1. أذكت بروقُ الحمى في مهجتي لهبا

    فأنشأت مقلتي من جفنها سحبا

    The lightning over the protected grounds kindled a flame in my heart,

    and my eye raised clouds from its eyelid.

  2. يا نازلين بقلبي طاب منزلكم

    ويا عُرَيبَ الحمى حُييتمُ عربا

    O dwellers in my heart, may your dwelling be sweet!

    And O dear Arabs of the protected grounds, may you be greeted as Arabs!

  3. جزتم على البان فاهتزت معاطفُه

    وأرضت الدوح من أغصانها عذبا

    You passed by the bān tree, and its limbs swayed,

    and the great trees gave delight with sweetness from their branches.

  4. عجبت كيف سكنتم من محبتكم

    قلبا خفوقاً من الأشواقِ مضطربا

    I marvelled how you dwelt, through love of you,

    in a throbbing heart, trembling with longing.

  5. وارحمتاه لعين كلما هجعت

    ألقت كراها بكفٌ السهد منتهبا

    And alas for an eye that, whenever it slumbered,

    cast its sleep into sleeplessness's hand, to be plundered.

  6. في كل يوم أنادى رسمَ ربعِكمُ

    يا ربع ليلى لقد هيجت لي طربا

    Each day I call to the trace of your encampment:

    O Layla's dwelling, you have stirred rapture in me!

  7. لا وأخذ اللَه أحبابي بما فعلوا

    من الصدودِ ولا قلبي بما كسَبا

    May God not take my loved ones to task for what they did

    in turning away, nor my heart for what it earned.

  8. ردوا المنام على عين بكم فجعت

    حتى تكون إلى رؤياكم سبَبا

    Restore sleep to an eye bereaved of you,

    so that it may become a means of dreaming of you.

  9. لما ذكرت فما قبلت لؤلؤة

    أجريت دمعي على عيش لنا ذهبا

    When I recalled a mouth where I had kissed a pearl,

    I let my tears flow over a life of ours now gone.

  10. قد كلّ صارم عزمى عن سلوكم

    لما سمعتُ حديثا عنكم ونبا

    The keen sword of my resolve grew dull at forgetting you,

    when I heard a tale of you—and it failed to cut.

  11. نأى جمالكم عن عين عاشقه

    حينا فما ضره لو زار واقتربا

    Your beauty grew distant from its lover's eye

    for a while; what harm would it suffer by visiting and drawing near?

  12. بنتم فلا غرو إن زار الحبيب ولو

    زرتم أخذت لدهري منكم عجبا

    You departed; no wonder if the beloved visits—and if

    you visited, I would gain from you a wonder for my days.

  13. ما للغريب الذي شط المزاربه

    عن الأحبة إلا سيد الغربا

    The stranger whose place of visitation lies far

    from his loved ones has none but the lord of strangers:

  14. كهف العصاة مغيث المستغيث

    محمد المصطفى أعلا الورى نسبا

    the refuge of sinners, the helper of those seeking help,

    Muhammad, the Chosen One, highest among humankind in lineage,

  15. من أطلع اللَه من لألاء غرته

    بدرا وأنزل في أوصافه كتبا

    from the brilliance of whose brow God made rise

    a full moon, and sent down books concerning his qualities.

  16. وأقبلت نحوه الأشجار طائعة

    فكان أحسن طرفيه الذي ذهبا

    And the trees came towards him obediently,

    so the fairer of its two ends was the one that moved.

  17. فكم سقت راحتاه عسكرا وشفت

    وفرحت كبدا إذ فرجت كربا

    How often his two palms gave an army drink and brought healing,

    and gladdened a liver when they dispelled distress.

  18. به هدى اللَه أقواما أعزبهم

    دينا أذل به الأوثان وانقلبا

    Through him God guided peoples, and through them made mighty

    a faith by which He humbled idols, and a reversal came.

  19. قوم إذا ذكروه استعبدوا رهبا

    وإن دعوا للطعان استبشروا رغبا

    A people who, when they remembered him, were subdued by awe,

    and when summoned to spear-fighting, rejoiced eagerly.

  20. أعطافهم من رياح النصر مائسة

    كأنهم في ظهور الخيل نبت ربا

    Their flanks sway with the winds of victory,

    as though, upon horses' backs, they were plants on hilltops.

  21. لا يعرفون عرينا إذ غدوا أُسُداً

    إلا العوالي والهندية القضبا

    Having become lions, they know no lair

    except tall spears and keen Indian swords.

  22. فيا لها من عوال في المعامع كم

    حازت من السبق في راحاتهم قضبا

    Oh, what lofty spears amid battle's turmoil! How many

    rods of victory they won in their palms!

  23. ومن مواض قد استحلوا مواقعها

    كأنهم قد جنوا من ضربها الضربا

    And what keen blades whose strokes they found sweet,

    as though they had harvested white honey from their blows!

  24. سموا بأفضل مخلوق سمى به

    نالوا الهدى والتقى والفضل والأدبا

    They rose through the best created being, through whom one rises;

    they attained guidance, piety, excellence, and good manners.

  25. إيوان كسرى تردّى يوم مولده

    وأخمد النور من نيرانه اللهبا

    Kisra's vaulted hall collapsed on the day of his birth,

    and the light quenched the flames of its fires.

  26. وجاءت الجن والكهان هاتفة

    لما رأوا مظهرين الويل والحربا

    The jinn and the soothsayers came crying out

    at what they saw, proclaiming woe and ruin.

  27. قالوا وجدنا السماء الآن قد ملئت

    آفاقها حرسا مملوءة شهبا

    They said: 'We have found the sky now filled,

    its horizons thronged with guards, filled with shooting stars.

  28. ما ذاك إلا لأمر كان عن قدرٍ

    فما لنا ولكم أن نعلم السببا

    That is only for a matter fixed by decree;

    so it is not for us or you to know the cause.'

  29. فعندما قامت الكهان وانتصبوا

    على المنابر في أقوامهم خطبا

    Then, when the soothsayers stood and took their places

    upon pulpits among their peoples as orators,

  30. قالوا لقد أبرز البارى ذخيرتَهُ

    وهو النبي الذي قد كان مرتقبا

    they said: 'The Creator has indeed brought forth His treasure,

    and he is the Prophet who had been awaited.

  31. فمن يتابعه يأمن كل حادثة

    ومن يباينه يلق الذل والعطبا

    Whoever follows him is safe from every calamity,

    and whoever opposes him will meet humiliation and ruin.'

  32. يا سيدا قد رقى السبع الطباق إلى

    أن جاوز الرسل والأملاك والحجبا

    O master, you ascended the seven layered heavens until

    you passed beyond the messengers, the angels, and the veils,

  33. وشاهد الحق فاستغنى برؤيته

    عن كل شيء فنال السؤل والأربا

    and beheld the Truth, finding through the sight of Him no need

    for anything else; thus you attained your request and desire.

  34. أرجو شفاعته العظمى إذا ذفرت

    لظى وصالت على أصحابها غضبا

    I hope for his supreme intercession when it reeks—

    the blaze—and assails its inmates in wrath.

  35. يا رب عبدك يرجو منك مغفرةً

    فأعطه من رحيب العفو ما طلبا

    O Lord, Your servant hopes for forgiveness from You;

    so grant him, from Your ample pardon, what he asked.

  36. يا رب صلّ على الهادي وعترتهِ

    وصحبه الأتقياءِ السادة النجبا

    O Lord, send blessings upon the Guide and his family,

    and his pious companions, the noble masters,

  37. ما لاح وجه صباح من لثام دجى

    ورنحت عذبات البان ريح صبا

    as long as morning's face shines from darkness's veil,

    and an east wind sways the bān trees' slender tips.