هَلا قنصت غَزالة الصَياد

وَضَمَمت غُصن قوامها المياد

Would that I had hunted a gazelle of the hunter

And gathered the slender branch of its bending stature

وَرَشفت جُرعة كَوثر في جَوهر

وَلَثَمت دارة خدها الوَقاد

And sipped a draught of Kauthar in essence

And tasted the ring of its kindling cheek

وَشَمَمت وَردة جنة في وَجنة

قَد ضرجتها مِن دَم الأَكباد

And inhaled a rose of Paradise in a garden

That had blushed with the blood of livers

وَتَحدرت تِلكَ الغَدائر بكرة

فَبدت عَقاربها عَلى الأَوراد

And those cheeks flowed down white in the morning

So their freckles showed on the meadows

وَتَحدقت مِنها الجُفون وَلاحظت

فنضت مراهفها مِن الأَغماد

And the lashes watched intently from them and beamed

Their glances from the eyeshades

ترتج مِن تَحت الإِزار لأَنَّها

غُصن عَلى طود مِن الأطواد

Quivering from beneath the waistband because she’s

A bough on a hillock of hillocks

عَذراء ناهدة التَرائب بضة

وَضاحة قَد خمرت بِسَواد

A chaste maiden, heavy breasted

And resplendent, dyed in blackness

نطقت مَناطقها وَصوت عقدها

وَجنت نَواظرها عَلى الآساد

Her anklets spoke and the sound of her necklace

And her glances stooped over the ponds

ريم لَها جيد الغَزال وَلَحظه

وَنفوره عَن ساحة القصاد

A gazelle, graceful of neck and glance

And shying from the plain of hunters

ما ضَر لَو وصل الجُفون بِنَظرة

وَوصلته بِحشاشَتي وَفُؤادي

What harm if the eyelids met with a glance

And I joined them with my passion and heart

يا أَيُّها الرَشأ الَّذي قَد زارَنا

كَيفَ السَبيل لَنا إِلى الميعاد

O you, the one who visited us, young man

How can we find the way to the tryst?

أَمن المُروءة أَن تَنام وَمُقلَتي

ملئَت حَواشيها بكف رَماد

Is it chivalrous for you to sleep while my eye

Has filled its rims with ashes?

وَتبيت ريان الجُفون مِن الكَرى

وَأَبيت ظَمآن الجَوانح صادي

And the thirsty gazelles of my eyes spend the night suffering

And the thirsty wings of my heart call out?

وَتَنام من فَوق الأسرة آمِناً

وَبِكُل عُضو في قدح زِناد

And you sleep above the bedding, secure

With each limb in a goblet of wine?

هب أَنَّني أُدعى الحسين بِداركم

أَفَأَنت يا مَولاي نَجل زِياد

Suppose I’m called al-Husayn in your abode

Are you, my Master, the son of Yazid?

فَاستوص خَيراً بِالفُؤاد فَإِنَّهُ

كَالطَير أَضحى في يَد الصَياد

Then bid farewell kindly to the heart, for it

Is like a bird fallen in the fowler’s hand

وَارحم جفوناً لَيسَ تَعرف ما الكَرى

فَكَأَنَّها قَد كحلت بِسهاد

And have mercy on eyelids that know no anguish

As if lined with kohl and antimony

قرنت بغرتك المَحاسن مثل ما

قرن الكَمال بِصَفوة الأَمجاد

You paired virtues with the beauties

As perfection paired with peaks of glory

الفاخر ابن الفاخر ابن المُرتَضى

السَيد ابن السادة الأَسياد

O excellent son of the excellent

Son of the chosen, Sayyid of Sayyids

أَصل الفَخار وَفرعه وَعَموده

وَضِياؤه الباقي إِلى الآباد

The essence of nobility, its branch and pillar

And its lasting light until the end of time

مِن طينة عَربية قُرشية

علوية نَبوية الأَجداد

Of an Arab, Qurashi, Alawi lineage

Ancestral, prophetic origins

عجنت بِماء الفَضل حَتّى طهرَت

وَتخمرت بالعلم وَالإِرشاد

Kneaded with the water of virtue until pure

And leavened with knowledge and guidance

فَتَشَكلَت فينا نُجوماً لِلهُدى

ما فيهم إِلا إمام هادي

Thus crystallized within us stars of guidance

Among whom is none but a guiding imam

مَلأت أَشعتها الوجود وَلَم تَزَل

إِذ ضَمها الآباء لِلأَولاد

Their radiance filled existence and still does

As the fathers included them for the sons

وَبِآل فَخر قَد تَجمع نورها

حَتّى استقلَ النور في بَغداد

And through the House of Fakhr their light gathered

Until the light reigned in Baghdad

بيض الخِصال نَقية أَحسابهم

شم المَعاطس زُبدة الأَجواد

Pure white of spirit, immaculate in account

Quintessence of steeds and cream of nobles

ما شَأنهم إِلا مُحاوَلة النَدى

وَجَوائز القصاد وَالوراد

Their affair is only to seek intimacy

And the prizes of hunters and meadows

وَدِراسة العلم الشَريف فَوقتهم

وَقتان وَقت تُقى وَوَقت سَداد

And to study the noble knowledge in its time

A time to be reverent and a time for justice

غَيث النَدى سم العِدى أَيامهم

يَومان يَوم نَدى وَيَوم طراد

A rain of bounty, deadly poison in their day

One day of bounty and one of pursuit

مِن كُل وقاد القوى متيقظ

نيرانهُ تَعلو بِغَير زِناد

From each fiery leader, vigilant

His flames rise without flint

لَولا بُرودة حلمه وَوَقاره

لأذيب مِن لُقياه كُل جَماد

Were it not for the coolness of his forbearance and dignity

His encounter would melt every solid thing

بنيت لعبد اللَه فيهم رُتبة

سمت الوَرى مِن حاضر أَو بادي

For Abdullah a position was built within them

It towered over homeland and foreigner alike

قَد شادها بِمَعارف وَلَطائف

وَأَقام ذروتها بِغَير عَماد

He established it with knowledge and subtleties

And set its pinnacle without pillars

حبر لَهُ في كُل علم منهل

مستعذب وَبكل فَن نادي

A sea of knowledge in every science, his own

Sweet flowing springs and each art has its caller

كتبت فَضائله بِكُل صَحيفة

وَجَرَت مَناقبه بِكُل مِداد

His virtues written on every page

And his glories streamed from every pen

يَحنو عَلى الضعفاء في أَبوابه

كَحنو ذي وَلَد عَلى الأَولاد

He has affection for the weak at his gates

Like the affection of a father for his children

وَيُصافح العلم الشَريف بشيبة

نسقى بِها في ساعة الأَنكاد

And he clasps the noble white-haired knowledge

With which we give drink in times of distress

وَيَروح في كُتب الحَديث وَدَمعه

فَوقَ العَوارض كَالغَمام الغادي

And he spirits away in the books of hadith, his tears

Above the lines like passing clouds

ذا شَأن آل مُحمد وَبَني الرِضا

بَحر النَوال وَكَعبة القصاد

Such is the affair of Muhammad's House and the sons of al-Ridha

A sea of bounty and shrine of pilgrimage

عُذراً إِلَيك أَبا الكِرام لمدحة

مِن ألفكم لَم تَأت بِالآحاد

Your pardon, O Father of Bounty, for a eulogy

That has not approached your peerlessness

عثرت بِثَوب قُصورها فأقِم لَها

رَأساً عَلى الأَقران وَالنُقاد

It stumbled in the robe of its inadequacy so set for it

A head above its contemporaries and critics

وَانشر هديت لِواءها وَاكسر بِهِ

جَيشاً مِن الأَعداء وَالحُساد

And spread its gift banner and with it break

An army of foes and enviers

هِيَ قينة لَكنها مُذ أَصبَحَت

في بَيتكم صارَت مِن الأَسياد

It is a treasure but since entering your home

It has become one of the nobles

فَاهنأ بِعيدك إنَّهُ بِكَ سَيدي

يَسمو عَلى الماضي مِن الأَعياد

So congratulate yourself on your feast—through you, my Master

It surpasses past ones of the holidays

لَمَحت لَهُ مِن نور وَجهك لمحة

فَغدت لِشوال هِلالاً بادي

From the light of your face it glimpsed a flash

So for Shawwal it became a visible crescent

لَولاك غم عَلى الخَليقة عيدهم

يا مَن لأَرباب الضَلالة هادي

Were it not for you, a feast would grieve the people

O you who are guide to the misguided

متعت يا رَمضان منه بِعَودة

مَوصولة تَبقى إِلى الميعاد

You granted, O Ramadan, in his return, a continuation

Enduring to the tryst

وَسَلامة مَغمورة بِكَرامة

مَوصولة الاسناد بِالاسناد

And well-being enveloped in nobility

Its links joined, chain to chain

وَاجعل إِلَهي السعد مِنكَ بِأَسعَد

وَاجعل كَذاكَ بَقية الأَولاد

And make, my God, his good fortune the happiest

And make likewise the rest of the children

وَاجعل عَدوهم أَسير سُيوفهم

ما انهل غَيث أَو ترنم حادي

And make their enemy a prisoner of their swords

Until no rain drips or singer sings