لَعِبَت بَعدَ ما انقَضَى الرَّيعَانُ

مِن شَبَابي بِحِلمِىِّ الأظعَانِ

She played after youth had passed,

With my dreams that were most dear.

فتَنَتني غَدَاةَ وَلَّت فَوَلَّى الص

صَبرُ وانهَلَّ المَدمَعُ المُصطَانُ

She tempted me one morning then turned away,

Patience gave way and tears began to flow.

غَادَرَتني بَينَ الدِّيَارِ وكَم غُو

دِرَ بَينَ المَنَازِلِ الحَيرَانِ

She left me among the homes - how many

Were perplexed between the dwellings!

رُمتَ إخفَاءَ مَا رَمَانِي بِهِ ال

بَينُ ولِلسِّرِّ بالدُّمُوعِ بَيَانُ

You tried to hide what the white days had afflicted me with,

And for the secret, tears make clear.

ظَلتُ في الدُّورِ بَعدَهُنَّ لِعَيني

جَرَيَانٌ ولِلحَشَا غَلَيَانُ

In the houses after them my eyes

Became two streams and passion a blaze.

فَكَأنَّ الدُّمُوعَ عَندَمٌ أودَم

مُ نَجِيعٌ أووَرسٌ أو أُرجُوانُ

So it was as if the tears were a lifeblood

Or a wound's purge or purple dye.

أو جُمُانٌ فَالدَّمعُ يَجرِى كَمَا يَر

فَضُّ ِإذَا خَانَهُ النِّظَامُ الجُمَانُ

Or a torrent when structure was lost

And the dykes were betrayed by order.

أو شَعِيبٌ مَفرِيةٌ لَم يُخَامِر

كُتَبَ الخُرقِ في كُلاَهَا دِهَانُ

Or an unlined Saibian cloak that did

Not trouble to patch any part.

وكَأني غَدَاةَ رَدَّت إِلَى البَي

نِ مَرَاسِلَها الهِجَانَ القِيَانُ

And as if in the morning she returned

Her intractable messenger, the wild camels.

وتَمَطَّت كَالسُّفُنِ تَجدِ فُهافي

لُحَجِ الخِضرِمِ النَّواتِى الهِجَانُ

And swayed like ships when they enter

The green tides' dashing places.

وَرَقَبتُ الهِجَانَ تَعتسِفُ الكُث

بانَ تَنهَارُ تَحتَها الكُثبَانُ

And my neck bore the onslaught

Of the camels till the sand-dunes collapsed beneath them -

نَاقِفٌ حنظَلاً أوَ أبلَهُ أو مَا

مُومٌ أو ذُو اختِبَالٍ أو نَشوَانُ

A cock-eyed Nahjali, or Babrah amulet,

Or trinket, or having some madness or arousal.

وَكَأَنَّ الحَمُولَ والآلُ كَالمِر

آةِ فَوقَ الصُّوَى لَهُ لَمَعَانُ

And as if the luggage and paraphenalia were

Like mirrors above the plains in their flashing.

سُفُنٌ أو إٍثلٌ أوِ النَّخلُ مَن شَو

كَانَ إِذ أتَت أُكلَهَا شَوكَانُ

Ships or sculptures or palm-trees from Shawkan

When their ripening dates were brought to them by the thorns.

وكَأنَّ الرَّقمَ المُعَالَى نَجِيعٌ

فَهوَ لِلطَّيرِ فَوقَهُ طَيرَانُ

And as if the high-stacked litter were a blaze

So above it the birds circled.

وكَأنَّ الحِسَانَ مُحتَجِبَاتٍ

في الخُدُورِ اليَاقُوتُ والمُرجَانُ

And as if the beauties were secluded

In the tents, the ruby and the coral.

إِنَّ فِيهِنَّ شَادِناً أدعَجَ العَي

نَينِ لِي مِنهُ بالرُّنُوِّ افتِتَانُ

Among them one, whose languishing has ensnared

My eyes through his bending, slender and pale.

أسوَدَ الفَرعِ أبلَجَ الوَجهِ بَر

قييَ المُحَيَّا ثُدِيُّهُ الرُّمَانُ

Black of branch, white of face, gleaming forehead,

His breast pomegranates, his buttocks quinces.

قَرقفي الرُّصابِ بَاني مَيسٍ

يَتَثَنَّى كَمَا يَمِيسُ أَلبَانُ

Bow-legged, with a Maysan gap-toothed mouth,

Bent as camel's milk bends.

حَيثُمَأ افتَرَّ اُقحُوَانٍ

في لِثَاتٍ كَأَنَّهَا الطَّيلَسَانُ

Wherever the gum showed from his teeth

Like the wormwood - and upon his skin perfume censed.

قَالَ لِى صَاحبي ولِلدَّمعِ فَوقَ الن

نَحرِ مِن لَوعَةِ النَّوَى جَرَيَانُ

My friend said to me, and tears were flowing down his breast

From the burning anguish of passion:

هَانَ مَن أُشرِبَ الهَوَى إِنَّ كَأسَ ال

حُبِّ فِيهَا لِشارِبيها إمتِهَانُ

"He who was made to drink love is despised,

For in the cup of love there is degradation for its drinkers."

قُلتُ أصلُ الهَوَى هَوَانٌ عَلَى أن

لَم يَكن في الهَوَانِ فِيهِ هَوَانُ

I said: "The origin of passion is abasement, unless

There was no abasement in it."

لَيسَ هُوناً أن تُنضِىَّ العِيسَ في ال

بيدِ إِلى البِيضِ الخُرَّدِ الفُتيَانُ

It's no slight thing to drive the ram to the ruin

Or the white chickens, the delicate boys.

وتُجِيدَ الشِّعرَ المُهَذَّبَ كَالدُّر

رِ لَهُ بالأصدَافِ اكتِنَانُ

And to excel in poetry, refined like pearls,

Adorned for them in shells.

هَجَرَتني أمَامُ فَأَختُلِبَ ال

عَقلُ وذَادَ التَّصبُّرَ الهِجرَانُ

She deserted me in public and my reason slipped away

As endurance was overcome by separation.

وَعَدتني فَمَا وَقَت وَبَدالِى

أنَّ عُقبَى عِدَاتِهَا الرَّوغَانُ

She promised then failed to keep the time,

And instead her promises were filled with treachery.

ثُمَّ قَالَت ألَمتَ إِذ رُمتَ إنجَا

زَ وُعُودٍ مِن قَبلُ دَأباً تُخَانُ

Then she said: "Do you blame me for breaking faith?

The ways of girls are breaking faith and reversals."

لاَ تَلُم في الإخلاَفِ إِنَّ الغَواني

دَأبُهُنَّ الإِخلاَفُ واللَّيَّانُ

So the fires of regret blazed in my heart

And I said: "Loss has afflicted me!"

فتَلَظَّت جُدَا النَّدَامَةِ في قَلبي

وقُلتُ ارتَمَى بي الخُسرَانُ

But praise be to God, I hold to belief

And that is safety.

غَيرَ أني والحَمدُ للَّهِ بالإِيمَا

نِ مُستَمسِكٌ وذَاكَ أمَانُ

I am certain that the pure prophets

Cannot conceal what they were ordered to convey,

جَازِمٌ أنَّ الأنبَيَاءَ الطًّهَارَى

مُستَحِيلُ عَلَيهِمُ الكِتمَانُ

Nor did they hide anything they were commanded

Or forget anything they were entrusted with.

بَلَّغُوا كُلَّ مَابِهِ أُمِرُوا مَأ

كَتَمُوهُ ومَانَسُوا مَا خَانُوا

I do not restrict my pool, inadequate as it may be before me,

Perhaps the Qur'an will make up for it.

لَستُ أحجُو وِردِى وإن حَلَّ عِندِى

قَاصِراً عسى إدرَاكِهِ القُرَآنُ

And I take the Shaykh Ahmad Qutb* as my chief support,

He whose affair partakes of the Divine.

وَبشيخي أستَمسَكتُ أحمَدَ قُطبِ ال

أَرضِ مَن شَأنُه الإِلَهِىُّ شَانُ

The nights of his coming were for hopes

And joys and bliss the heading.

مَن لَيَالِى قُدُومِهِ لِلأمَاني

والمَسَرَّاتِ والهَنَا عُنوَانُ

Sorrows and gloom have recoiled from him

And the possessors of prohibition have been silenced before him.

مَن تَنآءى عَنَّابِهِ الهَمُّ والغم

مُ وشِيفَت عَن ذِى النُّهَى الأَدرَانُ

Before his hands the evildoers and the corrupt

And my family have the protection of his neighbourhood.

لِيَدَيهِ عَلَى العُفَاةِ والأَضيا

فِ وأهلِى جِوَارِهِ هَطلاَنُ

O censurer, assailing the Shaykh! Are you

Awake or asleep, toothless or ready to bite?

أيُّهَا الرَّائمُ التَّصَدِّيَ لِلش

شَيخِ أيَقظَانٌ أنتَ أم وَسنَانُ

You ventured the ocean depths and touched the sun,

And returned when the testing was done.

رُمتَ غَرفَ البَحرِ المُحِيطِ ولَمسَ الش

شَمسِ والهُونَ حَيثُ كَانَ امتِحَانُ

So my Shaykh turned away from personal goals,

And time turned away from him.

اتّئِدوَانِيًّا فشيخي وَنَى عَن

أولَيَاتِ الهِمَّاتِ مِنهُ الزَّمَانُ

He was not of the men of that field, my Shaykh,

For that field to fault him.

لَم تَكُن مِن رِجَالِ مَيدَانِ ذَاكَ الش

شَيخِ يُعيِبكَ ذَلِكَ المَيدانُ

Rather, you attacked a group that had turned away before

And when they recoiled, they showed their decline,

إِنَّمَا رُمتَ رَامَهُ قَبلُ أقَوا

مٌ ولَمَّا انثَنَوا خَزَايَا استَكَانُوا

Then professed allegiance and sought the protection

Of the Shaykh from what the young ones would bring.

ثُمَّ دَانُوا واستعصَمُوا بِجوَارِ الش

شَيخِ مِمَّا يَأتِي بِه الحدثَانُ

And they refrained from opposing him, turned away,

And abandoned what they had been.

وَتوَانَوا عَن شَاوِهِ وتَوَلَّوا

وتَخَلَّوا عَنِ الذي فِيهِ كَانُوا

If the waves have continued in singing his excellence,

Then the sun has rivalled his light, and so the blind!

إِن تَمَارَ في فَضلِهِ الغُمرُ فَالش

شَمسُ تَمَارَى في ضَوئِهَا العميَانُ

No idle wind made light of his wisdom.

Who cares for the passing of the winds of youth?

مَا استَخَفَّ حِلمَهُ رِيحُ طَيشٍ

لاَ يُبَالِى مَرَّ الصَّبَا ثَهلاَنُ

He attained the utmost attainment, thus he inherits

Those whom the heights of glory embraced.

نَالَ مَانَالَ فَهوَ وَارِثُ مَن نَا

لَت بِهِ مُنتَهى العُلاَ عَدنَانُ