بحياة ما ضمّت عرى الأزرار

بذمام ما في الحب من أسرار

With a life that held the strands of buttons,

By the life of that which the buttonholes embrace,

With a chord that contains the secrets of love,

And by the sanctity of the secrets held within love,

بالحجر بالحجر المكرم بالصفا

بالبيت بالأركان بالأستار

With the venerable Black Stone, with Safa,

By the Hatim, by the Stone honored at al-Safa,

With the House, the corners, the curtains,

By the Holy House, by its Pillars, and by its draped Veils,

باللّه إلا ما قضيت لبانة

تقضي بها وطرا من الأوطار

By Allah, I have fulfilled a radiant covenant,

By God, I ask only that you fulfill a specific wish,

Fulfilled with wavering from the peg.

Through which one of my deep longings may be satisfied:

ويكف من أشجان صب يشتكي

جور الزمان وقلة الأنصار

And enough of the agonized passion of youth complaining

That it may halt the sorrows of a lovelorn soul complaining

Of the tyranny of time and few helpers.

Of Time's injustice and the scarcity of supporters.

بلّغ لأندلس السلام وصف لها

ما في من شوق وبعد مزار

Convey greetings of peace to Andalusia, describe to it

Convey my greetings to al-Andalus, and describe to her

What longing and remoteness of visitation is in me.

The longing within me and the vast distance of my exile.

وإذا مررت برندة ذات المنى

والتاج والديموس واللؤزار

And if you pass by glorious Grenada,

And if you pass by Ronda, the possessor of all desires,

With its crown, citadel, and bracelets,

By the Taj, the Daymus, and the Lawzar,

سلم على تلك الديار وأهلها

فالقوم قومى والديار دياري

Greet that abode and its people,

Send peace upon those dwellings and their people,

For that tribe is my tribe, that abode my abode,

For the folk are my kin, and the dwellings are my home.

حيث استوت تلك المدينة معصما

ولوى عليها النهر نصف سوار

Where that city became a stronghold,

Where that city settles like a wrist,

And the river coiled around it like a bracelet,

And the river winds around it like a half-bracelet,

وامتد في تلك البطاح أمامها

ما شئت من ظل وماء جار

With whatever shade and running water extending before it

And stretching out across those plains before it,

In those plains, as far as you wish.

Is all the shade and flowing water you could desire.

وتنسمت ريح المنى تلك المنى

فتبسمت في أوجه النظار

The zephyr of wishes blew there, those wishes,

And the breeze of desire breathed through those aspirations,

So it smiled in the faces of onlookers.

Smiling into the faces of the beholders.

والروض قد سامى السماء لحسنه

لما ازدهى بالنهر والأزهار

The garden ascended the sky in its beauty,

And the garden rivaled the heavens in its beauty,

When it flourished with the river and flowers.

When it proudly adorned itself with the river and the flowers,

فكأن ذاك النهر فيه مجرة

وكأن ذاك الزهر فيه دراري

So it was as if that river contained a galaxy,

As if that river within it were the Milky Way,

And as if those flowers contained pearls.

And as if those flowers within it were shining stars.

وبسيحة العليا لنا متنزه

فيه من الأسماع والأبصار

And lofty Bāshaykha is a promenade for us

And in the Upper Sayha we had a place of leisure,

With views and sights.

Filled with delights for both hearing and sight,

حيث انتهت في الحسن كل حديقة

وجرى النسيم وفاح كل عرار

Where every garden ended in beauty,

Where every garden reached the perfection of beauty,

The breeze blew, and the thickets diffused scent,

And the breeze flowed, and every wild herb wafted its fragrance.

والغصن في حركاته متحير

بين الغناء وغنة الأطيار

And the branch was perplexed in its motions

And the branch seemed bewildered in its movements,

Between singing and the trilling of birds.

Caught between the singing of men and the chanting of birds.

ويكاد قلب الصب يفنى رقّة

بين النشيد ونغمة الأوتار

The heart of the youth is nearly spent in gentleness

And the heart of the lovelorn lover almost perishes from tenderness,

Between melody and the tune of strings.

Between the recited verses and the melody of strings.

للّه كم بتنا بها من ليلة

وكأنها سحرٌ من الأسحار

By Allah, how many nights did we spend in it,

By God, how many a night we passed there,

Nights that were like the magic of magicians!

As if it were a magic cast by the early dawns.

ولكم قطعنا الدهر في ظل الصبا

ما بين اعذار وخلع عذار

And for how long did we spend our time in the shade of youth,

And how often we traversed time in the shadow of youth,

Between coquetry, removing veils, and donning them!

Wavering between restraint and casting off the bridle of inhibition.

عيش تلاعبت الخطوب بعهده

حتى غدا خبرا من الأخبار

A life whose covenant vicissitudes toyed with

A life whose covenant was toyed with by misfortunes,

Until it became a tale of the tales.

Until it became nothing but a story among stories.

ومعاهد كانت علي كريمة

لم يبق لي منها سوى التذكار

I had a covenant noble and generous,

And familiar haunts that were once so generous to me,

Of which there remains to me only remembrance.

Of which nothing remains for me now but the memory.

واحسرتا من ذكر أيام الصبا

ها قد بدا شيبي فأين وقاري

Woe to me from the memory of the days of youth!

Oh, the sorrow of remembering the days of youth!

Behold, my hair has turned white, where then is my dignity?

My gray hair has appeared, yet where is my dignity?

يا رب خذ بيدي من الذنب الذي

أنا حائر في بحره الزخار

O Lord, take me by the hand from sins

O Lord, save me from the sin in which

In which I am bewildered, in a tumultuous sea.

I am lost, adrift in its swelling sea.

لا تأخذ الجاني بما هو اهله

واغفر بجاه المصطفى المختار

Do not seize the sinner for what he deserves,

Do not treat the sinner as he deserves,

And pardon me through the status of the Chosen One.

But forgive him for the sake of the Chosen One, the Elect.