1. دارٌ بذي الأثلِ عَهدناها

    ما أطيبَ العيشَ بمغناها

    A dwelling at Dhu al-Athl that we once knew—

    how sweet life was within its precincts!

  2. فاسأل بها أروى الغوادي حياً

    وروِّح القلب بذكراها

    Ask after it of the morning clouds richest in rain,

    and refresh the heart with its remembrance.

  3. دارٌ بها كانت لأهل الهوى

    تهدي بناتُ الشوق حَوراها

    A dwelling where, for the people of love,

    the daughters of yearning would offer its dark-eyed beauties.

  4. ناشئةُ الظلِّ تُربِّي بها

    عواطِفُ الصبوةِ أبناها

    With newly grown shade, where

    the affections of youthful passion rear its children,

  5. من كلِّ عذريّ الهوى قلبهُ

    يرفُّ ما رفَّ عَذاراها

    each a chaste lover, whose heart

    flutters whenever her two sidelocks flutter.

  6. آهٍ لأحشاءٍ على رامةٍ

    قد ذهبت إلاَّ بقاياها

    Ah, for innards anguished over Ramah,

    gone now except for their remnants!

  7. رقَّت إلى أن بين أيدي الجوى

    تساقطت ضعفاً شظاياها

    They thinned until, in the hands of heartache,

    their fragments fell apart from weakness.

  8. أيام تستقطر من لِمَّتي

    ماءَ الصِبا الغض عِذاراها

    In days when they drew from my shoulder-length hair

    the sap of tender youth—her two sidelocks.

  9. ووفرتي منها بأيدي المها

    طاقةَ ريحانٍ تهاداها

    And locks of that hair, in the white antelopes' hands,

    were a posy of basil they passed as a gift.

  10. يا حبَّذا الغيدُ ودارٌ بها

    في ريِّق العمر علقناها

    How lovely the slender beauties, and the house where

    in youth's first freshness we fell in love with her!

  11. جرَّت بها ضمياء أردانَها

    فأرَّجت بالطيب أرجاها

    There a slender beauty trailed her sleeves,

    and perfumed its precincts with fragrance.

  12. حيثُ نشاوى بكؤوس الهوى

    أماتها الشوقُ وأحياها

    Where those drunk on the cups of love

    were killed by yearning and brought back to life.

  13. وافت وعمر الدهر في ليلةٍ

    فينا هي العمرُ عددناها

    She came; all time's life lay in a single night,

    a night among us that we counted as life itself.

  14. رقَّت لنا فيها حواشي الدُجى

    لكن ببرقٍ من ثناياها

    The edges of darkness softened for us within it,

    but through a flash from her front teeth.

  15. ولائم والراحُ من خدِّها

    تُديرهُ للسكر عيناها

    And a reproacher—while the wine of her cheek

    was passed round by her eyes to intoxicate—

  16. قال عليكَ الوزرُ في نعتها

    قلتُ وخُذ أنتَ مُهنَّاها

    said, “The sin of describing her is yours.”

    I said, “And you take the pleasure of it!”

  17. لا ذمَّ للوردة عندي سِوى

    عادة دهرٍ ما تعدَّاها

    I find no fault in the rose except

    a custom of time that it has never forsaken:

  18. لمُجتنيها شوكُها والشذا

    منها لمن لم يدرِ مُجناها

    its thorns are for its plucker, and its fragrance

    for whoever knows nothing of its gathering-place.

  19. يا دهرُ ما أطربها ليلةً

    عن غفلةً منك سرقناها

    O Time, what a joyful night it was,

    which we stole while you were off your guard!

  20. فيها عقدنا مجلساً للهنا

    لا لكؤوسٍ نتعاطاها

    In it we held a gathering for joy,

    not for cups we drank together.

  21. ننشرُ للأَشواق ديباجةً

    من غزلٍ رقّ نسجناها

    We unfold for yearnings a brocade

    that we wove from delicate love poetry.

  22. ونسمةُ الأسحار قد فاكهت

    بطيب أنفاس نداماها

    And the predawn breeze had entertained

    its boon companions with sweet breaths.

  23. فاردُد عليها من أحاديثها

    ما نقلتهُ عن خُزاماها

    So repeat to it, from its tales,

    what it conveyed from its lavender.

  24. وحيِّها ناقلةً قد روت

    عن خُلُق المهديِّ ريَّاها

    And greet it as a transmitter that has related

    its fragrance from al-Mahdi's character.

  25. تُسند ما ترويه عن عبقةٍ

    من شيبة الحمدِ انتشقناها

    It traces what it relates to a fragrant waft

    we inhaled from Shaybat al-Hamd.

  26. للفضل أربابٌ وكلٌّ له

    مزيّةٌ يسمو بعلياها

    Merit has masters, and each possesses

    a distinction through whose height he rises.

  27. والفضلُ كلُّ الفضل في عصرنا

    لجامعٍ كلَّ مزاياها

    And merit—all merit—in our age

    belongs to one who gathers all its virtues:

  28. للخلف ابن الحسن القائم ال

    مهديّ أتقى الخلق أهداها

    To the successor, son of al-Hasan, the Rising One,

    the Mahdi, creation's most God-fearing and best-guided.

  29. يا واحدَ الدهرِ بلا مُشبهٍ

    تركتَ كلَّ الناسِ أشباها

    O unique one of the age, without a likeness,

    you have left all others mere lookalikes.

  30. علمُك إلهامٌ وكلُّ الورى

    كسبٌ ومن بيتكَ وافاها

    Your knowledge is inspiration; all other mortals'

    is acquired, and came to them from your house.

  31. كم لك من عارفةٍ حرَّةٍ

    ألسِنَةُ الشكرِ أرِقَّاها

    How many a freeborn favor you possess,

    whose slaves are the tongues of gratitude!

  32. جودُكَ طوفانٌ وسفن الرجا

    باسمك مَجراها ومَرساها

    Your generosity is a deluge, and the ships of hope

    sail and anchor in your name.

  33. مكارمٌ مسموعُها في الندى

    أعظمُ منهُ فيهِ مرآها

    Noble deeds whose renown in generosity

    is surpassed by the sight of their generosity.

  34. لو قيلَ للغيثِ انتسب للورى

    مثلك جوداً ما تعدَّاها

    If rain were told, “Find kin among mortals

    matching your generosity,” it would look no further than these.

  35. لا شَرِقَتْ في دمِ أوداجها

    عيديَّةٌ حنت لمسعاها

    May she never choke on the blood of her jugular veins,

    the 'Idiyya she-camel that longed for her journey,

  36. وارتَبعت في كلِّ مطلولةٍ

    خمائل الروضِ بجرعاها

    and may she find spring pasture in every dew-soaked

    garden thicket on its sandy ground,

  37. تَخضِمُ إما شِيحةً أو إلى

    بَشامةٍ تدنو فترعاها

    munching either wormwood, or drawing near

    a balsam tree to browse upon it—

  38. جزاء ما خفَّت بتلكَ التي

    قد ثقّلت بالأجرِ مسراها

    in reward for swiftly carrying that woman

    who made its night journey heavy with reward:

  39. كريمةُ الشيخ إمامِ الهدى

    خير كريمات الهُدى جاها

    The noble daughter of the shaykh, the imam of guidance,

    highest in rank among guidance's noble daughters.

  40. لا بَل هي الكعبةُ في سترِها

    تنقُلها نحوَ مُصلاّها

    No—rather she is the Kaaba beneath her covering,

    which the camel carries toward her prayer-place.

  41. قد قالَ إكباراً لها إذ مَشت

    لا صغَّر الرحمنُ ممشاها

    He said, in reverence for her, as she walked:

    “May the All-Merciful never belittle her steps.”

  42. لوَ انَّ حواءَ رأت زُهدَها

    والزهدُ من بعضِ سجاياها

    If Eve had seen her asceticism—

    and asceticism is but one of her qualities—

  43. ودَّت على كُثرِ بناتٍ لها

    أن لم تلد منهُنَّ إلاّها

    she would have wished, despite her many daughters,

    that she had borne none of them but her.

  44. لم تعلقِ الآثامُ فيها ولا

    بالتَبِعاتِ اغبرَّ كفَّاها

    No sins clung to her, nor

    were her hands begrimed with guilt's burdens.

  45. طهَّرها الرحمنُ عِلماً بها

    وبالتُقى والنُسكِ زكَّاها

    The All-Merciful purified her, knowing her,

    and through piety and devotion refined her.

  46. نزَّهتِ العِصمةُ أفعالها

    وكانت العصمةُ تقواها

    Protection from sin kept her deeds pure,

    and her piety was that protection.

  47. لو قَسمت صالحَ أعمالِها

    بينَ بني الدنيا لأغناها

    If she divided the good of her deeds

    among the world's children, she would enrich the world.

  48. كلُّ أُلوفِ الخدرِ في خدرِها

    لم تعرفِ التخديرَ لولاها

    Every woman fond of seclusion in her chamber

    would not have known seclusion but for her.

  49. باهِ بها أُمّ نجومِ السما

    وفاخِر الشهبَ بأبناها

    Vie, through her, with the mother of heaven's stars,

    and rival the bright stars through her sons.

  50. إذ هيَ أمُّ الكلماتِ التي

    آدمُ مِن قبلُ تلقَّاها

    For she is the mother of the words that

    Adam had received before.

  51. قد أوشَجت أعراقها في العُلى

    من فاطمٍ أعراقُ علياها

    Her roots are entwined in the heights of honor,

    with the roots of her eminence from Fatimah.

  52. نَمَت غُصوناً كلُّها أثمرت

    علماً به اللهُ توخَّاها

    She grew branches, all of which bore

    knowledge for which God had chosen her.

  53. عن مثلِها ما انشقَّ يوماً ثرى

    نبوَّةٍ فاسأل سجاياها

    Never did earth open to bring forth her like—

    the earth of prophethood; so ask about her qualities.

  54. من طِينةِ المجدِ إلى المرتضى

    وجعفرٍ يَضرِبُ عِرقاها

    From the clay of glory, back to al-Murtada

    and Ja'far, her two roots reach.

  55. للجعفريَّين ابتنَت دارها

    بيض المساعي فوقَ خضراها

    For the Ja'faris, her house was raised

    by spotless white deeds above the green sky.

  56. هم أنجمُ الدينِ وسبحانَ مَن

    في أُفقهِ للرشدِ أبداها

    They are religion's stars; glory be to the One who

    displayed them in its horizon for guidance.

  57. أُسرةُ مجدٍ شَرَعٌ كلُّها

    أطرَبها المجد وأطراها

    A family of glory, all equal in it,

    glory has delighted them and praised them.

  58. حسبُهمُ فخراً بأنَّ العُلى

    آخرُهم فيه كأُولاها

    It is enough pride for them that, in exalted honor,

    their last is like their first.

  59. كأَنَّما أخلاقُهم روضةٌ

    باكَرَها الطلُّ فندَّاها

    Their character is as though a garden

    visited early by dew, which moistened it.

  60. تَعبِقُ في المجلسِ ألفاظُهم

    كأَنَّ نشرَ المسكِ معناها

    Their words are fragrant in the gathering,

    as though the spreading scent of musk were their meaning.

  61. القومُ لُطفُ اللهِ في أرضِه

    من رحمةٍ للخلق أنشاها

    These people are God's kindness on His earth,

    brought forth from mercy for His creatures.

  62. قد بسطَ الجودُ أكفًّا لهم

    عاشت بنو الدنيا بنعماها

    Generosity has extended hands for them,

    on whose bounties the world's children have lived.

  63. أهلُ الوجوهِ الزهرِ لو قابلوا

    بنورِها الشهُبَ لأطفاها

    People of radiant faces: were they to confront

    the stars with their light, it would extinguish them.

  64. أقسِمُ أنَّ الدهرَ أجفانُه

    ما فُتِحت إلاَّ لمرآها

    I swear that Time's eyelids

    were opened only to see them;

  65. وسمعُهُ ما شُقَّ حتَّى يعي

    شيئاً سوى حُسنِ مزاياها

    and its hearing was not cleft open to perceive

    anything but the beauty of their virtues.

  66. من طينةٍ بيضاءَ قدسيَّةٍ

    صَلصَلَها اللهُ وصفَّاها

    From white, sacred clay,

    which God made into ringing clay and purified.

  67. والطينة السوداءُ من خُبثِها

    هيهاتَ تبيَضُّ سجاياها

    And black clay, through its impurity—

    how far its qualities are from turning white!

  68. جَرت لسبقٍ فتساوت بهم

    سوابقُ الفضلِ بمجراها

    They raced for precedence, and in these men were equal—

    the swift steeds of virtue along their course.

  69. هم فيها كالأعينِ يُمناها

    بالرمشِ لا يَسبِقُ يسراها

    In this they are like eyes, whose right

    does not outpace the left in blinking.

  70. والقَبض والبَسط استوت فيهما

    البنانُ صُغراها وكُبراها

    And in clenching and spreading alike are equal

    the fingers, the smaller and the larger.

  71. فيا بَني الوحيِ وآل الهُدى

    جِبالَه واللهُ أرساها

    So, O sons of revelation and family of guidance,

    its mountains, which God has firmly anchored—

  72. إليكموها مِن بناتِ الثنا

    غَرَّاءَ قد راقَ مُحيَّاها

    here is one of praise's daughters for you,

    radiant, its countenance lovely.

  73. تستوهبُ الصفحَ لنا منكم

    مِن عَثرةٍ فيها استقلناها

    It begs your pardon on our behalf

    for a lapse in it for which we have sought forgiveness.