خَليلَيَّ هَذا مَوقِفٌ مِن مُتَيَّمٍ

فَعوجا قَليلاً وَانظُراهُ بِسُلَّمِ

My friend, this is a standpoint from Mutayyam

O friends, here stands a lover held in thrall,

Veer a little and look at it with a ladder

Turn briefly aside, and behold him at Sullam.

إِذا شِئتُ لَم تَكثُر عَلَيَّ مَلامَةً

وَأَعنُفُ أَحياناً فَيَكثُرُ لُوَّمي

If I want, you would not blame me much

Had I so wished, no blame would rise against me,

And I get violent sometimes, so I get blamed more

But at times I am harsh, and so my critics grow.

وَطَيفٍ سَرى وَالهَمُّ مُلقٍ جِرانَهُ

عَلَيَّ وَأَقرانُ الدُجى لَم تَصَرَّمِ

An apparition passed by while worries unloaded its neighbors

A phantom visited while Care had cast its weight

Upon me, and the peers of darkness did not flow

Upon my chest, ere darkness’ ropes were cut.

فَقُلتُ لَهُ أَهلاً وَسَهلاً بِزائِرٍ

أَلَمَّ بِنا وَاللَيلُ بِاللَيلِ يَرتَمي

So I said hello and welcome to the visitor

I said to him: "Welcome and peace, O visitor,"

Who afflicted us while the night by the night hurls itself

"Who descends upon us as night crashes into night."

سَمِيُّ خَليلِ اللَهِ كُنتُ ابنَ صَبوَةٍ

تَجالَلتُ عَنها ثُمَّ قُلتُ لَها اسلَمي

Named after Khalil Al Rahman, I was the son of Sabwah

O namesake of God's Friend, I was once a child of passion,

I excused myself from it, then I told it “submit”

But I rose above it, and bade that folly farewell.

وَقَد تُبتُ عَنها يَعلَمُ اللَهُ تَوبَةً

تَبيتُ مَكانَ السِرِّ مِنّي المُكَتَّمِ

And I have repented from it, Allah knows the repentance

I have turned from it—God knows—in true repentance,

That spends the night instead of the secret from me, the hidden

Which dwells in the deepest, guarded secret of my soul.

إِذا كانَ إِبراهيمُ جارَكَ لَم تَجِد

عَلَيكَ بَناتُ الدَهرِ مِن مُتَقَدِّمِ

If Ibraheem is your neighbor, you would not find

If Ibrahim stands as the neighbor who protects you,

Upon you the girls of time from the early

You shall find no daughter of misfortune daring to advance.

هُوَ المَرءُ لا يَخشى الحَوادِثَ جارُهُ

فَخُذ عِصمَةً مِنهُ لِنَفسِكَ تَسلَمِ

He is the man who does not fear the incidents, his neighbor

He is the man whose protégé need fear no accident;

So take protection from him for yourself to be safe

So grasp his cord of safety, that you may remain secure.

لَقَد حَطَّ جارُ العَبدَرِيِّ رِحالَهُ

إِلى حَيثُ لا تَرقى الخُطوبُ بِسُلَّمِ

The neighbor of Al Abadri has unpacked his belongings

The guest of the Abdari has unloaded his weary saddle,

To where difficulties cannot climb with a ladder

In a sanctuary where troubles find no ladder to climb.

وَجَدنا لِعَبدِ الدارِ جُرثومَ عِزَّةٍ

وَعادِيَّةٍ أَركانُها لَم تَهَدَّمِ

We found for the Abd Al Dar a cry of pride

In Abd al-Dar we found the very root of glory,

And enmity which pillars did not collapse

An ancient nobility whose pillars remain unbreached.

إِذا اشتَغَبَ الناسُ البُيوتَ فَإِنَّهُم

أُلو اللَهُ وَالبَيتِ العَتيقِ المُحَرَّمِ

If people are busy with houses, they

When men contend for dominion over the houses,

Say Allah and the Ancient House, the Forbidden Sanctuary

They belong to God, and to the Ancient, Sacred House.

رَأى اللَهُ عُثمانَ بنَ طَلحَةَ أَهلَها

فَكَرَّمَهُ بِالمُستَعاذِ المُكَرَّمِ

Allah saw Uthman bin Talha and his family

God saw Uthman bin Talha as worthy of its care,

So He honored him with the Often Sought Refuge, the Generous

And honored him with the Refuge, the Honored One.

وَأَخطَرتُمُ دونَ النَبِيِّ نُفوسُكُم

بِضَربٍ يُزيلُ الهامَ عَن كُلِّ مَجثِمِ

And you risked your souls less than the Prophet

You risked your very souls in defense of the Prophet,

With a strike that removes obsession from every frowning face

With strikes that sever heads from every resting place.

فَإِن تُغلِقوا أَبوابَهُ لا تُعَنَّفوا

وَإِن تَفتَحوها نَستَطِف وَنُسَلَّمِ

So if you close its doors, do not harass

If you bar its gates, no blame shall fall on you,

And if you open it, we ask humbly and submit

And if you open them, we circle round and greet.

إِلَيكَ ابنَ مُستَنِّ البِطاحِ رَمَت بِنا

مُقابَلَةٌ بَينَ الجَديلِ وَشَدقَمِ

To you the son of Mustann Al Bitaah, we were led

Toward you, O son of the Valley's Lawgiver, we were cast

To a confrontation between Al Jadeel and Shadaqam

By noble mounts of Jadil and Shadqam blood.

مَهارى إِذا أَشرَعنَ بَحرَ تَنوفَةٍ

كَرَعنَ جَميعاً في إِناءٍ مُقَسَّمِ

Experts, if the Taneefah sea was hoisted

Swift camels—when they plunge into the desert’s sea,

They raced altogether in a partitioned vessel

They seem to drink together from a single, shared cup.

نَفَحنَ اللُغامَ الجَعدَ ثُمَّ ضَرَبنَهُ

عَلى كُلِّ خَيشومٍ نَبيلِ المُخَطَّمِ

They blew the slick forelocks then hit it

They blow forth curly foam, then strike it away,

On each noble nozzle, the tattooed

Upon every noble snout and finely etched nose.

حَدابيرُ ما يَنفَكُّ في حَيثُ بَرَّكَت

دَمٌ مِن أَظَلٍّ أَو دَمٌ مِن مُخَدَّمِ

Strategies, blood does not cease to flow wherever you knelt

Lean and worn, yet wherever they kneel down to rest,

Blood from a shadow or blood from a servant

Is blood from a torn hoof, or a chafed and bleeding shank.

إِلى ابنِ عُبَيدِ اللَهِ حَتّى لَقينَهُ

عَلى السَعدِ لَم يَزجُر لَها طَيرَ أَشأَمِ

To the son of Ubaid Allah until we met him

Onward to Ubaidallah’s son, until we met his face,

At As’ad, no bird of bad omen scolded it

Amid good fortune; no ill-omened bird cried out.

فَأَلقَت بِأَجرامِ الأَسَرِّ وَبَرَّكَت

بِأَبلَجَ يَندى بِالنَوالِ وَبِالدَمِ

So it cast with the corpses of prisoners and knelt

They cast down their heavy bodies and knelt at last,

With dawn that glitters with dew and blood

Before a radiant lord, dripping with generosity and blood.