امن نفحات ازهار العراق

دعاك صميم وجدك للتلاق

Was it from the fragrant breaths of Iraq's flowers

that the depths of your longing called you to meet?

ام النسمات من تلك البوادي

جذبن الل عنك كاس ساق

Or was it the breezes from those deserts

that drew [unclear] from you—a cupbearer's cup?

بك الاشواق قام لها عجيج

معربدة على قدم وساق

Within you, longings raised an uproar,

carousing at full tilt.

اصاحب والوداد له حقوق

بحقك هل كذا فتك الفراق

O companion—friendship has its rights—

by your honor, has separation ravaged you so?

اراك تقوم حيا شبه ميت

بجسم ناحل ودم مراق

I see you standing alive, yet like one dead,

with a wasted body and blood poured out.

اثارك من غرام الحي حال

فطرت الى الحمى قبل الرفاق

A rapture born of love for the tribe stirred you,

so you flew to the sanctuary ahead of your companions.

اتدري انني شرواك مضنى

تزمزم روحه خلف النياق

Do you know that I, like you, am a love-worn sufferer,

whose soul murmurs behind the she-camels?

اهيم لواسط فالجسم فإن

وجمر الوجد في الاحشاء باق

I yearn for Wasit; my body is fading away,

and the ember of longing remains in my entrails.

بحقك ان نهزت العيس صبحا

فطر باخي التوله للعراق

By your honor, if you urge the pale camels on at dawn,

then fly with your brother in love's bewilderment to Iraq,

لاعتاب الامام ابن الرفاعي

عميد القوم ممتنع اللحاق

to the thresholds of the Imam Ibn al-Rifa‘i,

the people's chief, whom none can overtake.

هزبر ترجف الآساد منه

وتلجأ في مرابضها لواق

A lion before whom other lions tremble,

and in their lairs seek a protector.

ابو العلمين غوث الكون مغنى

علي شبل ركاب البراق

Abu al-‘Alamayn, succor of the universe, the abode

of ‘Ali, lion-cub of the rider of al-Buraq.

حمى ميدان حال الآل فردا

وقد وقف الفحول عن السباق

He alone guarded the arena of the Family's spiritual state,

while the stallions had held back from the race.

معال تجعل الالباب ذهلا

علون لقمة السبع الطباق

Lofty excellences that leave minds bewildered,

rising to the summit of the seven layered heavens.

ومد يد النبي الطهر جلت

فما من بعدها شأو لراق

And the extending of the pure Prophet's hand was sublime;

so beyond it, no height remains for one ascending.

حبته من المفاخر ثوب عز

بحال الغيب زين الانتساق

It bestowed on him, among glories, a robe of honor,

beautifully arrayed in the spiritual state of the unseen.

لوى عن هذه الاكوان قلباً

بمشهدي اجتماع وافتراق

He turned his heart away from these worlds,

in the twin visions of union and separation.

له الهمم الرفيعة والمعالي

وريُّ الفضل بالكاس الدهاق

His are lofty aspirations and exalted attainments,

and the thirst-slaking draught of grace from the brimming cup.

فشمس هداه تعظم عن افول

وبدر علاه يكبر عن محاق

So the sun of his guidance is too great to set,

and the full moon of his eminence too great to wane into darkness.

نماه الى الحسين اب وجد

وقوم خمرهم حلو المذاق

His father and grandfather traced his descent to al-Husayn,

and a people whose wine is sweet to the taste.

عصابة مفخر بعلا علي

علت عن صادمات الانشقاق

A fellowship whose glory lies in ‘Ali's eminence,

risen above the battering blows of schism.

ألا يا سيد الاقطاب اني

اسير الهم فاحلل لي وثاقي

Behold, O master of the spiritual poles, I am

a captive of sorrow; so loosen my bonds for me.

وخذ بيدي فاني في عنائي

ومنّ عليّ يا رحب الرواق

And take me by the hand, for I am in distress,

and favor me, O you of the spacious portico.

فجاهك في الحمى جاه رفيع

وخمص علاك مرتفع المراقي

For your standing in the sanctuary is exalted,

and the hollow sole of your eminence is lofty in its ascents.

وهاك قصيدة نظمت عقودا

بمدحك فسرت صدق اشتياقي

And take this ode, which I have strung as necklaces

in your praise, expressing the truth of my yearning.