غايات جودك لا تبطي عن الامل

وانما خلق الإنسان من عجل

The furthest reaches of your generosity do not lag behind hope.

And humankind was indeed created of haste.

من كان في جودكم مرعي مطالبة

رعي المطالب في روض من الأمل

Whoever has his petition tended through your generosity

pastures his wishes in a meadow of hope.

وقد علمت بأني في مكابدتي

على رجائك بعد الله متكلي

And you know that, amid my suffering,

I rely on hope in you, after God.

ألست نشوا أياديك التي ملات

بفضل جودك عرض السهل والجبل

Am I not one nurtured by your benefactions, which have filled

with your generous bounty the breadth of plain and mountain?

وجدتني في حضيض فانتشلت يدي

من الحضيض إلى العالي من القلل

You found me in the depths and lifted my hand

from the depths to the highest of peaks.

ورشحتني أياديك الجسام إلى

طلاب ما لم يكن عندي ولا قبلي

And your mighty benefactions fitted me for

pursuing what I neither possessed nor had within my means.

وطلت باعا وأدركت الذين جروا

ورحت أدرك من نيل العلا أملي

My reach grew long, and I caught up with those who raced ahead.

And I began to realize my hope of attaining eminence.

والدهر قدهم بي سوءا وأطمع بي

أني أقرع أحيانا على الزلل

And Time had meant me harm; what emboldened it against me

was that I was sometimes rebuked for my slips.

ومد كفا فراعتني مخالبه

مرءا وكشر عن أنيابه العضل

It stretched out a hand, and its claws terrified me

at their sight; it bared its formidable fangs.

أبعد ما قد جرت نعماك في بدني

وفي عروقي جرى بي النوم في المقل

After your blessings have flowed through my body

and my veins, has sleep come into my eyes?

ونلت منها ونالت راحتي بها

ما عنه يقصر ابعا كل منتول

And I received from them, and through them my palm obtained

what lies beyond the reach of every recipient of gifts.

وظللتني من نعماك سابغة

وظل نعماك فيء غير منتقل

And an ample blessing of yours has sheltered me,

and your blessings' shade is a shade that never shifts.

نفسي فداؤك كم قلدتني مننا

سحابها تغرف الآمال في الوشل

My soul be your ransom! How many favors you have hung about my neck,

whose clouds let hopes draw water even in a trickle.

قد أخرستني فما أسطيع أشكرها

ما قدر شكري وما قولي وما عملي

They have struck me dumb; I cannot give thanks for them.

What is the worth of my thanks, my words, my deeds?

وكان إعراضكم من بعض نعمتكم

هديتموني بها نهجا من السبل

And your turning away was among your favors;

through it you guided me along a clear path among the ways.

عطاؤكم فيها ما تسمو النفوس به

ومنعكم فيه تقويم من البسل

Your giving holds what raises souls,

and your withholding holds stern correction.

لا تغضبون ولا ترضون عن رجل

إلا وقصدكم الإِصلاح للرجل

You neither grow angry nor feel pleased with a man

unless your aim is to set that man right.

لعل نسمة عطف منك عاجلة

تعود لي وكأن الحال لم يحل

Perhaps a swift breeze of kindness from you

will return to me, as though my circumstances had not changed,

وتنهيني إلى ما كنت أعهده

من بعض لطفك بي في القول والعمل

and bring me back to what I once knew

of some of your kindness to me in word and deed.

فليس لي من رجاء في رضا أحد

حسبي رضا الاشرف ابن الأفضل بن علي

For I have no hope of anyone's favor;

al-Ashraf ibn al-Afdal ibn Ali's favor is enough for me.

من لي بكأس نعيم فيه مترعة

أهز عطفي بها كالشارب الثمل

Who will give me, in his favor, a cup brimming with bliss,

with which I sway my sides like a drunken drinker,

حتى أظل وداري ملؤها فرح

تخال أربابها سكري من الجذل

until I spend my days with my house filled with joy,

its householders seeming drunk with delight?

واخضر عيشي من جدواه وانتزعت

عن باب داري دواعي الهم والوجل

And my life grows green through his bounty, and swept away

from my doorstep are the causes of grief and fear.

وجاءني الدهر كالمرتاب معتذرا

لما جرى منه في أيامه الاول

And Time comes to me like one apprehensive, apologizing

for what it did in its earlier days.

هذا حديث الأماني وهي صادقة

فما تحدثني من جودك الهطل

This is what wishes tell me, and they speak truly.

What, then, do they tell me of your pouring bounty?

وبشرتني بنعما منك تطرقني

عما قريب وخيرات على عجل

They have given me glad tidings of a blessing from you that will visit me

before long, and good things coming swiftly.

غدا تحل دياري منه مكرمة

تريك سكانها في الحلى والحلل

Tomorrow a generous gift from him will alight in my home,

showing you its dwellers in ornaments and fine robes.

غدا تجاورني نعماه في وطني

وان نعماه نعم الجار في الحلل

Tomorrow his blessings will dwell beside me in my homeland,

and his blessings are indeed an excellent neighbor among the settlements.

واكسب العز من سلطان دولته

وانما عزه في جبهة الدول

And I shall gain glory from the authority of his reign,

and his glory stands at the very forefront of dynasties.