يا خير من نظم المديح لمجده

وتنزلت سور الكتاب بحمده

O best of those for whose glory praise was composed,

and in whose praise the chapters of the Book descended!

يا حجة الله التي بضيائها

هديت بصيرة حائر عن قصده

O proof of God, by whose radiance

the insight of one astray from his course was guided!

أنت الذي بلغ النهاية في العلى

عفواً ولم يبلغ بداية جهده

You are the one who reached the utmost heights

effortlessly, before even beginning to exert yourself.

ورث الهداة الراشدين إمامة

أحيا معالمها بواضح رشده

He inherited the imamate from the rightly guided guides.

He revived its landmarks through his manifest right guidance.

إن يفتخر بنبوة ووصية

فهما تراث عن أبيه وجده

If he boasts of prophethood and testamentary succession,

both are an inheritance from his father and grandfather.

وإذا تنزل دون ذلك لم يجد

إلا ولي خليفة في عهده

And if he descends below that, he finds

only a saint, a caliph in his own age.

ما ضركم والمصطفى لكم أب

فقدانكم لقضيبه ولبرده

What harm can come to you, with the Chosen One your father,

from losing his staff and his mantle?

مابين آلات النبي وآله

إلا كما بين الحسام وغمده

There is no difference between the Prophet's implements and his family

except that between a sharp sword and its sheath.

شرف غدوت أبا محمد ذروة

في تاجه وفريدة في عقده

Honor: you have become, Abu Muhammad, a crest

in its crown, and a peerless jewel in its necklace.

مجد يقول إذا عددت نجومه

خل الإطالة واختصر في عده

A glory that says, when you count its stars,

"Leave off prolixity, and be brief in counting them."

واذكر أبا الميمون تعل بذكره

شرفاً ولا تتعد نحو معده

And mention Abu al-Maymun: by naming him you rise

in honor; do not pass beyond him to his Ma'add.

الحافظ المحفوظ عند مغيبه

بثلاثة ورثوا الهدى من ولده

Al-Hafiz, protected at his departure

by three of his offspring who inherited guidance:

من ظافر أو فائز أو عاضد

أضحت بنو رزيك ساعد عضده

whether Zafir, Fa'iz, or 'Adid.

Banu Ruzzik have become the forearm of his upper arm.

قوم أحلهم الزمان مراتباً

أوفت على حل الزمان وعقده

A people whom Time placed in ranks

that tower above Time's loosening and binding.

الباسطون ثوابهم وعقابهم

بأتم باع في العلى وأمده

They extend their reward and their punishment

with the fullest and farthest reach in loftiness.

ورث الكفالة عادل في حكمه

منهم ولكن جائر في رفده

One just in his rule inherited the guardianship

from among them, yet unjust in his bounty.

نيطت حمائلها بعاتق أروع

حمل الشدائد قبل وقت أشده

Its sword-belts were hung on the shoulder of a gallant man

who bore hardships before the age of his full strength.

وتيقنت رتب الوزارة أنها

كانت ممهدة له من مهده

The ranks of the vizierate knew for certain that they

had been prepared for him from his cradle.

ولقد أعاض الدست بعد كفيله

أنساً كفى الأيام وحشة فقده

Indeed, after its guardian, he gave the seat of office

a comfort that spared the days the desolation of losing him.

ملك يرد الألف إلا أنه

لا يلتقي الراجي بنبوة رده

A king who repels a thousand, except that

no hopeful petitioner meets the sting of his refusal.

جذلان يعتصر الندى من كفه

كرماً ويقتدح الردى من زنده

Jubilant, he wrings the dew of bounty from his palm

in generosity, and strikes sparks of death from his forearm.

ترضي رماح الخط بسطة باعه

ومضارب الهندي قوة زنده

His sweeping reach pleases the spears of al-Khatt,

and his forearm's strength the striking edges of Indian swords.

وتظن لامعة البوارق في الدجى

بيضاً تجردها فوارس جرده

You would take the flashes of lightning in the darkness

for white blades unsheathed by the riders of his lean steeds.

لا تغترر ببشاشة من بشره

فالسيف يلمع والردى في حده

Do not be deceived by the cheerfulness of his smiling face:

the sword gleams, while death is in its edge.

طارت به همم العلى وتقاصرت

همم الليالي أن تجيء بضده

Lofty ambitions bore him aloft; too feeble were

the ambitions of the nights to bring forth his rival.

مطلت عواطف حلمه بوعيده

عفواً وقارنت النجاز بوعده

The tender impulses of his forbearance delayed his threats

in pardon, and joined fulfillment to his promise.

ملك الجوامح فاللسان بحمده

مستخدم وكذا الفؤاد لورده

He mastered the unruly; the tongue, in his praise,

is put to work, as is the heart in seeking his waters.

وقفت مدائحنا عليه لأنه

ما عندها إلا الذي من عنده

Our panegyrics are dedicated to him, because

they have nothing except what comes from him.

يا عاضداً دين الإله وقائماً

لولاه ما عرفت إقامة حده

O upholder of God's religion, O champion

without whom the enforcement of His law would be unknown,

تهنيك في العصر الشريف سلامة

عفت على خطأ الحريق وعمده

may your deliverance in this noble age bring you joy,

effacing the fire's accidental and deliberate harm.

ولعت به نار الخليل فأطفئت

بسريرة ذخرت لكم من بعده

Al-Khalil's fire took hold of it, then was quenched

by a hidden virtue stored up for you after him.

الله صان عليك مهبط وحيه

ومقر رحمته وجنة خلده

God has preserved for you the place where His revelation descends,

the abode of His mercy and His everlasting garden.

شبهت قصرك والخلائق حوله

تعنو على حر الجبين وخده

I likened your palace, with all creatures around it

bowing low upon their noble brows and cheeks,

بالبيت والركن المحلق ركنه

والوافدين إلى نداك بوفده

to the House, its soaring corner to the Corner,

and those arriving at your bounty to its pilgrims.

ولو أنني وجهت شعري نحوكم

لكفيتكم حر الحريق ببرده

Had I directed my poetry toward you,

I would have spared you the fire's heat with its coolness.

شعر لو أن البحر عب عبابه

وطمت على الدنيا غوارب مده

Verse such that, if the sea surged in full flood,

and the crests of its tide overwhelmed the world,

وأعانه فصل الشتاء بثلجه

ما سد في الإطفاء بعض مسده

and winter aided it with its snow,

it could not do even part of this verse's work in quenching.

أغليتمو بالجود قيمة شعره

ورفعتم بالجاه خامل مجده

Through generosity you raised the value of his poetry,

and through prestige you elevated his dormant glory.

وسددتم بالنقد خلة فقره

وسترتم كرماً معائب نقده

With ready coin you filled the gap of his poverty,

and generously concealed the flaws revealed by its appraisal.