عبدُكَ شمسَ الدولة المرتجى

عبدُكَ شمسَ الدولة المرتجى

منتظرٌ تشريفكَ المذهبا

منتظرٌ تشريفكَ المذهبا

Your servant, O hoped-for Shams al-Dawla,

Your servant, the sun of the hoped state

awaits your gilded robe of honor.

Awaits your noble arrival

فاعتبْ صلاحَ الدِّين لي حالتي

فاعتبْ صلاحَ الدِّين لي حالتي

عساهُ بالإصلاح أَنْ يعتبا

عساهُ بالإصلاح أَنْ يعتبا

So reproach Salah al-Din on my behalf for my plight;

So reprimand Salah al-Din about my condition

perhaps he will make amends by setting things right.

May he reform it and repent

عَرِّفْهُ ماثمَّ فإنّي أَرى

عَرِّفْهُ ماثمَّ فإنّي أَرى

من فضلهِ للفضلِ أن يغضبا

من فضلهِ للفضلِ أن يغضبا

Tell him how things stand, for I deem

Introduce to him what has happened, for I see

anger on behalf of merit a mark of his nobility.

By his excellence, the excellent may get angry

وكيف يَرْضَى ذاكَ بعضَ الرِّضا

وكيف يَرْضَى ذاكَ بعضَ الرِّضا

ومجدُهُ يأباهُ كلَّ الإبا

ومجدُهُ يأباهُ كلَّ الإبا

And how could he accept that in the least,

And how can he be pleased with some pleasure

when his glory rejects it utterly?

While his glory refuses all refusal

وقُلْ له جاءَتْهُ ملبوسةٌ

وقُلْ له جاءَتْهُ ملبوسةٌ

تخلّفتْ من تُبَّعٍ في سبا

تخلّفتْ من تُبَّعٍ في سبا

And tell him: a garment has come to him,

And tell him a worn out turban has come to him

left over from Tubbaʿ in Saba—

Left behind by one who fled in war

عمامةٌ رقّتْ ورثّتْ فما

عمامةٌ رقّتْ ورثّتْ فما

نشرتُها إلا وطارتْ هَبَا

نشرتُها إلا وطارتْ هَبَا

a turban grown thin and threadbare; no sooner

A turban that was soft and inherited

did I unfold it than it flew away as dust.

I did not spread it but it flew away