خُذوا لقلبي أماناً من تجنّيهِ

فما به من لهيبِ الوجدِ يكفيهِ

Take care of my heart from its suffering

For the passion within it is enough for it

أعشى عليه ضِراماً بات يُلهِبهُ

بخاطري وهو عندي ساكنٌ فيه

I let my thoughts kindle flames in it

While it resides peaceful within me

علِقْتُ منه ببدرٍ في محاسنِه

فمُقلَتي بجفونِ السُحْبِ تبْكيهِ

I was attracted to a full moon in its beauty

So my eyelids weep with the clouds

مَنْ لي وأملكُ بي مني لواحظُه

بأنْ أقولَ بنفسي اليومَ أفديهِ

Who do I have that can ransom me

By my saying today I sacrifice it

القربُ والبُعْدُ أوصافٌ تُلازمهُ

فالتّيهُ يُبعدُه والحبُّ يُدْنيهِ

Nearness and distance are attributes that befall it

So bewilderment distances it and love brings it near

أهوى المُدامَ أدارتْها مراشفُهُ

وأعشقُ الغُصْنَ أهداهُ تثنّيهِ

I love the wine whose cups intoxicate it

And I love the branch whose bending entices it

كم أكتمُ الحبَّ والأشجانُ تُظْهِرُهُ

وأنشُرُ الصّبْر والتّبريحُ يَطويهِ

How much love and passion I conceal

Yet patience and consolation reveal it

هو الحفاظُ وإن لم أخشَ عاديةً

أفي أحاشِيهِ أن يُصغي لواشيهِ

He is the protector even if I don’t fear a rival

In his companions is there one who would betray him?

يا قاتلَ الله عينيهِ فكمْ فتكَتْ

صبّاً بواديْهِ لم يظفَرْ بواديهِ

O he who kills me with his eyes, how much they have ravaged

Pouring rain on his valley without reaping its valley

حلّ الحِمى فتحلّى باسمِ منزلِه

وعُطِّلتْ من معانيهِ مَغانِيهِ

The love settled wearing the name of his abode

And the meanings of his songs were disabled

ربْعٌ أيادي الرياحِ الهوجِ تهدِمُه

والحبُّ بين ضلوعِ الصّبِّ يَبْنيهِ

A garden the hands of passionate winds destroy

While love builds it between the ribs of patience

إن أسقَتْهُ الليالي بعدَ صحّتهِ

فهو الدّواءُ لمن أعيى تَداويهِ

If the nights watered it after its firmness

It is the cure for whoever fatigue exhausted

وبيتُ حُبٍّ دعانا للطّوافِ به

فلستَ تسمعُ إلا من يُلبّيهِ

And a house of love called us to circumambulate it

You won’t hear any but those who declare it

إذ لا جُمارَ سوى دمعي فأقذِفُها

ولا هديَّ سوى قلبي فأُهديهِ

Since I have no offerings but my tears I cast them

And no gift but my heart I present it

ركبتُ ظهرَ غرامي نحوَهُ فسَرى

والشوقُ هاديهِ والتّبريحُ حاديهِ

I rode the back of my passion toward it

With yearning as its guide and consolation its rider

حتى علِقْتُ بأستارِ الجمالِ به

وقلتُ رُحماكَ يا مستعذِبَ التّيهِ

Until I clung to the curtains of beauty in it

And said: may your bewilderment be sweetened

هل منكَ في عرَفاتِ الحسنِ عرْفُ جدًى

أو في مِنى الطّرفِ من منٍّ أرجّيهِ

Is there from you in the plains of beauty a plain of sacrifice?

Or in the tribute of the gaze a tribute I hope for?

عجبتُ من مستَميحِ الباخلينَ ندىً

وغيثُ أحمدَ قد سحّتْ عزاليهِ

I wonder at the rain clouds being stingy with dew

While the rain of Ahmed has poured on his isolation

الحافظُ الدّينَ والحامي مسارحَهُ

والحارسُ الفضلَ والكالي نواحيهِ

The preserver of religion and the guard of its theatres

And the keeper of virtue and its realms

فالشرْعُ أزهرُ مصقولٌ جوانبُه

والدّينُ أخضرُ مطلولٌ مراعِيهِ

The Shariah is the most polished pearl its aspects

And the religion the greenest adorned with its pastures

أغرُّ يصدعُ بالعلم اليقينِ حشى

ما أحدثَ الناسُ من جهلٍ وتمويهِ

I boast expounding knowledge and certainty candidly

What ignorance and pretense people have feathered

ما زال يبسطُ والأيامُ قابضةٌ

ويُرتَجى في دُجى خطبٍ فيُرْجيهِ

He continues to unfold while the days withdraw

And he is hoped for in the darkness of difficult affairs to make them hopeful

يُعدي الأعادي على أموالِه كرَماً

وينثَني فيعفّي فقرَ عافيهِ

He exceeds enemies in generosity with his money

And in pardoning the poverty of the needy he bows

فما تستّرُ عن مدحٍ مناقبهُ

ولا تجرّدُ عن حمدٍ مساعِيهِ

His virtues are not concealed from praise

Nor are his efforts stripped of eulogy

حسبُ الشريعةِ أنّ الله شيّدَها

بمَنْ أقرّ بما فيه مُنافيه

It suffices the Shariah that Allah established it

With one who affirmed what contradicts it

بحافظٍ ما تجلّى صُبْحَ مكرمةٍ

إلا انْجَلى من ظلامِ الشّكّ داجيهِ

With a preserver - no morning of honor has dawned

Except that the darkness of doubt in him vanished

يروي فيُروى غليلُ الدين من حصَرٍ

أدناهُ نقلاً وقد شطّتْ مراميهِ

He narrates so the thirst of religion is quenched from drought

He brought it near via transmission when its goals had distant horizons

كم مُقفَلٍ ضلّ فيه العقلُ فانفرجَتْ

أرجاؤه لحجاهُ عن معانيهِ

How many perverse matters the mind went astray in, then its corners opened

When his reasoning saved it from its meanings

وموبَقٍ قد سقاهُ غيثَ فِطنتِه

مُزناً أيادي رياحِ الفكرِ تمريهِ

And a doomed one whom the rain of his insight watered

Abundantly, making the winds of thought flow to him

ومجدِبِ العيش وافى منه ذا كرَمٍ

يُميتُ جدْواهُ والأشعارُ تُحيْييهِ

And one whose life was barren but attained from his generosity

He enlivens his poverty though the poetic lines lauded him

وناظمٍ دُرَّ شعرٍ منه أحرزه

يُعينه بمَعانيهِ ويُغنيهِ

And a composer of poetic pearls some of which he gained from him

Who aids him with meanings and enriches him

كالبحرِ والكافُ إن أنصفتَ زائدةٌ

فيه فلا تحسَبْنَها كافَ تَشبيهِ

Like the sea - and if you judge the letter kaf to exceed it

Then do not consider it to resemble the kaf of similarity

يا حافظاً نال أقصى الفضلِ ممتَطِياً

مطّاً من العزمِ يُنضيهِ ويُمْضيهِ

O preserver who attained the furthest extent of merit mounted

On determination that pushes him and he pushes forward

إذا تصرّمَ عامٌ أنت عامرُه

فكلُّ أيامِه عيدٌ لنا فيهِ

If a year grows old you make it prosperous

So all its days are a holiday for us in it