أوجبت في ذمة الأشعار والخطب

ديناً أبا حسن يبقى على الحقب

You have laid upon poems and orations

a debt, Abu Hasan, that endures through the ages.

لم يبق مجدك في التشبيب لي أرباً

حسب المدائح ما شيدت من حسب

Your glory has left me no desire for love poetry;

the nobility you have built suffices for panegyrics.

شغلتها باقتضاب المكرمات فما

يلقى علاك بمدح غير مقتضب

You keep them busy with ever-new noble deeds, so

your eminence receives only freshly fashioned praise.

مناقب سجلت لي وهي صادقة

أمان صدق من التخريف و الكذب

Your virtues, true as they are, have secured for me

a sure safeguard against fabrication and lies.

أيامك البيض لا تحصى وأفضلها

يوم خصصت به في قاعة الذهب

Your bright days cannot be counted; the finest of them

is the day that distinguished you in the Hall of Gold.

وفيت للصالح الهادي وقد بعدت

عنه الصنائع من ناء ومقترب

You kept faith with al-Salih, the guide, when

his protégés, far and near, had withdrawn from him.

فعلت فعل علي يا علي وقد

فدى نبي الهدى بل سيد العرب

You did as Ali did, O Ali, when he

offered himself to save the Prophet of guidance—nay, the lord of the Arabs.

لما أتتك بنات الموت سائلة

وهبت روحك مختاراً ولم تهب

When death's daughters came to you asking,

you offered your soul willingly and did not fear.

أقدمت وحدك إقدام الليوث على

هول يمهد عذر الليث في الهرب

You charged alone, with the charge of lions, into

a terror that would justify a lion's flight.

آثار سيفك أجلى من روايتنا

و السيف أصدق أنباء من الكتب

The marks of your sword are clearer than our account,

and the sword's tidings are truer than those of books.

أرهفته بيمين غير طائشة

عند الضراب وعزم غير مضطرب

You sharpened it with an unerring right hand

in combat, and an unshaken resolve.

فهل بنانك أقوى أم جنانك إذ

شطبت بالسيف متن السيف ذي الشطب

Were your fingers stronger, then, or your heart, when

with your sword you scored the blade of the grooved sword?

أنت المقدم في بأس وفي كرم

إن كنت ترضى بهذا النعت واللقب

You are foremost in valor and in generosity,

if you are content with this epithet and title.

وإن كرهت فأنت المستغاث به

بعد المهيمن في الأحداث والنوب

And if you dislike it, you are the one whose aid is sought,

after the Guardian, in disasters and calamities.

لولا حفاظك يوم القصر لاضطربت

قواعد الملك واحتاجت إلى التعب

But for your defense on the day at the palace, shaken would have been

the foundations of the realm, requiring arduous effort.

لولا ثباتك والألباب خافقة

لم ينج روح الهدى من راحة العطب

But for your steadfastness, while minds trembled,

the spirit of guidance would not have escaped destruction's palm.

لولا بلائك في البلوى أبا حسن

مازال عنا غمام الغم والكرب

But for your valor in tribulation, Abu Hasan,

the cloud of grief and anguish would not have lifted from us.

جادت ضريح أبي الغارات غادية

من رحمة الله لا من هاطل السحب

May Abu al-Gharat's tomb be drenched by a morning shower

of God's mercy, not the downpour of clouds.

أقسمت والقسم المبرور مفترض

بالله والبيت ذي الأستار والحجب

I have sworn—and a righteous oath is binding—

by God and the House with its curtains and veils.

لو عاش أثنى بما أوليت من حسن

ثناء معترف بالحق محتسب

Had he lived, he would have praised the kindness you bestowed,

with the praise of one acknowledging your due and seeking God's reward.

وقد رأيت قبيحاً أن أكون له عبد

اصطناع وإني عنه لم أنب

And I deemed it shameful that I should be his slave

through his patronage, yet not act in his stead.

وأين موقع أقوال وقيمتها

من قوله وهو سامي القول والرتب

And where do words stand, and what are they worth,

beside his speech, lofty as he is in speech and rank?

مابين قدر كلامينا إذا عرضا

إلا كما بين قدر الصفر والذهب

The difference in the worth of our words, when compared,

is just that between brass and gold.

لكن مدك دين ليس يمكنني

إلا القيام به عن ذمة الأدب

Yet your aid is a debt I cannot

but discharge on behalf of letters.

وما يقوم بنعماك التي سبغت

نظم ونثر ولو صيغا من الشهب

And your abundant favors cannot be repaid by

verse or prose, even if both were fashioned from shooting stars.