1. سَيْفُ القريضِ كامِنٌ في غِمْدِهِ

    أَبلاه فَقْدُ سلَّه ورَدِّهِ

    The sword of poetry lies hidden in its sheath;

    The lack of drawing and resheathing it has worn it out.

  2. والجُودُ أَولَى صاقلٍ لِحَدِّه

    والشعرُ مثلُ الروضِ حَوْكُ بُرْدِه

    And generosity is the worthiest polisher of its edge.

    And the weave of poetry's mantle is like a garden;

  3. أَبيضُه يضحكُ عن مُسْوَدِّه

    تختالُ بين آسِه وَوَرْدِه

    Its white smiles out from its black.

    You strut among its myrtle and its roses.

  4. وإِنما ضامِنُ رِيِّ ورْدِه

    وهَزَّ أَعطافِ قدودِ مُلْدِه

    And the sole guarantor of its roses' watering,

    And of the swaying of its supple shoots' curving forms,

  5. ما فاضَ من غيثِ الندى وجوْده

    والحافظُ المطلِعُ نَجْمَ سَعْدِه

    Is what flows from the rain of bounty and his generosity.

    And al-Hafiz, who raises its lucky star,

  6. يحدو له ببَرْقِه ورَعْدِه

    غيثاً يَضيعُ الغيثُ دون ثَمْدِه

    Urges toward it, with his lightning and thunder,

    A rain beside whose scant pool all other rain comes to nothing.

  7. فكلُّ خير عندَهُ من عِنْدِه

    حَبْرٌ جلا الظلماءَ وَرْيُ زَنْده

    So every good thing it has comes from him.

    A scholar whose fire-stick's spark dispelled the darkness;

  8. والويلُ والويلُ لِمَنْ لَمْ يَهْدِهِ

    بدرُ علاهُ في سماءِ مَجْده

    And woe, woe to anyone not guided by

    The full moon of his eminence in the heaven of his glory.

  9. ذو نسبٍ يُريكَ عند عَدِّه

    دُرًّا أَجادَ المجدُ نَظْمَ عِقْدِه

    A man whose lineage, when counted, shows you

    Pearls whose necklace glory has strung to perfection,

  10. ورونقاً كالعَضْبِ بل فِرِنْدِهِ

    كِسْرَى به مفتخِرٌ من مَهْدِهِ

    And a luster like a keen sword—nay, its watered sheen.

    Khosrow has taken pride in him since his cradle;

  11. يرويهِ عن والِدِه وجَدِّه

    وعبدُهُ الخادِمُ وابْنُ عَبْدِه

    He transmits it from his father and his grandfather.

    And his servant, the attendant and son of his servant—

  12. قد أَنطقَ الجودُ لِسانَ حَمْدِهِ

    يطلبُ منه اليومَ فَرْضَ بَعْدِهِ

    Generosity has made his tongue of praise speak—

    Asks him today for a future stipend,

  13. وَهْوَ يُحاشِي فَضْلَهُ من رَدِّه

    And deems his generosity too noble to turn him away.