1. بَلَغْتُمْ كمالَ الرُّشد أبناءَ راشدِ

    فبُورِكْتُمُ أَولاد أَكرمِ والدِ

    You have attained perfect wisdom, sons of Rashid.

    Blessed are you, children of the noblest father.

  2. إذا ما دعيتم دَعوة المجد كلّها

    أَقَمْتم على دعواكم ألفَ شاهد

    Whenever you are summoned by glory's full call,

    you bring a thousand witnesses to support your claim.

  3. وقُمتمْ إليها رُتبةً تَبْتَغُونها

    فما قائم يبغي العلاءَ كقاعد

    And you rise toward it, seeking its rank;

    one striving for greatness is not like one sitting idle.

  4. على أنَّها فيكُم لَديكم وراثةٌ

    وما هي في زيد وبكر وخالد

    Though it is yours by inheritance,

    it does not belong to Zayd, Bakr, and Khalid.

  5. كَنَزْتُمْ من الفِعل الجميل صنائعاً

    وقد تنفدُ الدُّنيا وليسَ بنافد

    You have stored up gracious deeds through noble action;

    the world may be exhausted, but that store is not.

  6. وما زالت الدُّنيا بحُسن صنيعكم

    مقلَّدة أعناقها بالقلائد

    And through the beauty of your deeds the world remains

    with its necks adorned with necklaces.

  7. أَرَدْتُم صلاح النَّاس بعد فسادها

    وبالصَّارم الهنديّ إصلاح فاسد

    You sought to set people right after their corruption;

    the Indian blade reforms the corrupt.

  8. فأَجَّجْتم ناراً تسعَّر جمرُها

    ولكنْ بحدِّ المرهفات البوارد

    So you kindled a fire whose embers blazed,

    but with the edges of cold, finely honed swords.

  9. تسلُّونها في الخطب في كلّ شدَّةٍ

    ألا إنَّها معروفةٌ بالشَّدائد

    You draw them in calamity, in every hardship;

    indeed, they are known in times of hardship.

  10. وما فات قصدٌ من جسور على الرَّدى

    بعيد مناط الهمّ جمّ المقاصد

    No aim escapes one bold enough to face death,

    whose ambition reaches far and whose aims are many.

  11. تولَّيْتَ إصلاح الرَّعيَّة بينهم

    وقد أَوْسع الطّغيان خرق المفاسد

    You undertook to reform the subjects among them,

    when tyranny had widened the rent of corruption.

  12. وقلَّمتَ أظفارَ الطّغاة وسُسْتَهم

    بأَبيضَ حاد الزيغ عن كلّ حاسد

    You clipped the tyrants' claws and governed them

    with a gleaming sword that turned crookedness away from every envier.

  13. ولولاك ظلَّت في المجرَّة أهلُها

    تُناشُ بأَيدي اللّوى قلبُ الأَوابد

    But for you, its people would have remained in the Milky Way,

    the heart of wild creatures snatched at by the hands of winding sands.

  14. أَعَدْتَ لنا أيَّام فهدٍ وبندرٍ

    ومِن قَبْلها أيَّام عيسى وماجد

    You restored to us the days of Fahd and Bandar,

    and, before those, the days of Isa and Majid.

  15. وأَضحكتَ سنَّ المجد بعد بكائه

    طويلاً على أجداثِ تلك الأَماجد

    You made glory's teeth gleam in laughter after its weeping

    long over the graves of those noble men.

  16. ومِنْ بعدِ ما كانتْ أُمورٌ وأَقلَعَتْ

    تَذوبُ لها إذ ذاك صمُّ الجلامد

    And after affairs had occurred and subsided,

    at which, then, even solid boulders would melt.

  17. إذا ذكرت ثار الغرام وهيَّجتْ

    كوامنَ نيرانِ القلوبِ الخوامد

    Whenever they are recalled, longing surges, and they stir

    the hidden fires of hearts whose flames had died.

  18. وهلْ يُفلِحُ القومُ الذين تسُوسُهم

    بنو الجهل في عارٍ من الحلم فاقد

    Can a people prosper when they are governed

    by sons of ignorance, in disgrace and bereft of forbearance?

  19. وما كلُّ من ساسَ الرعيَّة ساسَها

    ولا كلّ من قاد الجيوش بقائد

    Not everyone who rules the subjects truly rules them,

    nor is everyone who leads armies a leader.

  20. تَوَلَّيتها والطَّعنُ بالطَّعن يلتقي

    وأخذ المنايا واحداً بعد واحد

    You took charge of them while spear-thrust met spear-thrust,

    and death took one after another.

  21. فما بين مقتولٍ وما بين قاتلٍ

    وما بين مطرودٍ وما بين طارد

    Some were slain, and some were slayers,

    some driven out, and some driving others out.

  22. وقد نَزَغَ الشَّيطان إذ ذاك بينهم

    إذ النَّاس فوضى لا تدين لواحد

    Satan had stirred discord among them then,

    when the people were in chaos, submitting to no one.

  23. فأَرْشَدْتَهم للخير حتَّى تركتَهم

    يقولون إنَّ الرُّشْدَ فعل ابن راشد

    You guided them toward good until you left them

    saying, 'Wisdom is the deed of the son of Rashid.'

  24. عفَوْتَ بها عمَّا جنة ذو قرابة

    رماك بسهم القطع رمي الأَباعد

    You pardoned therein what a kinsman had committed,

    who shot you with estrangement's arrow as strangers do.

  25. ورحت وما في صدرك الحقد كامن

    على حاقد جهلاً عليك وواجد

    And you went on, no rancor hidden in your breast

    against one who foolishly bore you spite and resentment.

  26. وقلت لمن يطوي على المكر كشحه

    دع الزِّيف لا تنفقه في سوق ناقد

    And you told him who folds his flank over guile:

    'Leave counterfeit coin; do not spend it in an assayer's market.'

  27. وما سادَ في قومٍ حقودٍ عليهم

    ولا حيزت النعماء يوماً لحاسد

    No man spiteful toward his people ever became their lord,

    nor were blessings ever won by an envier.

  28. فأَسْهَرْتَ عين الخطّ والخطّ ساهر

    وما أَنتَ عن ثار العدوّ براقد

    You kept al-Khatt's eye sleepless, and al-Khatt keeps watch;

    nor do you sleep through your enemy's vengeance.

  29. أخو الحزم من يخشى شماتة كاشح

    ولا زال مشحوذاً غرار الحدائد

    The resolute man is one who fears an enemy's gloating;

    and may the edges of steel remain forever sharpened.

  30. ولا يطأ الأرضَ الفسيحةَ بقعةً

    إذا اتَّصلت فيها حبال المكائد

    He sets no foot on a patch of the spacious earth

    where the cords of plots have been joined.

  31. لك الله منصورٌ لك الله ناصرٌ

    وحسبُك من حزب معين مساعد

    God is yours, and you are aided; God is yours as your helper,

    and He suffices you as a host that aids and supports.

  32. وَثَبْتَ وثوبَ اللَّيث تستفرس المنى

    وما كنت عنها منذُ كنتَ بلابد

    You leapt like a lion, taking your desires as prey;

    never, since you came to be, have you crouched idle before them.

  33. وساعدَك المقدور فيها وربَّما

    سعى قبلَ ما تسعى لنيل المقاصد

    Fate aided you in them, and often

    ran ahead, before you strove to attain your aims.

  34. ومن لم تساعده العناية لم يكنْ

    له ساعد يشتدُّ عن لين ساعد

    Whoever is not aided by providence has

    no arm that can grow strong out of an arm's weakness.

  35. لقد صُلْتَ حتَّى كانَ أوَّلُ قائم

    لسيفك يوم الرَّوع أوَّلَ ساجد

    You charged until the first to stand

    before your sword on the day of terror was the first to fall prostrate.

  36. وجُدْتَ وأَعطَيْتَ المكارم حقَّها

    برغمٍ على أنف الحسود المعاند

    You were generous and gave noble virtues their due,

    forcing the stubborn envier's nose to the dust.

  37. فأَرغمتَ آنافاً وأَكبتَّ حُسَّداً

    فأكرمْ وصلْ واقطعْ وقرَّبْ وباعد

    You rubbed noses in the dust and cast the envious down;

    so honor, maintain ties, sever them, draw near, and send afar.

  38. وما فيكم إلاَّ طموح إلى العُلى

    جموحٌ إلى مجد طريف وتالد

    There is none among you but one aspiring to the heights,

    rushing headlong toward glory, both newly won and inherited.

  39. عقائدنا فيكم كما تشتهونها

    وكلٌّ بكم منَّا صحيح العقائد

    Our faith in you is as you wish it;

    each of us is sound in his faith in you.

  40. فلم نَرَ في إحسانكم غير شاكر

    مليٍّ بما يملي لسان المحامد

    Thus we have seen, for your kindness, only a grateful man,

    well able to utter what the tongue of praise dictates.

  41. عرفناكم فيمن سواكم وهكذا

    يكون امتياز الشَّيء عند التضادد

    We recognized you by comparison with others; thus

    a thing's distinction appears through contrast.

  42. ومن جرَّب الأَيَّام والنَّاس غيركم

    رنا نحوهم لكن بناظر زاهد

    Whoever has tried the days and people other than you

    gazes toward them, but with an indifferent eye.

  43. وإنَّك ممَّن يَشْفع البأس بالنَّدى

    ويُقبل بالبشرى على كلّ وافد

    You are among those who pair valor with generosity

    and greet every visitor with good tidings.

  44. وقد كانَ تأسيس الأَوائل فيكم

    فشَيَّدوا على تأسيس تلك القواعد

    The forebears' foundation was laid among you,

    so they built upon those established foundations.

  45. لئنْ كنتَ أَفْنَيْتَ الحُطام فإنَّما

    حظيت على بيتٍ من الذكر خالد

    Though you have exhausted your perishable wealth, you have only

    won an everlasting house of renown.

  46. وُعِدْتُ بك الجدوى إذا زرت والغنى

    ولم يُخلفِ الميعادَ نوءُ العوائد

    I was promised bounty and riches through you, should I visit;

    the rain-star of recurring favors did not fail its appointed time.

  47. فزُرْتَ فحيَّى الله طلعة زائر

    تعود على وفَّادها بالفوائد

    So you visited—may God bless the countenance of such a visitor,

    which brings benefits to those who come to it.

  48. وأَقبلتَ إقبالَ الغمام ببارق

    بصَوبِ النوال المستهلّ وراعد

    You approached like a cloud flashing with lightning,

    with a downpour of streaming bounty and thunder.

  49. فما احتجْتُ بعد السَّيل شرعة وارد

    ولا احتجتُ بعد الرَّوض ندًى لرائد

    After that flood, I needed no water-seeker's watering-place,

    nor, after that meadow, did I need dew for a pasture-scout.

  50. بلَغْتُ بكَ الآمال حتَّى كفيتَني

    ركوبَ المطايا واجتياب الفدافد

    Through you I reached my hopes, until you spared me

    riding mounts and crossing trackless wastes.

  51. ويا رُبَّ يومٍ مثل وجهك ضاحك

    عَرَضْنا على علياك غُرَّ القصائد

    And how many a day smiled like your face,

    when we offered your eminence the brightest of poems!

  52. وأمَّا نداكَ العَذْب ما إنْ وَرَدْتُه

    على كبدي الحرَّى فأعذب بارد

    As for your sweet bounty, whenever I have drunk of it

    upon my burning liver—how sweet and cool it is!

  53. مَلكْتُم على أمري فؤادي ومِقْوَلي

    وأَصبحَ فيكم غائبي مثل شاهدي

    You have taken command of my affairs, my heart, and my tongue;

    toward you, my absent self has become like my present self.

  54. رَفَعْتُم مناري بعد خفضٍ ورشْتمُ

    جناحي وأمْلأْتُمْ فمي بالغرائد

    You raised my beacon after it was lowered, and feathered

    my wing, and filled my mouth with songs.

  55. وأطْلَقْتُموني من وثاقٍ خصاصة

    فلا غَرْوَ إنْ قيَّدتُ فيكم شواردي

    You freed me from the bonds of poverty;

    no wonder, then, that I bind my wandering verses to you.