رأى الركائب تحدى فإنني كلفا

صب بكى أسفاً والبين قد أزفا

He saw the riding camels urged onward—for I am love-stricken,

a lovesick man who wept in sorrow, with separation already near.

مغري بحب الحمى تهفوا جوانجه

إن برقه لاح أو قمرية هتفا

Enthralled by love of the sanctuary, his breast flutters

if its lightning flashes or a turtledove calls.

يكاد يقضى عليه فرط لوعته

إذا تذكر عهداً بالحمى سلفا

The excess of his anguish almost puts an end to him

when he recalls a bygone time in the sanctuary.

تريه بأن النقا أوهامه إذا

أفاق لم ير إلا الوجد والأسفا

His fancies show him the bān-tree of the dune [reading uncertain]; when

he awakens, he sees nothing but longing and sorrow.

وينثني دامي الأجفان ملهباً

بوجده دائم الأشجان بلهفها

He turns back with bloodied eyelids, burning

with his longing, forever sorrowful in its anguish.

مؤرق الجفن لا يلوي على وطن

وإن صفا العيش في أفيائه وصفا

Sleepless of eye, he pays no heed to any homeland,

even if life beneath its shade grows pleasant and serene.

يبكي العقيق وإن شط المزار به

بمثله ويري فيه الوفاة وفا

He weeps for al-ʿAqīq, though the place he would visit lies far from him,

with tears to match it, and sees dying for it as fidelity.

ويسأل الوجد هل سألت أباطحه

ماء ليضحي له بالسمع مرتشفا

And longing asks: Have its broad streambeds asked

for water, so that he may spend the morning sipping it through hearing?

حيا العقيق صبا ظلت تؤلف بإختلافها

ديما في أفقه وطفا

May an east wind greet al-ʿAqīq, ever gathering, as it comes and goes,

thick clouds of steady rain in its sky,

حتى يرى كل قطر من أجارعه

إني سرى الطرف فيه روضة أنفا

until he sees every stretch of its sandy flats,

wherever his gaze roams there, as a fresh, untouched meadow.

ومن لعيني لو بانت سباحته

تزجي مكان الغوادي الأدمع الزرقا

And who would aid my eye, if its swimming appeared [text unclear],

as it sends blue tears in place of morning rainclouds?

ويح المحب الذي أضحت حشاشته

لا سهم البين من بين الورى هدنا

Alas for the lover whose last remnant of life has become

a target for separation’s arrow among mankind [reading uncertain].

غدا يرى الركب قد زمت ركابهم

من دونه وغدا نضو الجوى أسفا

At morning he sees the caravan, their mounts already bridled,

without him; and he becomes wasted by inward anguish and sorrow.

يبكي وينشد ربع الدار بعدهم

لم يبق فيك لمشتاقإذا وقفا

He weeps and chants to the dwelling’s remains after their departure:

Nothing remains in you for a longing man when he pauses.

وكم تشبت بالحادي غداة غدا

يزجي الحمول فما ألوي ولا عطفا

How often I clung to the camel-driver on the morning he set out,

urging the laden camels onward; he neither turned aside nor returned.

طوبى لهم طاب مسراهم وراق لهم

ما عاق عنهم ومكن هاب الحمام جفا

Blessed are they! Their night journey was pleasant, and they delighted in

what kept others from them; whoever feared death stayed away [text uncertain].

وحبذا كل من أي الهوى فغدا

يؤم في سيره عسفان معتسفا

And blessed is everyone whom love has [unclear], and who sets out

heading for ʿUsfān on his journey, across trackless country.

حتىإذا ما الصفا أدناه رائده

منه رأى أمر دفوق الذي وصفا

Until, when his guide brought him near al-Ṣafā,

he saw there something beyond what had been described.

وطاق بالبيت اسبوعاً وأطفأ بالسلقاء

ناراًإذابت قلبه فطفا

He circled the House seven times, and quenched with water [reading uncertain]

a fire that had melted his heart, and so it died out.

وعاد من عرفات ثم أكمل مما

يبغي وودع بيت الله وانصرفا

He returned from ʿArafāt, then completed what

he sought, bade farewell to God’s House, and departed.

وأم دار الهدى والشوق يحمله

وراكب الشوق لا يخشى النوى القذفا

He made for the abode of guidance, with longing bearing him;

and he who rides longing fears no far-flung distances.

دار تشرف صب زارها وقضي

حق الهوى من قضى في حبها شغفا

An abode that honors the lovesick man who visits it; he fulfills

love’s due who dies of passionate love for it.

إذا الحداة حبس العيس جادتهم

فضل الأذمة شوق نحوها عنفا

When the drivers rein in the pale camels, they are tugged

by the loose reins, through fierce longing toward it [text uncertain].

كأنها أسطر مرقومة ملأت

من الفلا نحو الحمى صحفا

They seem like inscribed lines, filling

pages of wilderness toward the sanctuary.

تمد أعناقها كالسيل

على الكلال القباب البيض والشرفا

They stretch their necks like a torrent,

despite weariness, toward the white domes and battlements.

وبالنخيل لها وجد يجد بها

إليه أن رفق الحادي بها عسفا

For the palm groves they feel a longing that urges them onward

toward them, so that even the driver’s gentleness with them seems harsh.

هناك أرشد ذاك الركب كلهم

من أنفق الدمع في تلك الربا شرفا

There, the most rightly guided of all that caravan

is he who pours out his tears in those heights, in homage.

وأسعد القوم من القي بساحتها

عصا السري وغدت من داره خلفا

And the happiest among them is he who casts into its courtyard

his staff of night travel, and finds a substitute for his home.

هناك يلقي المنى وافته مسفرة

حسناً ويستقبل الألطاف والتحفا

There he meets his wishes, arriving radiant

with beauty, and receives gracious favors and gifts.

ويفتدي ضيف خير الخلق كلهم

طرا وأحمى البرايا كلها كتفا

And the guest of the best of all creation offers ransom—

without exception—and the strongest shielding shoulder for all beings:

محمد المصطفى الهادي الذي كشفت

أنواره الكفر والطغيان فانكشفا

Muhammad, the Chosen, the guide whose

lights dispelled disbelief and tyranny, and they vanished.

من يقصر النظم عن أوصافه وترى

المجد في وصفه بالعجز معترفا

He whose qualities verse falls short of describing, while you see

glory confessing its helplessness in describing him.

وما أعسى يبلغ الوصاف فيه وهل

بالشمس أن قصرت عنها العيون خفا

What can a describer hope to convey of him? Is there

any obscurity in the sun merely because eyes cannot reach it?

والله أثنى عليه في الكتاب بما

أوحى وذاك الذي أعيا الورى شرفا

God praised him in the Book through what

He revealed; that is an honor beyond mankind’s powers.

حتى إذا عاينت عيناه حجرته

والنور يرفع من أستاره السجفا

Then, when his eyes behold his chamber,

and light lifts the veils from his curtains,

الوي السلام وأن لوي بمنطقه

هول المقسام كنفاه مدمع وكفا

he offers his greeting of peace; even if his speech is tangled

by awe of the station, a streaming tear suffices him [reading uncertain].

وغض من طرفه ذاك الجلال فلو

لا أنه رحمة تغشي الورى طرفا

That majesty lowers his gaze; were it

not that he is a mercy enveloping mankind’s sight—

ومن يكن وحده بالدار مفردة

ماقد عرفناه لا بل فوق ما عرفا

And whoever is alone, solitary in the abode—

what we have known of him—no, beyond what was known [text unclear].

فكيف لو عاينت عيناها كنها

والنور قد عم ذاك الأفق واكتنفا

How, then, if her eyes beheld his very essence,

with light filling that horizon and enfolding it?

وهل يطيق يري دراً بمقلته

من لم تعلق عينه أن تلمح الصدفا

Can he bear to see a pearl with his own eye,

whose eye has not even fastened on a glimpse of the shell?

قعدت عنه لضهفي ضلة ولقد

علمت أن إلهي يحمل الضعفا

I stayed away from him through my weakness, in error; yet

I knew that my God carries the weak.

ولو أطعت صباباتي عصيت لها

عذري ولو أن في عصيانه التلفا

Had I obeyed my ardent longings, I would have defied, for their sake,

my excuse—even if defying it meant death.