أرأيتَ إن أخذ الغرام على يَدي

أن أنتهي في حبهنَّ وأبتَدي

Have you seen that if passion takes my hand,

That I begin loving them and initiate,

أيكونُ لومُك عند ذلك نافعي

أم مانعي أم مصلحي أم مفسدي

Would your blame then be of benefit to me,

Or prevention, or betterment, or corruption?

وأغن يقطر ماءُ خدَّيه ندىً

لو كان يَندى صاحبُ الخد الندي

And I wish the dew of his cheeks would drip,

If the owner of the soft cheek would drip,

يَغدو وفي نظراته سنةُ الكرى

أيكونُ أولى بالرواح المغتَدي

In the morning, in his glances is the sun of daybreak,

Would he be more deserving for souls to melt?

أبصرتُه ما تستقلُّ جُفونُه

فعجبتُ من قطع الحسام المغمدِ

I saw him, his eyelids don’t settle,

So I wondered at the sheathed sword cutting,

ولقد رأى الضرب الدارك مكذباً

ذاك الفتورَ فأتقي بتجلُّدي

And he saw the dark blow as a lie,

That languor, so he was cautious in my patience.

بئسَ المجنّ وبئسَ ما حملت يَدي

يوم اللحاظِ الضاربان الأيدِ

Evil is the battle and evil is what my hands carried,

The day of glancing, the two hands striking.

طال الوقوف على صفاءِ مودة

تُرجى وتُطلب من صفاةِ الجَلمدِ

Standing on the clarity of affection was long,

Hoped for and sought from the pure cold.

وتول عنه مجانباً وتولَّني

لك صاحباً واشرَب وسق وغرِّدِ

And turn away from him, distancing me,

Take as company and drink and chirp.

كأساً إذا جُليت علينا في الدجى

لم يبق منه غيرُ صدعٍ أسودِ

A cup, when it's finished for us in the darkness,

Nothing remains of it but a black fracture.

وتظنُّها دارت عليكَ وإنما

دارت على نوبِ الزمان بمرقدِ

And you think it went around you, but in fact,

It went around the cycles of time in its orbit.

شيء تخصُّ به وكيفَ وإنما

هو من خلائق أحمد بن محمدِ

Something you specify with it, how, when in fact,

It is of the morals of Ahmed bin Mohammed.

يَلقى الخطوبَ مصرعاتٍ حوله

والدهر يندبُها فيبكي حُسَّدي

He meets calamities around him as obstacles,

And fate laments them, so my eyes weep.

وتراه بين لقائه وعطائه

ما بين مستبقٍ إلى مُستَنفدِ

And you see him between his meeting and giving,

What’s between a frontrunner and a depleted one.

وإذا الفتى اختار البقاء على الفنا

فهنالِكَ المجدي يكون المجتدي

And if the youth chose staying over perishing,

There, the glory, he would be the striver.

نقلت مكارمُه الندى عن هيبه

عرفت لنا بالحاتميّ الأحمدي

His virtues carried the dew from his awe,

We knew for us the Hatemi, the Ahmadi.

وتشابهت أفعالهُ في حُسنها

والغانياتُ وزِدنَ صدقَ الموعدِ

And his deeds resembled in their goodness,

As did the melodies, truthfulness of promise increased.

ولدت رئاستُه الرئاسَةَ مولداً

عُرفت طوالعُه وإن لم تُرصدِ

His leadership birthed leadership innately,

His horoscopes were known even if not tracked.

جمعَت له الأفلاكُ بين سعودها

ودنَت إليه وكان سعدَ الأسعدِ

The cosmos gathered for him between its felicity,

And approached him, and he was the happiest of the happy.

فإذا ترنَّم راكبٌ بحديثه

ملأ الفلاةَ بمثل ما ملأَ الندي

So if a rider hums with his words,

He fills the expanse with what filled the dew.

من فضل هذا اليوم أن أصبحتُما

تَتَشابهان معيداً لمعيِّدِ

From the virtue of this day that I woke up,

You two resemble each other, repeating the repeater.

لو لم تكن في كل عام مفرداً

ما كان مشتبهاً بهذا المفردِ

If it were not exceptional each year,

It would not be similar to this exceptional one.

سقياً لأيامٍ أزورُك راغباً

فيها ويعرفُ من سواك تزهُّدي

Quenching for days I visit you willingly,

In them, and others know of your abstemiousness from me.

فيكَ اهتدى من ضلَّ عن طُرق الهُدى

حتى إذا ناواك ضلَّ المُهتدي

In you, one who strayed from the path of guidance was guided,

Until, when they attained you, the guided one strayed.