يا نعم ضائعة المكارم تنشد

ولكل يوم في تقلبه غد

O Nu'm, lost noble virtues are sought.

And every day, amid its changes, has a tomorrow.

تطوى الحوادث كالخيال بسرعة

طي السجل وكل كنز ينفد

Events are folded away swiftly, like a phantom,

as a scroll is rolled up; every treasure runs out.

فتثبتي يا نعم وارض عن القضا

فالله في كل الشؤن الموعد

So stand firm, O Nu'm, and be content with destiny.

For God is the appointed destination in every affair.

قد تبرز الاقدار كل عجيبة

ولرب آن يضحك المتنهد

Destinies may bring forth every wonder,

and many a moment sees the sighing man laugh.

والحر يبصر في الزمان غرائبا

نكدا يكاد لها يذوب الجلمد

The noble man sees strange things in time,

so grievous that solid rock almost melts at them.

تصل السفاسف للسماء ترفعا

ويداس ملقى في الحضيض الفرقد

Trifles rise loftily to the sky,

while the Farqad star lies cast in the depths, trampled.

لولا مسللة انقضاء وحكمه

هي للزمان فعائل لا تحمد

Were it not for the [unclear] of passing and its decree—

these are deeds of time that deserve no praise.

ابناء باهلة بفردوس الرخا

وبنو النبي يشت فيها الفدفد

The sons of Bahila dwell in the paradise of ease,

while the Prophet's sons are scattered there across the wilderness.

لله منها اذ تعد معائب

سود تقيم ذوى العقول وتقعد

God, what blemishes are counted against it—

black ones that make men of reason stand and sit in dismay!

فالارض ترجف بالغرائب غصة

والجو يبرق بالعجاب ويرعد

So the earth trembles, choking with grief at strange things,

and the sky flashes and thunders with marvels.

زمن تخللت الزمانة كونه

ما فيه منقبة لمن يتفقد

An age whose very being is riddled with infirmity:

no virtue lies within it for anyone who looks.

شمل الاسافل والطغام مجمع

فيه وشمل اولي الكمال مبدد

The company of the low and the rabble is gathered

within it, while the company of the accomplished is scattered.

تمضي الكرام على بساط مومها

ويد القلى فيهم تحل وتعقد

The noble pass across the carpet of its sickness,

while hatred's hand loosens and binds them.

ولها عليهم كل آن غارة

بالمزعجات ونارهم تتوقد

At every moment it raids them

with terrors, while their fire blazes.

بالله يا زمن العجيبات انتبه

ها انت في مهد المثالب ترقد

By God, O age of marvels, awaken!

There you lie asleep in the cradle of disgrace.

ما انت حاربت الكرام وانما

دم شرعة الهادي الذي تتقلد

It is not the noble whom you have fought; rather,

you bear the blood of the Guide's sacred law about your neck.

غلطات شين قد رصصت نصوصها

رصا يضل له الحكيم الارشد

Disgraceful blunders—you have packed their texts together,

so tightly that even the most discerning sage loses his way.

ويقال للحساد حلو جهلكم

والفضل داء قاتل لا يحسد

And the envious are told, 'Sweet is your ignorance!'

Excellence is a deadly disease, not to be envied.

هي عصبة الفضلاء في غصاتها

يجري لها بحر الهموم المزبد

Here is the band of the virtuous, amid their choking grief:

for them a foaming sea of sorrows flows.

كادت تموت خفوتة انفاسها

لو لم يثبتها النهى والسؤدد

They would almost die, their breaths so faint,

were reason and nobility not there to steady them.

اضحى يحاربها زمان صائل

يسمو على السادات فيه الاسود

A ravaging age has risen to wage war on them,

in which the black man rises above the lords.

ولرب وقت رحت انضح دمعتي

فيه وجمر حشاشتي يتوقد

Many a time I have gone on shedding my tears,

while the embers of my inmost heart blaze.

واحن ترحمني الحجارة لو وعت

والقلب مني مقلق ومنكد

And I moan—the stones would pity me, could they understand—

while the heart within me is restless and afflicted.

افنى عزائم همتي مرض من ال

هم الملح وفي حار العود

An illness has consumed my spirit's resolve, born of

relentless grief; those who visit my sickbed are baffled by me.

فيرون صدرا في منصة دسته

عن شوطه بيض الدراري تقعد

For they see a foremost man upon the dais of his seat,

whose course even the bright white stars cannot match.

يبدي من البشر العريض طرائفا

تلوى لها عين النؤم فيسهد

He displays marvels of expansive cheerfulness

that draw the sleeper's eye and keep him wakeful.

فتطير آمال له ومآرب

ويروح يسأل رفده المسترفد

So hopes and wishes take wing toward him,

and the seeker of aid comes asking for his bounty,

والنار في اجزائه لهابة

مما يكن اجوجة لا تخمد

while fire blazes in every part of him,

from what he hides—a raging flame that will not die.

وبكل غلغلة الشؤن فحسبه

للدين والدنيا الحبيب محمد

And amid every turmoil of affairs, sufficient for him

in religion and worldly life is the Beloved, Muhammad:

معراج اسرار الرجال لربهم

علم الرسالة والنبوة احمد

the ladder by which men's secrets ascend to their Lord,

the banner of messengership and prophethood, Ahmad;

صدر النبيين الاعاظم راسهم

سلطانهم وله على الكل اليد

foremost of the greatest prophets, their head,

their sovereign, with authority over them all.

تتزاحم التيجان في اعتابه

ولكل عين من ثراها اثمد

Crowns crowd together at his thresholds,

and their dust is kohl for every eye.

عين العيون وماء ناظر كونها

شرف الوجودات الصفي الاسعد

The eye of all eyes, the water in their world's pupil,

the honor of all beings, the chosen, most blessed one.

ما لي سوى فياض نائل كفه

كنز اجل وهو الابر الاجود

Beyond the overflowing bounty of his hand, I have no

more glorious treasure; he is the kindest, most generous.

لا جحد يلمس ذيل شامخ مجده

فالكون ناطقة لاحمد تشهد

No denial can touch the hem of his towering glory,

for the universe speaks, bearing witness to Ahmad.

ويشرف الاملاك لثم وصيده

ولديه املاك البرية اعبد

Kissing his threshold ennobles the angels,

and before him the kings of humankind are servants.

وتكاد املاك السماء ببابه

شغفا به تدع البروج وتسجد

At his door, the angels of heaven almost,

in longing for him, abandon the constellations and prostrate themselves.

تهوي لركن حماه وهو وطوله

ركن بافلاذ العلوم منضد

They descend to the pillar of his sanctuary; he and his bounty are

a pillar arrayed with precious portions of knowledge.

من عهد آدم للقيامة كل ذي

شرف هو المولى وطه السيد

From Adam's age until the Resurrection, every man of

honor is a retainer, while Taha is the Master.

وافيت اسأله حقوق قرابتي

لجنابه وبه يحار الابعد

I have come to ask him for the rights of my kinship

to his noble person; those more distant are bewildered before him.

وقصدته وسوى فسيح رحابه

في النازلات وحقه لا يقصد

And I sought him; no place but his spacious courts

is sought in calamities—I swear by his sacred right.

املي قوي بالنبي وساعدي

بنواله الاهمى يشد ويسعد

My hope is strong in the Prophet, and my arm

is strengthened and blessed by his most copious bounty.

صلى عليه الله ما لنهل الحيا

وكسا الحدائق عسجد وزبرجد

May God bless him as long as life-giving rain pours

and clothes the gardens in gold and chrysolite,

والآل والاصحاب اقمار الورى

من فخرهم في لكائنات مخلد

and his family and companions, the moons of humankind,

whose glory is immortal among created beings;

وعلى الامام ابن الرفاعي الذي

مدت له من قبر والده اليد

and bless the Imam Ibn al-Rifa'i, to whom

the hand was stretched from his father's grave.

وعلى الامام ابن الرفاعي الذي

مدت له من قبر والده اليد

and bless the Imam Ibn al-Rifa'i, to whom

the hand was stretched from his father's grave.