1. فِطرٌ توسَّط يومه الأسبوعا

    وافقت فيه من السعود طلوعا

    An Eid al-Fitr whose day fell midway through the week;

    in it you witnessed auspicious stars rising.

  2. واهاً له فطر غدا بربيعه

    وربيعك الغَدِق الحيا مربوعا

    Ah, what an Eid! Through its own springtime

    and your rain-rich spring, it became drenched in spring showers.

  3. فالناس والأنعام طراً قد غدوا

    في المرتعين الممرعَين رتوعا

    People and livestock, all together, have come

    to graze freely in the two lush pastures.

  4. وكأن فيه من فعالك سندساً

    وكأن فيه من الرياض قطوعا

    As though it held fine silk made of your deeds,

    and as though it held swatches cut from gardens.

  5. ما أفرح الملبوس من أيامنا

    بك لا عُدِمتَ وأكسف المخلوعا

    How joyful the day we wear among our days,

    through you—may you never be lost!—and how dejected the day cast off!

  6. تتحسر الأيام عنك وكلُّها

    تشكو فراقك آسفاً مفجوعا

    The days slip away from you, and every one

    laments parting from you, sorrowful and bereaved.

  7. رحل الصيام وشهره وكلاهما

    لهج بذكرك ما يفيق نزوعا

    Fasting and its month have departed, and both

    are engrossed in recalling you, never recovering from yearning.

  8. ولقد تناجت بالرجوع مناهما

    لو مُلِّكا بعد المضيِّ رجوعا

    Their hopes whispered together about returning,

    if they could be granted return after departing.

  9. أقسمت بالشهر الذي أخضلته

    بالجود والتقوى ندىً ودموعا

    I swear by the month you drenched

    through generosity and piety, with dew and tears,

  10. للبسته لبساً أطاب نسيمه

    يا ابن الأطايب محتِداً وفروعا

    you surely wore it so as to sweeten its breeze,

    O son of the noblest in roots and branches!

  11. وخلعتَه خلع العروس شعارها

    قد ردَّعته من العبير ردوعا

    You took it off as a bride takes off her inner garment,

    already daubed with stains of blended perfume.

  12. أعبقته من طيب ريحك نفحةً

    كادت تكون ثناءك المسموعا

    You perfumed it with a waft of your sweet scent

    that almost became audible praise of you.

  13. لم لا يكون كذا وقد أُلبِستَه

    فلبست فيه سكينة وخشوعا

    Why should it not be so, when you were clothed in it,

    and so wore serenity and humble reverence within it?

  14. وكددتَ فيه بالبكاء مدامعاً

    وجهدتَ فيه بالزفير ضلوعا

    And in it you wearied your tear ducts with weeping,

    and strained your ribs within it through sighing,

  15. ورفدت فيه كل أشعثَ بائسٍ

    ما زال عن طلباته مدفوعا

    and in it aided every disheveled, wretched man

    who had always been denied what he sought.

  16. أحييتَ في الشهر المبارك ليلَه

    وفقيره وقتلت فيه الجوعا

    In the blessed month, you brought its night to life,

    and its poor, and put hunger to death within it,

  17. بيد إذا قَسَتِ الأنامل فجَّرت

    من كل أنملة لها ينبوعا

    with a hand that, when fingertips hardened, made

    a spring gush from every one of its fingertips.

  18. أنشأتَ تكحلُ بالهجوع معاشراً

    بعد السهاد وما اكتحلت هجوعا

    You began anointing people's eyes with the kohl of sleep,

    after sleeplessness, yet took no sleep as kohl yourself.

  19. ما كان ليلك مذ أهل هلاله

    إلا سجوداً كلُّه وركوعا

    Since its crescent rose, your night was

    nothing but prostration and bowing throughout.

  20. وطوى نهارك فيه صومٌ طاهرٌ

    جعل المآثم محرما ممنوعا

    And a pure fast enfolded your day within it,

    making sins forbidden and barred:

  21. صوم غدت عين الخنا مطروفة

    فيه وراح لسانه مقطوعا

    a fast that left obscenity's eye stricken,

    and its tongue, within it, cut off.

  22. وتساجلت عيناك في آنائه

    ويداك صوباً لا يزال هُمُوعا

    Throughout its hours your eyes vied

    with your hands in a downpour that never ceased to stream.

  23. جعل الإله عوارفاً أسديتَها

    حللاً على ابنك في العلا ودروعا

    May God make the kindnesses you bestowed

    robes upon your son in glory, and armor:

  24. هذي تزيِّنُه وتلك تُجِنُّهُ

    من كل مكروه أحمَّ وقوعا

    the former adorn him, the latter shield him

    from every misfortune whose coming draws near.

  25. واسعد أبا سهل بعيدك نازلاً

    فوق الحوادث منزلاً مرفوعا

    Rejoice in your Eid, Abu Sahl, dwelling

    in a station raised above calamities,

  26. في حيث تلقى أنف مجدك شامخاً

    ويرى عدوُّك أنفه مجدوعا

    where you find the nose of your glory held high,

    while your enemy sees his own nose cut off.

  27. وتبيتُ من قرع القوارع آمناً

    ويبيت من يهوى رداك مروعا

    You pass the night safe from calamities' blows,

    while he who longs for your death passes it terrified.

  28. أضحى أبو روح سليلك مورداً

    أضحى بنو الآمال فيه شروعا

    Your offspring Abu Ruh has become a watering-place,

    where the sons of hope have come to drink.

  29. خِرقٌ له كف يكون سماحها

    كرماً إذا كان السماح ولوعا

    A resourceful nobleman, whose hand's liberality is

    true generosity when liberality is mere passion.

  30. متكلِّف فوق الطباع مكارماً

    سمَّينَه المتكلِّف المطبوعا

    He strives for noble deeds beyond nature's limits;

    they have named him 'the naturally gifted striver.'

  31. لولاه لم تلق النوال مفرَّقاً

    أبداً ولا شَملَ العلا مجموعا

    Without him, you would not find bounty distributed,

    ever, nor the company of glory united.

  32. ما الطالبُ المخدوع طالب رفده

    ووجدت طالب شأوه المخدوعا

    The seeker of his bounty is not the deceived one;

    but you find the one who seeks to match his reach deceived.

  33. عمر الإله بعمره في غبطة

    خططاً تضيء بوجهه ورُبوعا

    May God, through his life, sustain in happiness

    districts and dwellings brightened by his face,

  34. حتى ترى السادات أتباعاً له

    وتراه مثلك سيداً متبوعا

    until you see the lords become his followers,

    and see him, like you, a lord whom others follow.

  35. أقسمت ما لقّيت ذلَّ مطالبٍ

    كبراً ولا عز الزمان خضوعا

    I swear, you never met a petitioner's abasement

    with arrogance, nor Time's might with submission,

  36. من كان عند المعضلات مضعَّفاً

    أو كان عند المجحفات منوعا

    like one deemed weak in the face of grave difficulties,

    or withholding in the face of ruinous burdens.

  37. فكم اجتديت فما وُجِدت مبخَّلاً

    وكم امتُحِنتَ فما وُجدتَ جزوعا

    For how often you were asked for gifts, yet never found miserly!

    And how often you were tested, yet never found fainthearted!

  38. أصبحت تحفظ كل مجد ضائعٍ

    حفظاً كحفظك دينك المشروعا

    You now safeguard every neglected glory,

    as you safeguard your ordained faith.

  39. وأراك نلت من الأمور أجلَّها

    بدءاً وفزت بخيرها مرجوعا

    I see you have attained the greatest of affairs

    at their outset, and won their best outcome.

  40. ولقد أقول لسائلي عن مجدكم

    غلب المصابيح الصباح سطوعا

    Indeed, I say to anyone asking me about your glory:

    Morning has outshone the lamps in brilliance.

  41. لله سؤدد آل سهل سؤدداً

    لم يمس مغموراً ولا مفروعا

    God be praised for the eminence of the house of Sahl—an eminence

    that has never been overshadowed or surpassed.

  42. قوماً تراهم يفتقون مكارماً

    مرتوقة أو يرتقون صدوعا

    A people you see opening up noble deeds

    that were sewn shut, or stitching up rifts.

  43. لا يعدمون صنيعة مصنوعة

    تهدي إليهم منطقاً مصنوعا

    They never lack a kindness performed

    that brings them finely crafted speech.

  44. يعطون ما يعطونه وكأنما

    يستودعون الأرض منه زروعا

    They give what they give as though

    they were entrusting crops of it to the earth.

  45. من لم يزاول عرفهم ونكيرهم

    لم يضح مشتاراً ولا ملسوعا

    Whoever has not experienced their kindness and their wrath

    has neither gathered honey nor been stung.

  46. ولَما شهدتُ لهم بغير جليةٍ

    ولما رفعتُ بقدرهم موضوعا

    And I have not testified for them without clear evidence,

    nor, in appraising their worth, have I raised what was low.