ما بين أطلال النقا ورماله — Aloshari

Between the ruins of al-Naqā and its sands

is a full moon that settled in the heart at its fullness.

Never did I come seeking union through his eyelid

but he occupied my gaze with his image.

A gazelle: when the yearning lover gazes at his face,

he shoots at the heart with his glance and arrows.

Smooth-browed: when he removes his veil,

I behold a full moon shining from his robe.

The stars long to become his necklaces,

and their curved crescent is the thong of his sandals.

His glances flirted; and how many a lover

has had his doom written by his gazelle's glance!

A king: the hearts of kings are his soldiers,

and beauty and beneficence are among his officials.

And ill fortune retreats if it sees him approaching,

and good fortune and prosperity come from his approach.

The swaying boughs bowed to his stature,

and bent in passion for his lovely coquetry.

Well-watered by the water of youth, for he is

a bough that the east wind sprinkles with its clear water.

May rain bless the days gone by, as though they were

a phantom taking shape in slumber in his likeness.

When I enfolded the beloved one evening,

and, alone among humankind, gained union with him,

and had taken my morning draught of his saliva and radiance,

and had been illumined by his light and beauty.

I clasped him with my right hand; and when he saw

the sincerity of my love, he clasped me with his left.

So I was dazed by my joy in him, as though I

saw Ahmad as he bestowed his bounty.

The perceptive, peerless, consummate expert, who

joined perfection to his excellence and his own perfection.

He mastered the sciences with a thought that, had it shaken hands with

a mountain, the land would have been crowded by its limbs.

Thus he came to tame their unruly parts with his indomitable mind,

and illumines their darkness with the brightness of his mind.

Dignified—were it not for the coolness of his forbearance,

I would fear that it might harm his robe.

Deliberate, not swerving from his judgment,

active, unlike the bewildered fool.

His bounty presents itself to visitors,

so it reaches the man in need before he asks.

Ready for noble deeds; if they falter

one day, he stirs them with his worthy deeds.

The age's generosity, beauty, and dignity

reside in his palm, his beauty, and his majesty.

Resolute: you see success within his breast,

and smell victory's scent as he approaches.

His army's vanguards rose from his glory,

and his victory's battalions emerged from his bearing.

A man of high resolve that treads on hearts with its sandal,

so you see dark calamities beneath his sandals.

He turns his eyes from obscenity; far be it from his honor

to approve when a fool makes mischief with his words.

How far away, O Ramadan! You have left him.

Why did you not stay with him, like one of his dependents?

Why did you not recall his fasting and his night prayers,

and his prayers and his gifts from his wealth,

and his recitation of the Qur'an throughout his day,

and his standing in prayer for God throughout his nights,

and his pure, lawful food, while another

could not distinguish his forbidden food from his lawful?

He answered me, 'What blame is mine? For I am

a man who ransomed him with his own life and his men.

So may he live on, and I shall visit him again,

with goodness, joined to the cord of union with him.

Or did you not know that Ahmad is a lord

whose Ramadan has feared his Shawwal?'

O son of noble grandees, rescue a young man

whose life and fortunes time has toyed with.

I offer you an adorned maiden.

She has taken refuge in your house, sheltering in its shade.

She came despite the envious man's plotting, and indeed she

spat on his beard and over his moustache.

So rejoice in this feast; may you remain in a blessing

that has joined your cords, my lord, to the feast's cords.

A nail-paring from you dotted this month

upon its face, taking the shape of its crescent.

So thank your God for safety, then say:

O Lord, send blessings upon the Prophet and his family.