جرى دمْعِيَ السَّيَّاحُ من جفْنِيَ البَالِي

وقد زادَ يا أَهلَ المَعارِجِ بِلْبَالِي

My tears flowed like a stream from my withered eyelids

Oh people of lofty aspirations, my afflictions have increased

وقد صِرتُ صبًّا صابَهُ الصَّبُّ من صَبا

أَحبَّائيَ المَشْغولِ فيهِمْ مَدًى بَالِي

I became like a pouring rain showered by misfortunes since my youth

My dear friends who are preoccupied with them for a long time

أخِلاَّيَ بالخَلْخالِ والخالِ خُلَّةٌ

وبالحاجِبِ المَقْرونِ والمَبسَمِ الحَالِي

My dear ones with anklets and moles, a lovely group

With joint eyebrows and alluring dimples

وبالحَرَكاتِ الكَسْرَوِيَّاتِ في اللِّقا

وبالصَّولَةِ الشَّمْخاءِ في رَكبِ عُذَّالِي

With coquettish movements during encounters

And with a tall, proud gait in the company of camels

عِدوني وعودوني إذا اعْتَدَّني العِدى

وعودوا بإسْعافٍ وعودوا عنِ القَالِي

Call upon me if hostility assaults me

And promise to help me and refrain from blaming me

ولا تَقْطَعوا حَبْلي فإنِّي عَقيلُكُمْ

ولا تَمْحَقوا قلبي بعُقَدَةِ إعْقَالِي

Do not sever my rope for I am your protector

And do not crush my heart with the knot of estrangement

ففيكُمْ بُنِيَ بائي وهائي وهَمْزَتي

وأُلِّفَ لامي إنَّما دالُكُمْ دَالِي

For you are my essence, my existence, my life

My affection, my goal, my hope and my determination

فيا من بياءِ اليَرْعِ يرعَوْنَ ذِمَّةً

لمِثْلي ونونُ النُّورِ يُدهِشُ أَمثَالِي

So O you whose goodness nurtures a pact

For the likes of me and whose light dazzles the similar

سَلوا اللَّيْلَ عن عَيْني أَهَلْ عَنَّها الكَرَى

وهل عمَّها ريحُ المَنامِ بأَطْلالِ

Ask the night about my teary eyes which sorrow has blinded

And whether the breeze of sleep has encompassed them with ruin

وهل لَهِجٌ يوماً لِساني لعِزْوَةٍ

سِواكُمْ وهل خَيَّلْتُ بالعمِّ والخالِ

And whether my tongue once sincerely complained of any

Other than you, and whether I hallucinated about anyone else

وحقِّكُمُ حَقًّا وذُلِّل لعزِّكُمْ

فُؤادي من معنَى سِوى ذِكرِكُمْ خَالِ

By your right, sincerely, my heart is humbled

To any meaning other than your remembrance, vacant

تعَشَّقْتُكُمْ من قبلِ تَكْوينِ طينَتي

بذاكَ مَليكُ الأَمرِ بالغَيْبِ أَوْحى لي

I fell in love with you before my soul's creation

By that, the king of command informed me secretly

فمن فَيْضِكُمْ فَيْضي وأُنْمى لِبابِكُمْ

ومن موجِ إحْساناتِكُمْ غَسْلُ أَوْحَالِي

So my abundance is from your overflow, and I grow at your door

And from the surge of your favors, the washing of my afflictions

وإنْ كفَّني كَفٌّ كَفيفٌ مُكَفْكِفٌ

كَفاني بكَفْكافِ الكِفايَةِ عن كَالِي

And if a palm has sufficed me, a fulfilling, satisfying palm

It has sufficed me with the sufficiency of fulfillment over my adversity

وإنْ جالَ جَلْجالُ الجَلالَةِ جالِياً

جَلائلَ قَلبي جُلْتُ للجُلْجُلِ الجَالِي

And if the anklet of majesty rang, ringing

The chambers of my heart, I knelt to the glorious, ringing one

فَنيتُ بكُمْ عن غيرِكُمْ وحَياتِكُمْ

وقد شَطَحَ العُذَّالُ بالقيلِ والقَالِ

So through you I died to anything other than you and to your life

And indeed capriciousness has transgressed in gossip and saying

أميلُ بكُمْ مَيْلِ الغُصونِ مع الصَّبا

وفي ظلِّكُمْ لا زالَ حلَّي وتِرحَالِي

I incline towards you like boughs do towards the breeze

And in your shadow, my adornment and roaming do not cease

وقد ملَّ منِّي اللَّيلُ أقطَعُ ميلهُ

بملَّةِ آهٍ من فَؤادٍ شَجٍ مَالِي

The night tires me, I shorten its inclination

With the inclination of sighs from a cracked, leaning heart

وتظهَرُ لي الأَشياءُ من كلِّ بترِزٍ

لتُسلِيَني عنكُمْ وما أنا بالسَّالي

And things appear to me from every unraveled seam

To distract me from you, but I do not ask

وأَنظِمَ فيكُمْ شِعرَ آياتِ حكمَةٍ

يعطَّرِ منِّي نشرُها لهجَةَ التَّالي

And I compose in you poetry of lines of wisdom

Whose diffusion from me scents the tone of chanting

فأَنتُمْ حَياتي مِتُّ شوقاً لأَجلِكُمْ

صِلوا لي حِبالي وارْحَموا موتَ إذْلالي

For you are my life, dead of longing for you

Connect my ropes and have mercy on the death of my humiliation

ولا تُبعِدوني عن حِبالِ خَيالِكُمْ

فعندي شَميمُ التُّربِ من رُحْبِكُمْ غالِ

And do not distance me from the ropes of your imaginary vision

For with me is the scent of your soil, precious

تعلَّقَتِ الآمالُ من كلِّ طالِبٍ

بشيءٍ وأنتُمْ سادَتي كلُّ آمَالِي

The hopes of every seeker hung

On something, while you my masters are all my hopes

فأَمَّا لكُمْ قَلبي وروحي ومَسْمَعي

وسِرِّي وإِجْهاري وكُلِّي وآمَالِي

As for you, my heart, my soul, my hearing

My secret, my openness, all me and my hopes

نَعَمْ أَنا يا روحُ الحَوادِثِ مالُكُمْ

أجلْ إنَّ ربَّ المالِ يحفظُ للمالِ

Yes, I am, O soul of events, your possession

Indeed, the Lord of wealth preserves for the owned

صبَبْتُ دُموعي موجةً بعدَ موجةٍ

عليكُمْ ولم يفقَهْ بها فارِغُ البَالِ

I poured my tears wave after wave

On you, but the vacant minded did not comprehend

فإنْ أشرَحِ البَلوى تَهاجَمَ عُذَّلي

وإنْ أَكتُمِ البَلوى تعَجَّبَ عُذَّالي

If anguish reveals my disgrace collectively

And if I conceal anguish, my disgrace is amazed

وعِندي أَنَّ الكَتْمَ أقوى بليَّةٍ

إذا قيلَ هذا رَبُّ قلبٍ بهِمْ خالِ

And I believe that concealment is a greater affliction

When it is said this is the lord of a concerned heart

وَلِفْتُ الظِّباءَ الغيدَ في بَرِّ لَعْلَعٍ

وهُدْبِ جُفونٍ جرَّدَتْ أَيَّ فَصَّالِ

I wrapped the slender, tender gazelle in the vastness of a meadow

And the hump of eyelids that stripped whichever separater

ورِقَّةِ هاتيكَ الخُصورِ التي انْطَوَتْ

على كلِّ معنًى لا يُكَيِّفُ بالقَالِ

And the subtlety of those petite figures that concealed

Every meaning that cannot be depicted in words

وسحرُ عُيونٍ حينَ يرمِشُ طرفُها

تُريعُ قُلوبَ العاشِقينَ بزَلْزالِ

And the sorcery of eyes when its eyelids blink

They shake the hearts of lovers with tremors

تدَلُّلُ شِعري في هَواكُمْ تذلُّلٌ

أَلا فابْصُروا يا سادَتي نقطَةَ الذَّالِ

My hair flirts with your love, flirting

Look, my masters, at the dot of the letter dhal

وماضي سِقامي يا لَعَمْرِي مُضارِعٌ

بأَمرٍ روى عن مبدئي خَبَرَ الحَالِ

And my past illness, by my life, contends

With a matter the beginning of which informed of the present

كأنَّ القَضايا من غَرامي عَقيمَةٌ

نتيجَتُها ذُلِّي وأِيهانُ أَحْوالي

As if tribulations from my passion are fruitless

Its outcome being my humiliation and the disgrace of my conditions

وتاءٌ وباءٌ بل وواوٌ بسِرِّها

فتَحْنا من الأَقْسامِ أَبوابَ إجْلالِ

A ta, ba, and even a wow in its hidden meaning

We have opened from oaths the doors of reverence

عَبيدُكُمْ ما خامَرَ الغَيْرُ قَلبَهُ

بصدمَةِ إدْبارٍ وسكرَةِ إقْبالِ

Your servants, the others never stirred their hearts

With the shock of retreat and the intoxication of advance

سَواءٌ على الحالَيْنِ عبدُ رِكابِكُمْ

وحالي كما تَدْرونَهُ في الهَوَى حالِ

Your servant at the two states is equal

And my state, as you know it, in love, is thus

فلا الجُنْدُ تُلْهيني استفَزَّ أَميرُها

ولا البَلَدُ الغَصَّاصُ بالقومِ والوَالِي

So neither the army, though its leader provoked it

Nor the very noisy country with its people and governor

ولا كلُّ عالٍ في الوُجودِ وسافِلٌ

ولا كلُّ مَطْموسٍ وظاهِرُ أَشْكالِ

Nor everyone exalted and lowly in existence

Nor everything ambiguous and apparent in forms

إليكُمْ لقد وجَّهْتُ يل قومُ وِجْهَتي

وزكَّيْتُ في حُبِّي لكُمْ كلَّ أعْمَالِي

Towards you, I have directed my destination

And through my love for you, purified all my acts

تصدَّقْتُ بالرُّوحِ العَزيزَةِ غالِطاً

زَعَمْتُ بأَنَّ الرُّوحَ راحَتْ لكُمْ ما لي

I donated my dear soul mistakenly assuming

The soul had relaxed for you, but it is not mine

أَجلْ نِيَّةُ الإنْسانِ خيرٌ له من الشُّ

ؤنِ التي تأتي بأعمالِ أعْمالِ

Indeed, the human's intention is better for him than the

Deeds that bring deeds of deeds

نَوَيْنا لكُمْ صوْماً عن الكَوْنِ كلّهُ

وأنتم لنا عيدٌ وقدرِكُمُ العالي

We intended a fast from the whole universe for you

And you are for us a celebration, and your rank is high