زارت وليل غطمطم الظلما دجا

حسناء تكسو الداجيات تبلجا

She visited as night, thick with darkness, fell.

A beauty who clothes dark nights in radiance.

حسناء ترفل في الملاء كأنهل

حقفٌ وكيف يطيق حقفٌ مدرجا

A beauty trailing her mantles, as though she were

a sand dune—yet how could a dune take a step?

غصّت مضاربها الحسان وطالما

فصمت خلاخلها الروا والدملجا

Her lovely limbs strained their ornaments; how often

her full limbs split her anklets and armlet!

البدر صبحٌ تحت ليل مظلم

والفرع ليلٌ فوق صبح أبلجا

The full moon is morning beneath a dark night,

and her tresses are night above a radiant morning.

احدى الدراري درة وجبينها

مثل الغزالة لوبدا وتبرجا

A pearl among the shining stars; her brow

would be like the sun, were it to appear in splendor.

ضنت بنائلها كما ضن الزما

ن بوصل بابٍ بابه لن يرتجا

She withheld her favors, just as Time withheld

a meeting with Bāb, whose gate will never close.

باب التحلم والتعلم والندى

والراي والرشد المسدد والحجى

The gate of forbearance, learning, and generosity,

and judgment, well-directed guidance, and wisdom.

ورددت آمال العفاة كواذبا

من زاخر اللجج المتيه ملجلجا

And I would send the supplicants’ hopes back unfulfilled

from a sea of surging depths, bewildering and roaring,

ان لم أواف السيد ابن السيد ابن

السيد الشيخ المهيب المرتجى

if I did not come to the lord, son of the lord, son of

the lord—the awe-inspiring shaykh in whom hope rests;

ان لم أزر باب المقاصد والمرا

صد والمقاصد فوق شاكية الوجى

if I did not visit the gate of aims and watchposts,

while the seeker rides a mount complaining of sore feet.

يا ثالث البدرين يا طرف الورى

يا زاخرا حفّت نجومك بالرجا

O third beside the two full moons, O thoroughbred of humankind,

O surging sea, your stars encircle the shore!

البدر يهدي والجواد مخلصٌ

والبحر يسقى والنجوم سنا الدجا

The full moon guides, the noble steed delivers,

the sea gives drink, and the stars are night’s radiance.

من لم يخطّ البابلوح خطّه

يمن التليل تحصّنا مما فجا

Whoever did not trace the bāʾ on a tablet traced it

on the right of his neck, for protection against sudden harm.

أوجزتُ في شكرى وحالك مطنبٌ

وذكرت شعرا راق عند ذوي الحجا

I have been brief in my thanks, though your merits speak at length;

and I recalled a verse admired by the wise:

وإذا امرؤٌ مدح امرءاً لنواله

وأطال فيه فقد اراد به الهجا

“When a man praises another for his bounty,

and prolongs the praise, he means to lampoon him.”