1. ألا يا زينةَ الدنيا جميعاً

    وواسطة القلادةِ في النظامِ

    Behold, O adornment of the whole world,

    and central jewel of the necklace upon its string!

  2. نطقْتَ بحكمةٍ جلَّى سناها

    عن المعنى اللطيفِ دُجى الظلامِ

    You uttered wisdom whose radiance dispelled

    the gloom of darkness from the subtle meaning.

  3. تلذُّ كأنها روْحٌ وراحٌ

    وتمشي في العروقِ وفي العظامِ

    It delights, as though it were refreshment and wine,

    and courses through the veins and through the bones.

  4. ولولا أنت قلَّ الواجِدوها

    على سعة المذاهبِ في الكلامِ

    And were it not for you, few would have found it,

    despite the breadth of paths in speech.

  5. ولم تُدلل بها فيقول زارٍ

    أتاركةً تدلُّلَها قطامِ

    Nor were you coy with it for a detractor to say:

    'Is Qatam giving up her coyness?'

  6. فلو أنَّ الكلامَ غدا جزوراً

    إذاً لذهبْتَ منه بالسنامِ

    For if speech became a camel for slaughter,

    then you would carry off its hump.

  7. يقول أميرُنا إذْ ذاقَ منه

    كريقِ النحلِ أو دمْعِ الغمامِ

    Our prince says, on tasting some of it—

    like bees' saliva or the tears of clouds—

  8. أهِزَّةُ منطق كالسِّحْرِ لُطْفاً

    عرتني أم سماعٍ أم مُدامِ

    'Is it a thrill of speech, subtle as magic,

    that has come over me—or one of music, or of wine?'

  9. إذا قالت حزامِ فصدِّقوها

    فإنَّ القولَ ما قالَتْ حزامِ

    When Hazam speaks, believe her;

    for the true word is what Hazam says.

  10. ولو عِيبتْ هنالكمُ لديهِ

    لقال نكيرهُ صمِّي صمامِ

    And if it were criticized there in his presence,

    his indignation would cry: 'Be deaf, Samam!'

  11. ومن قبل العبارة ما لقيتُم

    بمعنىً فيه مصلحةُ الأنامِ

    And before the wording came what you found

    in a thought that holds mankind's welfare:

  12. فعافيْتُم إماماً من أثامٍ

    وأعفيتم قياماً من غرامِ

    so you spared an imam from sin,

    and exempted those standing from a financial burden.

  13. فكيف نُرى وكيف تَرَوْنَ مَعْنىً

    حوى دفعَ الغرامِ مع الأنامِ

    So how are we shown—and how do you see—a thought

    that encompasses relief from the financial burden and mankind together?

  14. لقد أنعمتُمُ نُعْمى ونُعْمى

    على المأْمومِ منّا والإمامِ

    Indeed, you have bestowed a blessing and another blessing

    upon the follower among us and the imam.

  15. وجِئْتُم في الحياطةِ والتَّوقِّي

    بتلك المُنجِياتِ من الملامِ

    And you have brought, in safeguarding and precaution,

    those measures that deliver from blame—

  16. بلِ المستوعبان الشُّكرَ مِنّا

    ومن أعلامِ مِلَّتِنا الكرامِ

    nay, the two that merit all thanks from us

    and from the noble luminaries of our faith.

  17. وأصبحتم بذاك وقد سلِمْتُم

    على ربِّ السلامةِ والسلامِ

    And thus you now stand, having come through safely,

    in the care of the Lord of safety and peace.

  18. رأيتُ الشعرَ حين يقالُ فيكم

    يعودُ أرقَّ من سَجْع الحمامِ

    I have seen poetry, when spoken about you,

    become more delicate than the cooing of doves;

  19. ويلبسُ حين نخلعُه عليكم

    وساماً من وجوهِكُمُ الوِسامِ

    and when we drape it upon you, it wears

    beauty drawn from your handsome faces.

  20. ويجسُمُ قَدْرُهُ ويزيدُ نُبلاً

    بأقدارٍ لكم فيه جِسامِ

    And its worth grows great, and its nobility increases

    through the great ranks you hold within it.

  21. فتمَّتْ نعمةٌ المولى عليكم

    ولا قرن الفناءُ إلى التمامِ

    So may the Lord's blessing upon you be complete,

    and may extinction never be joined to completion.

  22. وزاد ودام صنعُ اللَّه فيكم

    وطاب مع الزيادةِ والدوامِ

    And may God's beneficence toward you increase and endure,

    and be sweet in its increase and endurance.

  23. وعَيْش أبيكَ ذي النعم الجواري

    على الدنيا وذي المِنن العِظامِ

    By the life of your father, whose blessings flow

    over the world, and whose favors are immense,

  24. لما لؤم المُبَشِّر يومَ نادى

    أقرَّ اللَّهُ عيْنَك بالغُلامِ

    the herald was surely not ungenerous the day he cried:

    'May God gladden your eye with the boy!'