ذكر الغنا فحنت عليه أضلعي

وبكى العقيق فساقطته أدمعي

Song was mentioned, and my ribs yearned for it.

And al-ʿAqiq wept, and my tears fell with its tears.

لله در دموع عيني انها

وقعت من الأجفان أحسن موقع

How splendid, by God, are my eye's tears! They

Fell from the eyelids in the fairest place.

من لي بقلبي يوم كاظمة وقد

ودعتهم لو خلقوا قلبي معي

Who will restore my heart to me on the day at Kazimah, when

I bade them farewell—if only they had left my heart with me [uncertain reading].

رحلوا فكان القلب اول راحل

والصبر آخر ظاعن ومودع

They departed, and the heart was the first to depart,

And patience the last to leave and bid farewell.

بالله الا يا رقاد رجعت لي

فلعل ضيف الطيف يطرق مضجعي

By God, O sleep, will you not return to me?

Perhaps the phantom guest will knock at my bed.

ولئن عصاك السهد لا تطع الهوى

اني اراك اذا قريب المرجع

And even if sleeplessness disobeys you, do not obey passion;

I see you then close to returning.

ولرب ليل بالشهاد قطعته

والعين مذ سحوا بها لم تهجع

Many a night I passed in sleeplessness [uncertain reading],

And my eye has not slept since they made it stream [wording unclear].

وغدوت ارعى النجم فيه ساهرا

رعى الغزالة للدجى في المطلع

And I kept watching the star through it, sleepless,

Like the gazelle-sun watching darkness from its rising-place.

قل للذي تلقي يعيب جهالة

ميت الصبابة لا يفيق ولا يعي

Tell the one you meet who ignorantly reproaches:

One dead from passionate longing neither revives nor understands.

والله لو قطعوا باسياف الجفا

قلبي فمنهم لست اقطع مطمعي

By God, even if they cut with the swords of estrangement

My heart, I will not cut off my hope of them.

وحياتهم قسما وحق صنيعهم

حبي لهم طبع بغير تصنع

By their lives I swear, and by the right owed to their kindness:

My love for them is innate, without affectation.

يا جيرة الجرعاء ان بعد المدا

فسوى المدامع بعدكم لم اجرع

O neighbors of al-Jarʿaʾ, though the distance has grown long,

Since your departure I have swallowed nothing but tears.

رجع حنينك ايها الحادي اذا

ما جزت يوما بالغوير ولعلع

Repeat your plaintive song, O camel-driver, whenever

You pass one day by al-Ghuwayr and Laʿlaʿ.

واقر النويزل من اعاريب الحمى

عني السلام وحي حيّ طويلع

And convey to the little sojourner among the preserve's Bedouins

Greetings from me, and salute the clan of Tuwayliʿ.

وأنخ بسلع فالعذيب فبارق

فالرقمتين فحاجر فالاجرع

And make your camels kneel at Salʿ, then al-ʿUdhayb, then Bariq,

Then al-Raqmatayn, then Hajir, then al-Ajraʿ.

واعد عليّ حديث سكان الحمى

يا طيب ذياك الحديث تسمعي

And repeat to me the tale of the preserve's dwellers;

How sweet for me to hear that tale!

فمتى تلوح خيامهم بالسفح من

تلك المرابع فهي اطيب مربع

When will their tents appear on the hillside of

Those pastures, the sweetest camping ground,

وارى قباب قبا بدت واقول يا

عيني هاتيك الحدائق فارتعي

And shall I see Quba's domes emerge and say, 'O

My eye, there are those gardens—graze there!'

واشاهد الحرم الشريف وبقعة

ضمت لاكرم شافع ومشفع

And behold the noble sanctuary and a place

That embraces the noblest intercessor, whose intercession is accepted?

كنز هو المختار فيه تجمعت

سبل الهداية ياله من مجمع

A treasure is he, the Chosen One, in whom are gathered

The paths of guidance—what a gathering place!

من سبحت صم الحصا في كفه

والماء منها سال عذب المنبع

He in whose palm the hard pebbles glorified God,

And from it water flowed, sweet at its source.

وعلى الثرى قد فاض منها ابحر

من كل بحر قد وفى من اصبع

And onto the dust seas overflowed from it,

Each sea issuing in fullness from a finger.

والبدر شق لاجله والشمس قد

ردت وكانت منه آية يوشع

For his sake the full moon split, and the sun

Was brought back: through him came Joshua's sign.

وله العصا من وقتها قد اثمرت

رطبا تساقطه جني الموقع

For him the staff bore fruit at once:

Fresh dates that fell, ripe where they landed.

وله لواء الحمد ينصب في غد

ولغيره ذاك اللوا لم يرفع

His is the Banner of Praise, to be raised tomorrow;

For no one else will that banner be raised.

وهو الذي في الحشر كوثر حوضه

منه يطاف بكل كأس مترع

And he is the one whose pool at the Gathering is Kawthar,

From which every brimming cup is carried around.

وهو الذي نسخ الشرائع شرعه

بالبيض والسمر العوالي الشرع

And he is the one whose law superseded the laws

With white swords and tall, leveled brown spears.

واباد اهل الشرك في أحد وفي

بدر لهم قد كان اردا مصرع

And he destroyed the idolaters at Uhud and at

Badr, their most ruinous place of slaughter.

وحمى حمى الاسلام يوم الروع بالبي

ض الحداد وكل ليث اروع

And he guarded Islam's sanctuary in the hour of terror with white-

bladed, keen-edged swords and every awe-inspiring lion,

من فوق كل اقب اجرد سابح

كالبرق يلعب بالرياح الاربع

Atop every lean, sleek, swimming steed,

Like lightning, playing with the four winds.

كم بحر حرب في الوغى خاضوا به

ما بين منحدر يجوب ومقلع

How many seas of war they plunged through on it amid battle,

Some descending to traverse them, others setting sail,

من كل ليث في الحروب مقنع

ومقلد شاكي السلاح مدرع

Each a helmeted lion in war,

Sword-girded, fully armed, and clad in armor.

يتسابقون إلى حياض الموت كالمت

سابقين الى ورود المشرع

They race toward the pools of death, like those

Racing to drink at the watering place.

لا يرهبون الطعن الا انهم

يجدونه كالبرء للمتوجع

They do not fear spear-thrusts; rather,

They find them like healing for one in pain.

اسد قد اتخذوا لهم اجم القنا

سكنا ويفترسون كل ممنع

Lions who have made for themselves thickets of spears

A dwelling, and devour every well-defended foe.

وترى لهم وثبات كل غضنفر

عند الوغى وثبات كل سميدع

You see them make the leaps of every mighty lion,

In battle, the leaps of every valiant chief.

يجدون في وقع الاسنة رغبة

عند الهيلج وسنهم لم يقرع

They find delight in the striking of spearheads

Amid the melee [word unclear], with no gnashing of regret.

لا يتبعون الهاربين وانهم

لشد حربا من حروب التبع

They do not pursue those who flee, and indeed,

Their warfare is fiercer than the wars of Tubbaʿ.

قوم به نالوا اعز مكانة

وحووا من العلياء ارفع موضع

A people who through him attained the most honored rank

And gained the loftiest station of glory.

يتهللون ببدر طلعته وهم

من حوله مثل النجوم الطلع

They rejoice in the full moon of his countenance, while they

Around him are like rising stars.

فهو الذي من فيض جود يمينه

يولى النول مفتر ولموسع

For he is the one who, from the overflowing bounty of his right hand,

Bestows gifts on the needy [uncertain reading] and the wealthy.

يا سيد الرسل الكرام ومن سما

بالفضل والجاه العظيم الارفع

O master of the noble messengers, and one who rose

Through merit and great, exalted dignity,

خذها اليك من المشوق تحية

وافت وتلك هدية المستضع

Accept this greeting from one who longs for you;

It has arrived: this is the supplicant's gift [word unclear].

بجنابك بن مليك اضحى واثقا

فعساه يأمن هول ذاك المفزع

In your protection Ibn Mulayk has placed his trust;

May he be safe from the horror of that dreadful ordeal.

اني بمدحك في القيامة لم ازل

ارجو التخلص لي وحسن المطلع

For the Resurrection, through praising you I have always

Hoped for my deliverance and a fair rising.

صلى عليك الله يا علم الهدى

ما فاح روض بالشذا المتضوع

May God bless you, O beacon of guidance,

As long as a garden breathes its wafting fragrance,

وعلى القرابة والصحابة من بهم

حسن الختام حلا وحسن المقطع

And bless your kin and companions, through whom

The fair conclusion and the graceful close grow sweet.