1. صاح ولي الدجى وصاح المطوَّقْ

    ولجيد الصباح بالأنس طوَّقْ

    Friend, night has fled, and the ringdove has called;

    and wreathed morning's neck with joy.

  2. وغصون الأراك حركها الري

    ح فغنى لها الهزار وصفق

    And the wind stirred the boughs of the arak,

    so the nightingale sang to them and clapped.

  3. وأفاض الغمام درّاً على الزه

    ر فللَه عدله حين فرَّق

    And the cloud poured pearls upon the flowers;

    God be praised for its justice as it shared them out!

  4. أنصف الغيث يا نديم فيا لي

    ت أمير الهوى به يتخلق

    The rain was just, drinking companion—would that

    the prince of love would adopt its ways!

  5. قم بنا يا أخا الغزالة نوراً

    وشقيق البدور حسناً ورونق

    Rise with us, O brother of the sun in radiance,

    and brother of the full moons in beauty and splendor.

  6. نضرم الشمس في النجوم ونُلقي

    من لظاها على الهموم لِتُحرق

    Let us kindle the sun amid the stars, and cast

    some of its blaze upon our cares, to burn them away.

  7. شمس راحٍ تتيه تيه رداحٍ

    في وشاحٍ من الحباب وقرطق

    A sun of wine, strutting like a full-hipped beauty,

    in a sash of bubbles and a short tunic.

  8. كلما غُيِّبَت بفيك مجازاً

    أشرقت من سماء خدك بالحق

    Whenever it is made to disappear in your mouth, figuratively,

    it rises from the sky of your cheek in truth.

  9. ما وقوف المتيمين عن البس

    ط وقد خيم الأراك وسردق

    Why do the love-stricken hold back from merriment,

    when the arak has pitched a tent and raised a canopy?

  10. وأضلَّ الرقيب فرعك في الغر

    ب وقد ساعد النسيم فشرَّق

    And your hair has led the watcher astray in the west,

    while the breeze lent its aid, then turned eastward.

  11. وتجلت بجنة الزنبق الغض

    ض عروس المتيمين أمُّ زنبق

    And in a garden of tender lilies appeared

    the lovers' bride, Umm Zanbaq,

  12. في كؤوس كأنها حلل الغي

    د على الغيد من كواعب جلق

    in cups like the robes of graceful women,

    on graceful, full-bosomed maidens of Jilliq,

  13. بين زهرٍ زها وغصن تثنى

    ونسيم زكا وماءٍ ترقرق

    amid blooming flowers and a swaying bough,

    a fragrant breeze and rippling water,

  14. وكريمٍ يقول ربٌّ كريم

    زجَّ في عفوه الذنوب فأغرق

    and a generous man who says, “A generous Lord

    cast sins into His forgiveness and drowned them.”

  15. كلما صبها الغزال توهم

    ت سناها من الغزالة أشرق

    Whenever the gazelle pours it, I imagine

    its radiance to have dawned from the sun.

  16. ما لهذا الجمال وهو نصاب

    بوجوب الزكاة لا يتصدق

    What ails this beauty, which meets the threshold

    for obligatory almsgiving, yet gives no charity?

  17. قد فهمنا المراد منه فهمنا

    حسنات الكريم في السر أوفق

    We understood his intent, and were enraptured:

    a generous man's good deeds are best done in secret.

  18. يحسن المحسنون سرّاً كما يح

    سن مكسيمس الإمام الموفق

    Benefactors do good in secret, just as

    Maximus, the divinely favored leader, does good.

  19. سيدُ العارفين صمصامة الدي

    ن الأمين المكين في طاعة الحق

    Master of those who know God, the keen sword of the faith,

    trustworthy, firmly established in obedience to the Truth.

  20. سيدٌ تُنْشَقُ المراحم منه

    وحسامٌ به المآثم تَنْشَقّ

    A lord whose mercies are breathed in,

    and a sword by which sins are cleft.

  21. أكرم الخلق أذكر الناس للَ

    ه وأزكى العباد طرّاً وأحذق

    Most generous of creation, most mindful of God among men,

    and purest of all worshippers, and most skillful.

  22. فهو للصالحات تاجٌ وطوقٌ

    وهو للمكرمات جيدٌ ومِفْرَق

    Thus, for righteous deeds he is a crown and a necklace,

    and for noble deeds, a neck and the crown of a head.

  23. كلما حرَّك البنانَ لخيرٍ

    قدر اللَه أن نثاب ونرزق

    Whenever he moves his fingers for good,

    God decrees that we be rewarded and provided for.

  24. لم يدم كالحَمام برّاً وديعاً

    غير مَن مِن كماله يتطوق

    None has remained kindly and gentle as a dove

    except one who wears a collar of his perfection.

  25. يا له من مجاهدٍ جمع العل

    م وأمواله على البر فرَّق

    What a striver he is, who gathered knowledge

    and distributed his wealth in charity!

  26. حسن اللَه منك خُلقاً وخَلقاً

    وكسا ذاته افتخاراً ورونق

    God has beautified your character and your form,

    and clothed his very self in pride and splendor.

  27. من تعدى على سناه المفدى

    بفراشٍ من الضلالة يُحرَق

    Whoever assails his cherished radiance

    with the moths of error is burned.

  28. خيفة اللَه ناطها بين عيني

    هِ وحب التقى على القلب علَّق

    He has hung the fear of God between his eyes,

    and fastened love of piety upon his heart.

  29. فهو قطب العلى ودائرة المج

    د التي مغرباً أحاطت ومشرق

    Thus he is the axis of eminence and the circle of glory

    that has encompassed west and east.

  30. وهو مظلوم من دعاه افتراءً

    كوكب الشرق إنه كوكب الحق

    And he is wronged by whoever falsely calls him

    the Star of the East: indeed, he is the Star of Truth.

  31. كوكب أبيض الأديم ولكن

    طرفه أحمر الدموع وأزرق

    A star white of complexion, yet

    his eye sheds red tears and is blue.

  32. وهزارٌ على المنابر هادٍ

    تتداعى له القلوب وتصعق

    And a guiding nightingale upon the pulpits,

    to whom hearts flock and fall thunderstruck.

  33. قيد الناس عن أذى الناس بالوع

    ظ ومن ربقةِ الضلالة أعتَق

    By admonition he restrained people from harming people,

    and freed them from the noose of error.

  34. ما كفاه السمو في الدين حتى

    بعلوم العباد أجمع أحدق

    Eminence in religion did not suffice him until

    he encompassed all human learning.

  35. فلبيدٌ لديه غرٌّ بليدٌ

    وابن خاقان في السياسة أحمق

    Thus Labid beside him is a dull novice,

    and Ibn Khaqan is a fool in statecraft.

  36. ما امرؤ القيس والبها وابن هاني

    والمعريْ والبحتريْ والفرزق

    What are Imru' al-Qays, al-Baha, and Ibn Hani,

    al-Ma'arri, al-Buhturi, and al-Farazdaq?

  37. كل فحلٍ من الرجال غرابٌ

    وهو في قمة المفاخر شوذق

    Every champion among men is a crow,

    while he is a falcon at the summit of glory.

  38. يعتق اللَه من جهنم نفساً

    شاء مكسيمس اَن تُحَلَّ وتُعتَق

    God frees from Hell any soul

    that Maximus wills to be loosed and freed.

  39. يا إمام النقاة في بيعة اللَ

    ه ويا أرحم الرعاة وأشفق

    O leader of the pure in God's church,

    and O most merciful and compassionate of shepherds,

  40. يا عروس الكنائس الغرِّ يا من

    ناب فيما تريد عن ألف فيلق

    O bride of the radiant churches, O you who

    have stood in for a thousand legions in what you desire,

  41. بك تستقبل السماء ويستس

    قى بك الغيث والمآثم تحرق

    through you we turn toward heaven, and

    rain is sought through you, and sins are burned away.

  42. بك تنجو النفوس من فيض طوفا

    ن المعاصي الذي به النفس تغرق

    Through you souls are saved from the overflowing flood

    of sins in which the soul is drowned.

  43. دعوةً تصرف العنا بلغ السي

    لُ الزُبَى وانثنى الهنا وتبدرق

    A prayer to turn away distress! The torrent has reached

    the hilltops; joy has turned back and left under escort.

  44. أثقلت كاهلي الذنوب أغثني

    يا أميناً على المواهب مطلق

    Sins have weighed down my shoulders; rescue me,

    O trusted guardian of gifts, with unfettered power.

  45. واعطني النعمة التي هي مني

    بيَ أولى ومن أبي بي أرفق

    And grant me the grace that, more than my own self,

    has a claim upon me, and is kinder to me than my father:

  46. راح روحي التي يسامح من يُصْ

    بَحُ من كأسها الروي ويغبق

    the wine of my soul, which brings forgiveness to whoever drinks at dawn

    from its brimming cup, and drinks at dusk.

  47. لا برحت الدوامَ برّاً مطاعاً

    يفعل اللَه ما تحب وتعشق

    May you forever remain kindly and obeyed,

    and may God do what you love and adore.