نسم آن أن تسري الرفاق إلى الحمى

فقم أو قمت أن ركب هامة اتهما

Breeze, it is time for the companions to journey by night to the sanctuary.

So rise—or have you risen?—a caravan [wording unclear] has gone to Tihamah.

غداة غد تخدي المطايا وأهلها

فهل لك قلب يملك الصبر عنهما

At tomorrow's dawn the mounts and their riders stride swiftly.

Have you a heart that can endure separation from them both?

اتطمع أن تبقي وتلقي أخا الهوى

سواك وقد زار الحبيب وسلما

Do you hope to stay behind and meet a fellow lover

other than yourself, who has visited the beloved and offered greetings?

وتقنع أن تروي المحبون باللقا

وأنت كما شاء العباد على ظما

And are you content that lovers should quench their thirst by meeting,

while you, as others wish, remain thirsty?

وتسمع داعي من تحب ولم تجب

اصمك أم أصمي وناداك أم رمى

You hear the summons of the one you love, yet do not answer.

Did he deafen you or strike you dead, and did he call you or shoot?

تقول ولم تزج الركاب اليهمو

عني وطن يدنوبهم ولعما

You speak, though you have not driven the mounts toward them:

Away from me, a homeland draws near to them [ending unclear].

ولا وصل حتى تقطع البيد نحوهم

بلى أن يكن بالطيف وصل فربما

There is no reunion until you cross the deserts toward them,

unless there is reunion in a dream—then perhaps.

فدع كل شيء ما عدا الدمع بعدهم

عسى الدمع أن يجدي عليك وقلما

So leave everything but tears after their departure;

perhaps tears will benefit you, though seldom do they.

سميري والركب الشامي منجد

سألتكما بالله إلا وفقتما

My two evening companions, while the Syrian caravan heads for Najd,

I ask you both by God—may you both succeed [wording unclear].

فإن ترحماني تسعداني على الهوى

وإلا فإني ميت فترحما

If you pity me, help me in my love;

otherwise I am dying, so have mercy, both of you.

قعدت برغمي حين لم ألق حيلة

ومن لم يجد باباً إلي لوصل أحجما

I stayed behind against my will when I found no way,

and whoever finds no door to reunion holds back.

فلولا الأسى واليأس قلت لعروة

إلا فاحملاني بارك الله فيكما

Were it not for sorrow and despair, I would say to Urwah:

Come, carry me, both of you; may God bless you both.

أبثكما مالو وعي بعضه الصفا

تفجر أو جزل الغضا لتضرما

I confide to you both what, if smooth rock grasped even part of it,

would make it burst, or set stout ghada wood ablaze.

وأبكي وما يجدي البكاء على امكري

تأخر والمقصود أن يتقدما

I weep—though what can weeping avail a man [reading uncertain]

who stays behind, when the aim is to go forward?

وأبدى الذي أبداه في جسمي الضنا

عسى أن تقصا بالحما ما رأيتما

I reveal what wasting sickness has revealed in my body,

hoping you both will tell in the sanctuary what you have seen.

فلم يبق مني الوجد إلا بقية

أعيش بها صبا وأفضي متميا

Longing has left of me only a remnant,

by which I live, lovesick, and confide [last word unclear].

وآمل أن لم يفنها الوجد أنني

أراهم بها أن جاد دهري وأنعما

I hope, if longing does not destroy it, that I

may see them by it, if my fate is generous and grants favor.

وكم قلت ليلا والرفاق بزعمهم

على البنين يرجون المطي المخزما

How often I have said at night, while the companions, as they claim,

at parting urge on the nose-ringed mounts [reading uncertain]:

حداة المنايا أن عزمتم على السراة

خذوا نظرة مني فلاقوا بها الحمى

O drivers of death, if you have resolved to head for the highlands,

take a glance from me, and meet the sanctuary with it,

وقولوا رأينا في ربا الحي ميتاً

شهيداً شهدنا ملء أجفانه دما

and say: We saw on the tribe's hills a dead man,

a martyr, whose eyelids we saw filled with blood.

تكتم حتى عاين الركب دونه

يسير فأبدى الوجد ذاك المكلما

He hid his love until he saw the caravan, without him,

moving on; then longing exposed that wounded man.

تشبث بالحادي فلم يلو نحوه

وكم منصف قد جار لما تحكما

He clung to the camel-driver, who would not turn toward him;

how many a fair man has turned unjust when given power!

وما ضره لورق يوماً لوجده

فرافقه في قصده أين يمما

What harm would it have done him to pity his yearning one day

and accompany him on his quest, wherever he turned?

وقد كان يغنيه إذا النار أعوزت

أو الماء بالأشواق والدمع عنهما

He could have met his need whenever fire was lacking,

or water, with longing and tears in place of them both.

فإن فاز باللقيا فذاك وإن قضي

فكم من محب مات من قبله كما

If he gained the meeting, so be it; and if he died,

how many a lover before him has died likewise!

رعي الله ركبا فارقوا طيب عيشهم

فأصبح كل بالشقاء منعما

May God watch over riders who left their pleasant lives,

so each found delight in hardship.

تشاوي على الأكوار من خمرة الكرى

يرنحهم حادي السرى إذ ترنما

Drunk upon their camel-saddles with the wine of sleep,

the night-journey's driver makes them sway as he sings.

يرون كري الأجفان وهو محلل

عليهم إلى وقت اللقاء مجرما

They deem sleep for their eyelids, though lawful,

a crime for them until the hour of meeting.

لهم بالبرقو اللامعات تعلل

ومن لم يجد ماء طهوراً تيمما

They find solace in the gleaming lightning flashes;

whoever finds no purifying water cleanses himself with dust.

إذ لاح برق قابلته جفونهم

باغزر من صوب الغمام إذ همى

When lightning appears, their eyelids answer it

with a downpour more abundant than rain from streaming clouds.

يطنونه نار الفراق على الحمي

تراءت لهم أو ثغر ليلي تبسما

They think it is the fire of separation over the sanctuary,

appearing to them, or Layla's mouth smiling.

وليس ببدع للمحب إذا رأى

مخايل من يهواه أن يتوهما

It is no strange thing for a lover, when he sees

signs of the one he loves, to imagine such things.

ألا حبذا مسرى الركاب وقد رأت

لها معلماً عند الثنية معلما

How lovely the mounts' night journey, when they have seen

a marked landmark for them at the mountain pass.

وقد نزل الركبان عنها وعفروا

سحيراً على الأرض الوجوه لتكرما

The riders have dismounted from them and dusted

their faces on the earth before dawn, that they might be honored.

ولاح الحمى والصبح في طرة الدجى

فلم يدر ماشق الحنادس منهما

The sanctuary appears, and dawn in the forelock of darkness;

one cannot tell which of the two has cleft the dark.

وقد أشرفت تلك القباب وأشرفت

وعاين أنوار الهدى من توسما

Those domes have risen into view and towered aloft,

and whoever looks discerningly beholds the lights of guidance.

وشاهد في تلك المشاهد والربا

معارج جبريل الأمين إلى السما

In those sacred sites and hills he sees

the ascents of Gabriel the Trustworthy into heaven.

وبان المصلى والنخيل وأقبلت

وجوه زهاها الحسن إن تتلثما

The prayer ground and the palms appear, and toward him come

faces adorned by beauty, even when veiled.

عريب لهم حق الجوار فحقهم

عظيم على من كان لله مسلما

An Arab band holds the rights of neighbors; their claim

is great upon anyone who submits to God.

هنالك تلقى روضة الجنة التي

يلاقيه منها عرفها متنسما

There one encounters the Garden of Paradise,

from which its fragrance comes wafting to meet him.

وإن عاينت عيناه خلف ستورها

سنا حجرة الهادي فقد أمن العمي

If his eyes behold, behind its curtains,

the radiance of the Guide's chamber, he is safe from blindness.

تعبر عن أشواقه عبراته

إذا لم يطق للشوق أن يتكلما

His tears express his longing

when longing leaves him unable to speak.

ومن ذا الذي لولا السكينة حوله

تثبته يقوي عليى أن ينسما

Who, were it not for the tranquility around him,

holding him steady, would have the strength to breathe?

يرى منبر الهادي وموضع قبره

ومزدحم الأفلاك والوحي فيهما

He sees the Guide's pulpit and the place of his tomb,

and the thronging of heavenly spheres and revelation about them both.

فواخر تاهل إلى إليها على النوى

دنو وهل القى حماها المعظما

[Wording unclear:] glories ... toward her, despite separation,

nearness? And shall I reach her revered sanctuary?

ووأسفاً طال البعاد وليس لي

سبيل وأخشى أن أموت أسي وما

Alas, how long the distance, while I have no

path; I fear I shall die grieving [ending incomplete].

أجيران قبر المصطفى هل علمتو

بأن فؤادي يوم فوضت خيما

O neighbors of the Chosen One's tomb, do you know

that my heart pitched camp the day I broke camp [reading uncertain]?

رحلت برغمي طائعاً وتركته

فلا عجب أني أطيل التندما

I departed against my will, obedient, and left it behind;

no wonder I prolong my regret.

أجيران قبر المصطفى أنتم الذي

بحار بكم من جاءكم متذمما

O neighbors of the Chosen One's tomb, you are those

by whom whoever comes seeking refuge is protected [reading uncertain].

سلوا الله عند المصطفى بضريحه

لا حظي بكم عند الضريح وأنعما

Ask God, beside the Chosen One at his tomb,

that I may enjoy your company by the tomb and live in bliss [reading uncertain],

والقاكم عند المصلى وكلما

قضيت سلاماً لي رجعت مسلما

and meet you at the prayer ground, and whenever

I finish a greeting of my own, return to greet again.

وألثم أخفاف المطي ومن سما

بطيب ثري الأحباب قبل منسما

I kiss the camels' feet; whoever seeks elevation

through the beloved ones' fragrant soil kisses a camel's foot.

وتنشد تلك الأرض للهجر والنوي

دعاني أسروا ذاهباً حيث شئتما

That land sings to estrangement and separation:

Leave me, both of you; travel by night, away wherever you wish.

فهذا المعني لم يزل في مغرما

يرى عيشه في حالة البعد مغرما

This tormented man has never ceased to be in love [wording unclear],

and sees his life in separation as a grievous burden.

وقولوا تجاه لمصطفى يا شفيعنا

عبيدك فيه قد شفعنا ليقدما

Say before the Chosen One: O our intercessor,

we, your servants, have interceded for him, that he may come:

محب إذا مارام أن يقرب النوى

ترامت به الشواق أبعد مرتمى

a lover who, whenever he tries to shorten the distance,

is hurled by longing to the farthest reach.

يمناً بمن ضم الضريح ومن به

على ربه كل النبيين أقسما

By the blessing of him the tomb enfolds, and of him by whom

every prophet has adjured his Lord,

لقد زاد شوقي نحو تربته التي

حواليه وإن لم أدن منها فما فما

my longing has grown for the earth of his tomb, which lies

around him, though I have not drawn near it [ending unclear].

ترى بعد هذا البعد أسعي إلى قبا

وأهجع في ظل النخيل مهوما

Will I, after this long separation, hasten to Quba,

and sleep beneath the palms, lightly dozing,

وأختال في تلك الحدائق قائلاً

أعيني ناماً طالما قد سهرتما

and walk exultantly in those gardens, saying:

My two eyes, sleep—you have kept vigil so long.

رعي الله أياماً تقضت على الحما

وعيشاً حميداً بالصريم تصرما

May God watch over days that passed in the sanctuary,

and a goodly life at al-Sarim, now ended:

ليالي أمسي بين حجرة أحمد

ومنبره صباً وأصبح مثلما

nights when I passed the evening between Ahmad's chamber

and his pulpit, lovesick, and greeted morning just the same,

وانشق من عرف الجنان نسيمة

تحقق أني جار من سكن الحمى

and breathed a breeze of Paradise's fragrance,

assuring me I was a neighbor of him who dwells in the sanctuary;

واصحب قوماً جاوروه فأصبحوا

بجيرته خير الأنام وأكرما

and kept company with people who lived beside him and became,

through his neighborhood, the best and noblest of mankind.

ثم عدني عند النبي وأنثنى

لأرجوهم أن يذكروني تكرما

Then [wording unclear] beside the Prophet, and I turn back

to beg them to remember me out of kindness.

وإن لم أكن أهلا لذاك فإن لي

بذل انكساري شافعاً متقدما

Though I am not worthy of that, I have

in my humble brokenness an intercessor going before me.

عسي ساعة فيها القبول ينالي

دعاؤهم فيها فآتيه محرما

Perhaps, in an hour when prayers are accepted, I will receive

their supplication, and come to him in pilgrim consecration.

ولست وإن أبطأت عنه بيائس

فقد يجمع الله الشتيتين بعدما

I am not hopeless, though I have been slow to reach him:

God may unite the two separated ones after...

عليه سلام الله ماهبت الصبا

وسارت نجوم الليل تتبع أنجما

God's peace be upon him as long as the east wind blows

and the stars of night move on, following other stars.