أقسمت ما رزءك مما يهون

يا غارقاً حتى بدمعِ العيون

I swear you are not harmed by what saddens you,

O you who is drowning, even in the tears of eyes.

وواجب يا فرع نوح الورى

عليك من قبل حمام الوكون

O branch of Noah's ark, it is your duty

Upon you, before the doves of eternity.

وإنما قومك شهب الهدى

في الأجرِ من صبرهم يرغبون

Your people are comets of guidance,

Seeking reward for their patience.

صبراً بني الأنصار عن كوكبٍ

قد سهرتْ شوقاً إليه الجفون

Patience, O Ansar's sons, from a planet

That eyelids have stayed up nightlong yearning for it.

وغصن علمٍ في رُبى سؤدد

قد مات بالماءِ خلاف الغصون

A branch of knowledge in growing up wellbred

That died of thirst unlike other branches.

لهفي على ذاك الهلال الذي

شقت له السحب ثياب الدّجون

Yearning for that crescent to which

The clouds split their clothes of darkness.

لهفي على دينارِ خدٍ له

عاجله الدهر بصرفِ المنون

Yearning for a cheek's golden dinar

Whose youth was cut short by passing away.

وغيضت على العلياء في حالتي

غيظٍ وغيضٍ وطمت من شجون

I was angry at the noble ones in my state

Of anger, wrath, and I ranted from passions.

إنا إلى الله فقد كانَ ما

خاف أبو تمامها أن يكون

We belong to Allah - it had to be what

Abu Tammam feared would happen.

هذا على أن اللقا بيننا

مقترب الآماد فالأمر دون

That being so, the meeting between us

Is soon to come, so the matter is imminent.

إن منع الغياب أن يقدموا

لنا فأنا لهم مقدمون

If absence kept them from coming to us

We'll go to them, being the firstcomers.

عزاء مولانا وتسليمه

فكل خطب قد عداه يهون

Condolences to our Master and his greetings -

All sorrows, next to it, are slight.

ما سخنت فيها عيون الورى

حتى تجليت فقرت عيون

No eyes in the world have been heated

Until they shone and dimmed eyes.

فلا خبا شخصك عن معشرٍ

إلى العلى بالنجمِ هم يهتدون

Your person is not absent from a folk

To the Most High, by the stars they find guidance.