1. بقيت لحمدٍ مثل فضلك واف

    وكافاك عنَّا الله خير مكاف

    May you endure to receive praise as ample as your bounty,

    and may God, the best rewarder, repay you on our behalf.

  2. ولا زلتَ مسروراً بنشرِ محامدٍ

    وذخر أجورٍ واتصالِ عواف

    May you ever rejoice in the spreading of praises,

    in stored rewards and an unbroken stream of supplicants.

  3. ومجدٌ على الأنصار شفَّ سناؤه

    وعلم لأدواء البصائر شاف

    And glory whose radiance rises above the Ansar,

    and knowledge that heals the ailments of insight;

  4. وبرّ إذا خانَ الزمان موكلٌ

    براءٍ وفاءٍ للأنام وقَّافِ

    and goodness, when time betrays, charged

    with rāʾ, fāʾ, and qāf—gentleness toward humankind.

  5. ومنح وصفح ذاك معفٍ لمخطئٍ

    وذاك صريح المكرمات لعافِ

    And gifts and pardon: the latter absolves the erring,

    the former is pure generosity to a supplicant.

  6. ولفظٌ هو العذبُ الطهور وطالما

    أدارَ على الأفهام صرف سلاف

    And speech that is sweet and purifying—how often

    it has passed unmixed vintage around to minds!

  7. لك الله بحراً إن خبا البحر دُرّهُ

    فأحسن منه دُرّ بحرك طافي

    God preserve you, a sea! If the ocean hides its pearls,

    then finer than those are the pearls afloat on your sea.

  8. وندباً أطارت طائر المدح واجباً

    قوادِم من نعمائه وخواف

    And a noble man: the bird of praise is rightly sent aloft

    by the primary and secondary feathers of his bounties.

  9. فما رأيه عن قاصديه بغافلٍ

    وما طرفه عن وافديه بغاف

    His judgment is never heedless of those who seek him,

    nor does his eye sleep in neglect of his visitors.

  10. وتدبير ملكٍ مع تورّع زاهدٍ

    إلى وثب عزمٍ مع سكون عفاف

    A king's statecraft with an ascetic's scrupulous restraint,

    joined to leaping resolve and chastity's stillness.

  11. أخا العلم في عقلٍ ونقلٍ حوى المدى

    وِفاق على الماضي بغير خلاف

    O brother of learning, who reached the utmost in reason and tradition,

    and surpassed his predecessors, beyond dispute;

  12. وذا المجد في دنيا وأخرى فيا له

    مضافاً إليه واصلاً بمضاف

    and lord of glory in this world and the next—how splendid

    a man to whom glory is ascribed, extending kindness to a guest!

  13. أتى جودك المروي صداي ولم أسل

    ولا طرق السمع الكريم نشافٍ

    Your bounty came and quenched my thirst, though I had not asked,

    nor had the rasp of thirst knocked at your generous ear.

  14. ودقَّ عليَّ البابَ رزقٌ ولم أسر

    أدقّ بكعبي متعباً بطوافي

    Provision knocked upon my door, though I had not gone out

    beating the ground with my heel, wearied by my rounds.

  15. وقابلتها غرّ الوجوه كثيرة

    جرت بحروفٍ قد صرَعنَ حرافي

    I welcomed them, numerous and bright of face,

    circulating with inscriptions that had struck my penury down.

  16. ثقالاً بمنديلِي ألذّ بثقلها

    وأخطر من بعد الحفا بخفاف

    Heavy in my kerchief—I delight in their weight,

    and after going barefoot, I now strut in boots.

  17. وأسحب والأولاد فضل ملابسٍ

    نصافي بها الأيام حين نصافي

    And I and the children trail our garments' ample length,

    befriending the days in them, when the days befriend us.

  18. ونشكر والأعضاء ألسنة ندى

    يديك وندعو والزمان مواف

    We give thanks, our limbs all tongues, for the bounty

    of your hands, and pray while fortune attends us.

  19. دعاً صالحٌ منَّا ومدحٌ مؤيدٌ

    وحقّك لا في ذا بعثت ولا في

    A righteous prayer from us, and well-founded praise:

    by your honor, you sent it for neither this nor that.

  20. رعا الله أيام الإمام محمدٍ

    فكم نعمٍ رُدَّت إليَّ شراف

    May God guard the days of the imam Muhammad!

    How many noble blessings have been restored to me!

  21. ولو سمته ردّ الشباب لردّه

    عليَّ وقد مرَّت عليَّ سوافي

    Were I to ask him to restore youth, he would restore it

    to me, though dust-bearing winds have swept over me.

  22. ألم ترَ أني قد حرمت بمدحِه

    إلى غزل للشائبين مناف

    Do you not see that, through praising him, I have [yearned]

    for love verse, so unfitting for grey-haired men?

  23. فآهاً لعلاَّت الروادف برَّحت

    بأكباد قومٍ مستنين عجاف

    Ah, for the languor of those haunches, which tormented

    the livers of aging, emaciated men!

  24. وآهاً على عصر الشباب الذي مضى

    وأوْدَى فليت الحادثاتِ كفافي

    And ah, for the season of youth that passed

    and perished! Would that I were quits with life's calamities!

  25. فراشي كما قيل الحسان نواعماً

    لديه ومسحوبُ الشعور لحافي

    My bed, as they said, had soft beauties

    upon it, and their trailing hair was my coverlet.

  26. زمان لقاً أستغفر الله ليته

    تقضَّى ولم أنعم زمانَ تجافي

    A time of trysts—God forgive me! Would that it

    had passed in abstinence, without my reveling.

  27. فيا آمريّ اليوم بالغيّ أمسكا

    فقد مرَّ من تلك الغواية كاف

    O you two who now urge me into error, desist!

    Enough of that waywardness has already passed.

  28. ويا سابق النعمى لراجيه لا تزل

    تُلافي حياة المرء عند تَلافي

    And you who hasten bounty to one who hopes in you, may you ever

    rescue my life when I face ruin.

  29. فبطنيَ شبعانٌ وظهري كأنه

    لسانيَ ما بين البريَّة داف

    For my belly is full, and my back, like

    my tongue among mankind, is warm.