هذا الحمام فأطربن وغرد — Mufti Fathallah

هَذا الحمامُ فَأَطرِبنَّ وَغرِّدِ

وَاِذكُر عُهُودَكَ بِالعَقيقِ وَجَدِّدِ

Here are the doves—so stir delight and warble!

And recall your former days at al-Aqiq, and renew them.

وَاِذكُرْ عِهِبّاءَ الشبابِ وَشَرخَه

قَد مرَّ يَحلو وهوَ غَير مجدَّدِ

And remember youth's vigor and its prime;

It passed in sweetness, never to be renewed.

أَيّامُ لَهوِكَ بِالصّبابَةِ وَالصِّبا

مُتعلقاً حبَّ المَهى والخُرَّدِ

The days of your revelry in ardent love and youth,

Enthralled by love of oryx-eyed beauties and bashful maidens;

أَيّامَ تيهِك بِالشّبيبَةِ غاوِياً

وَلَئِن رَأَيتَ سَنى المَهدي لا تهتدي

The days of your pride in youth, wandering astray,

Even if you saw the Mahdi's radiance, you would not find your way.

حَيثُ اللّيالي بِالحَبيبِ مُنيرةٌ

وَالبدرُ يَضرِبُ في الدّجى بِمهنَّدِ

Where the nights are illumined by the beloved,

And the full moon strikes in the darkness with an Indian-steel sword;

حَيثُ المُسامِرُ كلّ مَن سَلَبَ الحِجى

مِن كلِّ غُصنٍ في المَلاحَةِ أَملَدِ

Where your night companions are all who steal reason,

Each a supple bough of loveliness;

وَاللَّيلُ لَيلُ الوَصْلِ أَبيضُ نَيِّرٌ

لَو لَم يَفُت لَم يَتَّصفْ بِالأسودِ

And night—the night of union—is white and radiant;

Had it not slipped away, it would not be called black.

وَالصّبحُ صالَ عَلى الظّلامِ مُبارزاً

يَسطو بِسَيفٍ في الظَّلامِ مجرَّدِ

And dawn charged against the darkness as a duelist,

Striking with a sword unsheathed amid the dark.

البَدرُ يَطلعُ في السَّماءِ كَغُرّةٍ

تَبدو لِطَرفي في جَبينِ مُحمَّدِ

The full moon rises in the sky like a shining mark

That meets my gaze upon Muhammad's brow—

السيِّدِ الشَّهمِ الشَّريفِ أَخي العُلى

المُستَبِدّ عَنِ الوَرى بِالسّؤددِ

The gallant, noble master, brother to lofty glory,

Who stands apart from all mankind in preeminence;

الفَردِ شَيخي الأَكبر السّامي الذّرى

قُطب الكمالِ المُعتَلي لِلفَرقَدِ

The peerless one, my greatest shaykh, whose summits soar,

The pole of perfection, rising to the Farqad star;

العارِفِ الصوفِيِّ صافي السرِّ مَنْ

حازَ الصّفا بِزَهادَةٍ وتجرُّدِ

The Sufi gnostic, pure in his innermost being, who

Attained purity through asceticism and detachment;

الزاهِدِ الورعِ النقيّ أَخي التُّقى

صِنْو اِبن أَدهمَ والسريّ الأمجدِ

The ascetic, scrupulous and pure, brother to piety,

Peer of Ibn Adham and the most illustrious al-Sari;

بَحرِ المَعارفِ وَالمكارمِ والنّدى

والمَنهلِ العذبِ الكَثيرِ المَوردِ

A sea of spiritual knowledge, noble virtues, and generosity,

And the sweet watering place to which many come;

مَن قَد تَحلَّى بِالمَحامِد مفرداً

لَمّا تَخلّى في المَحاسِنِ عن نِدِ

Who adorned himself with praiseworthy qualities, unrivaled,

When, in virtues, he stood without a peer;

مَن كُحِّلت عينا بَصيرةِ قَلبهِ

من نور عِرفانٍ بأنفعِ إثمدِ

Whose heart's two eyes of insight were lined

With the most beneficial antimony, drawn from the light of gnosis;

مَن ظَلَّ في فَلَكِ الحقيقةِ سابِحاً

يَجلو الضّلالَةَ وَهوَ أَكملُ مرشدِ

Who remained swimming in the sphere of truth,

Dispelling error as the most perfect guide;

مَن قَد رَوَينا مِن حَديثِ صِفاتِهِ

حسنَ الكمال عَنِ الفَريدِ الأوحدِ

From accounts of whose qualities we have recounted

Perfection's beauty, on the authority of the unique, peerless one;

مَن لَو تَلَونا آيةً مِن فَضلِهِ

لَم نَستَمِعْ في الكَونِ غَيرِ مجوَّدِ

Were we to recite a verse of his excellence,

We would hear throughout creation nothing but fine recitation;

مَن تَوَّجَ العِرفانَ مِن تَأليفِهِ

بِلآلئٍ كَزَبرجَدٍ وَزمرِّدِ

Who crowned gnosis through his writings

With pearls like chrysolite and emerald;

من كُلّ مَكنونِ الجَواهرِ صحفهُ

مِن فضّة وَمِدادهُ مِن عَسجَدِ

Of every hidden jewel; his pages

Are of silver, and his ink of pure gold.

مَن كلِّ نادِرَةٍ لَديهِ يَتيمَةٍ

تزري بِعَقد في العقودِ مُنضَّدِ

Whose every rare jewel is a peerless pearl

That puts to shame a necklace well-strung among necklaces;

يا فَخرَ دامونٍ فَقَد أَبدَت لَنا

شَمساً بِغَيرِ النَّفعِ لَم تَتَوقَّدِ

O pride of Damun, she has indeed revealed to us

A sun that blazes for nothing but benefit.

لَو لَم تَكُن فَلَكَ السّعادَةِ لَم تَكُن

مَنَّت بِبدرٍ في المَعالي مفرَدِ

Had she not been the sphere of felicity, she would not have

Bestowed a full moon, peerless in lofty attainments.

شَرُفت بِهِ وَالسّعدُ كانَ رِداءَها

وَالفَخرُ ثَوبٌ تَكتَسيهِ وَتَرتَدي

She was ennobled by him, and good fortune was her mantle;

And glory is a robe she dons and wears.

فَأَشِر إِلَيها لو نَأَتْ أَكنافُها

بِاللّثْمِ كَالحجرِ السعيدِ الأسعدِ

So gesture toward her, even if her outskirts lie far away,

With a kiss, as to the blessed, most auspicious Stone.

تِلكَ الَّتي أَبدَت لِحجِّ رَجائِنا

حَرَمَ القَبول وَكَعبَةً للمقصدِ

She is the one who revealed, for our hope's pilgrimage,

The sanctuary of acceptance and a Kaaba for the quest.

وَكَريمُ نَفسٍ لا يُشابُ بِشُبهَةٍ

وَشَريفُ أَصلٍ في الكرامِ وَمحتدِ

And noble of soul, untainted by any suspicion,

And of noble origin and lineage among the noble;

وَسَحابُ جودَةِ كَفّهِ بَحرُ النّدى

فَإِذا هَمى يَسقيكَ مِن أَحلى يَدِ

And the cloud of his hand's generosity is a sea of bounty;

So when it pours, it gives you drink from the sweetest hand.

يا أَيّها المَولَى مدحتُكَ ناظماً

غُررَ المَدائِحِ في القَريضِ الجيِّدِ

O master, I praised you, composing

The choicest praises in fine verse.

نَقحتهُ تَنقيحَ خِلِّ بلاغةٍ

فيه البلاغةُ فضلُها لم يُجحَدِ

I polished it as a close friend of eloquence would;

In it, eloquence's merit has not been denied.

أَرسَلته لَكَ لا يُعابُ وإنْ يُعَبْ

بَينَ الحِسانِ فَمن غدا لم يُحسَدِ

I sent it to you, faultless; and if it is faulted

Among beauties, who has ever gone unenvied?

فَاِقبَلهُ وَاِسلَم في هَنِيِّ مَعيشَةٍ

ما قَد أَجابَ مُغرِّدٌ لمغرِّدِ

So accept it, and remain safe in a life of ease,

As long as one warbler answers another,

أَو ما اِبنُ فَتحِ اللَّهِ هامَ بِقائِلٍ

هذا الحمامُ فأطربنَّ وغرِّدِ

Or as long as Ibn Fath Allah is enraptured by one who says:

"Here are the doves—so stir delight and warble!"