سأنظم من فخر النبي محمد

لآلىء لا يبلى جديد نظامها

I shall string, from the glory of the Prophet Muhammad,

pearls whose stringing will never lose its freshness.

تضوّع طيبا عرفها فكأنه

تضوّع أزهار بدت من كمامها

Their scent wafts sweetly, as though it were

the wafting fragrance of blossoms emerging from their sheaths.

سجايا أبت إلا السماكين منزلا

ففاق على العليا علو مقامها

Virtues that would take no abode but the two Simāk stars,

and the height of their station surpassed the loftiest heights.

خلال إذا لاحت قبابٌ لذي على

تنيف فتعلوها قباب خيامها

Noble qualities: whenever the domes of a man of high rank appear,

towering high, the domes of their tents rise above them.

إذا يمّموا يوماً إمام مكارم

فأحمد قد اضحى أمام إمامها

If ever they seek a leader in noble deeds,

Ahmad has already come to stand ahead of their leader.

فكم ذو على أو ما لدرك مقامها

فمر ولم يدرك مرامى مرامها

How many a man of high rank [aimed] to attain their station,

yet passed on without reaching the goals of their striving.

وكم ظامىء قد رام يروى بريها

فآب وقد أضحى عليل أوامها

And how many a thirsty man sought to be quenched by their draught,

only to return, now sick with burning thirst for them.

لذاك العلى شوق بقلبى مخيّمٌ

وقد سوفَت نفسي بطول مقامها

Longing for those heights has pitched its tent within my heart,

yet my soul has delayed, lingering so long.

فللّه عينٌ لا تملّ بكاءها

وقد حرمت فيه لذيذ منامها

God bless an eye that never tires of weeping,

denied, for his sake, the sweetness of its sleep!

ونفسٌ على بعد الديار قريحةٌ

تطارح في البلوى حمامَ حمامها

And a soul wounded by the remoteness of the dwellings,

sharing, in affliction, its death-lament with the doves.

وعمرٌ مضت أيام شرخ شبابه

وقد قدّ صرف الدهر غصن قوامها

And a life whose days of youthful prime have passed,

while time's vicissitudes have severed the bough of its stature.

فيا نسمةَ الأسحارِ من نحو يثرب

ألمى بنفسي قد ذوت بضرامها

So, O predawn breeze from the direction of Yathrib,

alight upon my soul, already withered by its blaze.

ويا حادي الأظعان نحو قبابهم

ألا فاخصص العليا بطيب سلامها

And O camel-driver, leading the litters toward their domes,

take heed: single out the loftiest dome for my soul's fragrant greeting.