وعدَتْ ولم تفِ لي بذاك الموعدِ
فغَدا الغرام غريمَ قلبي المُكمَدِ
You promised, yet did not keep that appointed tryst with me;
and passion became the creditor of my grief-stricken heart.
هيفاءٌ أُرضيها وتُسخِطُني وقد
طاوعْتُها وعصَيْتُ كلّ مفنّدِ
A slender beauty: I please her while she angers me—and yet
I obeyed her and disobeyed every reproving counselor.
يا دمعَ عيني زِدْ ولا تنقُصْ ويا
نارَ الأسى بين الحشا لا تخمُدي
O tears of my eyes, increase and do not diminish; and O
fire of sorrow within my breast, never die down.
بكرت مؤنّبَتي تلومُ على الهوى
وتروح جاهلةً عليّ وتغتدي
My reproacher came early, rebuking me for love,
and comes and goes, knowing nothing of my plight.
ظنّت بأن اللومَ يصلحني وما
علمَتْ بأن اللومَ فيها مفسدي
She thought that blame would set me right, but
she did not know that blaming me for her only ruins me.
تاللهِ لا حاولتُ عنها سلوةً
وإذا انتهيتُ الى النهاية أبتدي
By God, I shall never seek consolation away from her;
whenever I reach the very end, I begin again.
الهجر شرّد نومَ عيني في الهوى
وأذلَّ مع عزّي جنودُ تجلّدي
Estrangement has driven sleep from my eyes in love,
and, despite my pride, humbled the hosts of my endurance.
ويلاهُ من رشأٍ غريرٍ أغيدٍ
أربى على حورِ الحِسانِ النُهّدِ
Alas for a guileless, graceful young gazelle
who surpasses the wide-eyed, full-breasted beauties!
أشكو أبكي وهو يضحكُ لاهياً
عني ويرثي لي ويبكي حُسّدي
I complain and weep while he laughs heedlessly,
turning from me; he pities me and makes my enviers weep.
لا تغرُرَنكَ رقّةٌ في خدّه
فالقلبُ منه قد قسا كالجَلْمَدِ
Do not be deceived by the softness of his cheek:
his heart has grown as hard as solid rock.
الصدق شيمتهُ ولكن لم يزلْ
في الحبّ يكذبُ مخلِفاً للموعدِ
Truthfulness is his nature, yet he never ceases
to lie in love, breaking his promised tryst.
مالي إذا أبرمتُ عنه سلوةً
في النومِ أنقضُها برغمي في غَدِ
Why is it that whenever I resolve to forget him,
I undo that resolve in sleep, against my will, by morning?
بالله ربّك قلْ له يا عاذلي
زِدْ عزّةً في الحبّ ذُلاً أزدَدِ
By God, reproacher, tell him:
“Grow prouder still—for in love I shall grow still more abased.”
أنا قد رضيتُ بأنْ أكونَ مدلّهاً
في حبّه فعلامَ أنت مفنّدي
I have consented to be maddened
by love of him; why, then, do you reproach me?
يا طالبَ النيران دونكَ فاقتبِسْ
من نارِ قلبي المستهامِ المُكمَدِ
O seeker of fires, come—take a spark
from the fire of my infatuated, grief-stricken heart.
يا صادياً هذي دُموعي أصبحتْ
تنهلُّ من جَفنَيْ دونَكَها رِدِ
O thirsty one, here are my tears, now
pouring from my eyelids—take them and drink.
قد كان دمعي أبيضاً قبلَ النّوى
فاليومَ أصبح أحمراً كالعسجَدِ
Before our parting, my tears were white;
today they have become red as red gold.
أقررتُ أني عبدُه فتيقّنوا
ثم اشهدوا هو سيّدي هو سيدي
I have confessed that I am his slave, so be certain;
then bear witness: he is my master, he is my master.
فله الجمالُ كما الفخارُ بأسره
متجمّعٌ في الحافظِ بن محمدِ
For all beauty, like all glory,
is gathered in al-Ḥāfiẓ ibn Muḥammad.
فخرُ الأئمة أحمدُ المحمودُ مَنْ
فاقَ البريّة بالنّدى والسؤددِ
The pride of the imams—Ahmad, the praised—is he who
surpassed all humankind in generosity and eminence.
زُرْهُ تزُرْ أزكى البريّة عنصُراً
متودّداً ناهيكَ من متودّد
Visit him, and you visit the purest of humankind in origin,
warmly affectionate—you could ask no finer friend!
متيقظٌ فطنٌ أغرُّ مهذبٌ
جمُّ العطايا صادقٌ في الموعدِ
Watchful, discerning, radiant, cultivated;
lavish in gifts and faithful to his promise.
فاقَ الورى فعَلا عُلوّ الفرقدِ
حتى لقد سمّوهُ سعدَ الأسعُدِ
He surpassed humankind in deeds and rose above the star al-Farqad,
until they even named him “Saʿd the Most Fortunate.”
يُعطيكَ عند سؤاله متبسّماً
وإذا امتنعتَ ولم تسلْهُ يَبتدي
He gives when asked, smiling,
and if you refrain and do not ask him, he begins.
وإذا ادلهمّ الخطبُ يوماً في الورى
لا تعدلَنْ عن رأيه المتوقّد
Whenever calamity overwhelms humankind,
never turn away from his radiant judgment.
شهدتْ له الأعداءُ أجمعُ أنه
علمٌ ومَن هذا الذي لم يشهدِ
All his enemies together have testified that he
is a beacon—and who is there that has not testified?
ما زال يرغبُ في الثوابِ ديانةً
منه ويزهدُ في اكتسابِ العسجدِ
Out of devotion, he continually seeks spiritual recompense,
while scorning the acquisition of gold.
علمٌ به كل البريّة تهتدي
وبرائه في كلِّ خَطبٍ تقتدي
A beacon by whom all humankind is guided;
in every crisis, they follow his judgment.
أعراضُه للمادحين وجاهُه
للقاصدينَ ومالُه للمجتدي
His honor is for those who praise him, and his standing
for those who seek him, while his wealth is for the petitioner.
في الفقهِ مثلُ الشافعيّ ومالكٍ
وأبي حنيفةَ وابنِ حنبلَ أحمدِ
In jurisprudence he is like al-Shāfiʿī and Mālik,
Abū Ḥanīfa, and Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.
ضاهى البخاريّ المحدّثَ رتبةً
مع مُسلمٍ ومسدَّدِ بنِ مسرْهَدِ
In rank he matched the hadith scholar al-Bukhārī,
along with Muslim and Musaddad ibn Musarhad.
وأبو عبادةَ في القريض وجروَلٌ
لو عاصراهُ أصبحا كالأعبُدِ
And Abū Nuwās in poetry, and Jarwal—
had they lived in his time, they would have become like slaves.
يا أحمدُ المحمودُ من دون الورى
أنت الذي أوضحتَ شِرعةَ أحمدِ
O Ahmad, praised above all humankind,
you are the one who made Ahmad’s path clear.
خُذها إليك قصيدة رقّت كما
رقّت شكايةَ مُستهامٍ مُكمَدِ
Here—take from me an ode made delicate, just as
the complaint of an infatuated, grief-stricken lover is delicate.
ألبستَها بمديحك السامي إذاً
ثوبَ الفخارِ ومثلُه لم يوجَدِ
Thus, through your lofty praise, I clothed it
in a robe of glory whose like has never been found.
أنعِمْ إذاً بقبولها متفضلاً
فقبولُها فرَجي وغيظُ الحُسَّدِ
Then favor me by accepting it graciously:
its acceptance is my joy and the vexation of the envious.
لا زلتَ في نعَمٍ وعزٍّ دائمٍ
ألفاً فمثلُك في الورى لم يولَدِ
May you remain in blessings and enduring might
for a thousand years—for women have never borne your like—
ما ناح قُمريٌّ وغرّد طائرٌ
سحَراً على غُصن رطيبٍ أملَدِ
as long as a turtledove coos and a bird sings
at dawn upon a fresh, tender, supple branch.
