سَلاَمٌ عَلَيْكُمْ وَالْحَوَادِثُ أَلْوَانُ
وَمِنْ دُونِ آمَالِ الْمُحِبِّينَ حِرْمَانُ
Peace be upon you, though calamities come in many forms, / And before the hopes of lovers stands deprivation.
Peace be upon you, as sorrow follows sorrow / Over you; as for patience in your absence, it is treacherous.
سَلاَمٌ عَلَيْكُمْ وَالأَسَى يَتْبَعُ الأَسَى
عَلَيْكُمْ فَأَمَّا الصَّبْرُ عَنْكُمْ فَخَوَّانُ
Peace be upon you, wherever your camel-litters journey, / And may God's mercy and sweet fragrances travel with you.
May my Lord turn the wasteland to a meadow wherever you settle, / For to me, that wasteland is a thriving civilization.
سَلاَمٌ عَلَيْكُمْ حَيْثُ سَارَتْ حُدُوجُكُمْ
وَسَايَرَكُمْ رُوحُ الإِلَهِ وَرَيْحَانُ
O our beloveds, O garden of eternity in your splendor, / Because of your departure, fires burn within my ribs.
O our beloveds, O people of the most sound minds, / Your little servant, since you departed from him, is bewildered.
وَرَوَّضَ رَبِّي الْقَفْرَ حَيْثُ حَلَلْتُمُ
بِهِ إِنَّ ذَاكَ الْقَفْرَ عِنْدِيَ عُمْرَانُ
O our beloveds, O people of the most profitable trade, / Your journeying without me is a ruinous loss for the heart.
O our beloveds, O most truthful of people, fulfill / My hopes of drawing near, for my inner depths thirst for it.
أَأَحْبَابَنَا يَا جَنَّةَ الْخُلْدِ بَهْجَةً
لِبَيْنِكُمُ بَيْنَ الْجَوَانِحِ نِيرَانُ
O sweetest of things, how bitter is your separation! / Since you left, no solace has mingled with my heart.
O most beautiful of things, distance from you has tarnished me, / While with you, O most beautiful of people, I used to be adorned.
أَأَحْبَابَنَا يَا أَرْجَحَ النَّاسِ نُهْيَةً
عُبَيْدُكُمُ مُذْ سِرْتُمُ عَنُْه حَيْرَانُ
O most knowledgeable of things, I have become ignorant of my paths, / Though before the separation, my heart was vigilant.
O most exalted of things, my worth has been lowered among you, / Though before the parting, my status was truly high.
أَأَحْبَابَنَا يَا يَا أَرْبَحَ النَّاسِ صَفْقَةً
مَسِيرُكُمُ دُونِي لِلْقَلْبِ خُسْرَانُ
O most generous of things, how stingy is your phantom / Toward my eyes, keeping my passion wide awake.
And the vein of hope, after your departure, no longer beats; / Does hope even have an artery after the beloveds are gone?
أَأَحْبَابَنَا يَا أَصْدَقَ النَّاسِ صَدِّقُوا
ظُنُونِي بِقُرْبٍ فَالْحَشَا مِنْهُ ظَمْآنُ
Your departure has withered the gardens of my joy; / Its water does not quench thirst, nor is its pasture Sa'dan.
If my speech has been silenced by your distance, / My state, from what separation has left behind, is as eloquent as Sahban.
أَأَعْذَبَ شَيْءٍ مَا أَمَرَّ فِرَاقُكُمْ
فَمُذْ بِنْتُمُ مَا خَامَرَ الْقَلْبَ سُلْوَانُ
No wasting lover, exhausted by distance and separation, / A stranger thirsting to meet his beloveds,
Who remembers their winter camp in Najd, and is stirred / By their summer camp where the wild lotus and moringa trees meet,
أَأَحْسَنَ شَيْءٍ شَانَنِي الْبُعْدُ عَنْكُمُ
وَكَنْتُ بِكُمْ يَا أَجْمَلَ النَّاسِ أَزْدَانُ
And their spring camp among the hills, where are gathered / Lavender, dandelion, festive blooms, and jasmine,
And who is filled with longing by Salma's litters at 'Aqil, / Enticed by the white deer and gazelles there,
أَأَعْلَمَ شَيْءٍ قَدْ جَهِلْتُ مَذَاهِبِي
وَقَدْ كُنْتُ قَبْلَ الْبَيْنِ قَلْبِيَ شَيْحَانُ
Whenever a lightning flash gleams from Najd, pouring / From his eyes a heavy cloud of streaming tears,
And if the breeze of Najd's Arar-flowers wafts by, / His yearning heart flies toward them—
أَأَرْفَعَ شَيْءٍ حَطَّ قَدْرِي بَيْنَكُمْ
وَقَدْ كُنْتُ مِنْ قَبْلِ النَّوَى شَأْنِيَ الشَّانُ
Is more filled with grief and longing / For you than I am, for my chest is full of my sighs.
Peace be upon whoever among you accompanies the caravan, / For its companion among you is a Labid and a Hassan,
أَأَجْوَدَ شَيْءٍ مَا أَضَنَّ خَيَالَكُمْ
عَلَى مُقْلَتِي فَالْوَجْدُ مِنْ ذَاكَ يَقْضَانُ
And a Quss, a Sahban, a Ka'b, and a Hatim, / And our Malik, ash-Shafi'i, and Nu'man.
A noble peace, like the gentle breeze of your character, / For your character, O gentlest of creation, is pure grace.
وَعِرْقُ الْمُنَى مِنْ بُعْدِكُمْ غَيْرُ نَابِضٍ
وَهَلْ لِلْمُنَى بَعْدَ الأَحِبَّةِ شَرْيَانُ
The peace of a youth whom you have settled in ranks / Where the Pleiades and Saturn compete with him,
And you wreathed him with necklaces, asking nothing in return, / Made of triumphant precious pearls and pure gold,
وَسَيْرُكُمُ أَذْوَى رِيَاضَ مَسَرَّتِي
فَلاَ مَاؤُهَا صَدّاً وَلاَ الْنَّبْتُ سَعْدَانُ
And you bestowed upon him favors without reproach, / Through which houris and gazelles flirted with him,
And you gave him a quenching cup of affection to drink, / So he walked among mankind entirely intoxicated by it.
لَئِنْ مَنْطِقِي قَدْ أَخْرَسَتْهُ نَوَاكُمُ
فَحَالِي بِمَا أَبْقَى مِنَ الْبَيْنِ سَحْبَانُ
And he lived by you—may God reunite him with you / Soon, to console his sorrow, while sorrow is angered!
It is incumbent upon us, when we behold your face, O Abu / Ali, to submit to whatever joy decrees,
فَمَا مُدْنِفٌ أَضْنَاهُ بُعْدٌ وَفُرْقَةٌ
غَرِيبٌ إِلَى لُقْيَا الأَحِبَّةِ عَطْشَانُ
And to tear up the worn garments of melancholy when / We are met by a pool and a garden from you,
And a luminous sun and moon, and a heavy rain, / And a sea whose sweet overflow has flooded the gulfs,
تَذَكَّرَ مَشْتَاهُمْ بِنَجْدٍ وَهَاجَهُ
مَصِيفٌ لَهُمْ حَيْثُ الْتَقَى الضَّالُ وَالْبَانُ
And the mountains of Radwa and Salma in their dignity, and towering peaks / In Najd, and the ranges of as-Sarat and Thahlan.
There, Ibn Zakur's desire will be fulfilled, / And the face of his hopes will appear to him, exceedingly beautiful.
وَمَرْبَعُهُمْ بَيْنَ الرُّبَى حَيْثُ جُمِّعَتْ
خُزَامَى وَيَعْضِيدٌ وَعِيدٌ وَظَيَّانُ
وَشَاقَتْهُ أَحْدَاجٌ لِسَلْمَى بِعَاقِلٍ
وَأَغْرَتْهُ آرَامٌ هُنَاكَ وَغِزْلاَنُ
مَتىَ لاَحَ مِنْ نَجْدٍ بَرِيقٌ يُرَاقُ مِنْ
مَحَاجِرِهِ مُزْنٌ مِنَ الدَّمْعِ هَتَّانُ
وَإِنْ فَاحَ مِنْ نَجْدٍ نَسِيمُ عَرَارِهِ
يَطِيرُ بِهِ قَلْبٌ إِلَيْهِمُ حَنَّانُ
بِأَكْثَرَ مِنِّي حَسْرَةً وَتَشَوُّقاً
إِلَيْكُمْ فَصَدْرِي مِنْ زَفِيرِي مَلْآنُ
سَلاَمٌ عَلَى مَا رَافَقَ الرَّكْبَ مِنْكُمُ
لِرَافِقِهِ مِنْكُمْ لَبِيدٌ وَحَسَّانُ
وَقُسٌّ وَسَحْبَانٌ وَكَعْبٌ وَحَاتِمُ
وَمَالِكُنَا وَالشَّافِعِيُّ وَنُعْمَانُ
سَلاَمٌ كَرِيمٌ مِثْلَ نَسْمَةِ خُلْقِكُمْ
فخُلْقُكُمُ يَا أَلْيَنِ الْخَلْقِ رِضْوَانُ
سَلاَمُ فَتىً بَوَّأْتُمُوهُ مَرَاتِباً
فَنَافَسَهُ فِيهَا الثُّرَيَّا وَكِيوَانُ
وَطَوَّقْتُمُوهُ لاَلِشَيْءٍ قَلاَئِداً
فَفَازَ لَهَا دُرٌّ ثَمِينٌ وَعِقْيَانُ
وَأَوْلَيْتُمُوهُ لاَ بِمَنٍّ فَوَائِداً
فَغَازَلَهُ مِنْهُنَّ حُورٌ وَغِزْلاَنُ
وَسَقَيْتُمُوهُ كَأْسَ وُدٍّ رَوِيَّةً
فَرَاحَ بِهَا بَيْنَ الْوَرَى وَهْوَ نَشْوَانُ
وَكَانَ بِكُمْ فَاللهُ يَجْمَعُهُ بِكُمْ
قَرِيباً يًسَلِّي الْهَمَّ وَالْهَمُّ غَضْبَانُ
عَلَيْنَا إِذَا شِمْنَا مُحَيَّاكَ يَا أَبَا
عَلِيٍّ لِمَا تَقْضِي الْمَسَرَّةُ إِذْعَانُ
وَتَمْزِيقُ أَطْمَارِ الْكَآبَةِ عِنْدَمَا
يُقَابِلُنَا مِنْكُمْ غَدِيرٌ وَبُسْتَانُ
وَشَمْسٌ وَبَدْرٌ نَيِّرَانِ وَوَابِلٌ
وَبَحْرٌ طَمَى مِنْ فَيْضِهِ الْعَذْبِ خُلْجَانُ
وَرَضْوْى وَسَلْمَى فِي الْوَقَارِ وَشُمَّخٌ
بِنَجْدٍ وَأَطْوَادُ السَّرَاةِ وَثَهْلاَنُ
هُنَاكَ ابْنُ زَاكُورٍ يَتِمُّ مُرَادُهُ
وَيَبْدُو لَهُ وَجْهُ الْمُنَى وَهْوَ حُسَّانُ
