ما للعذول على هواك وما لي

أفدي بروحي من أحبّ ومالي

What has the reproacher to do with loving you—and what have I?

I ransom the one I love with my soul and my wealth.

يا مجرياً دمعي وموقف لوعتي

من جسمي المضنى على أطلال

O you who make my tears flow and halt my burning grief

Upon the ruins of my wasted body.

يا من إذا سألوه عن بدر الدجى

والمسك قال أخي الشقيق وخالي

O you who, when asked about the full moon of night

And musk, say: 'My full brother and my maternal uncle.'

رفقاً بمن كحل الجفاء جفونه

فغدا الكرى منها على أميال

Be gentle with him whose eyelids estrangement has rimmed with kohl;

Sleep has come to lie miles away from them.

صبّ إذا ذكر العقيق وأهله

نثر الدموع على هواه لآلي

A lovesick man who, when he remembers al-Aqiq and its people,

Scatters tears like pearls over his love.

يروي الأمالي عن قلاك طويلة

فإلى متى يروي أمالي القالي

He recounts lengthy dictations on your aversion;

How long, then, must he recount the Dictations of al-Qali, the spurner?

وتقاتل العذّال فيك وربما

قوّى جفاك مطامع العذَّال

And the reproachers battle over you, and perhaps

Your estrangement has strengthened the reproachers' hopes.

هيهات ما نزلوا به إلا دعا

بجبينك المشروق يا لهلال

Far from it! Whenever they beset him, he called

Upon your radiant brow: 'O crescent, help!'

الطرف في ذاك الجبين منعّمٌ

والقلب من ذاك التجّنب صالي

The eye luxuriates in that brow,

While the heart is scorched by that shunning.

ضدان مثل ندى ابن ريَّان الفتى

لنزيله والبأس يوم نزال

Two opposites, like the gallant Ibn Rayyan's bounty

For his guest, and his might on the day of battle.

يهمي بصابٍ للعدوّ إذا طغى

وإذا الوليّ دعا همت بزلال

He rains bitter sap upon the enemy when he transgresses;

And when a friend calls, pure water rains down.

جاور سليمان المنيع جواره

تأمن به من جنَّة الأهوال

Dwell beside Sulayman, whose protection is impregnable;

With him you are safe from the demons of terror.

المعتلي رتباً يشيب لعجزه

عن قدرها الأعلى عذار هلال

He rises to ranks before which, in its helplessness, grows gray

The crescent's cheek-down, unable to match their supreme worth.

والساتر الدنيا بذيل مكارمٍ

أحيت أواخرها فعال أوالي

And cloaks the world in the trailing hem of noble deeds,

Whose latest revive the deeds of those of old.

والطالب الأخرى بعزمٍ للكرى

يفني ويحيي بالسجود ليالي

And seeks the Hereafter with a resolve that, as for sleep,

Annihilates it, and brings nights to life through prostration.

لا تتخذ بدلاً لديه وعدّة

في هذه الدنيا من الأبدال

Seek no substitute or safeguard, with him at hand,

In this world among the Abdal saints.

واقصد جنابي جاهه ونواله

إن خفت حالي عسرة ونكال

And seek the two refuges of his prestige and his bounty,

If you fear the two states of hardship and punishment.

واقرأ على ريب الزمان براءةً

وعلى رجائك سورة الأنفال

And recite Bara'a ('Immunity') over time's misfortunes,

And the surah al-Anfal ('Spoils') over your hope.

الأصل ريَّانٌ فلا عجبٌ إذا

ما الفرع فاء على الورَى بظلال

The root is Rayyan—well-watered—so no wonder when

The branch shelters humankind with shade.

لو لم تصح يمناه حيّ على الندى

ما فاز ظامٍ للندى ببلال

Had his right hand not cried, 'Come to bounty!'

No one thirsty for bounty would have gained refreshment.

هذا هو الشرف الذي بأقله

ضرب القديم غرائب الأمثال

This is the nobility, about the least of which

Antiquity coined wondrous proverbs.

رأيٌ إلى طرق الرشاد مسدّدٌ

وسجية جبلت على الإجمال

Judgment rightly directed toward the paths of good guidance,

And a disposition innately formed for graciousness.

وفضائل وضحت وحلت رتبة

فهي الكواكب في سناً ومنال

And virtues that shine and have attained such a rank

That they are stars in radiance and remoteness.

ويراعة تذر الركائب والعدى

ما بين نزل مكارمٍ ونزال

And a reed pen that leaves the riding camels and enemies

Between generous hospitality and battle.

من معطف المران فيه نسبة

ولها جنا يعزى إلى العسَّال

It bears a kinship to the curve of supple spear-shafts,

And bears fruit ascribed to al-Assal, the honey-gatherer.

يا ماجداً أحيى مآثر قومه

بمحامدٍ أرخصن نشر غوالي

O noble man who revived his people's glorious deeds

With virtues that cheapened the fragrance of precious perfumes.

لله همتك الممكّن رفعها

ماذا جزمت بها من الأفعال

God bless your ambition, whose elevation is firmly secured!

What deeds you have decisively resolved upon through it!

وهباتك اللاتي تعجّل رفدها

ويجيب طالبها بغير سؤال

And your gifts, whose bounty arrives swiftly

And answers their seeker without a request.

لا عيبَ في نعماك إلا أنها

مع عدلها ظلاَّمة للمال

Your beneficence has no fault except that it,

For all its justice, is a ruthless oppressor of wealth.

تجني عليه وإنما تجني به

ثمر المحامد والثناء الغالي

It wrongs wealth, yet with it only harvests

The fruit of noble deeds and precious praise.