1. O maker of promises that turned out vain,
Though you knew well the breadth of my domain,

2. If you visit the Hashimi in Yathrib,
Our hearts will melt longing for him in vain.

3. Convey my greetings to the son of Amina,
Whom Allah chose not to be harmed or slain.

4. You saw his side pierced at the grave, weeping,
So much did coats rend for him in pain.

5. Say to the grandson of two slain ones: Do not,
Disappoint a nation that hoped in you in vain.

6. Ask Allah to water our land and make it fertile,
For you never ceased to pray and He answers plain.

7. Protect us as we walk, and bring us back
To righteousness, from errors we refrain.

8. For you are near when Adam is confounded,
And Noah by the bridge shall not wait long in vain.

9. Yours is the sweet eternal fount of Kauthar,
And we thirst—may we have a share of what you gain!

10. No harm in your village’s distance, O people of Yathrib,
When souls and hearts come close, as before, again.

11. Peace be upon you whenever the breeze blows gentle,
Or a laden branch sways in time, with sweet refrain!

12. Lightning flashed from Najd at dusk fluttering,
So my heart’s captain slept fretting and complaining.

13. The doves of yearning sang for him, cooing,
Baring the rapture buried within them straining.

14. They tasked him beyond his ability,
Though, with some forbearance, he would suffice maintaining.

15. My friends, may God forgive what is past,
Do not repeat wrongs when pardon was gaining.

16. Is it not great, my dear ones, when leaves tremble
On the wet branches from Najd, lightning maintaining?

17. What harm if my tears flow abundantly
Remembering old companions, consoling, training?

18. Surely Amr ibn Hujr, as you know,
Called on his friends when the encampment was detaining.

19. And Qays wept sorely the day they marched on,
Over the mounts of Nu’man, till hearts were draining.

20. People have sorrows—if a traveller grieves
Over one departed, would Jacob not weep, complaining

21. For Joseph, his lost one? My heart went with them
On their journey—but I blame the body, itself restraining!

22. I hid my love and the anguish within,
But these tears reveal what I was feigning.

23. O reasonably-priced perfume, give me rest!
For sleep is denied to my eyes, remaining.

24. Not once since they left has my eye seen
A fair one, nor has my soul sought love, attaining.

25. I refused its longing for them—
But it disobeyed me, despite all constraining.

26. “My dears!” it said. “How can I act composed
When love of them shreds me, all care disdaining?”

27. I have no stratagem—both for them and me!
How often I mourn in the ruins, complaining,

28. Remembering the days of the son of Hussein,
To know him was sacred, a boon unwaning.

29. The time of the slender-waisted friend—if he remains
A brother to his brother, in goodness reigning!

30. Named for Allah’s Messenger, most resembling him,
One is Mustafa, and the other, Mustafa remaining!

31. I pass by their two graves weeping,
Filling my receptacles with torrents of raining.

32. I pledged to praise them—a debt must be paid
By one who borrowed before, while life was maintaining.

33. We make pilgrimage to these two shrines whenever
We intend, kissing the house, the stone, prostrating.

34. Through them our sins and errors are pardoned,
Without us carrying burdens or trailing trains vain.

35. Lift from them the veil of dust that we may look
Upon your majesty! The veiled one, in seeing, attains.

36. Honor your old pledge—you were true men,
While few among Arabs stay faithful, refraining.

37. Whenever Khansa wept a year for her Sakhr,
I could weep for you two, twenty years waning!

38. If Mu'zin cannot find words to elegize you,
I send down cloudbursts of tears, sustaining.