1. حبيبٌ لنا بين الرموز يناقشُ

    كأن على وجْناته الحسنَ ناقشُ

    A beloved of ours is discussed among symbols,

    as though beauty were an engraver upon his cheeks.

  2. تراءى لنا بدراً وقد كان كامناً

    يواري سناه التمَّ في الليل غاطشُ

    He appeared to us as a full moon, though he had been hidden,

    while darkness concealed his full radiance in the night.

  3. فأشرق شمساً يحجب النورَ نورُه

    عيونُ الدراري عن سناه دواهش

    Then he shone as a sun, his light eclipsing light;

    the eyes of the brilliant stars are dazzled by his radiance.

  4. له الرمز ثوبٌ دبَّجته نُبُوَّةٌ

    أتتنا صُراحاً لم يدنِّسه راقش

    Symbolism is his robe, embroidered by prophecy;

    it came to us plainly, unsullied by any embellisher.

  5. فشيخٌ كطفلٍ مُبدَعٍ وهو مُبدِعٌ

    وكم تاه في حَفر الذخيرة نابش

    So he is an elder like a created child, yet he is a creator.

    And how many a digger has gone astray digging for the treasure!

  6. أتى يُنعشُ الثقلين باهي جَمالِه

    ولكنه فينا نَعيشٌ وناعش

    He came to revive humankind and jinn, radiant in his beauty,

    yet among us he is both bier-borne and life-giving.

  7. هُنالك عاش الناس في موت حبهم

    ولو لم يمت ما كان في الناس عائش

    There, people lived through their beloved's death;

    had he not died, no one among people would have lived.

  8. فأحيا حشاشاتٍ لنا بحشيشةٍ

    ذكيةِ أصلٍ لن تراها الحشائش

    So he revived our lingering sparks of life with an herb

    of fragrant root, which the grasses will never behold.

  9. عليها الندى مستَقطراً من أَقاحها

    ومن تحته خدٌّ له الورد خامش

    Dew lies upon it, distilled from its daisies,

    and beneath it is a cheek of his, which the rose scratches.

  10. فإن كنت مشتاقاً إليه فنادِه

    إذا ما دهاك البين والدهرُ باطش

    So if you yearn for him, call to him

    whenever separation assails you and time deals fierce blows.

  11. فلم يبق في العشاق قلبٌ متيمٌ

    بذاك الهوى إلّا وأصماه رائش

    For no heart among lovers remains enraptured

    by that passion without a fletcher having struck it dead.

  12. هو الحب لا تُذهلك هندٌ وآلُها

    فما دونه من آل هندٍ فواحش

    He is love; let not Hind and her kin distract you.

    For all besides him among Hind's kin are abominations.

  13. فكل جمالٍ دون بدريْ مشوَّهٌ

    عيونُهم عندي نَمَتها خفافش

    Every beauty beside my full moon is disfigured;

    their eyes, to my mind, were begotten by bats.

  14. فهل يبصروا جماله بكماله

    مليّاً وهم قومٌ عوامٌ أخافش

    Can they, then, behold his beauty in its perfection

    for long, when they are common, weak-sighted folk?

  15. وقد سرني ذاك النجيع مضرَّجاً

    وأعجبني دمعٌ له وهو جاهش

    And that shed blood delighted me, smeared crimson;

    and I admired his tears as he burst into weeping.

  16. فيا شوقُ لا تُثقِل عليه لأنه

    رقيقٌ وهذا الشوق بالطبع حارش

    So, O longing, do not weigh upon him, for he is

    tender, and this longing is abrasive by nature.

  17. كفى أمَّهُ الحسناء حسناً وأنها

    هي البكر لا ما تدعيه الرواقش

    His fair mother has beauty enough, and she

    is the virgin, not what the slanderers allege.

  18. هي المرضع العذراء والوصف مُغربٌ

    ولو بَرقشَ المرموزَ عنها بَراقش

    She is the nursing virgin, and the description is astonishing,

    even if Baraqish garbles the symbolism concerning her.

  19. هو الرَّعْشَنُ المجهول أصلاً وحِرفَةً

    فهل يصدقنَّ القولُ والقول راعش

    He is the trembler, unknown in origin and occupation;

    can the claim, then, prove true, when the claim itself trembles?

  20. فطوبى لأمٍّ وابنُها كان ميتاً

    وما عاش حتى مات والموت ناعش

    Blessed, then, is a mother whose son was dead,

    and did not live until he died—and death revives.

  21. ولم ينهش التنينُ جسماً مسمَّماً

    بأنيابه حتى رأى الموتَ ناهش

    Nor did the dragon bite a poisoned body

    with its fangs until it saw death biting.

  22. فهذا هو المبعوث من بعد موته

    وذو الرأي لم يفهمه والرأي طائش

    So this is the one raised after his death,

    and the man of judgment did not understand him, his judgment astray.