وصل الكتاب المهتدى برشاده

يزجي عوارف شوقه ووداده

The letter arrived, by whose guidance one finds the way,

bearing gifts of his longing and affection,

متحلياً ببراعة وفصاحة

تزري بقُسِّ في صميم أياده

adorned with artistry and eloquence

that puts Quss to shame in the very heart of his own Iyad.

عذبت به الأبيات في استفتاحه

واحلولت الآيات في استشهاده

Through it, the verses in its opening grew sweet,

and the scriptural verses grew sweet in its citations.

فأخذته بيد اشتياق مسوِّفٍ

بوروده مستوحش لبعاده

So I took it with the yearning hand of one who kept promising himself

its arrival, desolate at its absence.

وجعلته من مقلتي بمكانةٍ

كادت تُعفي من سطور مداده

And I gave it such a place beside my eye

that my eye almost effaced some of the letter's inked lines.

وتشابها عندي فكان بياضُها

كبياضه وسوادُها كسواده

To me the two were alike: the white of my eye was

like the letter's white, and my eye's black like its black.

ووقفت منه على نصائح أوحدٍ

قرنت يداه رأيه بسداده

And in it I found the counsels of a peerless man,

whose hands joined his counsel to his sound judgment,

متنبّه في دينه ببصيرةٍ

قد قوّمته على طريق رشاده

watchful in his faith, with an insight

that had set him straight upon the path of right guidance.

جمع التُّقى والعلم منه عاملٌ

في هذه الدنيا ليوم مَعاده

He united piety and knowledge in himself, working

in this world for the day of his return,

راجٍ ثوابَ الله في إصداره

خاشٍ عقابَ الله في إيراده

hoping for God's reward in what he sends forth,

fearing God's punishment in what he brings in.

يا أيها المولى الذي لا يأتلي

في حسن ما يوليه من إسعاده

O master, you who never fall short

in the gracious help you bestow:

إنَّ الذي وافى الكتاب لأجله

سارعتُ في إسعافه بمراده

indeed, the one for whose sake the letter came—

I hastened to help him attain his wish.

ورأيت ذلك مِنَّةً لك ضخمة

يمتدُّها ذو اللبِّ خيرَ عتاده

And I deemed that a great favor from you,

which a man of understanding draws upon as his best provision.

أنت الذي أعددته لمودتي

ونصيحتي فأصبت في إعداده

You are the one I have counted on for friendship

and sincere counsel; I was right to count on you.

كن حيث شئت فما مررت بخاطري

إِلاّ وجدت هواك سر فؤاده

Be wherever you wish: you never cross my mind

without finding love for you the secret of its heart.