1. ثلاثة أعياد أتت وهي تبسم

    ربيع ونيروز وعبد معظم

    Three festivals arrived, smiling:

    Spring, Nowruz, and a solemn feast.

  2. ثلاث مسرات رأتك بمنصب

    فجاءت مع النهي عليك تسلم

    Three joys saw you in office,

    So they came with wisdom to greet you.

  3. وان من النعماء انك سالم

    وعينك يقظى والحوادث توم

    And among the blessings is that you are safe,

    Your eye wakeful while misfortunes sleep.

  4. تقربها باقي ذرى جل منصب

    كما قرفي اعلى قنا الخط لهذم

    You delight in them, remaining on the heights of an exalted office [wording uncertain],

    As a keen spearhead rests atop the spears of al-Khatt.

  5. فمن لدمشق الشام انك لم تزل

    على يدك الارزاق فيها تقسم

    It is a boon to Damascus of Syria that you continue

    To have its sustenance apportioned through your hand.

  6. رأوك فثنوا باهللال فعهدوا

    بعيدين لكن الابر المقدم

    They saw you, then counted the crescent as a second, and knew

    Two feasts—but the more beneficent takes precedence.

  7. اكبوا على نعماك في العيد فالتقى

    على بابك الفوجان مثر ومعدم

    They thronged to your bounty at the feast, and there met

    At your door the two companies: rich and destitute.

  8. وعادوا جميعا باسطين اكفهم

    إلى اللّه ان اللّه يجزيك عنهم

    And all returned, stretching out their palms

    To God, that God might reward you on their behalf.

  9. تقول لي الاصحاب عيد مبارك

    عليك وكيف الحال قلت منعّم

    My companions say to me, “A blessed feast

    To you! And how are things?” I said, “I live in comfort.”

  10. تمشى الندى في سقم حالي فاتحجد

    نجاحة جرح في زواياه مرهم

    Generosity flowed through my ailing condition [ending unclear],

    A wound's recovery, with balm in its recesses [wording uncertain].

  11. وما دام جود الدفتري محمد

    فلي كل يوم منه عيد وموسم

    And as long as Muhammad al-Daftari's generosity endures,

    For me each day from him is a feast and a festive season.

  12. فتى اجلستهُ خشية الحق مجلسا

    تهذب فيه صمته والتكلم

    A youth whom awe of the Truth has placed in a station

    Where his silence and his speech are refined.

  13. له منه اذ ما يجمع الغيظ واعظ

    يلقنه خلق الكرام فيحلم

    Within himself he has, whenever anger gathers, an admonisher

    Who teaches him the ways of the noble, so he is forbearing.

  14. ويحنو على ذي الجرم حتى يديننا

    ليد لي اليه بالذي هو مجرم

    And he is tender toward the guilty, until he puts us in debt [wording uncertain],

    So that he may tell him what he is guilty of.

  15. تكرم حتى ظن حاشاه معدما

    على حين قال الناس مات التكرم

    He gave so generously that he was thought penniless—far be it from him—

    At a time when people said, “Generosity has died.”

  16. وليس لباس الخز ما فوق عطفه

    ولكنه برد من المجد معلم

    What lies upon his shoulder is not a silken garment,

    But it is an embroidered cloak of glory.

  17. تثبع آمالي بألطاف بره

    فحقق لي ما لم يكن بتوهم

    He followed my hopes with the gentle favors of his goodness,

    So he fulfilled for me what had not even been imagined.

  18. سانسج من حسن الثناء لمجده

    طرازا يسدى بالنجوم ويلحم

    I shall weave from beautiful praise, for his glory,

    An embroidered band with stars for warp and weft:

  19. نجوم معان يشهد الفضل انها

    على لبة العلياء عقد منظم

    Stars of meaning—excellence attests that they

    Are a well-strung necklace upon the throat of high glory.

  20. إذا ابرزته فكرتي طار ذكره

    إلى أن تراه وهو للنجم يزحم

    When my thought brings it forth, its fame takes flight,

    Until you see it jostling the stars.

  21. يلين له عطف الكرام وينثني

    وينسى لديه الا تحمى المسهم

    The shoulders of the noble soften before it and bend,

    And beside it, arrow-patterned Atḥamī cloth is forgotten.

  22. ولا فضل لي فيما اقول وإنما

    أياديه عندي ألسن تتكلم

    And I have no merit in what I say; rather,

    His favors to me are tongues that speak.