1. قلْ للأمير أدامَ اللَّهُ نعماكا

    وزادَ جدَّك إسعاداً وأبقاكا

    Say to the emir: May God perpetuate your blessings,

    and make your fortune ever more favorable, and preserve you.

  2. يسقي السحابُ فتحكيه فتشبهُه

    ولا يشبَّه سقياه بسقياكا

    The cloud gives water; you imitate it and resemble it,

    yet its watering cannot be likened to yours.

  3. نضحتَ بالماء في يومٍ وقد نفحت

    في عامهِ كلِّه بالماء كفّاكا

    You sprinkled water on one day, though water had poured

    from your two hands throughout that whole year.

  4. وما أردتَ بإغباب الندى قسماً

    إجمامَ مالكَ بل إجمام حَسْراكا

    And in making your bounty intermittent, you did not intend—I swear—

    to replenish your wealth, but to rest those wearied by you.

  5. أجممت حسرى أياديك التي ثَقُلتْ

    على الكواهل حتى آدها ذاكا

    You rested those wearied by your favors, which had weighed heavily

    upon their shoulders, until that burden bent them.

  6. كي يستريحوا فيزدادوا براحتِهم

    فضلَ اضطلاعِ بما تُسدي يميناكا

    so they might rest and, through that rest, gain

    greater strength to bear what both your right hands bestow.

  7. وما مللتَ العطايا فاسترحْتَ إلى

    إغبابها بل همُ ملّوا عطاياكا

    You did not tire of giving gifts and so find relief in

    giving them intermittently; rather, they tired of your gifts.

  8. وما نهتْهم عن المرعَى وخامتُه

    لكنه أسنقَ الراعين مرعاكا

    Nor was it the pasture's unwholesomeness that kept them away;

    rather, your pasture surfeited the grazers.

  9. تدبَّرَ الناسُ ما دبرْتَهم فإذا

    عليهمُ لا على الأموالِ بُقياكا

    The people pondered how you had dealt with them, and behold:

    your concern was for them, not for your wealth.

  10. أمسكتَ سيْبَكَ إضراءً لرغبتهم

    وما بخلتَ وما أمسكتَ ممْساكا

    You withheld your bounty to whet their desire,

    and were not stingy, nor did you withhold as a miser.

  11. هذا على أنّ ظني فيك يخبرني

    أن قد أتيتَ من الإفضال مأتاكا

    All this, although my belief about you tells me

    that in generosity you have followed your accustomed path.

  12. وإن لهوتَ بنضحِ الماء آونةً

    فما أراه عن المعروفِ ألهاكا

    And though you played for a while at sprinkling water,

    I do not think it distracted you from doing good.

  13. بل قد أقمتَ لعيد اللهو سُنَّتهُ

    وما عدوتَ من الإحسان مجراكا

    Rather, you upheld the custom of the festival of play,

    and did not stray from your course of doing good.

  14. لا شأنَ يُلهيك عن شأنِ النَّدَى أبداً

    إلا نظيرٌ له من شأنِ تقواكا

    No pursuit ever distracts you from the pursuit of generosity,

    save its counterpart in the pursuit of your piety.

  15. قد كنتُ أخطئُ في أيامِ تهنئتي

    بالمهرجانِ وبالنَّيروز إياكا

    I used to err in the days when I congratulated

    you on Mihrajan and Nowruz.

  16. وكان أصوبَ من هذاك تهنئتي

    إياهما بك لو لُقِّيتُ هذاكا

    More fitting than that would have been my congratulating

    them on you, had I been granted that insight.

  17. إنَّ الزمانَ الذي تحيا فتبلغُهُ

    يا ابنَ الكرام لمغبوطٌ بمحْياكا

    Indeed, the age you live to reach,

    O son of noble men, is surely envied because you live in it.

  18. فالآن أُهدي إلى النيروز تهنئتي

    والمهرجانِ إذا آنا فزاراكا

    So now I offer my congratulations to Nowruz

    and Mihrajan, when their time comes and they visit you,

  19. ليشكرا لك أنْ فخمْتَ شأنهما

    عن غير مَيْلٍ إلى الإلحادِ حاشاكا

    so that both may thank you for magnifying their standing,

    without any leaning toward heresy—far be it from you!

  20. لم تأتِ مأتاك في تعظيم قدرهما

    من بابِ دينك بل من بابِ دنياكا

    Your way of honoring their standing did not arise

    from the domain of your religion, but from that of your worldly life.

  21. كادا يقاسان بالعيدين إذْ وُسِما

    بوسمِ يَوْمَيْنِ من أيامِ مَلهاكا

    They could almost be compared with the two Eids, since they were marked

    with the mark of two days among your days of amusement.

  22. ليسا بعيديْ صلاةٍ غيرَ أنهما

    عيدا نوالٍ لمن يعترُّ جدواكا

    They are not two festivals of prayer, but they are

    two festivals of bounty for those who seek your largesse.

  23. لراحتيك إذا وافى صباحَهما

    جِدٌّ وأنت تراه من هُوَيناكا

    For your two palms, when their morning arrives,

    there is earnest work, though you regard it as taking your ease.

  24. تعطي رغابَ العطايا لاعباً فكِهاً

    وأنت تُحيي خلال الهزل هُلّاكا

    You give lavish gifts, playful and merry,

    and amid your play you give life to the dying.

  25. فمهرجانُك والنيروز قد غدوا

    سيان عند ذوي التقوى وعيداكا

    Thus your Mihrajan and Nowruz have become

    equal to your two Eids in the eyes of the devout,

  26. إذ فيهما كل بر أنت فاعله

    في يومِ فطرِك أو في يوم أضحاكا

    for in them is every good deed that you perform

    on the day of your Eid al-Fitr or the day of your Eid al-Adha.