أكْثَرتَ في لَوْمِ المحب وعذلِه

ووجدتَ قلبك خالياً من شُغلِه

You have blamed the lover much and chided him,

Yet you have found your heart devoid of his preoccupation.

وأردتَ عن أهلِ العقيق تجلّداً

فمَنِ المعيض عن العقيق وأهله

You have pretended indifference to the people of al-‘Uqayq,

But who can truly turn away from al-‘Uqayq and its people?

لاَمَا يروقُكَ ماؤه عِنْدي ولاَ

رَمْلٌ يشوقك في البلاد كرمله

Its water does not please you when with me,

Nor does its sand allure you in the land as his sand does.

أغلا عليَّ النازِحونَ خيالَهم

ولو ابتغوا عمري به لم أغْله

The images of the departing ones are more precious to me

Than if they sought my life with it, I would not hold it back.

أمُطَارحين لي الحديثَ عن اللوى

فتحوا فؤاداً كان قبلُ بقُفلِه

They open up to me the talk of passion,

Thus they unlock a heart that had been locked.

قالوا الهوى سهلٌ ومَا عرفوا الهوى

هيهاتَ غُيّب صعبه عن سهله

They said passion is easy, but they did not know passion -

Alas! Its rugged parts are far from its smoothness.

وببانةِ العَلَمين ظُبي لم يزل

ذو التاج يسطعُ عندَ موضع حجلِه

In the plain of Banu ‘Alam, the oryx

Still has its crown glistening in its rubbing place.

أأخونُ عهدَ حسينِ في أبنائه

وأضيعُ حقّ مُحمّدٍ في نسلِه

Shall I betray the covenant of al-Husayn regarding his sons?

Shall I forfeit the right of Muhammad regarding his progeny?

والعَيْرُ تألمُ حينَ تطرَقُ أختَها

والكلبُ ينْبحُ عن دويرةِ أهلِه

The camel-litter cries when its sister is prodded,

And the dog barks about the dwellings of its people.

أمّا عليٌّ فهو صُنوُ مُحمّدٍ

فيما علمتُ وأصلُه مِنْ أصلِه

But ‘Ali - he is the pillar of Muhammad

In what I know, and his origin is from his origin.

أَوَلَو أبو بكر أرادَ إِمَامةً

فأبُوه كان إمامَكم من قبْلِه

If Abu Bakr had wanted the imamate,

His father would have been your imam before him.

فالقومُ مِنْ أصل النبوّة سِرُّهم

من قبلِ ذاك وفضلُهُم من فضلِه

This group - the secret of them is from the origin of prophethood,

From before that, and their merit is from His merit.

هم معشرٌ تأوي الأنامُ بظلّهم

بل وابلٌ تُسْقى الأنامُ بوبْلِه

They are a group the people take shade under their shade,

Rather, clouds the people are watered from their rain.

بل دَوْحةٌ بجلِيّةٌ قُدسِيّة

طالت على نجدٍ البلادِ وسَهْلِه

But an oasis - lofty, holy -

Lengthened over Najd, the lands and their plains,

تحمي أكابرهم على أطفالهم

والغابُ يَحْمي ليثه عن شِبْلِه

Protecting their elders over their children,

As the forest protects its lion over its cub.

مِنْ كلّ مُنتَخبِ يرى مِنْ خَلْفِه

للكائناتِ كما يَرى مِن قبْلِه

Chosen from all those who come after him

To see for the universe as he sees before him.

وأعزُّ مُنية كلّ ذي سِرٍّ وذي

شرفٍ ومجدٍ لَثِمٌ أخْمصُ رجلهِ

And the most honorable death of every one noble,

Every one of merit and glory, is to kiss the sole of his foot.

خلَفُ النبي قبورُهم من نوره

بادي السَّنا وفَضلُهم من فضلهِ

Behind the Prophet, their graves are of his light,

Evident marks, and their merits are of his merits.

حَلَفَ الزمَانُ لكلِّ طهرٍ منهُم

أن لا أتى طولَ الزمانِ بمثلِه

Time has sworn for every pure one among them

That it will never bring one equal to him.

لاَ فرق عندَ الله بينهم مَعاً

أبداً وبين الأنبياء من رسلِه

In the sight of God, there is no difference between them together

And between the prophets from among His messengers.

مَلأٌ صغيرُهم يحوطُ لجاره

ولسرْبِه ولأهلِه ولنسلِه

Their youngest surrounds and protects his neighbor,

His herd, his people, and his progeny.

طابتْ فروعهُم لطيب أصولهم

والفرُع طِيْبَتُه لطيبةِ أصلِه

Their branches are wholesome from the wholesomeness of their roots,

And the branch, its wholesomeness is from the wholesomeness of its origin.

إن قال قائلهم وَفى في قوله

وكفتْ مقالةُ سيّدٍ عن فعلِه

If one of them speaks a word, he fulfills it in his speech,

And the words of a master suffice over his action.

تهمي على المسترفدينَ أكفُّهم

بندىً يُهجّنُ بالحيا في وبله

I attack with my palms the most churlish of them,

With dew that moistens through the sleeve.

أبلى الزمَانُ جديدَ كلّ مُعَمّرٍ

وجديدُ ودّي عندهم لم يُبلِه

Time has worn out the newness of everything lasting,

Yet their newness with them, it has not worn it out.

لا تبتغوا عينَ الكمَالِ فإنّها

لتحولُ مَا بين اللبيب وعقله

Do not seek the eye of perfection, for it

Will preoccupy what comes between the intelligent and his mind.