سرَى طيفُها وهناً إليَّ فحيّاني

فيا حبّذا طيفُ من السّقم أحياني

Her apparition passed gently, bringing me delight,

Oh, how I wish an apparition would sometimes revive me when I am sick.

بُعَيدَ السُّرى يَجتاب كلَّ تنوفةٍ

ولم يثنه عَنْ قصدِ مغرمِه ثاني

From afar, dreams come to me every night,

And nothing could deter them from their longing.

أيا زائراً من بعد نأي وفرقةٍ

وعاود النومُ أجفاني

O you, who came from afar after absence and separation,

And sleep returned to my eyes.

بعيشِك يا طيفَ الأحبّةِ قلْ لهم

أما عطفةُ تُرجَى على المدنفِ العاني

By your life, tell those I love,

Should any kindness be expected from one abandoned and distressed?

وهل ذاكري أحباب قلبي على النّوى

أم الحُلبّ أغرَى مَن أحبّ بنسياني

Do those I love in my heart remember me when they drink?

Or has milk made them forget the one who loved them and wasted away?

على أنّ هذا الهجْر والصدّ منهمُ

لحالانِ في شرعِ الصبّابةِ حلوانِ

Yet this estrangement and indifference from them

Is sweet between lovers - it is one of the laws of love.

وحرمة أيامِ الوصال التي قضتْ

وطيبِ ليَالينا بذي الرملِ والبانِ

And the sanctity of the days of union we spent

And the goodness of our nights in sport and amusement.

لقد تلفت روحي اشتياقاً إليكُم

وهاجتْ صبَاباتي إليكم وأحزاني

My soul yearned so much to see all of you again

And my youthful passion surged towards you and my sorrow.

وقد كدتُ أقضي بعدكم يا أحبّتي

ومن بَعْدِكم ما كان بالموت أحراني

After you left, my loved ones, I nearly died

And after you, nothing made me cling to life.

وأغْيد كَالْغُصن الرّطيب إذا مشى

من التّركِ فتّاكِ اللَّواحظ فتّانِ

I complain like a fresh branch, when

A ruthless separation shakes it - so very alluring.

يُرنّحهُ سكرُ الصَّبابةِ والصَّبا

كما رنَحَتْ ريحُ الصِّبا غُصُنَ البانِ

The intoxication of youth and morning breeze make it swing

As the morning breeze made the branches of the acacia tree swing.

كُلفتُ به كالبدرِ حلَّ بسعدِه

وعاصيتُ فيه كلَّ من ظلَّ يَلْحانِي

I was associated with it like the full moon in its glory

And I disobeyed all who blamed me.

ولم أَنْس في نعمان يوماً جنيتَ مِنْ

أزاهرِ خدّيهِ شقائق نعمانِ

And I never forgot, during the days of pleasure

The red anemones I plucked from his rosy cheeks.

يقولونَ ما ألقاكَ في نارِ حُبّهِ

فقلتُ لَهمْ لا تعتبوا خدُّه الْقاني

They said: “He did not make you fall into the fire of his love!”

I said: “Do not blame him, his cheek misled me.”

دعوني وذنبي في هواهُ فخالُه

إلى الحُب من طُور المحاسنِ نَادَاني

Leave me with my sin against him, his beauty

Called me to love from the hill of perfections.

سأثني عناني نحوَهُ غير سامعٍ

ملاماً وكيف الكفرُ من بعدِ إيمان

I will rein in my desire towards him, though I hear

Blame - how can blasphemy exist after faith?

ويا شرف الإسلام يا مَنْ صفاته

الحميدة حقّاً ما اجتمعنَ لإنسانِ

O glory of Islam, o you whom

True, praiseworthy qualities have gathered in no other human.

أتَتْني على بُعدٍ قصيدتك الّتي

أقرَ لها قاصي البريّة والدَاني

From afar came to me your poem

Acclaimed by the far and near.

بعثتَ بها حسناءَ يا خيرَ مُحسنٍ

فأطلَقْتُ جُهدي بين حسْنٍ وإحسانِ

You sent it with a beauty, o best of benefactors

So I set my efforts between beauty and benevolence.

وأرسلتَها حوراء مَصْحوبة الرضى

فَقُلتُ انظروها فَهْي من حُورِ رضوانِ

And you sent it with a houri accompanied by consent

So I said “Behold her, she is one of the houris of Eden.”

كسرتَ قناة النّاصبين بها كما

رفعتَ بها يا بنَ الأكَارم من شاني

With it you broke the channel of the haters

And with it, o son of honored ones, you raised my station.

فَمِن أينَ لي في أنْ أجاريك طاقةٌ

وبحرك يَأْبَى أن يُقاسَ بغدراني

Whence do I have the capacity to compete with you

While your sea refuses to be contained in my river?

ولكنّ من عجزٍ أقابلُ بالحَصَى

قلائِدَ مِن درٍّ نظيم وعقيان

But out of inability, I answer pearls

With pebbles, though strung and of good breed.

توصلتَ في مدحي إلى مدح ماجدٍ

به افتخرتْ أَبنا معدٍّ وعدنانِ

In praising me you reached the praise of Majid

By which the sons of Ma’add and Adnan prided themselves.

إمام الهدى رب النّدى واسع الجَدا

مُبيد العدى مُروي صَدى كلَّ عَطْشانِ

The imam of guidance, the lord of munificence, generous,

Destroyer of enmities, quencher of every thirsty one’s thirst.

فتىً حازَ شأو المكرُمَات بهمةٍ

تريه البعيدَ الصَّعبَ مُسْتَسْهلاً داني

A youth who won the most high position by resolve

Which shows him the difficult, far goal as easy and close.

فمنْ كالحُسين السيّدِ النَّدب في الورى

يشيد العُلَى والمجد من غير ما واني

For who is like Hussein the sayyid, the most wailed over among mankind?

He built the high edifices of glory and majesty without fatigue.

ولمّا شكوتَ الدهرَ يا خير ماجدٍ

غدوتُ بقلْبٍ من همومي حَرّانِ

And when you complained of fate, o best of Majids,

My heart became fiery hot from my worries,

وبتُّ كأنّي ساورتني ضَئيلةٌ

من الرقْش من أنْيابها السمّ يغشاني

And I remained as though a slight viper

Whose venom overtakes me bit me with its fangs.

لَحا اللهُ دهراً حاربتكَ صروفُه

ومالَتْ بطغيانٍ عليكَ وعدوانِ

May God bare a fate which attacked you with its caprices

And inclined tyrannically and hostilely against you.

وأنت الذي شرفتَهُ ورفعتَهُ

على أعصرٍ مرّتْ قديماً وأزمانِ

You who brought it honor and raised it up

Above eras which passed in ancient times.

فمالَ ولو وفّاك ما تَسْتحقّهُ

بنى لك بيتاً فوق هامة كيوانِ

If only it had been loyal to what you deserve

It would have built you a home above the summit of Mount Qaf.

فَلاَ تبتئِسْ وابشر فسعدك مقبلٌ

سيأتيك ما تَهوَى وإنْ رغُمَ الشاني

So do not be disheartened and receive good news, for your luck is imminent,

What you wish will come to you even if the hostile are adverse.

وسوف ترى السَّبعَ الدَّراري مطيعةً

لأمرك فيما تَشْتهي ذات إذعان

And soon you will see the fierce lions submissive

To your command in whatever you desire, fully obedient.

عليك سلامٌ مثلُ أخلاقك الّتي

هِي الروضُ لاَ بل زهرُها غِبٍّ هتَّانِ

Peace be upon you, like your character which

Is the meadow, no rather, its very blossoming flowers.