ليس بعد السبعين إلا الرحيل

فالآم التفتيد والتعليل

After seventy, nothing remains but departure.

How long, then, this [unclear word] and excuse-making?

دهمتك النوى ولا زاد قدمت

لها والمدى عليك طويل

Separation has overtaken you, and you have sent no provisions ahead

for it, though the distance before you is long.

لم يفدك الكثير من مهلة العم

ر فماذا عسى يفيد القليل

Much of life's respite has brought you no benefit;

so what good might a little do?

أنت فرطت فانتدب الآن أن كان

يرد الماضي عليك العويل

You have been remiss; lament now, if

wailing can restore the past to you.

كم نذير الأتراب وهو على الرحلة

والبين لو عقلت دليل

How many a warning among your peers! Of departure

and separation it is a sign, if you understood.

ليت شعريإذا سئلت عن الغفلة

من بعد هذه ما تقول

Would that I knew: when questioned about heedlessness,

after all this, what will you say?

ما بقي في الزمان فسحة أمها

فجعل فقد مضى التأجيل

Whatever respite remains in time, seek it;

hasten [reading uncertain], for postponement is over.

قم وبادر وتب وسارع إلى الطا

عة من قبل أن يفوت القبول

Rise, act promptly, repent, and hasten to obedience,

before acceptance passes you by.

وتوق القنوط وأرج فما ثم

إذا ما أخلصت شيء يحول

Shun despair, and have hope; there is,

if you are sincere, nothing that can bar the way.

جل ما ترتجى غدا حسن توحي

دك فالزمه فهو ذخر جليل

Your chief hope for tomorrow is sound belief in God's oneness;

hold fast to it: it is a mighty treasure.

وانكسار باد وفقر إلى العف

و وأرجى الجميع ظن جميل

And manifest contrition, and need for pardon,

and, most hopeful of all, a good expectation.

وخضوع وصدق حب وتصديق

وغيمان طاعة وقبول

And humility, true love, and affirmation,

and faith, obedience, and acceptance.

كل هذا أن شاء ربك تلقا

ه غدا وهو بالنجاة كفيل

All this, if your Lord wills, you will find

tomorrow, and it guarantees salvation.

سيما والشفيع فيك غدا في الحش

ر ذاك المشفع المقبول

Especially since your intercessor tomorrow at the Gathering

is that accepted one whose intercession is granted;

صاحب الحوض واللواء الذي

آدم في ظله غدا والخليل

master of the Pool and of the Banner

in whose shade Adam and the Friend will stand tomorrow.

اشرف العالمين ساد به في ال

فضل حتى ابوه غسماعيل

Noblest of all beings—through him, in excellence,

even his father Isma'il attained eminence;

خاتم الرسل بشرت رسل الل

ه في التوراة والإنجيل

seal of the messengers, foretold by God's messengers

in the Torah and the Gospel.

ليس مثل الإسلام يجهله العق

ل ولكن حتى يفيق العقول

Reason cannot be ignorant of something like Islam,

but when will minds awaken? [Reading uncertain.]

هل عن الرشد وهو أبلج وضاح

عدول أم للإله عديل

Can there be, from guidance so bright and clear,

a turning aside? Or does God have an equal?

أو يكون المعبود صنعة عبد

ان قصيراتي له أوةطويل

Or could the worshipped one be a servant's handiwork,

whether short or tall? [Wording partly unclear.]

غلب الجهل والعناد عليهم

فلهم عن داعي الرشاد نكول

Ignorance and obstinacy have overcome them,

so they recoil from the caller to right guidance.

ورأوا منه معجزات كنور الشمس

لم يجف نورها تأويل

They saw from him miracles like the sun's light,

whose radiance no interpretation could dim.

فسلام الأحجار منها وتسبي

ح الحصى في يديه والمأكول

Among them are the stones' greeting, and the praise

of pebbles in his hands, and of food;

وانقياد الشجار تسعى إليه

إذ دعاها وما عراها ذبول

and the trees' submission, hastening toward him

when he called them, untouched by withering.

ثم عادت إذ قال عودي كما كانت

سواء رجوعها والمؤول

Then they returned, when he said, 'Return,' just as they were,

their return and their final state alike.

وحنين الجذع الذي اسمع الصحب

جميعاً كما تحن الثكول

And the trunk's yearning cry, which the Companions heard,

all of them, as a bereaved mother moans;

وانبجاس الأصابع الخمس بالما

ء فروي الظلماء منها المسيل

and the five fingers' gushing forth with water—

the stream from them quenched the thirsty.

وكفاهم وعمهم وهم الجيش

كثير المياه فيه قليل

It sufficed for them and reached them all, though their army

was numerous and its water scant.

واستطابوا الوضوء منه فطالت

غرر منهم به وحجول

They delighted in ablution with it, and far extended

the blazes on their brows and the white markings on their limbs.

وكذا قدر جابر راح ثلث ال

ألف عنها وحالها لا تحول

Likewise Jabir's pot: a third of a thousand departed

from it, while its state remained unchanged.

صدروا مكتفين منها إليه

وهي من بعد ذاك ملأى حفول

They returned from it to him, fully satisfied,

and after that it was still full and brimming.

وببدر أعطي عكاشة عوداً

فغدا وهو صارم مسلول

At Badr, Ukasha was given a stick,

which became a sharp, unsheathed sword.

شهد الضب باسمه وكذا الذئب

فبرت تلك الشهود العدول

The lizard bore witness to his name, and so did the wolf;

those upright witnesses spoke truly.

وكذا العير والبعير الذي وا

فاه يشكو صحت بذاك النقول

Likewise the donkey, and the camel that came

to him complaining: sound accounts attest it.

وأتوه في الجدب والجو مصح

لا يرى فيه للسحاب مخيل

They came to him during drought, the sky cloudless,

with no sign of rain-clouds to be seen.

فدعا فانبرى الحيا وتوالت

كل وطفاء عقدها محلول

He prayed; rain sprang forth, and in succession came

each heavy cloud, its necklace unstrung.

وأتوه مستسكين فأومى

فتطوبت كأنها الأكليل

They came complaining [reading uncertain]; he gestured,

and the clouds drew into a crown-like ring [verb uncertain].

ونعي جعفراً وزيداً وعبد الله

لما غدا وكل قتيل

He announced the deaths of Ja'far, Zayd, and Abd Allah,

when morning came, each of them slain;

والنجاشي إذا رآه عيناً

وهو من فوق نعشه محمول

and the Negus, when he saw him with his own eyes,

being borne upon his bier.

معجزات لا يدرك العدا أدنا

ها وهل يدرك الغمام الهطول

Miracles whose least his foes cannot attain—

can anyone reach the pouring rain-clouds?

ليت شعري وهل إليه وقد ضاق

زماني قبل الممات وصول

Would that I knew: can I reach him, now that

my time is short, before death?

أنا قصرت في المسير إليه

فلهذا تأسفي فيه طول

I have fallen short in journeying to him,

and so my regret over it is long.

أنا فرطت والمفرط أولى

أن يدوم الجوى له والغليل

I have been remiss, and the remiss most deserve

unceasing anguish and burning thirst.

أنا أهملت ما يفيد فعونا

أسى دائم ودمع همول

I neglected what would benefit me; grant me aid:

lasting sorrow and streaming tears.

حسرات أقلها قلق نام

وحزن باد ووجد دخيل

Regrets, the least of which is growing restlessness,

manifest sorrow, and inward longing.

أي شيء بقيت تأمل هدى

طيبة قد بدت وهذا الرسول

What more do you still hope for as guidance?

Tayba is now in sight, and here is the Messenger.

نلت ما ترتجي فقل أن تطق نطقا

وإلا فالدمع عنك يقول

You have attained your hope: speak, if you can speak;

otherwise, tears will speak for you.

هذه النعمة التي كنت تخشى

أن صرف الزمان عنها يحول

This is the blessing you once feared

the turns of time would keep you from.

هذه روضة الجنان وهذا

حرم لا يضام فيه النزيل

This is the garden of Paradise, and this

a sanctuary where no guest is wronged;

بقعة قبل كل يأتي رسول الله

فيها من ربه جبرائيل

a place where, before all others, God's Messenger is visited

by Jibril, coming from his Lord.

فتأمل وابلغ مرامك والقصد

فما بعد رامة مأمول

Contemplate, and attain your desire and your goal;

beyond Rama there is nothing to hope for.

وتشفع به فجاه مزايا

عظيم عند الجليل جليل

Seek his intercession: a rank so distinguished

is great and exalted before the Majestic.

وعليه السلام ما ذرت الشمس

وما هيمنت صبا وقبول

Peace be upon him as long as the sun rises,

and as long as the Saba and Qabul winds waft,

وسرت نحوه الركائب بالركبان

يختال صعبها والذلول

and mounts travel toward him bearing riders,

the unruly and the docile alike prancing proudly.