سَكبَ الدَّمع لها فانسَكبا

وقَضى من حَقِّها ما وجبا

He shed tears for her, so they flowed

And fulfilled what was due to her

أرْبعٌ لولا تباريحُ الهوى

ما جرى دَمعُك فيها صَبَبا

Four, if not for the calamities of passion

Your tears would not have flowed copiously for her

وجَدت فيها السوافي مَلْعَباً

للنّوى فاتَّخَذتْها ملعبا

I found the blades a playground

For my sorrows, so I took them as a playground

ما لقينا بوقوف الرّكب في

ساحةِ النّعمان إلاَّ نصبا

When the caravan stopped at

Al-Nu'man's field, we only saw grief

ذكر الصبُّ وهل ينسى بها

زمنَ اللَّهو وأيَّام الصّبا

The passion and did it forget her

The days of play and youth

يا رعى الله بها لي قمراً

مُشرِقَ الطلعة لمنْ غربا

O God, bless her for me as a moon

Rising brilliantly for one who has set

أمنًى للنَّفس في أهل مِنًى

وقباب الحيّ في وادي قبا

I wish for my soul among the people of Minā

And the tents of the Hajj in the valley of Qubā

فلقد كنتُ وكانتْ فتيةٌ

أنجمَ الأُفق وأزهار الرُّبى

For I was, and she was, the stars

Of the horizon and flowers of the meadows

ذهب الدهر بهم فامتزجَت

فضَّة الأدمع فيهم ذهبا

Time took them, so the silver

Of my tears mingled with gold in them

يا خَليليَّ وهلاّ شِمْتُما

بارقاً لاحَ لعيني وخبا

O my friend, if only I had smelt

A lightning flash that dazzled my eye and disappeared

فتوارى كفؤادي لهباً

ثمَّ أورى زنده والتهبا

But it hid like my heart aflame

Then covered its embers and burned

لَعِبَ الشَّوق بأحشائي وما

جَدَّ جِدُّ الوَجْد حتَّى لعبا

Passion toyed with my innards but

Ardent fervor did not play until it played

فانشدنّ لي في الحمى قلباً فقد

ضاعَ منِّي في الحمى أو غُصِبا

Sing to me in fever a heart, for I have

Lost mine in the fever or it was taken forcibly

نظرت عيناي أسرابَ المها

نظرةً كانت لحَيْني سببا

My eyes saw the gazelles of Mahā

A look that was for my time a cause

يوم أصْبَتْنا إلى دين الهوى

فتَعَلَّلْنا بأرواح الصَّبا

The day we inclined toward the religion of love

So we were afflicted with the spirits of youth

وعدونا زورة الطَّيف أما

آنَ ميعادهُم واقتربا

And we promised the phantom of the specter that indeed

Their appointment was near and drawing close

أربُ النَّفس وحاجات امرئٍ

ما قضى منهم لعمري أربا

The self's ties and the needs of a man

Fulfilled none in my lifetime

قَضَتِ الأَيَّام فيما بيننا

إنَّنا لم نلقَ يوماً طربا

The days amongst us passed

We never met a day of joy

وَهَبَ الدَّهر لنا لذَّته

واستردَّ الدهر ما قد وهبا

And time granted us its pleasures

Then took back what it had granted

ومنعنا من أفاويق الطّلا

منهلاً كانَ لنا مستعذبا

And prevented us from the cups of wine

A spring that was sweet for us

فحدا الحادي لسقيا عهدكم

عارضاً إنْ ساقه البرق كبا

So the announcer hastened to give us your drink

Intercepting, if its lightning zigzagged

مقلةُ الوالع يذري دمعَها

وبكى القطر لها وانتحبا

The amorous glances of the enamored rain its tears

And the drops wept for it and lamented

أمر القلب بصبرٍ فقضى

ودعا الصَّبرَ إليها فأبى

The heart commanded patience so it fulfilled

And called patience to it but it refused

قلَّما يُدعى فيقضي حاجةً

وإذا ما انتدبوه انتدبا

It is rarely called to fulfill a need

And if they assign it, it is assigned

واللَّيالي فَلَكٌ يظهر في

كلِّ يومٍ عجباً مستغربا

And the nights are a sphere that appears in

Every day a wondrous wonder

وكآفاق العُلى ما أطْلَعَتْ

كشهاب الدِّين فينا كوكبا

And like the horizons of the Most High, whenever

It rose like the star of faith in us a planet

فتأمَّل في معاني ذاته

وتفكَّر فتَحدَّثْ عجبا

So contemplate the meanings of its essence

And reflect, so speak wondrously

هيبة لله في مطلعه

ملأت قلب الأَعادي رعبا

Awe of God in its emergence

Filled the hearts of enemies with fear

يُرْتجى جوداً ويُخشى سطوة

رغباً يُرجى ويخشى رهبا

Hoping for generosity and fearing violence

Greedily hoping and fearing timidly

عالم الدُّنيا وناهيك به

لا يشوبُ العلم إلاَّ أدبا

Knowledgeable of the world, but suffice it

Knowledge is not adorned except by manners

معربٌ عن فكره الثاقب إنْ

زفَّ أبكار المعاني عُرُبا

Expressing his penetrating mind if

He presented the virgin ideas in Arabic

كم تجلَّتْ فَجَلَتْ أفكاره

عن سنا كلّ عويص غيهبا

How his ideas were manifested, so they shone

Beyond the straits of every oblique perplexity

فأرَتْنا الحقّ يبدو واضحاً

بعد أن قاربَ يحتجبا

So it showed us the truth clearly

After it had nearly been concealed

بلسان يفصِلُ الأَمر به

كشبا الصَّمصام أو أمضى شبا

With a tongue that judges the matter with it

Like Indian steel or sharper than Indian steel

فخُذِ اللؤلؤَ من ألفاظِهِ

واجْتَني إن شِئْتَ منها ضَرَبا

So take the pearl from his words

And pick from it, if you wish, examples

وفكاهات إذا أوْرَدَها

نُظِمَتْ فوق الحميَّا حببا

And his jokes, if he presented them

Were composed atop the best poems

وكمالات له معجزة

وأحاديثاً رواها نخبا

And his perfections are miraculous

And accounts he narrated selectively

أين من أقلامه سُمُرُ القنا

أين من همَّته بيض الظبا

Where are the pens of his fellows compared to

Where are their resolves compared to the resolves of gazelles

وكلام راقَ في السَّمع كما

يروقُ العينَ فيما كتبا

And his words appealed to the hearing as

The vision appeals in what it has written

عَلَويٌّ من أعالي هاشم

هاشم الجود ويكفي نسبا

Alawite from the highs of Hashim

Hashim of generosity, and lineage suffices

صاغه الله لقوم أرباً

ولقومٍ حَسَدوه عطبا

God fashioned him as a shelter

For a people, and for a people who envied him a ruin

لا يزال الدهر يعلو جدّه

مرتقيها في المعالي رتبا

Time does not cease to elevate his grandfather

Climbing its ranks to the heights

فإذا بُوحِثَ بالجدّ علا

وإذا غولبَ فيه غَلَبا

So if his ancestry is examined, he ascends

And if overpowered in it, he overcomes

أبلجٌ تحسبه بدرَ الدُّجى

أو بأضواءِ الصَّباح انتقبا

Dazzling, you would think him the full moon of nightfall

Or in the lights of dawn he peered

ديمةٌ منهلَّة ما شمْتُ في

بارق الآمال منها خلَّبا

Continuous, an openhanded cloud from which I have not smelt

In the lightning of hopes from it a drizzle

ولئنْ أصْبَحَ روضي ممحلاً

فكم اخضرَّ به واعشوشبا

And if my meadow blossomed

How much it greened with it and was canopied

يهنِكَ العيدُ فخذْ من لائذ

بِكم ما كنتُ له مستوجبا

Eid gladdens you, so take from my creation

For you what I was not deserving of

شاكراً منك على العيدِ يداً

لم أُفاخر بسواها السُّحبا

Thanking your hand for Eid

I would not boast of other than it to the clouds

فتفضَّل يا ابن بنت المصطفى

أشرف العالم أُمًّا وأبا

So favor, O son of the daughter of Mustafa

The most noble of the world in mother and father