1. أبا الفضل حسب المرء يبدء بالفضل

    تملك بعض الفضل من صنعكم كلي

    Abu al-Fadl, it suffices a man to begin with generosity;

    A little of the bounty of your kindness has won all of me.

  2. اتيت بمعروفٍ سبقت به يدا

    على يديَ الطولى ومعروفي الجزل

    You offered a kindness and gained the upper hand thereby

    Over my far-reaching hand and my abundant bounty.

  3. يدٌ لك مبدوء بصنع جميلها

    لمن يأتي من بعدي ومن قداتي قبلي

    Yours is a hand whose gracious deeds come first

    For those who come after me and those who came before me.

  4. جلبت بها خيلاً عليَّ مغيرة

    تخبُّ ومن ياقي الفوارس بالرجل

    With it you brought horses charging against me,

    Trotting—and who can face horsemen on foot?

  5. فمن كل شاجي الصوت اجرد هيكل

    ويعرف عتق الخيل بالصوت والشكل

    Steeds of every kind: sweet-voiced, sleek, and mighty;

    And horses' noble breeding is known by voice and form.

  6. فكيف يجاري مقرباتك مقرف

    يدبُّ دبيب النمل في مسرب النمل

    How, then, can a mixed-bred horse keep pace with your prized steeds,

    Creeping as ants creep along an ant trail?

  7. فلا ضير أن قصَّرت عن شأو سابق

    فتى مثله في السبق فات فتىً مثلي

    So no harm if I fell short of a front-runner's reach:

    A youth like him in the race outstripped a youth like me.

  8. فتى بالقوافي الملد شاكٍ سلاحه

    واين الفتى الشاكي السلاح من العزل

    A youth whose supple rhymes are his ready weapons—

    And what comparison is there between the armed youth and the unarmed?

  9. تداولت العليا بنو الفضل بينها

    ولا كأبي الفضل المبرَّز بالفضل

    The sons of al-Fadl have passed high honor among themselves,

    But none is like Abu al-Fadl, distinguished in excellence.

  10. لقد حلَّ من معتاصها أي رتبةٍ

    بها اقتاد اهل العلم بالعقد والحلّ

    What a rank he has attained amid its difficulties!

    Through it he leads the learned in binding and unbinding.

  11. تعالى على العجم الاكاسرة الاولى

    ولم يرض ذا حتى على العرب يستعلي

    He rose above the Persians, the Khosrows of old,

    And was not content with that until he rose above the Arabs too.

  12. ويركب صعب الامر سمح يروضه

    بوجه له طلق يرحب بالنزل

    Gracious, he mounts a difficult affair and tames it,

    With a cheerful face that welcomes guests.

  13. هو الزبرقان البدر في غلَس الدجى

    تهلل للساري على قتب الرحل

    He is the radiant full moon in night's predawn gloom,

    Beaming for the night traveler upon his camel saddle.

  14. وغيثٌ سكوبٌ يستهلُّ بوابل

    لعارض في شؤبوبه العارض الوبلي

    And a copious rain pouring forth in a torrent;

    He surely rivaled the rain-laden cloud in his cloudburst.

  15. وليت اذا ما الأمر اعضل ينبري

    يدلُّ بأنيابٍ مؤللة عصل

    And a lion who steps forth when a matter grows intractable,

    Proudly displaying pointed, crooked fangs.

  16. لقد قال فيه المجد ما لو عرضته

    على العقل زاد القول فيه على العقل

    Glory has said of him what, were you to submit it

    To reason, would exceed the bounds of reason.

  17. ولست وان املى عليَّ خصاله

    بذي قلم محصٍ نوادر ما يملي

    Nor, even if he dictates his virtues to me, am I

    One whose pen can count the marvels of his dictation.

  18. يقرطس بالسهم المريش وإنما

    يقرطس في الاغراض نبلا اخو النبل

    He strikes the bull's-eye with a feathered arrow; only

    A man of nobility strikes the targets with arrows.

  19. اعار المعالي منه اذناً مصيخة

    واعرى له اخرى من اللوم والعذل

    He lent the heights of honor his attentive ear,

    And for its sake kept the other free of blame and reproach.

  20. لحمَّلتني فيضا لجسمي مثقلا

    وكيف خفيف الروح ينهض بالثقل

    You have indeed laden me with a flood that burdens my body;

    And how can one light of spirit rise beneath the weight?

  21. وقيدتني بالمنّ حتى تركتني

    كأنيَ من احسان مِنّك في شكل

    And you bound me with beneficence until you left me

    As though kindness from you had put me in fetters.

  22. لتن قذفت يمناك لي بيتيمة

    من الدر زانتني بحليٍ لدى العطل

    If indeed your right hand cast me a peerless pearl,

    From among pearls, adorning me with jewels when I was unadorned,

  23. فما انت الا البحر يقذف مرخصا

    بلؤلؤة الغوّاص في كف من يغلي

    You are nothing but the sea, casting forth at little cost

    The diver's pearl into the hand of one who holds it dear.

  24. فكيف ونحن كوكبا برج غايةٍ

    طلعنا طلوع الشمس في دارة الحمل

    How, then, when we are two stars in the sign of a single goal,

    Having risen as the sun rises within the circle of Aries?

  25. قطعنا معاً من جوهر متناسبٍ

    واوصلت الآداب حبلك من حبلي

    We were cut together from a kindred substance,

    And literature has joined your cord to mine.

  26. ارى الناس فيه اثنين طال ادعاهما

    فواحد عن علمٍ وآخر عن جهل

    I see two kinds of people in it; long have both laid claim to it:

    One from knowledge, the other from ignorance.

  27. ولا بدَّ للانسان من مركب به

    فامَّا على وعرٍ واما على سهل

    And a man must have a mount to bear him,

    Either over rugged ground or over smooth terrain.

  28. تفرَّعت عن اصل زكا منه فرعه

    قديما وطيب الفرع دلَّ على الاصل

    You branched from a root whose shoot had flourished

    Of old; the goodness of the branch bore witness to the root.

  29. رميت بها في العين كحلاً وانّما

    من الشعر ما يغني الجفون عن الكحل

    You cast it like kohl into the eye; for

    Some poetry makes the eyelids need no kohl.

  30. فمن كل عين ترسل الطرف ساجياً

    فتستوقف العينين بالأعين النجل

    Each an eye, sending forth a languid glance,

    And holding both eyes captive with wide, beautiful eyes.

  31. صقلت بك البيض القوافي متونها

    ويبرز افرند الحسام على الصقل

    Through you I polished the gleaming rhymes' blades,

    And the sword's watered pattern emerges through polishing.

  32. طبعن من السيف الصنيع غراره

    وما السيف الا بالغرار وبالنصل

    They were fashioned from the finely wrought sword's cutting edge;

    And a sword is a sword only through its edge and blade.