ديار أحبائي عليك سلاميا

بعهدك أدعو لو سمعت دعائيا

O home of my beloved, peace be upon you.

Faithful to your bond, I call—if only you could hear my plea.

وهل تسمع الدار المعطلة التي

غدا رحبها من أهلها اليوم خاليا

But can the deserted dwelling hear—the one

whose spacious court, once filled with its people, lies empty today?

وصارت عفاء غير ربع يلوح لي

بأيدي البلى يستقبل الريح خاويا

It has been effaced; only a trace of the campsite appears to me,

hollowed by the hands of decay, facing the wind.

ويلقى الغوادي شاكياً بأس وقعها

وقد يشتكي الربع الضعيف العواديا

It meets the morning rains, lamenting the violence of their fall;

even the frail ruin may complain of the assailing storms.

ولكنني في أن تلبيَ طامعٌ

عسانيَ أدري أين ساروا عسانيا

Yet I still hope that you will answer,

that perhaps I may learn where they have gone—if only I might.

بنجدهم أم في تهامة إن بي

إليهم لشوقاً أفعم القلب كاويا

Are they in their Najd, or in Tihama? For within me

yearning for them brims in the heart and sears it.

وطوعاً أجابوا داعي البين إذ دعا

بهجرك أم كَرْهاً أجابوا المناديا

Did they willingly answer separation’s caller when he summoned them

to abandon you, or did they answer the herald against their will?

أجيبي فقد طالت بك العام وقفتي

وطالت مناداتي وطال سؤاليا

Answer me: my vigil beside you has lasted all year;

long have I called, and long has my questioning endured.

وغادرني صحبي وحيداً مفكِّراً

برملك إذ ملّوا امتداد مقاميا

My companions left me alone, deep in thought

upon your sands, weary of how long I remained.

فلا أتقي حر الهجيرة محرقاً

ولا الليل منشور الذوائب داجيا

I shield myself neither from the scorching noonday heat,

nor from night, dark with its tresses spread,

ولا الوابل الهتان كالبحر مغرقاً

يوكل بي تياره المتراميا

nor from the ceaseless downpour, engulfing as the sea,

whose far-reaching torrent is unleashed against me,

ولا عاصفات الريح تلعب بي على

مناكبها لما تهب ذواريا

nor from the raging winds that toss me upon

their shoulders when they blow, scattering dust.

وقفت تحياتي عيك وهكذا

سأقضي بهاتيك الطلول حياتيا

I have stood offering you my greetings, and thus

I shall spend my life among those ruins.

وأبكي أحبائي بدمع بذلته

لشرح تباريحي وإن كان غاليا

I weep for my beloved with tears I have freely shed

to express my torments, however precious those tears may be.

وأسأل عنهم كل طيرٍ وبارقٍ

وأبكي عليهم كل شيء أماميا

I ask every bird and flashing cloud for news of them,

and before everything I encounter, I weep for them.

أحباي طال البعد والبعد قاتلٌ

لمن كان مثلي يحفظ العهد وافيا

My beloved, the separation has lasted long—and separation is death

to one who, faithful like me, keeps the covenant.

وكان اصطباري مطفئاً بعض لوعتي

وها أنا فيكم قد عدمت اصطباريا

My endurance once quenched some of my anguish;

but now, because of you, I have lost all endurance.

ألا خبر يشفي غليليَ عنكمُ

فإنيَ لا ألقى سوى ذاك شافيا

Is there no news of you to cool my burning thirst?

For I find nothing else that can heal me.

وبي غصة ريب المنية دونها

أعيذكمُ باللّه من شر ما بيا

A choking dread is lodged within me: that death may come before such news.

I commend you to God’s protection from the evil afflicting me.

ضمانٌ على عينيَّ سقيُ دياركم

وإن لم أجد منكم بذلك داريا

My eyes have pledged to water your homes with tears,

though I find none among you aware of it.

دعوت وما مثلي رأى الناسُ داعياً

سعى في سبيل الخير وارتدَّ باكيا

I called—and people have never seen a caller like me

who strove in the path of good, only to return weeping.

وقاسيت فيما رمت شر موانع

لها كل حرُّ النفس صار مقاسيا

In what I sought, I suffered the worst impediments,

which every noble soul has come to suffer.

وكابدتها حتى رأى كل مبصر

مكابدتي رسماً لعينيه باديا

I endured them until every seeing person beheld

my suffering as an image manifest before his eyes;

وحتى رثى الجلمود لي وتفطرت

لشدة صيحاتي قلوب عِداتيا

until even the boulder pitied me, and the hearts of my enemies

were rent by the violence of my cries.

ولست وإن لجّ العواذل ناسياً

عهودي ولا عما أحاول ساليا

Though the reproachers persist, I shall not forget

my covenants, nor abandon what I strive to do.

ولا سرت منها فارغ البال خالياً

ولا بت عنها مطبق الجفن ساهيا

Never have I departed from this cause carefree and unconcerned,

nor slept apart from it with closed eyes, heedless.

ولو كان في الإمكان ترك مقاصدي

لأمسيت مرتاح السريرة ناجيا

If it were possible to forsake my aims,

I would pass my evenings tranquil at heart and safe.

ولكنها نفس تريد المعاليا

ولو كان في هذا المراد شقائيا

But mine is a soul that seeks the heights,

even if misery lies for me in that desire.

هداها إليه اللّه فهي بأمره

تجدّ وحسب النفس باللّه هاديا

God guided it there; so at His command

it strives—and God suffices the soul as guide.

نظرت إلى الدنيا بعين بصيرتي

إلى أن تجلى اليوم ما كان خافيا

I gazed upon the world with the eye of insight

until today all that had been hidden stood revealed.

فعدت بحزن كاد يهلك مهجتي

عبوس المحيا هائج البال شاكيا

I returned with sorrow that nearly destroyed my heart,

grim-faced, agitated in mind, and lamenting,

لأني رأيت الشر فيها معززاً

قوياً لدى أبنائها متماديا

because I saw evil honored within it,

strong among its children and ever advancing.

فصاروا يرون الضعف في الغير حجة

لأن يسلبوه حقَّه المتدانيا

They came to regard another’s weakness as grounds

for robbing him of his right, now brought within their grasp.

وساروا سواء فاتكين به وإن

تخلْ بعضَهم يوماً لبعض أعاديا

They all proceeded alike, ravaging him, though

you might suppose them, one day, enemies to one another.

همُ قرَّبوا طرق الحياة وإنما

لإدراكنا تقريب ما كان نائيا

It was they who brought the roads of life nearer—but only

so they might reach us, bringing near what had been distant.

وما وصلوا الأسباب إلا ليقطعوا

بنا سبب العيش الذي بات واهيا

They linked the means of passage only to sever

our means of livelihood, already grown frail.

سعوا بثبات في اغتصاب ديارنا

وما خاب منهم صابر هب ساعيا

Steadfastly they sought to seize our lands,

and none among them who persevered and sprang to strive failed.

فشادوا على أنقاض سابق مجدنا

مقاماً منيعاً جاوز النجم عاليا

Upon the ruins of our former glory they built

an impregnable edifice whose height surpassed the stars.

ودون الذي نرجوه حالوا وحولوا

من الرزق عنا مورداً كان جاريا

They barred us from what we hope for and diverted

from us a flowing source of sustenance.

وصرنا لهم مثل العبيد خواضعاً

أرقاء نخشى بطشهم والعواديا

We became submissive to them, like slaves—

thralls who fear their violence and assaults.

فما أوردونا الماء إلا مكدَّراً

وما أصدرونا عنه إلا صواديا

They lead us to water only when it is muddied,

and send us away from it still parched.

نرى مجدهم ملء الجفون ونشتهي

شبيهاً له فينا نراه مساميا

We behold their glory filling our eyes, and desire

its like among us, rising to rival it.

ونرقد عما نرتجي فنصيبه

خيالاً لنا في النوم يخطر ساريا

Yet we sleep through what we hope for and attain it only

as a phantom that passes through our dreams by night.

ونلهو به حتى نهب فلا نرى

له أثراً بين العوالم باقيا

We amuse ourselves with it until we awaken, and then we see

no trace of it remaining among the worlds.

فنندب كالثكلى أضاعت وحيدها

ولم نلق ذا رفق بنا أو مواسيا

So we lament like a bereaved mother who has lost her only child,

finding no one gentle with us, nor anyone to console us.

لقد صار هذا دأبنا وهي علة

أبى الجهل أن نلقى لها الدهر آسيا

This has become our settled habit—and it is a sickness

for which ignorance refuses to let us find a healer, ever.

شفى اللّه من أمثالها كلَّ أمةٍ

وما برحت تمتد فينا كما هيا

May God cure every nation of such maladies;

among us, it has never ceased spreading just as it is.

ولكنني من برئها غير آيس

ولا زال في هذا قويّاً رجائيا

Yet I do not despair of its cure,

and my hope in that remains strong.

بنى الشرق أدعوكم إلى خير منهج

يعيد إليكم نضرة العيش ثانيا

Children of the East, I call you to the finest path,

one that will restore life’s freshness to you once more.

فجاروا بني الغرب الذين تشبَّهوا

بأجدادكم حتى تنالوا المعاليا

Vie, then, with the children of the West, who imitated

your forefathers, so that you may attain the heights.

وأنتم بتقليد الجدود أحق من

عِدىً سلبوكم مظهراً كان زاهيا

You have more right to emulate your ancestors than do

enemies who robbed you of a splendor once radiant.

أسرَّكُمُ أنَّ المحارم تستبى

ولم تلق فيكم عن حماها محاميا

Does it please you that sacred things should be taken captive

and find among you no defender of their sanctuary?

وأعجبكم أن الطرائق تعتفي

ولم نر منكم يا بني الشرق واقيا

Do you delight in seeing the paths effaced,

while we see no guardian among you, children of the East?

وإن لكم سيفاً من الدين ماضياً

يفل إذا جردتموه المواضيا

You possess in religion a keen-edged sword

that, when you draw it, blunts the sharpest blades.

فأحيوا به نهج النبي وجددوا

مقاماً لدين اللّه أصبح باليا

With it revive the Prophet’s path, and restore

a station for God’s religion that has become worn away.

وروُّوهُ حتى تستعيدوا شبابه

نضيراً وإلا عاش ظمآن ذاويا

Water it until you restore its youth

in full bloom; otherwise it will live thirsty and withered.

كفاه اكتئاباً ما مضى من سكوتكم

وغفلتكم عن أمره وكفانيا

Enough sorrow has come to it from your past silence,

your neglect of its cause—and that has afflicted me enough.

فأرضوه عنكم بانتهاج طريقه

فما أجمل الدنيا إذا بات راضيا

Make the religion well pleased with you by following its path;

how beautiful the world is when the religion rests content.

هنالك نحيا في نعيم ونضرة

ونأمن عدوان العدى واللياليا

Then shall we live in bliss and freshness,

safe from the aggression of enemies and the assaults of fate.