1. كيف اصطبارك والأحباب قد بانوا

    أهكذا الحبّ سلوان ونسيان

    How can you endure, when the loved ones have departed?

    Is love like this—consolation and forgetting?

  2. أم لست تصبو إلى عرب بكاظمةٍ

    فلم تكن فيك أوصاب وأشجان

    Or do you not yearn for Arabs in Kazimah,

    so that no afflictions or sorrows have troubled you?

  3. يا صاحبي في المشوق ومن

    مثلي ولكن لأحزان أزمان

    O my companion in yearning—and who

    is like me? Yet sorrows have their times.

  4. إذا دجا الليل وارتني غياهبه

    هناك تسفح من عينيَّ غدران

    When night grows dark and its deep shadows conceal me,

    there, pools pour from my eyes.

  5. ويستوي الشوق في كرسي مملكة ال

    أعضاء والقلب مما نال حرّان

    And longing takes its seat on the throne of the kingdom of the

    limbs, while the heart burns from what it has endured.

  6. والنجم ساهٍ على شجوي على شجنٍ

    والطير لي سحراً في الدوح أعوان

    And the star is heedless of my lament, amid sorrow,

    and before dawn the birds in the spreading trees are my helpers.

  7. تشدو وأندبُ من وجدٍ ومن ولهٍ

    وفي الحشاشة للتذكار نيران

    They sing, and I lament from passion and distraught longing,

    while fires of remembrance burn within my soul.

  8. ليت الأحبة يدنون المزار كما

    كنا فيا ليت لا كنا ولا كانوا

    If only the loved ones would draw their meeting-place near, as

    we once were—ah, would that neither we nor they had ever been!

  9. لم أعرف الوجد والأوصاب قبلهم

    ولم أر الهجر إلا بعدما بانوا

    I knew neither passion nor afflictions before them,

    and saw estrangement only after they departed.

  10. هم هم سادتي رَقّوا قَسَوا وَصَلوا

    صدّوا جَفَوا صدقوا في الوعد أم مانوا

    They, they are my masters—whether tender, cruel, or keeping contact,

    whether they turn away, are harsh, keep their promise, or lie.

  11. قد حَسَّن الحب عندي كل ما فعلوا

    لو أنهم قبَّحوا الواشين أو شانوا

    Love has made beautiful to me everything they have done.

    If only they would vilify the talebearers or disgrace them!

  12. يا سادة وخدت أيدي المطي بهم

    سيراً حثيثاً وهم في القلب سكّان

    O masters—the mounts' forelegs sped away with them,

    traveling swiftly, while they dwell in my heart.

  13. واستوطنوا كل قَفرٍ لا سبيل إلى

    وصوله ولهم في القلب أوطان

    And they settled in every wilderness with no path to

    reach it, though they have homelands in my heart.

  14. إني لا نفذُ أيامي يَحِفُّ بها

    همٌّ وغمٌّ وحرمان وهجران

    I cannot get through my days, beset as they are by

    worry, grief, deprivation, and estrangement.

  15. هلكت لو لم يجئني بغتةً فَرَجٌ

    قول المبشر قد وافى سليمان

    I would have perished had relief not suddenly come to me:

    the herald's words: "Sulayman has arrived."

  16. العالم العَلَم الفرد الذي اجتمعت

    فيه المناقب تحصيل وإتقان

    The scholar, the beacon, the peerless one, in whom are united

    virtues—acquired learning and mastery.

  17. والفاضل الكامل المولى الذي سُكبت

    في سَكبه من موالي الروم أذهان

    And the virtuous, perfect master, into whose mold were poured

    the minds of the masters of Rum.

  18. والكوثر المُكرِمُ الخلُّ الوفي أبو ال

    شهاب أحمدُ أوفى القوم إن خانوا

    And the Kawthar of bounty, the generous one, the faithful friend, Abu al-

    Shihab, Ahmad—the most loyal of men if they betray.

  19. مُغني الوفود إذا حلوا بساحته

    مفني الألوف من الأعداء إن كانوا

    He enriches delegations when they alight in his courtyard,

    and annihilates thousands of enemies, if there are any.

  20. يهتز للجود حتى ظن مادحه

    بأنه كلما يأتيه نشوان

    He thrills to giving, until his praiser imagines

    him intoxicated whenever he visits him.

  21. أجاب دعوة إبراهيم حين دعا

    على الصفا فأتاه وهو عريان

    He answered Ibrahim's call when he called

    on al-Safa, and came to him naked,

  22. مُجَر ِّداً نفسه عن كل عائقة

    في طاعة اللَه لا يثنيه عصيان

    stripping himself of every hindrance,

    in obedience to God, with no disobedience turning him aside.

  23. وفارق الأهل والأوطان ممتطياً

    صدر العزيمة لم تسبقه عقبان

    He left family and homelands, riding

    the breast of resolve; no eagles outstripped him.

  24. يحنُّ شوقاً إلى أرض الحجاز كمن

    في شاسعٍ شاقَهُ أهلٌ وجيران

    He yearns with longing for the land of the Hijaz, like one

    far away, stirred to longing by family and neighbors.

  25. مصاحباً كان زيزاءٍ كأن له

    بكل زيزاء أوطار وأوطان

    He kept company with a bare upland, as though he had

    in every bare upland desires and homelands.

  26. حتى أتى طابة العزّ التي شَرُفت

    بقبر طيَّبها المختار عدنان

    Until he came to glorious Tabah, which was ennobled

    by a tomb through which the Chosen One of Adnan perfumed it.

  27. قبرٌ على العرش والكرسي فاق عُلاً

    قبرٌ له الروح والأملاك خُزّان

    A tomb surpassing the Throne and the Seat in loftiness,

    a tomb guarded by the Spirit and the angels,

  28. قبرٌ غدا حرماً للمستجير به

    قبرٌ له في السموات العُلى شان

    a tomb become a sanctuary for whoever seeks refuge in it,

    a tomb held in honor in the highest heavens,

  29. قبر بصاحبه الأرسال قد خُتِمَت

    قبرٌ على جَنَّة الفردوس يزدان

    a tomb whose occupant sealed the succession of messengers,

    a tomb resplendent above the Garden of Firdaws.

  30. فزاره وتلقّاه القبول من ال

    رحمن إذ ناله عفوٌ وغفران

    He visited it, and acceptance met him from the

    All-Merciful, as pardon and forgiveness reached him.

  31. ثم أنثنى قاصدَ البيت الحرام وقد

    حيَّته من كعبة الغرَّاء أركان

    Then he turned toward the Sacred House, and

    the corners of the radiant Kaaba greeted him.

  32. فطاف سبعاً وصلى بالمقام وقد

    سعى وفي عرفات منه عرفان

    He circled it seven times and prayed at the Station; he had

    performed the ritual walk, and at Arafat showed spiritual knowledge.

  33. في يوم جمع تراه مفرداً وله

    شعار تلبية طوراً وقرآن

    On the day of Jamʿ you see him alone, with

    his watchword sometimes the talbiyah, sometimes the Qur'an.

  34. تلقاه أشعثَ مُغبَرَّ الثياب ولم

    تغمض له من عميم الشوق أجفان

    You find him disheveled, his clothes dust-covered; never have

    his eyelids closed, so overwhelming is his longing.

  35. يمشي فتتبعه الأملاك تحرسه

    كي لا ينال منالاً منه شيطان

    He walks, and the angels follow him, guarding him,

    so that no devil may gain any hold on him.

  36. رمى الجمار وطاف البيت مُعتمراً

    وحلَّ إذ نُحِرَت للّه أبدان

    He cast the pebbles and circled the House, performing umrah,

    and left ihram when sacrificial beasts were slaughtered for God.

  37. مُحلِّق الراس ما التقصير عادته

    بل أن عادَتَه لطفٌ وإحسان

    His head shaved—falling short is not his custom;

    rather, his custom is kindness and beneficence.

  38. أتَمَّ سُنَّة مولانا الخليل على

    أتمِّ فرضٍ مضى ما فيه نقصان

    He fulfilled the practice of our master al-Khalil, with

    the obligation perfectly accomplished, without deficiency.

  39. ثم انثنى باذلاً لله ما ملكت

    يداه لم يُلفَ منه الدَّهر حرمان

    Then he turned back, giving for God's sake all that

    his hands possessed; never was a refusal known from him.

  40. وجاء بغداد إذ شاقت لرؤيته

    بشراك بالنجح والإقبال بُغدان

    He came to Baghdad when it longed to see him:

    glad tidings of success and good fortune to you, Bughdan!

  41. يا سيَّداً حسنت فينا شمائله

    وماجداً مثله لم يلف إنسان

    O master whose character has been noble among us,

    and noble man whose like no human has found,

  42. لا مالَ لا خيلَ أهديها إليك فلا

    أقلَّ من نظم دُرٍّ فيك يزدان

    I have no wealth, no horses to offer you, so no

    less than a string of pearls of verse, resplendent in your praise.

  43. قلَّدتنيه قديماً وهو لي شرفٌ

    فصغتُه فيكمُ مدحاً له شان

    You placed it around my neck long ago, and it is an honor to me;

    so I fashioned it into praise of you, of high distinction.

  44. لا زلت حسّانَنا في كل نائبةٍ

    وإنني لكم في الناس حسَّان

    May you ever be our Hassan—our benefactor—in every calamity,

    and I am your Hassan among the people.