أداروا الهوى صِرْفاً فغادرهم صَرْعَى

فلمّا صَحَوْا من سُكرِهم شَرِبوا الدَّمْعا

They turned love astray, so it abandoned them as corpses.

When they woke from their drunkenness, they drank tears.

وما عَلِموا أنّ الهوى لو تكَلَّفوا

محَبَّةَ أهليه لصارَ لهم طبعا

They did not know that if they had pretended

To love their families, it would have become their nature.

ولما استلذّوا مَوْتَهم بعَذابه

وَعَيْشَهمُ في عُدْمِه سألوا الرُّجعى

When they found pleasure in their death through its torment,

And their life in its absence, they asked for return.

إذا فقدوا بعض الغرام توَلَّهوا

كأنَّ الهوى سَنَّ الغَرامَ لهم شَرْعَا

When they lost some of their passion, they became distracted,

As if love had made passion a law for them.

وقد دفعوا عن وَجْدِهمْ كلَّ سَلْوَةٍ

ولو وَجَدَتْه ما أطاقَتْ له دَفْعَا

They repelled all solace from their love,

And if solace had found it, it could not have repelled it.

وطاب لهم وَقْعُ السِّهام فما جَلَوْا

لصائبها بِيضاً ولا نسَجوا دِرْعا

The falling of arrows was sweet to them - they did not ward it off

With white shields or weave armor.

فكيفَ يُعَدُّ اللَّوْمُ نُصْحاً لَدَيْهمُ

إذا كان ضُرّ الحُبّ عندهمُ نَفْعَا

So how can blame be considered advice to them

When the harm of love is benefit to them?

خَلا الرَّبْع من أحبابِهم وقلوبُهمْ

مِلاءٌ بهم فالرَّبْعُ مَن سأل الرَّبْعا

Their dwellings are empty of their loved ones, yet their hearts

Are full of them, so who needs dwellings?

سَلِ الوُرْقَ عن يوم الفِراق فإنّهُ

بأَيْسَرِ خَطْبٍ منه عَلَّمَها السَّجَعا

Ask the leaves about the day of parting - it

Taught them prosody in the gentlest manner.

إذا صَدَحَتْ فاعلَمْ بأنّ كُبودَها

مُؤَرَّثَةٌ غَمّاً تُكابده صَدْعَى

When they rustle, know that their bosoms

Are bequeathed grief that they endure splitting them.

وذاك بأنّ البَيْنَ بانَ بإلْفِها

وكيف ينالُ الوَصْلَ من وَجَدَ القَطْعا

That is because separation was brought about by their union,

And how can one attain union when one experiences separation?

وأهلُ الهوى إنْ صافحَتْهُم يدُ النَّوى

رَأَوْا نَهْيَها أمراً وَتَفْريقَها جَمْعَا

And if the hand of destiny shakes the people of passion,

They see its prohibition as a command, and its parting as a union.

رعى وسقى اللهُ القلوبَ التي رَعَتْ

فَأَسْقَتْ بما أَلْقَتْ وأخرجَتِ المَرْعى

God tended and quenched the hearts that tended,

So they quenched with what they brought forth and produced pasture.

وحَيّا وأحْيا أَنْفُساً أَحْيَتِ النُّهى

وحَيَّتْ فَأَحْيَتْنا مَناقِبُها سِمْعا

They gave life and revived souls that gave life to propriety

And came to life, so their virtues gave us life when we heard them.

سحائِبُ إنْ شِيمَتْ عن المَوْصِلِ التي

بها حَلَّتِ الأنواءُ أَحْسَنتِ الصُّنْعا

Clouds, if they withhold from the arrival for which

The showers descended, have done the best work.

أوائِلُها من شَهْرَزورٍ إذا اعْتَزَتْ

جزى اللهُ بالخيرِ الأراكة والفَرْعا

Their early rain in Shawwal when it is stingy

May God reward the scattered isolated rain and branches with good.

وَجَدْتُ الحَيا عنها بنُجْعَةِ غيره

فَأَعْقَبَنا رَيَّاً وأحْسَبَنا شِبْعا

I found the serpents away from it for someone else's sake,

So it made us feel satisfied and counted us replete.

ونِلْنا به وِتْرَ العطاء وَشَفْعَهُ

كأنّا أَقَمْنا نحوه الوتْرَ والشَّفْعا

Through it we attained grace’s string and its oddness,

As if we stood for the odd prayer towards it and the even one.