مولاي حاشاك لقد مال بي

دهري وقد جار علي الزمان

My lord—may you be spared—I have been brought low

by my fate, and time has wronged me,

وللشقا أسلمني والعنا

من بعد ما كنت طليق العنان

and surrendered me to misery and hardship,

after once I had been free of the reins.

والفقر بي افضى الى بيع ما

فوقي وتجتي بالهوى والهوان

And poverty has driven me to sell what

was above and beneath me, with desire and humiliation.

وبعت حتى بغلتي والكسا

وجرت القافية الطيلسان

I sold even my mule and my clothes,

and the rhyme dragged in the mantle.

ولم يكن عندي سوى فروة

تعد سبعا وقرونا ثمان

I had nothing left but a fur coat,

reckoned seven and eight centuries old.

قد طار من طول المدى صوفها

وعاف منها كل قاص ودان

Its wool had flown away through the long passage of time,

and everyone, far and near, shunned it.

وقد وهى جسمي وقل القوى

وكنت من قبل قويّ الجنان

My body had weakened, and my strength had dwindled,

though before I had been stout of heart.

وجاء زحفا جيش فصل الشتا

محاربا بالبرد لا بالسنان

The army of winter came marching,

waging war with cold, not with spearheads.

واشتد حتى ان من يرده

لم يدف مني فيه غير اللسان

It grew so fierce that, from its cold [conjectural reading],

nothing of me stayed warm within it but my tongue.

ولم اجد لي في الورى مخلصا

منه سوى رب السجايا الحسان

I found among mankind no deliverer for me

from it, save the master of noble qualities:

قاضي القضاة الشافعي الذي

من بابه ام غدا في امان

the Shafi‘i chief judge, whose

door brings safety to whoever seeks it.

من ساد فضلا وسما رتبة

ونال في العلياء اعلى مكان

He who excelled in merit and rose in rank,

and attained the highest station in the heights.

سباق غايات جياد العلا

مدرك شأو والمجد يوم الرهان

First to the finish lines of glory’s steeds,

attaining the goal and glory on the day of the race.

رب التقى والفضل فرد الندى

من ليس يثنيه على الجود ثان

Master of piety and merit, peerless in munificence,

whom no rival can make second in generosity.

يمم الى نحو حماه تنل

ما رمت منه وعلي الضمان

Make for his sanctuary, and you will obtain

what you seek from him; I give my guarantee.

لا عيب فيه غير ان العطا

يفيض من راحته والبنان

He has no fault, save that bounty

overflows from his palm and fingertips.

ذو منطق من نحو تصريفه

يبدو لنا حسن معاني البيان

Gifted with eloquence, through the manner of his phrasing

the beauty of expressive meanings appears to us.

ايامنا وقل ما شئت في مدحه

وخل من مدح قل او فلان

Our imam [conjectural reading]—say what you will in his praise,

and leave off praising so-and-so or another [uncertain wording].

بمدحه كي غدا ناطقا

قد ينطق المرء بغير اللسان

In his praise, [unclear wording] became articulate;

a person may speak without a tongue.

يا حاتم الجوذ وكعب الندى

وقس وعظ وبديع الزمان

O Hatim of generosity and Ka‘b of munificence,

and Quss of exhortation, and Badi‘ al-Zaman,

ومن على الشهب علا مجده

حتى ثراءى دونه الفرقدان

and you whose glory rose above the shining stars,

until the two Farqad stars appeared beneath it:

عطفا على سائل دمعي الذي

عن شرح حالي لم يزل ترجمان

show compassion to my flowing tears, which

have never ceased to interpret my condition.

وجد بما ذكرك يبقى به

فكل ما في الكون حاشاك فان

And give that by which your remembrance endures,

for everything in the universe—save you—passes away.

وخذ قصيداً قد غدا نظمها

بالدر يزري وبنظم الجمان

And accept a poem whose composition has come

to put pearls and strings of pearl-beads to shame.

روضة حسن في ربيع بدت

ترفع من ابياتها في جنان

A garden of beauty that appeared in spring;

through its verses you are lifted into gardens.

بها تفننت الى ان اتت

بديعة في الحسن ذات افتتان

In it I varied my art until it emerged

wondrously beautiful, endowed with enchantment.

لا زال يوما في سماء العلا

نجمك والسعد معا في اقتران

May there always be, in the sky of eminence,

your star and good fortune together in conjunction.

ولا برحت الدهر في رفعة

ما لاح نجم واضا النيران

And may you forever remain exalted,

as long as a star gleams and the two luminaries shine,

وأغرب المطرب عن لحنه

وغردت ورق على غصن بان

and the singer ventures beyond his melody,

and gray doves warble on a bān-tree bough.