1. قل للأمير أدام الله غبطَتَه

    لا زال عيدُك موصولاً بأعيادِ

    Say to the prince—may God preserve his felicity—

    May your festival remain linked to festivals.

  2. عيدٌ تَنافستِ الأيامُ زينَتَه

    واستشرفتْه بأبصارٍ وأجيادِ

    A festival for whose adornment the days vied,

    and gazed up at it with eyes and craning necks.

  3. طلعْتَ فيه طلوع البدر وافقه

    طلوعُ سعدٍ فوافاه لميعادِ

    You rose that day like the full moon, its rising matched

    by a lucky star's rising, which met it at the appointed time.

  4. في موكب ظلَّت الدنيا تَشيم به

    مَخيلةٌ ذات إبراقٍ وإرعادِ

    In a procession whose lightning the world kept watching—

    a rain-promising cloud, full of lightning and thunder.

  5. وقْعُ الكرُاعِ ولمْعُ البيض يوقِدُهُ

    لألاءُ وجهك فيه أيَّ إيقادِ

    The hoofbeats of steeds and the flash of swords are kindled

    by your face's radiance there—what a blaze!

  6. للّه ذلك من عيدٍ لقد وثِقتْ

    فيه النفوس بركنٍ غير مُنْآدِ

    By God, what a festival! Indeed, trust was placed

    there by souls in an unbending pillar.

  7. في مِثله عَلِم الجُهّال بعد عمىً

    أن الخلافة مُرساةٌ بأوتادِ

    On such a day the ignorant learned, after blindness,

    that the caliphate is anchored with stakes.

  8. أرْهبْتَ فيه عُداة المُلك فانقلبوا

    منه بأقلق أحشاءٍ وأكبادِ

    You terrified the realm's enemies that day, and they turned back

    from it with entrails and livers in the utmost turmoil.

  9. فاسْعدْ به وبأعيادٍ تُعمّرها

    في ظل عيشٍ ورَيقِ العُود مَيَّادِ

    So rejoice in it and in festivals you shall live through,

    in the shade of a life with a leafy, swaying bough.

  10. يا أكرم الناس دون الناس كُلِّهمُ

    وليس ذلك من قِيلي بإبعادِ

    O most generous of men, unrivaled among them all,

    and this is no far-fetched claim of mine.

  11. نفسي فداؤك بل نفسي وأسْرَتُها

    بل كلُّ نفس وما أَغلى بك الفادي

    My soul be your ransom—nay, my soul and its kin;

    nay, every soul! No one who ransoms you pays too dearly.

  12. من كان يُهدِي على العمياء مِدْحَتَهُ

    إهداءَ مستسلم للظن منقادِ

    Whoever offers his praise blindly,

    as one yielding to conjecture and following its lead—

  13. فما امتدحتُك إلا بعد ألسنةٍ

    ولا انتجعتُك إلا بعد رُوَّادِ

    I, however, praised you only after other tongues had spoken,

    and sought your bounty only after scouts had gone before.

  14. إليك ساقَ تِجَارُ الحمد عِيرهُمُ

    يُنْفدْنَ أسدادَ ليلٍ بعد أسدادِ

    Toward you the merchants of praise drove their caravan,

    wearing through barrier after barrier of night.

  15. لهم بوجهِك هادٍ من أمامِهِمُ

    ومن رجائك حادٍ أيُّما حادي

    In your face they have a guide ahead of them,

    and in hope of you a chanting camel-driver—what a driver!

  16. على سَوَاهِمَ يذرَعْنَ الفلا عَنقَاً

    بأذرعٍ شَدَنِيَّاتٍ وأعضادِ

    On lean camels that measure the wastes at a swift gait,

    with Shadani forelegs and upper limbs,

  17. تَطْنِي الفلا مُثْقَلاتٍ وُسْعَ طاقتها

    من الثناء مُخِفَّاتٍ من الزادِ

    they wear down the wastes, laden to their utmost capacity

    with praise, but bearing little provision,

  18. مُعَوّلاتٍ على غيثٍ تَيَمَّمُهُ

    ما آب رائدُهُ إلا بإحمادِ

    relying on the rain toward which they journey;

    its scout has never returned without praise.

  19. كلتا يديك يمينٌ لا شمال لها

    مخلوقتان لأمجادٍ وإنجادِ

    Both your hands are right hands; there is no left hand,

    both fashioned for glorious deeds and giving aid.

  20. يدانِ لا يَفْتُرانِ الدهرَ من صفدٍ

    يغني فقيراً ولا مِن فَكِّ أصفادِ

    Two hands that never weary, through all time, of gifts

    that enrich the poor, nor of loosening fetters.

  21. إن دام جودُك أنْزَفْنا قَرائحنا

    بعد الجُمُوم وآذَنّا بإنفادِ

    If your generosity endures, we shall drain our poetic powers,

    after their brimming fullness, and announce their exhaustion.

  22. تُعْطِي الجزيل بلا وعدٍ تُقدِّمه

    ولا تعاقبُ إلا بعد إيعادِ

    You give lavish gifts without first making a promise,

    and punish only after a warning.

  23. تبني مكارم مُرْساةً قواعدها

    على مكارم آباءٍ وأجدادِ

    You build noble deeds, their foundations secured

    upon the noble deeds of fathers and forefathers.

  24. يا آل طاهرٍ الأعلين مَرْتبةً

    لازلتُمُ رغم أعداءٍ وحسّادِ

    O house of Tahir, highest in rank,

    may you remain so, despite enemies and enviers.

  25. أمسى مُجاوركم يأوِي إلى جبل

    صعبِ المراقي ويرعى جانبَيْ وادي

    Your neighbor now takes shelter in a mountain

    hard to ascend, and grazes on both sides of a valley.

  26. من عاث في الأرض إفساداً فإنكُمُ

    بدَّلتُمُ الأرض إصلاحاً بإفسادِ

    Whoever wreaks corruption upon the earth—you, however,

    have replaced its corruption with reform.

  27. أنتم بنو ذي اليمينين الذي هَجْعَتْ

    به السيوفُ وعادت ذات أغمادِ

    You are the sons of Dhu al-Yaminayn, through whom slept

    the swords, which became sheathed once more.

  28. مُسَوَّمينَ بسيما اليُمْنِ في غُررٍ

    مولودةٍ بنجومٍ غير أنكادِ

    Marked with fortune's sign upon radiant foreheads,

    born beneath stars of no ill omen.

  29. أجْلت لنا منكُمُ الأيام عن خَلَفٍ

    حُكَّامِ فصلٍ وأبطالٍ وأجوادِ

    The days have unveiled to us from among you successors—

    decisive judges, heroes, and men of bounty:

  30. من نجم رأيٍ ومن بحرٍ له فجرٌ

    على العفاةِ ومن ضِرغامةٍ عادي

    a star of counsel, and a sea with waters bursting forth

    upon seekers of bounty, and a charging lion.

  31. فكلما نزلت بالناس نازلةٌ

    ألْفَتْ لها راصداً منكم بمرصادِ

    So whenever a calamity descends upon the people,

    it finds one of you posted in wait for it.

  32. لكم مَقامان شتى طال ما ضَمِنَا

    طيَّ الكُشوحِ على شكرٍ وأحقادِ

    You have two contrasting stations that have long ensured

    that flanks enfold both gratitude and grudges.

  33. يفديكُمُ الناس إذ تفدون أنفسهم

    منكُم بأفضل أرواحٍ وأجسادِ

    People ransom you, since you ransom their lives

    with the finest souls and bodies from among you,

  34. في كلِّ هيجاء تُكنَى من فظاعتها

    أمَّ الدهاريس أو تُدعى بِعصْوادِ

    in every battle, nicknamed for its horror

    “Mother of Calamities,” or called ʿIṣwād.

  35. كم فيكُمُ من شديد الدَّرْء يومئذٍ

    يَصْلى الوغى بشهابٍ منه وقادِ

    How many a mighty defender among you, on that day,

    braves battle's fire with a blazing flame of his own!

  36. يغشى صدورَ العوالي دون حوْزته

    بصدر حرٍّ عن السوآت محيادِ

    He meets the points of lofty spears to shield his domain,

    with a noble breast that shuns disgrace.

  37. هذا ثنائي وهاتيكُم مناقبُكم

    بأعين الناس ما أبْعدتُ إشهادي

    This is my praise, and those are your noble deeds

    before people's eyes; I have not sought my witnesses far afield.

  38. تَحَمَّدتْ بكُمُ الأيامُ فانكفأتْ

    بعد الشكاةِ بحمدٍ حاضرٍ بادي

    Through you the days earned praise, and returned

    after complaint, with praise present and plain to see.

  39. ما حيدَ بالناس عن منهاج مكرمةٍ

    إلا هَدَاكُمْ إلى منهاجِها هادِي

    Never were people diverted from a path of noble conduct

    but a guide led you to its path.

  40. فابقوا بقاءَ مساعيكُمْ فقد بَقِيتْ

    منهن أطوادُ مجدٍ فوق أطوادِ

    So endure as your deeds endure, for there remain

    from them mountains of glory above mountains.