عليكَ دُموعُ العَين لا زال تَنْهَلُّ

وَوَجْدي بكم وَجْدَ المفارقِ لا يَسْلو

The tears of my eyes keep flowing over you

And my love for you is like that of the departed - it knows no comfort

وها أنا من فقدانكم ما دَجا ليل

أبيتُ ولي وَجْدٌ حرارته تعلو

And here I am, in darkness from being deprived of you

I have spent the night in anguish, its heat ever rising

ودمعٌ لي في عارضي عارض هطلُ

شُغِلْتُ بهذا الوجد قلباً مجدَّدا

And a teardrop flows down my cheek like pouring rain

I have busied my heart with this anguish, renewing it

ولم أرَ لي من شاغل الدَّمع منقذا

إلامَ أُعاني ما أُعانيه من أذى

And I have not seen any savior from this tearful occupation

Except - what suffering do I suffer from harm?

وأطوي على جمرٍ وأُغْضي على قذى

وأُشغِلُ أعضائي وقلبي له شغلُ

I endure embers and turn a blind eye to thorns

And I busy my limbs and heart, which is preoccupied

أُقضِّي نهاري في عسى ولربَّما

وأبكي عليكم كلّ آونةٍ دَما

I spend my days hoping and sometimes

I weep for you every now and then

وإنِّي وعيشٍ فيكم قد تصرَّما

إذا اللَّيل وافى ضِقْتُ ذرعاً إلى الحمى

And I, who lived with you, have become destitute

When the night comes, I become extremely distressed to the point of fever

وفاضت شؤون ليس يعقِلُها عَقْلُ

شَجاني حَديثٌ بالبَوار مُصَرِّحُ

And passions poured out that no mind can comprehend

A heartrending conversation that revealed the state of barrenness

وأوْضَحَ لي حالَ الرُّصافةِ مُوضح

فمن ثَمَّ إنْ يُفضِحْ وللشوقِ مفصح

And clarified to me the condition of emptiness

So if it reveals and expresses this yearning

حَداني إلى الزَّوراء شوق مبرِّح

فلماذا الَّذي حَدَّثَتْ عن حالها سهل

It leads me to Az-Zawra' with a refreshing longing

So why did what spoke of its condition seem easy

وقالوا نَبَتْ لكنْ بأرباب فضلها

وجارَتْ على أشرافها بعد عدلها

And they said, vegetation has grown there with people of merit

And its elite have treated it with justice after its rectitude

فقلتُ ولا مأوًى إلى غير ظلّها

إذا ما نبت دارُ السلام بأهلها

So I said: There is no refuge but in its shade

When the Abode of Peace has grown with its people

فلا جبلٌ يؤوي الكرام ولا سهل

على ما أُصيبَت من عظيم مصابها

So neither mountain nor plain can shelter the generous

Despite the great calamity that has befallen it

وما آذَنَتْ أحداثها بخرابها

فلا ظِلَّ إلاَّ في فسيح رحابها

And the events that have signaled its destruction

So there is no shade but in its expansive sanctuary

وإنْ قَلُصَ الظلّ الَّذي في جنابها

فأين من الرَّمضاء في غيرها ظلّ

And if the shade that is in its side has shrunk

Then where in other than it is there shade in the burning heat?

أَيُعْرَفُ خفضُ العيش إلاَّ بخفضها

وفيض النمير العذب إلاَّ بفيضها

Is life's lowness known except through its lowness?

And the flowing of fresh water except through its flowing?

لئنْ أجْدَبَتْ يوماً فهل مثل روضها

وإنْ نَضِبَ الماء النمير بأرضها

If one day it becomes barren, is there any garden like it?

And if the flowing water dries up in its land

فأيّ شراب في سواها لنا يحلو

رعى الله ماضي عَهديَ المتقادمِ

Then what sweet drink but it can we have?

May God protect the past era of my life

ببغدادَ في رغدٍ منَ العَيش ناعمِ

وفي الكرخِ جاد الكرخ صوبُ الغمائمِ

In Baghdad, in ease and soft living

And in Karkh - Karkh facing the clouds

ديارٌ بها نيطَتْ عليَّ تمائمي

قديماً ولي فيها نما الفرع والأَصلُ

An abode in which my amulets were tied

And I had family and roots there long ago

يكلِّفُني عنها النَّوى فوقَ طاقتي

فسُكري بتذكاري بها وإفاقتي

Remembering it wearies me beyond my capacity

My intoxication with recalling it and waking from it

منازلُ أحبابي ومنشا علاقتي

بها سَكني في رَبعها الخصب ناقتي

The dwellings of my loved ones and the origin of my attachment

In it my she-camel settled in its fertile expanse

بها جَملي يرغو بها قِيمتي تغلو

تَذكَّرْتُ أحباباً لأيَّامِ جَمعها

In it my camel bellows, and my price with it soars

I remembered loved ones in the days of their company

ولم يَصْدَعِ البينُ المشتُّ بصَدْعها

فآهاً على وصلي لها بعد قطعها

And separation has not ripped its seam

Oh! For my union with it after its separation

ألا ليتَ شعري هل أراني بربعها

مقيماً وبالأَحباب يجتمع الشمل

I wish I knew - will it show me one of its quarters?

Settled, with loved ones reunited

عفا ربعها من رَسْمِه وطلوله

وأضحى هشيماً روضها بمحوله

Its countryside has vanished, its meadows transformed

So does the downpour revive it with its flooding?

فيا هلْ يروِّيها الحيا بهموله

وهل روضها يخضرُّ بعد ذبوله

And will its meadows green after withering?

And will ruin and decay assail its leaves?

ويهمي على أوراقه الوبل والطّلّ

لقد شاقني منها كرامٌ أماجدُ

Indeed, noble and glorious people have made it hard for me

Their resting places are goals for all people

مشاهِدُهم للعالمين مقاصِدُ

فهلْ أنا في تلك المقاعد قاعد

So am I sitting in those seats?

And am I on the day of glory headed for

وهل أنا في يوم العروبة قاصد

لحضرة بازٍ شأنها الفصلُ والوصلُ

The courtyard whose separating and uniting are supreme?

And will I one day obtain my goals

وهل أنا يوماً ظافرٌ بمقاصِدي

فمكرمُ أحبابي ومكبتُ حاسِدي

Honored by my loved ones and suppressing my envious enemies

And will I follow the custom of my habits with the brethren

وأجري مع الإِخوان مجرى عوائدي

وهلْ كلّ يوم لاثم كفَّ والدي

And will I every day kiss the palm of my father

My father Mustafa, whose resolve is always lofty

أبي مصطفى ذي همَّة أبداً تعلو

وهلْ علماءٌ طبَّقَ الأرض علمُهُمْ

And will scholars whose knowledge has encompassed the earth

And whose understanding has perplexed minds

وحَيَّرَ أفهام البريَّةِ فَهْمُهُمْ

تَقَرّ بهم عيني وينجاب غمّهم

Draw near them, lightening their worries?

And will the poets of both lands gather them

وهل أدباء الجانبين يضمّهم

وإيَّاي طاقٌ نقله الأَدب الجزل

While I have the capacity to convey their morals?

So I come in the morning, not as we were separated

فأَغدو ولا كانَ التفرُّق لاقيا

وجُوهاً عليها قد بَلَلْتُ المآقيا

Faces I have watered with tears from missing them

With a capacity that has risen above those contained in minarets

بطاقٍ رقى فيمن حواه المراقيا

وذلك طاقُ الشّهم لا زال باقيا

And this is the capacity of the valiant, still enduring

For him is the necklace in its corners, and for him the solution

له العَقْد في أرجائه وله الحلّ

وهل يُرِيَنِّي مُصبِحاً كلّ منجب

Will the dawn show me each intrepid one

And seasoned diver in the depths of calamities

وخوَّاض أغمارِ الخطوب مجرّب

وكلّ فتًى عذب الكلام مهذّب

And every refined, eloquent youth

And will it show me, after sunset

وهل يرينّي ذاهباً بعد مغرب

لتكيّة شيخِ العصرِ مَن جَوْرُه العَدل

Going to the shaykh of the era's retreat - the one whose oppression is justice

He built it for venerable shayks

بناها لأشياخٍ قرارة عِزِّهم

وصَدَّرَهم فيها ولاذَ بحرزهم

And made them its elite and took them into his protection

Even if he did not comprehend the indication of their cipher

وإنْ كانَ لم يفقه إشارة رمزهم

ففيها صدورٌ لازموه لعجزهم

For in it are breasts who kept to it due to their frailty

And they did not complain of traveling to him, though they are exhausted

وما ظعنوا بالسير عنه وقد كلّوا

بَلَوّنا سراها بعد إصرام حبلها

We endured its apartments after determination tired of diverting us

And the affliction of enduring its like became impossible

فكان من البلوى تعذُّرُ مثلها

ديارٌ عَرَفنا بعدها كنه فضلها

An abode whose merit we recognized after it

Greetings upon that abode and its people

سلام على تلك الديار وأهلها

فهم في فؤادي دائماً أينما حلّوا

For they are always in my heart wherever they are

It pleases my eye that it be illuminated

يَروقُ لعَيْني أنْ تكونَ جلاءها

وتشتاقُ نفسي أرضَها وسماءها

And my soul yearns for its land and sky

And whoever said I forget its water and air

ومن قال أسلو ماءها وهواءها

فوالله لا أسلو هواها وماءها

By God, I do not forget its air and water

When my heart is there, then when could I forget?

إذا كانَ قلبي عندها فمتى أسلو

أحبَّتَنا مِنِّي السلامُ عليكمُ

My loved ones, from me is peace upon you

When the scrolls of passion are spread before you

إذا نُشِرَتْ صحفُ الغرام لديكمُ

أحبَّتنا والدهرُ أبعد عنكمُ

My loved ones, though time has distanced you from me

My loved ones, is there any reaching you?

أحِبَّتنا هلْ من وُصولٍ إليكمُ

فقد تعبت بيني وبينكم الرسل

For the messengers have tired between me and you

I lost touch with you though passion is with me

تناءيت عنكم والهوى فيكم معي

كأنْ لم أكنْ منكم بمرأىً ومسمع

As if I had not been seen or heard by you

And my distance from my lands and dwellings has been long

وقد طالَ بُعدي عن دياري وأربعي

ألا هِمَّةٌ تُرجى ووصلٌ مُرجّعي

Oh! For an aspiration hoped for and a union to return me

To you, if you wish, through it the love will reconnect

لديكم إذا شئتم به اتصل الحبل

أحِبَّتنا أصبو إلى حسن قولكم

My loved ones, I aspire to your good words

And if I taste bitterness in it from the sweetness of your affection

وإنْ ذُقْتُ فيه المُرَّ من حُلو عذلكم

أحِنُّ لمغناكم وسامي محلكم

I yearn for your songs and your sublime position

And I, in calling upon you for your misdeeds

وإنّي بناديكم على سوء فعلكم

أرى أبداً عندي مرارته تحلو

Always see its bitterness as sweet with me

I asked a God whose request I spoke sincerely

سألتُ إلهاً لم أخِبْ بسؤاله

بلوغَ المنى من فضله ونواله

To attain the purpose through His grace and bestowal

And I supplicate the supplication of Eid in beseeching Him

وأدعو دعاءَ العيد عند ابتهاله

وأسأل ربي بالنبيّ وآله

And I ask my Lord by the Prophet and his progeny

To facilitate my return to you - and to Him belongs all bounty

يسهّل عَودي نحوكم وله الفضل