عَلمْتَ زَكيَّ الدينِ أنيّ مُطَالَبٌ

عَلمْتَ زَكيَّ الدينِ أنيّ مُطَالَبٌ

بِدَينٍ وَلِمْ لا وَهْوَ وَعْدُ كَرِيمِ

بِدَينٍ وَلِمْ لا وَهْوَ وَعْدُ كَرِيمِ

You know, Zaki al-Din, that I am being pressed

You knew, Zaki al-Din, that I am held

for a debt—and why not, when it is a generous man's promise?

To a debt, yet why not when it is the promise of a generous one

فَقلِّدْ صَنِيعاً واغتَنِمْ من مَدائحِي

فَقلِّدْ صَنِيعاً واغتَنِمْ من مَدائحِي

فَلا بُدَّ ما دنَسَّتُها بِلَئيمِ

فَلا بُدَّ ما دنَسَّتُها بِلَئيمِ

So bestow a favor, and profit from my praises;

So act generously and make use of my praises

there is no alternative: I have never sullied them with a base man.

For they must be sullied by the ignoble