1. حيّى الحيا ذات المقام العامر

    عكا العلاذات الفخار الزاهر

    May the rain salute her of the flourishing abode,

    lofty Acre, possessed of radiant glory.

  2. بلدٌ على البلدان طراً قد غدت

    في حسنها أعجوبة للناظر

    A city that, among all cities, has become

    in her beauty a marvel to the beholder.

  3. كم فاخرت بوزيرها المولى الذي

    لمقامه ينقاد كل موازرِ

    How often she boasted of her minister, the lord whose

    station commands the obedience of every supporter.

  4. فرع المعظم أحمد المرحوم جز

    أر العدا رب الحسام الباترِ

    An offshoot of the exalted, late Ahmad, slaughterer

    of foes, master of the cleaving sword.

  5. نعم الخليفة خير اربات الولا

    من كل والٍ سالفٍ ومعاصرِ

    An excellent successor, foremost among holders of rule,

    surpassing every governor, past or present.

  6. الجهبذ السامى على الوزراء مو

    لانا عميم الحلم غوث الحايرِ

    The discerning sage, towering above the viziers, our

    lord, boundless in forbearance, refuge of the bewildered.

  7. الشهم صدر الدولة العليا على

    أعلى قياصرة مضت وأكاسرِ

    The noble-hearted head of the exalted state, above

    the loftiest Caesars of old and Chosroes.

  8. ضاهى سليمان الزمان مماثلاً

    في كل أوصافٍ له ومأثرِ

    He rivaled Solomon of the age, matching him

    in all his qualities and glorious deeds.

  9. ملأ الورى قطاً غدت ذكراه فا

    كهةً لكل مامرٍ ومذاكرِ

    He filled the world [unclear]; remembrance of him became a

    fruit for all who converse and recall.

  10. يامهُ الغرّاء حاكت في البها

    شمساً تجلّت بالضياء الباهرِ

    His radiant days resembled, in splendor,

    a sun revealed in dazzling light.

  11. محقت ظلام الظلم عند بزوغها

    ومحت ضباب غيوم جور الجايرِ

    They obliterated the darkness of oppression at their dawning

    and erased the misty clouds of the oppressor's injustice.

  12. فيه تفاخر قطرنا الشامي في

    أمنٍ مشاعٍ بالثنا المتواترِ

    In him our Syrian land takes pride, amid

    security shared by all, with unceasing praise.

  13. أحيى الشرايع بعد أن كادت بان

    تفنى وزينها بخير شعايرِ

    He revived the sacred laws after they had nearly

    perished, and adorned them with the finest rites.

  14. كم من سبيلٍ في سبيل الله قد

    أنشي لغوث ابن السبيل العابر

    How many a fountain, for God's sake, has been

    built to succor the passing wayfarer!

  15. وكم اعتنى في مبتنى خيريّةٍ

    وأشاد من جسرٍ رميم داشرِ

    And how often he tended to a charitable foundation

    and rebuilt a crumbling, abandoned bridge.

  16. فانكف غدر غديره وقد اكتفى

    من فوقه المجتاز هول مخاطرِ

    Thus its pool's treachery ceased; spared were

    those crossing above it the terror of dangers.

  17. وكم استعاد إلى الإطاعة حكمةً

    منهُ جموع قبايلٍ وعشايرِ

    And how often he restored to obedience, through wisdom

    of his own, multitudes of tribes and clans!

  18. ما بينهم الاّ المطيع لهُ وما

    فيهم سوى من حامدٍ مع شاكرِ

    Among them are none but those obedient to him, and

    none among them but those who praise and give thanks.

  19. وكم استرد شواراداً واراح من

    أمم ومهّد من طريقٍ شاغرِ

    And how many strays he reclaimed, and gave relief to

    peoples, and prepared many a deserted road.

  20. ومحا رسوم مظالمِ ومغارمٍ

    وطفى شرارة شرها المتناثرِ

    He erased the traces of injustices and burdensome levies

    and quenched the spark of their spreading evil.

  21. حتى غدت أحكامه بين الورى

    ضرباً من المثل العجيب السايرِ

    Until his judgments among mankind became

    a kind of wondrous, widely repeated proverb.

  22. تحيى النفوس بها إذا ما استنشقت

    من نثرها عرفاً كطيبٍ عاطرِ

    Souls are revived by them whenever they inhale

    from their outpouring a scent like fragrant perfume.

  23. اخفت أشعة عدله آثار ما

    قد كان من ذاك الطفيف الظاهرِ

    The rays of his justice concealed the traces of what

    had once existed, slight yet visible.

  24. بطلٌ إذا ولج المعامع خلته

    اسداً علا ظهر النعام الطايرِ

    A hero who, when he enters the fray, you would think

    a lion astride the back of a flying ostrich,

  25. أو راكباً برقاً وصوت ضجيج

    صولته كصوت رعيد نوّرٍ ثايرِ

    or riding lightning; and the roaring sound

    of his onslaught is like thunder from a raging storm-cloud.

  26. ما العنتر العبسيّ في كرّاته

    اذ كم طفى في الحرب ذكر عناترِ

    What is Antar al-Absi beside his charges,

    when so often in war he extinguished the fame of Antars?

  27. ناهيك أن خاض المعارك صايلاً

    بالأسمر الطمَّان أو بالباترِ

    Suffice it that he plunged into battles, attacking

    with the dusky, thrusting spear or the cleaving sword.

  28. والقوم بين مهوّرٍ ومعفّرٍ

    ومدّمرٍ تحت العجاج وفاررِ

    And the men were either cast down or dust-covered,

    destroyed beneath the battle-dust, or fleeing.

  29. واذا اثرت بان تحدث عن ندا

    كفيه حدث عن سحابٍ ماطر

    And if you choose to speak of the bounty

    of his hands, speak of a rain-bearing cloud;

  30. أو فاثن عن بحرٍ عميمٍ زاخرٍ

    قد جلّ مطلق مدّة عن جازرِ

    or else praise a vast, surging sea,

    whose unbounded flood tide knows no ebb.

  31. افديه مولى زانه حسن التقى

    والنية الغرّا وصفو الخاطرِ

    I would ransom him—a lord adorned by fair piety,

    radiant intention, and purity of mind.

  32. عزّ الشتا والغيث احبس قطره

    عنا بتقدير العزيز القادرِ

    Winter grew harsh, and the rain withheld its drops

    from us, by decree of the Mighty, the All-Powerful.

  33. فاحتاط حلم وزيرنا كرب الورى

    فدعا من القلب النقيّ الطاهرِ

    Then our minister's wisdom took heed of mankind's distress,

    and he prayed from a pure, unsullied heart.

  34. وقد استجاب الله حسن دعايه

    وأجاد بالغيث العميم الغامر

    And God answered his fine prayer

    and generously bestowed widespread, drenching rain.

  35. والخير حاق بكل أرضٍ أرّخوا

    سنة بعكا حاق نهر الكابري

    And blessing encompassed every land; record the date:

    The year when, in Acre, the Kabri River flowed all around.

  36. أقطارها طرًّا وساير أهلها

    تدعو له في كل دورٍ دايرِ

    All her districts and all her people

    pray for him with every turn of time.

  37. مذ انهض الهمم التي في عزمها

    تحكي تلاطم موج بحر عامِر

    Since he roused endeavors whose resolve

    resembles the crashing waves of a brimming sea,

  38. يوماً تعمّد نهر نهر الكابري

    فاتاه طوع الامر غير مكابرِ

    one day he resolved to rebuke the Kabri River,

    and it came to him, obedient to his command, unresisting.

  39. لَّباه فوراً مذ دعاه وانثنى

    خوف الخلاف يطوف فوق قناطرِ

    It answered him at once when he called it, and turned

    for fear of disobedience, coursing over arches.

  40. وانقاد مجروراً لديه مسلسلاً

    بسلاسلٍ تحكى عقود جواهرِ

    And it submitted, drawn along before him, fettered

    with chains resembling necklaces of jewels.

  41. واستحيت الأحياء طرًّا من صفا

    سلساله الحاكى لطعم سكاكرِ

    And all living things were revived by the purity

    of its limpid water, whose taste resembled sweets.

  42. والسيل مذ طافت على البُرك انثنى

    يحمى حماها كل سبعٍ فاجرِ

    And the stream, once it had circled the pools, turned

    to guard their precincts from every vicious beast.

  43. ومعالم الحصن المنيع لكم غدت

    تزهو بشامخ عزها المتشاهرِ

    And how the landmarks of the impregnable fortress came

    to exult in her towering, celebrated might.

  44. وتصول معجبةً وتفخر عزةً

    بسنا الجلال وبالجمالِ الباهرِ

    And she charges forth, self-admiring, and proudly boasts

    of the radiance of majesty and dazzling beauty.

  45. وتبادرت ذات المعالى بالدعا

    لوزيرها الشهم الشهير الظافرِ

    And she of lofty honors hastened to pray

    for her noble-hearted, renowned, victorious minister.

  46. وزهت مفاخرةً فقلت مؤرخاً

    عكا ازدهت تيها بماء الكابرى

    And she flourished in proud boastfulness, and I spoke a chronogram:

    Acre blossomed in pride through the water of Kabri.