أشارد يا غزال أم وارد

وعابث بالنفوس أم عابد

I yearn, O gazelle, has a lover returned

Toying with souls or worshipping?

أعند عينيك ان أنفسنا

حبس على سبل نبلها الصارد

Do your eyes believe our souls

Are confined to paths of its noble lightning?

بل كثرة العاشقين توهمه

بأن ماضي نفوسهم عائد

Rather, the multitude of lovers deludes him

That the past of their souls will return

مهلا أبا الحسن لا فجعت به

واستبق منا داع له حامد

Gently, Abu Al-Hassan, lest you mourn him

And excel me in praying for him, praising

نحن بني نجدة الهوى ولنا

فيه فخار الطريف والتالد

We are the sons of passionate love and for us is

The pride of the gentle and lasting

وكم لنا غارة على ثغر

نصدر عنها بالمغنم البارد

And how many raids on the brink

Do we launch from which we return with the coveted booty

تلك عهود قد كان لا بعدت

طرف الليالي عنا بها راقد

Those were covenants that have not been distant

The edge of nights from us while lying down

ومأسها الدهر عن تفرقا

بل ظننا لا لتئامنا واحد

And the days have not separated us

Rather, we thought our union is one

ليت دري القاطنون في حلب

حالي وما حال من لهم فاقد

If only the residents of Aleppo would know

My state and the state of those who miss them

يرقب وفد الشآم ذا قلق

عسى يراهم بناظر الراقد

Hopefully watching the delegation of Levant

He may see them with the eye of the sleeper

فارقت منه مثواي في رضا زمن

على ذوي الفضل لم يزال واجد

I left it as my abode by consent of a time

That has not stopped being generous to the virtuous

خرجت منه مع البزاة عسى

تصفو الليالي ويصلح الفاسد

I went out with the mail, hoping

That the nights will clear and the corrupt will be fixed

إلى قرار العلا ومصدره

ورد الأماني وبغية القاصد

To the settlement of glory and its source

The wishes returned and the goal of the seeker

قرة عين الإسلام مهجته

ومن لدين الهدى غدا عاضد

The delight of Islam, its protector

And the supporter of the religion of guidance the next morning

يحي حياة العلوم بهجتها

فرصة ذي الفضل غصة الحاسد

It brings to life the splendor of science

An opportunity for the virtuous and agony for the envious

لذت به والفؤاد منصدع

بالضيم من ريب دهري السامد

I have delighted in it while my heart is cracked

By the injustice of my stagnant fate

فعلت يا دهر ما فعلت فما العذر

لدى اعدل الورى الماجد

You have done, O fate, what you have done, so what is the excuse

In the presence of the most just of creatures

الحكم العدل من عزائمه

قامت على الدهر فاكتفى القاعد

Just rule is one of his resolutions

It has triumphed over fate, so the sitter sufficed

وأصبحت حيرة حواسده

كأنها العمى ما لها قائد

And your enviers have become confused

As if they are blind without a leader

رب القوافي التي لآلئها

تود لو قلدت بها الناهد

Lord of rhymes whose pearls

Wish to be adorned by the fasting

إذا تأملتها وجدت فتى

شهب الدياجي بفكره الصائد

When contemplated, you will find a young man

With meteors of thought hunting him down

يسبق منه الأنعام سائله

فلا يرى ممطلا ولا واعد

His requesters outpace the cattle from him

So he is not seen postponing or promising

حاشاه وهو البحر الخضم بأن

يصدر عنه بالغلة الوارد

Far from him, as he is the vast sea, to

Issue therewith paucity of supply

خلق كروض الربيع باكره

نوء من الحلم فاغتدى مائد

Created like the meadows of early spring

Bending from dream, so he attacked the table

حدث بما شئت عن مكارمه

عجائب البحر ما لها جاحد

Say what you wish of his virtues

The wonders of the sea have no denier

فرع أصول مضوا ومجدهم

باق وغابوا وفضلهم شاهد

A branch whose origins have passed and their glory

Remains and they are gone and their merit witnessed

إليك شيخ الإسلام قد وفدت

ركائب تحمل الثنا الخالد

To you, Shaykh of Islam, I have come

With transports carrying eternal praise

يتبعها خالص الدعاء شج

هابط حظ وهمه صاعد

Followed by the purest prayers that descend

With good fortune while its worry ascended

ألقى عليه الزمان كلكله

ونال منه بالكف والساعد

Time has inflicted its anklets upon him

And grasped him with palms and forearms

عسى التفات إليه من طرف الط

طرف يرى زند جده الصالد

Hopefully a glance towards him from an eye of the Most High

An eye that sees his solid grandfather

واسلم لأهل الآداب مستنداً

عوناً على صرف دهرهم عاضد

And I commend to the people of manners, seeking help

Helping them manage their time, supporting