went far away,

    and clothed me in a new robe of sickness.

  6. لولا العيون النجل ما عرف النوى

    من كانَ صبًّا في هواك عميدا

    But for those wide eyes, separation would be unknown

    to one lovesick and stricken with love for you.

  7. ولقد أرى نارَ الزَّفير ولا أرى

    يوماً لنيران الفؤاد خمودا

    Indeed, I see the fire of sighs, but never see

    a day when the fires of the heart die down.

  8. فالموقرات بريّها وقطارها

    والحاملات بوارقاً ورعودا

    So the clouds laden with their moisture and rain,

    and bearing flashes of lightning and thunder,

  9. تهمي النَّدى وتريكَ كلّ عشيَّةٍ

    سَحَبَتْ على زهر الرِّياض برودا

    pour down dew and show you every evening

    robes they have trailed over the gardens' flowers.

  10. ما زلتُ أحْمدُ للمسير عواقباً

    حتَّى حَلَلْتُ مقامك المحمودا

    I kept praising the journey's outcomes

    until I alighted at your praiseworthy abode.

  11. طالَعْتُ في وجه السَّعيد محمَّد

    فرأَيْتُ طالع مجتديه سعيدا

    I studied the face of fortunate Muhammad,

    and saw an auspicious rising star for those who seek his bounty.

  12. قابَلْتُ أحداثَ النحوس بسَعْدِهِ

    فأَعادَ هاتيك النحوس سعودا

    I faced the turns of ill fortune with his good fortune,

    so he turned those ill fortunes into good fortunes.

  13. وزَجَرْتُ طير السَّعد يهتُفُ باسمه

    ورأيتُ منه الطَّالع المسعودا

    And I read omens from fortune's bird calling his name,

    and discerned from it an auspicious rising star.

  14. أقْرَرتُ عينَ المجد فيك مدائحاً

    وأغَظْتُ فيك معانداً وحسودا

    I gladdened glory's eye with praises of you,

    and with praise of you enraged an adversary and an envier.

  15. وإذا نظرتَ إلى سناه ومجده

    لنَظَرتَ من فلق الصَّباح عمودا

    And if you gaze upon his radiance and glory,

    you would surely see a shaft from the breaking dawn.

  16. ما زالَ يولينا الجميل بفضله

    كرماً يَسرُّ الآملين وجودا

    He never ceases to bestow kindness on us through his bounty,

    with generosity and liberality that delight the hopeful.

  17. وإذا استَمَحتُ به النَّوال وجدْتُه

    غَيثاً يسِحُّ ومنهلاً مورودا

    And when I seek bounty from him, I find him

    a downpour streaming freely, and a frequented watering place.

  18. ولقد مدحتُ الماجدينَ فلا أرى

    إلاَّ مديحاً مقنعاً ومفيدا

    I have indeed praised the illustrious, and I see nothing

    but praise that convinces and benefits.

  19. لا فارَقتْ عينايَ طَلْعَتَك الَّتي

    مَدَّتْ علينا ظِلَّكَ الممدودا

    May my eyes never leave your countenance, which

    has spread your outstretched shade over us.

  20. سادات أبناء الزَّمان بأسرهم

    وَرِثوا المكارمَ طارفاً وتليدا

    Lords of all the sons of this age

    have inherited noble virtues, newly acquired and ancestral.

  21. تَفني مكارمُه الحطامَ ويَقْتَني

    ذكراً يُخَلَّد في الثَّناء خلودا

    His noble generosity consumes worldly riches, while he acquires

    renown immortalized forever in praise.

  22. فلَقَدْ رَقَيْتُ بها لأرفع رُتبةٍ

    فبَلغت أسباب السَّماء صعودا

    For through them I have risen to the highest rank,

    and, ascending, reached the pathways of heaven.

  23. ويُريك إنْ ضلَّتْ عقولُ أُولي النهى

    رأياً يريك به الصَّواب سديدا

    And if the minds of the discerning stray, he shows you

    a sound judgment through which he shows you the right course.

  24. أخَذوا بناصية المفاخر والعلى

    وتسَنَّموها قُوَّماً وقعودا

    They seized the forelock of glory and high station,

    and climbed their summits, standing and seated.

  25. وتَخالُهم عند العطاء غمائماً

    وتَظنّهم يوم اللقاء أُسودا

    You would take them for clouds at the time of giving,

    and deem them lions on the day of battle.

  26. إنِّي لأشكر من جميلك ما به

    أكْبَتُّ من بعد الحسود حسودا

    Indeed, I give thanks for that kindness of yours through which

    I have humbled one envier after another.

  27. هذا الذكاء ولا مزيد على الَّذي

    أبْصَرتُ منك لمن أراد مزيدا

    This is brilliance; nothing can surpass what

    I have seen in you, for anyone who would seek more.

  28. أبَتِ المحاسنُ والمكارم في النَّدى

    إلاَّ بقاءً بعدهم وخلودا

    Fair qualities and noble virtues in generosity have refused

    anything but endurance after them and immortality.

  29. أخَذوا المذاهبَ في الجميل فلم نجِدْ

    إلاَّ مُقَلِّدهم به تقليدا

    They took the paths of kindness, so we found none

    but their imitators, copying them in it.

  30. قَلَّدْتَني نِعماً أنوءُ بحملِها

    فنَظَمْتُ فيك قلائداً وعقودا

    You hung blessings about my neck; I stagger beneath their weight,

    so I strung necklaces and strings of jewels in your praise.

  31. لا زِلْتَ لي عيداً أُشاهد عَوْده

    حتَّى أُلاقي يوميَ الموعودا

    May you always be a festival for me whose return I witness,

    until I meet my appointed day.