سلِ الخيلَ والسُّمْرَ الذَّوابِل والوَغَى

سلِ الخيلَ والسُّمْرَ الذَّوابِل والوَغَى

فرسانها والبِيض والبَيْضَ والزَّغْفا

فرسانها والبِيض والبَيْضَ والزَّغْفا

Ask the horses, the slender brown spears, and battle,

Ask the horses, the night patrols, the raids,

its horsemen, the bright swords, the helmets, and ample coats of mail,

And their horsemen, the white and the bay,

وجَزْلَ العَطايا والصَّنائعَ والعُلى

وجَزْلَ العَطايا والصَّنائعَ والعُلى

وطِيبَ الثَّنا والنظمَ والنثر والصُّحفا

وطِيبَ الثَّنا والنظمَ والنثر والصُّحفا

and lavish gifts, benefactions, and lofty honors,

About generous gifts, crafts, and nobility,

and sweet praise, verse, prose, and written pages,

About pleasant praise, prose, verse, and books,

عن الأفضلِ المُسْتَكمِل الفضلَ هل حَوى

عن الأفضلِ المُسْتَكمِل الفضلَ هل حَوى

فضائَله مِنْ قبلهِ ملكٌ وَصْفا

فضائَله مِنْ قبلهِ ملكٌ وَصْفا

about al-Afdal, consummate in excellence: has

If the best paragon embodied all perfections,

any king before him possessed his virtues, even in description?

Or if any ruler before him comprehended his virtues,

أَجلِّ الوَرَى قَدْرا وأَحْسَن سيرةً

أَجلِّ الوَرَى قَدْرا وأَحْسَن سيرةً

وأشجعِهم نفساً وأكرمهم كَفّا

وأشجعِهم نفساً وأكرمهم كَفّا

The most exalted of mankind in rank, and finest in conduct,

The greatest in esteem, and most noble in conduct,

and bravest in spirit, and most generous of hand,

The bravest, and most generous when palms meet palms,

وأعظمِهم ملكا وأكبر همةً

وأعظمِهم ملكا وأكبر همةً

وأصْلبهم عودا وأَلْيَنهم عِطْفا

وأصْلبهم عودا وأَلْيَنهم عِطْفا

and greatest in dominion, and loftiest in aspiration,

The greatest in rule, magnanimous in ambition,

and stoutest of timber, and gentlest in bearing.

The firmest, yet gentlest in sympathy,

فإنْ ظَهرتْ بالفِعْل منه فإنها

فإنْ ظَهرتْ بالفِعْل منه فإنها

وإن عُدِمتْ في غيرِه بعضُ ما أَخْفَى

وإن عُدِمتْ في غيرِه بعضُ ما أَخْفَى

For if they have appeared in his deeds, they are—

If such traits are manifest in him in deed,

though absent in others—only part of what he has kept hidden:

Yet lacking in others, though partially concealed,

مَناقبُ جَلَّتْ أنْ تكون لواحدٍ

مَناقبُ جَلَّتْ أنْ تكون لواحدٍ

وما اسملحتْ منها الورى قبلَه صِنْفا

وما اسملحتْ منها الورى قبلَه صِنْفا

virtues too sublime to belong to one alone,

Sublime qualities in one person collected

and before him mankind had never found a single kind of them pleasing.

As never were found in mankind before him.