يا صِبغَ رأسي والأُلى رَحَلُوا

ما منكما عِوَضٌ ولا بَدَلُ

O you who dyed my head white and departed,

Neither of you has a substitute or replacement,

الاَّ الامامُ فكلُّ حادِثَةٍ

ما أَخطأَتْ حوباءَه جَلَلُ

Except the Imam, for every incident,

His majesty did not make a mistake.

القادرُ العَافى الذي عَجَزَتْ

عن سَعْيهِ آباؤُه الأُولُ

The Capable, the Healer, who the former fathers failed,

In their efforts, though they carried the burdens they carried.

وهم الذين على عَنَائِهم

حَمَلُوا من الاعباءِ ما حَمَلُوا

They reached the end of worldly life,

And its vicissitudes exemplified them.

بلغُوا من الدُّنيا نَهايتَها

وَجرى بهم في صَرفها المَثَلُ

If men were known for other than them,

They would not be known except for what they did.

واذا الرِّجَالُ بغيرهمِ عُرفوا

لم يُعرفوا الاَّ بما فَعَلُوا

News remains of those they overcame,

As if they lived though killed.

تَبقى بهم أَخبارُ من غَلُبوا

فكأَنهم أُحُيوا وقد قُتِلُوا

Abu al-Abbas found us divided,

With disarray in our system.

أَلفى أَبو العبَّاس أُلفتَنَا

شتى وبينَ نظامِنا خَلَلُ

So he pursued remedies decisively,

With determination until the diseases died out.

فَتَتَبَّعَ الادواءَ يحْسِمُهَا

وبالكيِّ حتى ماتَتِ العِلَلُ

A light from the Godhead in a human,

If he were flawed, his flaw was being a man.

نورٌ منَ اللاهوتِ في بَشَرٍ

لو عِيب عيبَ بأَنَّه رَجُلُ

Bahram is a crackling from his sparks,

And Qulamah a star from his constellation.

بَهْرَامُ صدعٌ من شَرارته

وقُلامةٌ من كيده زُحَلُ

The biographies of kings were superseded by him,

As the religions were superseded by Ahmad’s faith.

نُسِخَتْ به سيرُ الملوكِ كما

نُسِخَتْ بملةِ أَحمدَ المللُ

He does not complain of a pain that hurt him,

For his wound, his patience was a cure.

لا يشتكي ألماً أَلمَّ بهِ

فلجُرحهِ من صَبرهِ فَتَلُ

The length of the irrigation canal makes his arm long,

He continues though the pickaxes cooperate.

طولُ القناةِ يطولُ ساعدُه

يَمضي وقد تتعاون الأَسَلُ

One whose giving never tires,

Until the howdahs of the camels tire.

من لا يُملُّ عَطاؤُه أبداً

حتى تَملَّ حُداءَ ها الابِلُ

He has a plain of pleasures set aside,

And generosity that distracts him from preoccupation.

وله عن اللذاتِ منتدَحٌ

ومكارمٌ عن شُغْلِهِ شُغُلُ

Assemblies that polish minds within them,

Neither vanity attends them, nor coquetry.

ومجالسٌ تزكو الحُلُومُ بها

لا اللهوُ يحضُرُها ولا الغَزَلُ

Your pure, purifying qualities,

And successors whose fathers were messengers.

ونمتك أَطهارٌ مطهرةٌ

وخلائفٌ آباؤُها الرسُلُ

Talk fades away except their talk,

For time, except in them, changes.

يَفنى الحديثُ سِوى حديثِهم

فالدهرُ الاَّ فيهم دُولُ

For them in the belly of Minna, when they descend,

Are the throngs of pilgrims, their prayers essential.

لهم ببطنِ مِنىً اذا نَزلوا

زُمَرُ الحجيجِ صَلاتُهم أُصُلُ

And the Maqam of Abraham praying,

And the cornerstone where kisses are exchanged.

ومقامُ ابراهيمَ مبتهلاً

والركنُ حيث تُبادَر القُبَلُ

They have faces lit up by,

And fingers by which hopes are plucked.

لهم وجوه يُستضاءُ بها

وأَناملٌ يُجنَى بها الأَمَلُ

Their swords swagger when they ride mounted,

And walk submissively when they dismount.

وصواهلٌ تختالُ انْ ركبوا

وتُقادُ خاضعةً اذا نزلوا

For them are the lances and every drawn sword,

Except the lances whose straightness is marred.

لهم الرماحُ وكلُّ ذى خَطَلٍ

الا الرماحَ يَعيبُهُ الخَطَلُ

For him from each kind of tall spear

Is a blade by which souls are connected.

من كلِّ متَّسَقِ الكُعُوبِ له

نصلٌ بهِ الأرواحُ تَتَّصِلُ

Their feet, you would think them

Birds pecking at the sides of a valley.

منقضةُ الاطرافِ تَحسِبُهَا

طيراً على اللباتِ تَنْتَضِلُ

The enemies do not feel safe from their absence,

For their nearness and distance confound.

لا يأمنُ الأعداءُ غيبتَها

فدنُوها وبعادُها وَهَلُ

Diversely they drive back the foes,

As if for an entertainer they were shields.

شَتى يَردن معا نُحورهُمُ

وكأنها لِمُضَاحِكٍ نَغَلُ

Theirs are the coats of mail as though they were seeds

Played with by fate and adversity.

لهم الدروُع كأَنَّها حَبَبٌ

لعبتْ بِها النكباءُ والشَّمَلُ

And bows whose strikes became gentle,

As if slings were their lids.

وقواضبٌ رقتْ مضاربُها

فكأنها لجفونها حِلَلُ

They deemed silk déclassé due to their deeds,

So they walked barefoot and sandaled.

حَسَبوا الثريا من فعالهم

فَمشوا على الجرباءِ وانعلُوا

What can I say and what can be said of them

If they did not perfect, they did not perfect?

ماذا أَقولُ وما يقالُ لهم

انْ لم يكن كَمَلوا فلا كَمَلوا

I wish those who suffered of love

Knew how they suffered and who spurned them!

ليتَ الذينَ على الغَرام لَحَوا

يَدرونَ كيفَ لَحُوا وَمَن عَذَلُوا

I have a pact whose conditions stipulated

That no crazed passion pass through my mind.

لي ذمةٌ عَقَدَتْ شرئِطُها

أَلا يَمُرّ بمهجَتي وَجَلُ

I did not reckon the misfortunes that guaranteed

Nothing but senility and confused babble.

لم أَحسَبِ النوبَ التي ضَمِنَتْ

الا وفيها الشيبُ والخَبَلُ

I complain to you of a slumbering singing girl

Who neither draws near nor connects by night.

أَشكو اليكَ دلالَ غانيةٍ

في النومِ لا تَجفُو ولا تَصِلُ

Drowsy, the phantom of her form visits her by darkness

So the drowsiness intensified her phantom.

كَسَلى يزورُ مع الظلامِ لها

طيفٌ فأعدى طيفَها الكَسَلُ

She was stingy with what sleep provided her,

And the singing girls are good at stinginess.

بَخِلَتْ بما جادَ الرقادُ بهِ

ومن الغَواني يَحسُنُ البَخَلُ

In the neighboring lane is a girl

Whom neither jewelry adorns nor unveiling.

في الجيرةِ الغادينَ جاريةٌ

لا الحليُ زينها ولا العَطَلُ

A cheek—if they veil its beauty—

The covers and sleepiness befall it.

خودٌ اذا أخفوا محاسنَها

نَمَّتْ بها الاستارُ والكِلَلُ

Like the rising and setting sun

Dawn neither conceals it nor nightfall.

كالشَّمْسِ شَارقة وغاربة

لا الفَجْرُ يكتُمها ولا الطَفَلُ

And if she dons the full moon and is masked by it

She eclipses so its surface is blemished.

واذا ارتَدَتْ بالبدرِ وانتقبتْ

كُسِفَتْ فنالتْ وجهَها المُقَلُ

Were it not for you, we would not be shown mercy, and

Whoever does not delay would hasten our demise.

لولاكَ لم نُرْحَمْ وعاجلَنا

مَنْ ليسَ في استعجالِه مَهَلُ

You reached souls in which there was still spirit

So you revived them and their liveliness waned.

أَدركتَ أَرواحاً بها رَمَقٌ

فنعشتَها ونشاطُها كَسَلُ

While people await an awaited one

Prolonged in his absence and disputed.

والناسُ ينتظرونَ منتظراً

طالَ التَّمارى فيهِ والجَدَلُ

They claimed you were his sign

While you were the guidance and justice was rendered equitable through you.

زَعَموا بأَنَّ العدْلَ آيتُه

وبكَ الهُدى والعَدْلُ مُعْتَدِلُ

They spurned him and protested with his ways

While you appeared and through you maladies were set aright.

أَجَفَوهُ واحتجوا بِسُنَّتِهِ

وظهرتَ فاعتلَّتْ بكَ العِلَلُ

They make excuses with faces illness has marred,

Out of envy, to which no shame returns.

يتنصلون بأَوجهٍ مَرضَتْ

حَسداً فليسَ يَعودها الخَجَلُ

You clarified the sickness those hearts concealed,

Whose surface envy knitted.

قَدْ بَيَّنَ الداءَ الذي كَتَمَتْ

تِلكَ القلوبُ أَديمُها النَغِلُ

Their whims conquered their reason,

And reason is shackled by whims.

أَهواؤُهم غَلَبَتْ عقولَهم

والعَقْلُ بالأَهواءِ يُعْتَقَلُ

Say to those who subdued others by their meanness—

Nay, those who were debased by their grandeur:

قل للذينَ بذُلِّهمْ قَهروا

بل للذين بعزِهم خُذِلُوا

When all the people shunned him,

Kinsmen and even your mother was called mad.

لمَّا تَجافى النَّاسُ كلُّهم

قُربى وقيلَ لأُمِّكَ الهَبَلُ

I set out my belongings, and they are impregnable

Among a people who did and did not do.

بَوَّأْتُ رَحلِي فهو ممتَنِعٌ

في مَعْشَر جَعَلُوا وما جُعِلُوا

Were it not for my place among their abodes

Horizons and roads would be straitened for me.

لولا مَحَلّى في ديارهم

ضاقتْ بى الأقطارُ والسُّبُلُ

So when I panic to them they give victory,

And when I incline to them they give unconditionally.

فاذا فَزعتُ اليهمُ نَصَروا

واذا رغبتُ اليهم بَذَلُوا

They conceal from my condition inquiry—they

Are generous whether they ask or are asked.

يُخفونَ عن حالي السؤالَ فهم

كرماءُ انْ سَأَلوا وانْ سُئلِوا

Blessings, but without number,

And virtues, enumerating them is difficult.

نِعَمٌ ولكن مالها عددٌ

ومحاسِنٌ تقصيلُها جُمَلُ

They attained with some gentleness what they sought,

And composure, if you praise it, is hasty.

نالُوا ببعض الرفقِ ما طَلَبُوا

والرَّيثُ انْ أَحْمَدْتَهُ عَجَلُ

Inform the Commander of the Faithful through them

In poetry, of one who is regarded and wraps himself.

باهلْ أَميرَ المؤمنينَ بها

في الشعرِ من يَحفى ويَنْتَعِلُ

From my praise poetry I am abstinent,

While love poetry and amorous verse are for others.

لكَ من ثنائي المدح مقتصراً

ولغيركَ التَّشبيبُ والغَزَلُ