تبدت وقد مدت عليها ستورها

ولو سفرت أغني عن الحجب نورها

She appeared, though her veils had been drawn over her.

Were she unveiled, her light would take the place of veils.

محجبة لا عز إلا لجارها

وليس الغني المحض إلا فقيرها

Veiled; none has honor save her neighbor,

And none is truly rich but her pauper.

تجلت فأخفى ما عليها من الحلى

سناها كما تحفي الليالي بدورها

She shone forth, and the jewels she wore were hidden

By her radiance, as full moons [efface?] the nights.

تطوف بها الأملاك في كل لحظة

وإن لم يبن بين الأنام مرورها

The angels circle her at every moment,

Even if their passage among humankind is unseen.

ويسجد من كل الجهات لوجهها

سواء توارت أو تراءت قصورها

And from every direction people prostrate before her face,

Whether her palaces are hidden or appear.

قطعنا إليها البيد ليس يروعنا

سهول الفيافي دونها ووعورها

We crossed the deserts toward her, unafraid

Of the plains of the wastes before her and their rugged ground.

نبي على ذعر الفلاة وكلنا

لأجل الفاهادي الجغون قريرها

[We spend the night?] amid the desert's terror, yet all of us—

For the sake of [unclear words], our [eyelids?] at peace.

وهل ترهب الأخطار نفس مشوفة

تبيت وليلى بالحمي تسزيرها

Can a yearning soul fear dangers?

It passes the night while Layla, in the sanctuary, [invites it to visit?].

أقول لصحبي والقفار كأنها

صحائف خطت بالمطايا سطورها

I say to my companions, while the wastelands seem like

Pages whose lines were traced by riding beasts:

دمواطي عرض البيد بالسير والسري

فهذا حمي ليلي وهاتيك دورها

[Keep traversing?] the desert's breadth by travel and night journeying;

For this is Layla's sanctuary, and those are her dwellings.

دعتنا فلبينا وجئنا نؤمها

عراة كموتي حان منها نشورها

She called us; we answered and came intent upon her,

Naked as the dead whose resurrection through her had come.

أتينا إليها حاسرين لأنها

غنانا فبالفقر الشديد نزورها

We came to her bareheaded, because she is

Our wealth; in deepest poverty we visit her.

ولما بدت أعلامها وتأرجت

أباطها منها ولآن سفورها

And when her landmarks appeared, and grew fragrant

Her [valleys?] with her scent, and her unveiling [shone?],

وضعنا جباها في الثرة قد تهللت

أساريرها منها وزاد سرورها

We laid our foreheads in the [dust?], and there brightened

Their features through her, and their joy grew.

وطفنا بها سبعاً ورفت ظلالها

على خائف مثلي أتى يستجيرها

We circled her seven times, and her shades fluttered

Over a fearful one like me, who came seeking her protection.

فبشراك يا عيني ودونك تربها

فلم يشق جفن جال فيه ذرورها

Glad tidings to you, my eye; here is her dust.

For no eyelid where her powder has swirled has been wretched.

قفوري برؤياها فتلك عبادة

توفى لمن وافى إليها أجورها

[Take comfort?] in seeing her, for that is worship

Whose rewards are paid in full to whoever comes to her.

وطوفي بها واسعي فقلبي نزيلها

فآية إخلاص القلوب حضورها

And circle her, and hasten, for my heart is her guest;

For the sign of hearts' sincerity is their presence.

فلو جاز قطع الأرض بالسير نحوها

عليك لقد والله كنت أسيرها

If it were permissible to cross the earth by walking toward her

Upon you, by God, I would surely have crossed it.

فطوبى لعين شرفت بترابها

وتمت بوطيء الأرض فيها نذورها

Blessed is an eye ennobled by her dust

Whose vows were fulfilled by treading the ground within her.

سقي الله أيام الحجيج على منى

مناها ومن لي لو يعود نظيرها

May God water the pilgrims' days at Mina

With their desires—who would grant me their like again?

فلو شربت لم يغل في السوق سعرها

ولو بيع بالعمر الطويل قصيرها

If they could be drunk, no market price would be too dear,

Even if their brief span were sold for a long lifetime.

بها زمزم الحادي فطابت بذكرها

موارد حاديها وطاب سميرها

Of her the camel-driver hummed, and her mention sweetened

Her driver's watering places; her night companion grew cheerful.

وكل صفات راق في السمع ذكرها

فمن وصفها حادي السرى يستعيرها

And all qualities whose mention pleases the ear—

The singer of night journeys borrows them from her description.

وكل فؤاد في الحمي عبد حبها

وكل طليق في الغرام أسيرها

And every heart within the sanctuary is a slave to her love,

And every free soul in passion is her captive.

وفي كل أرض روضة من حديثها

يفيض بها من كل عين غديرها

And in every land is a garden grown from talk of her,

Its pool overflowing there from every eye.

فإن تعط نفسي بالسري دونها المنى

فليس وأن شف النفوس يضيرها

If my soul is granted its wishes through night travel toward her,

Then the journey does not harm it, though it wears souls thin.

إذا قيل هذا منهل دون ورده

قنا الخط طابت بالورد صدورها

If it is said, 'Here is a watering place whose approach is barred

By al-Khatt's spears,' their breasts delight in drinking.

واحلى اللقا ما كابدت في بلوغه

عناها ومدت العوالي نحورها

And sweetest is the meeting for whose attainment I endured

Its hardship, while the long spears stretched out their necks.

وكيف تخاف النفس من دونها الردى

وذاك النبي الهاشمي خفيرها

And how could the soul fear death on the way to her,

When that Hashimite Prophet is its protector—

محمد المبعوث للخلق رحمة

نبي الهدى هادي الورى ونذيرها

Muhammad, sent as a mercy to creation,

The Prophet of guidance, guide of humankind and its warner,

وشافعها في الحشر عند ألاهها

ومنقذها من ناره ومجيرها

And its intercessor at the Gathering before its God,

And its rescuer from His fire, its giver of refuge;

وأول من ينشق عنه ضريحه

إذا بعثرت بالعالمين قبورها

And the first for whom his tomb splits open

When their graves are overturned throughout the worlds.

اتينا حماه فالتقانا برفده

نجائب وافي بالنجاة بشيرها

We came to his sanctuary; he met us with his bounty,

Noble mounts whose herald arrived with salvation.

وانا لنرجو عودة نحو داره

إذا مافروض الحج تمت امورها

And we surely hope to return toward his abode

Once the prescribed duties of pilgrimage have been fully completed.

فليس تمام الحج الا وقوفنا

عليه نرى آثاره ونزورها

For pilgrimage is not complete except through our standing

Before him, seeing his traces and visiting them.

عليه صلاة الله ماهبت الصبا

وما عاقبت ريح الجنوب بورها

May God's blessing be upon him as long as the east wind blows,

And as long as the south wind alternates with [the west wind?].