خل الغرام لصب دمعه دمه — Al Burai

خل الغَرام لصب دمعه دمه

حَيران توجده الذكرى وَتعدمه

Leave passionate love to a lovesick man whose tears are his blood,

Bewildered: remembrance brings him to life and annihilates him.

فاقنع له بعلاقات علقن به

لَو اطلعت عليها كنت ترحمه

Accept, then, the attachments that have fastened upon him;

Had you looked upon them, you would have pitied him.

عذلته حين لم تنظر بناظره

وَلا علمت الَّذي في الحب يعلمه

You reproached him when you had not looked through his eyes,

Nor known what he knows of love.

وَذقت كأس الهَوى العذرى ما هجعت

عَيناكَ في جنح لَيل جن مظلمة

Had you tasted the cup of chaste love, never would

Your eyes have slept in the depths of a night shrouded in darkness.

وَلا ثنيت عنان الشوق عَن طلل

بالَ عفت بيد الانواء أَرسمه

Nor would you have turned longing's reins away from a ruined dwelling,

Worn away, its traces erased by the hand of rainstorms.

ما الحب الا لِقَوم يعرفون به

قدما رسوا الحب حَتّى هَانَ معظمه

Love belongs only to people known by it,

Who rooted themselves in love long ago, until its greatest burden grew light.

عذابه عندهم عذب وَظلمته

نور وَمغرمه بالراء مغنمه

Its torment is sweet to them, and its darkness

Light; its maghram—loss, with an r—is their maghnam, gain.

كلفت نفسك ان تقفو مآثرهم

وَالشيء صعب عَلى من لَيسَ يحكمه

You tasked yourself with following their noble deeds,

And a thing is difficult for one who has not mastered it.

اني أَورى لِغَيري حينَ يَسألني

بذكر زينَب عَن لَيلى فأوهمه

I speak in veiled words to others when they ask me,

Mentioning Zaynab instead of Layla, thus misleading them.

وَطالَما سجعت وَهنا بذي سلم

وَرقاء يعجم شَكواها فافهمه

How often, late at night at Dhu Salam, there cooed

A gray dove whose lament is obscure, yet I understand it.

وَتَنثَني نسمات الغور حاكية

علم الفَريق فادري ما نُتَرجمه

And the breezes of al-Ghawr return, relating

News of the company, so I know what we interpret.

يا مَن أَذابَ فُؤادي في محبته

لَو شئت داويت قلبا أَنتَ مسقمه

O you who melted my heart through love of you,

If you wished, you could heal a heart whose sickness you cause.

سَقى الحيار بع صب سار منه إِلى

شعب المريحات هامى المزن يوهمه

May rain water a lovelorn man's dwelling, from which he journeyed to

Shiʿb al-Murayhat—pouring cloud-rain that beguiles him.

وَبات يَرفض من سفح الخزام إِلى

وادى ادام وَما والى يلملمه

All night it spread from the slope of al-Khuzam to

Wadi Idam and the lands adjoining its Yalamlam.

يَسوقه الرعد في تلك البطاح إِلى

أُمُّ القُرى وَالرياح البشر تقدمه

Thunder drives it across those broad plains toward

Umm al-Qura, with winds bearing glad tidings preceding it.

وَكلما كف أَوكلت ركائبه

ناداه بالرَحب مَسعاه وَزَمزَمه

Whenever it slackened, or its mounts grew weary,

Its Masʿa and Zamzam hailed it with welcome.

لما ألب عَلى البَطحاء عارضه

عَلى المَدينة برق راق مبسمه

When its raincloud gathered over al-Batha,

Over Medina it flashed, its smiling mouth enchanting.

سَقى الرياض الَّتي من روضها طلعت

طَلائِع الدين حَتّى قام قيمه

It watered the gardens from whose meadow rose

The vanguards of religion, until its upholder arose.

حيث النبوّة مضروب سرادقها

وَالنور لا يَستَطيع اللَيل يكتمه

Where prophethood's pavilion is pitched,

And night cannot conceal the light.

وَالشَمس تسطع من خلف الحجاز وَفي

ذاكَ الحِجاز أَعز الكَون اكرمه

The sun shines from beyond the Hijaz, and in

That Hijaz is the universe's mightiest, its noblest:

محمد سيد السادات من مضر

سر النَبيين محي الدين مكرمه

Muhammad, lord of the lords of Mudar,

The secret of the prophets, reviver and honorer of religion.

فرد الجَلالة فرد الجود مكرمة

فرد الوجود أبر القَلب أَرحمه

Peerless in majesty, peerless in bounty and noble deeds,

Peerless in existence, most righteous and merciful of heart.

نور الهُدى جوهو التَوحيد بدر سما

ء المَجد واصفه بالبَدر يظلمه

The light of guidance, the jewel of divine oneness, the full moon in the sky

Of glory: whoever describes him as a full moon wrongs him.

من نور ذي العرش معناه وَصورته

وَمُنشىء النور من نور يجسمه

His essence and form are from the light of the Lord of the Throne,

And the Creator of light gives him bodily form out of light,

وَمودع السر في ذات النبوة من

علم وحسن واحسان بقسمه

And lodges the secret within the essence of prophethood, of

Knowledge, beauty, and beneficence, by His allotment.

فَذاكَ من ثَمَرات الكَون أَطيَب ما

جاد الوجودبه أَعلاه أَعلمه

He is thus the finest of the universe's fruits that

Existence has bestowed—its loftiest, its most learned.

قَما رأت مثله عين وَلا سَمِعَت

اذن كاحمد اين الاين تعلمه

No eye has seen his like, nor has

An ear heard anyone like Ahmad; what 'where' could know him?

أَمسَت لمولده الاصنام ناكِسَة

عَلى الرؤس وَذاكَ الخزى محرمه

At his birth the idols lay toppled

Upon their heads; such humiliation is forbidden to him.

واصبحت سبل التَوحيد واضِحة

وَالكفر يندبه بالوَيل مأتمه

The paths of divine oneness became clear,

While unbelief's mourning assembly laments it with cries of woe.

والارض تبهج من نور ابن آمنة

وَالحق تصمى ثغور الجور اسهمه

The earth rejoices in the light of Amina's son,

And truth's arrows strike tyranny's strongholds dead.

وان يقم لاستراق السمع مسترق

فَعنده صادر الارجاء يرجمه

If an eavesdropper rises to steal a hearing,

One issuing from the far reaches is there to pelt him.

ان ابن عبد مُناف من جَلالَته

شمس لافق الهدى وَالرسل انجمه

Indeed, the descendant of ʿAbd Manaf, in his majesty,

Is a sun on guidance's horizon, and the messengers its stars.

العَدل سيرته وَالفَضل شيمَته

وَالرعب يقدمه وَالنَصر يخدمه

Justice is his conduct, and excellence his character;

Dread precedes him, and victory serves him.

أَقامَ بالسَيف بنهج الحق معتَدِلا

سهل المَقاصِد يهدى من بيومه

He stood upright on truth's path, with the sword,

Easy to approach, guiding whoever seeks him.

وَكُلما طالَ ركن الشرك منتهيا

في الزيغ قام رَسول اللَه يهدمه

Whenever a pillar of idolatry grew tall, reaching far

Into error, God's Messenger rose to demolish it.

سارَت إِلى المَسجِد الأَقصى ركائبه

يزفه مسرج الاسرا وَملجمه

His mounts journeyed to al-Aqsa Mosque,

Escorted by the saddler and bridler of the Night Journey.

وَالسوق يهتف يا جِبريل زج به

في النور ذَلِكَ مرقاه وَسلمه

And the urging voice calls: 'Gabriel, thrust him

Into the light; that is his ascent and his ladder.'

وَالعَرش يَهتَزُّ مِن تَعظيمِهِ طَرَبا

اذ شرف العرش وَالكرسي مقدمه

The Throne shakes with joy out of reverence for him,

For his arrival honored the Throne and the Footstool.

وَالحَقُّ سُبحانه في عز عِزته

من قاب قَوسين أَو أَدنى يكلمه

And the Truth—glory be to Him—in His mighty majesty,

Speaks to him from two bow-lengths away, or nearer.

فَكَم هُنالِك من فَخر وَمِن شَرَف

لمن شَديد القوى رحيا يعلمه

How much glory and honor there are there

For him whom the mighty in power teaches revelation!

حَتّى إِذا جاءَ بالتَنزيل معجزة

يَمحوا الشَرائِع وَالأَحكام تحكمه

Until, when he brought the Revelation as a miracle,

It supersedes sacred laws, while its rulings govern him.

هانت صِفاتَ عَظيم القربتين وَما

يأتيه جهل أَبي جهل وَيزعمه

Descriptions of the great one of the two nearnesses fall short, as does what

Abu Jahl's ignorance brings against him and alleges.

حالَ السها غير حال الشَمس لَو عَلِموا

بَل أَهل مَكَّة في طغيانهم عمهوا

Suha's state is unlike the sun's, if only they knew;

Rather, the people of Mecca wandered blindly in their transgression.

فاصدع بأمرك يا ابن الشم من مضر

فَقَد بعثت لاهل الشرك ترغمه

Proclaim your charge, O son of Mudar's lofty ones;

You were sent to idolaters to bring their idolatry low.

لَك الجَميل من الذكر الجَميل وَمن

كل اسم حود عَظيم الجود أَعظمه

Yours is the beauty of beautiful praise, and of

Every name of bounty, O mighty in bounty, the greatest.

يا أَيُّها الآمل الراجي ليهنك ما

تَرجوه ذا كعبة الراجي وَموسمه

O hopeful, expectant one, may what

You hope for gladden you: here is the seeker's Kaaba and pilgrimage season—

قبرا تساهد نوراً حين تبصره

عينى وانشق مَسكا حين ألثمه

A tomb where light is witnessed, whenever it is beheld,

By my eye; and I inhale musk whenever I kiss it.

كَم أَستَنيب رفاقا في زيارَته

عني وَما كل صب القَلب مغرمه

How often I deputize companions to visit him

On my behalf; not every lovesick soul is enamored of him.

وَكَم يُصافحه مَن لا يدى يده

وَلا فَمي عند تَقبيل الثرى فمه

How many shake his hand whose hand is not mine,

Nor, when kissing the dust, is their mouth my mouth.

مَتى أُناديه من قرب وأنشده

قَصيدة فيه أَملاها خويدمه

When shall I call to him from nearby and recite to him

A poem about him, dictated by his humble servant—

مهاجرية اهتَزَت كمائمها

عَن نور درّ لسان الحال ينظمه

An emigrant poem, its bud-sheaths trembling

To reveal pearl-blossoms that the tongue of inward feeling strings?

كَم يأَمَل الرَوضَة الغراء ذو شغف

يَرجو الزيارة والاقدار تحرمه

How many passionate souls long for the radiant Rawda,

Hoping to visit, while fate's decrees deny them,

مستعد يا بحبيب الزائرين عَلى

دهر تنكر بالاهمال معجمه

Seeking aid through the beloved of visitors against

An age whose dotted script has grown strange through neglect.

فَقم بعبدك يا شمس الكَمال وَكن

حماه من كل خطب مرمطعمه

Rise to aid your servant, O sun of perfection, and be

His shelter from every ordeal bitter to taste.

وارع الكَريم اذا ضاق الخناق به

ما خابَ من أَنتَ في الدارين ملزمه

Care for the noble one when the noose tightens about him;

No one whose constant companion you are in both worlds has failed.

يا سَيد العرب العرباء معذرة

لَنا دم القَلب لا يغني تندمه

O lord of the pure-born Arabs, grant pardon

To us: the heart bleeds, and its remorse is of no avail.

أنطت ظَهري بأَوزار وَجئتك لا

قَلب سَليم وَلا شيء أقدمه

I have laden my back with sins and come to you with no

Sound heart, nor anything to offer.

يا صاحِب الوحي وَالتَنزيل لطفك بي

لا زلت تَعفو عَن الجاني وَتكرمه

O bearer of revelation and scripture, show me your gentleness;

May you never cease pardoning the offender and honoring him.

وَهاكَ جوهر أَبيات بك اِفتَخَرت

جاءَت بخط أَسير الذَنب برقمه

And take the jewel of verses that glory in you;

They come in the handwriting of sin's captive, in his lettering.

فاِنهض بقائلها عَبد الرَحيم ومن

يَليه ان هم صرف الدهر يدهمه

Rise to aid their author, ʿAbd al-Rahim, and those

Close to him, if a turn of fate threatens to overwhelm him.

واجعله منك برأى العين مرحمة

اذا أَلم به من لَيسَ يَرحمه

Keep him before your eyes, out of mercy,

When someone who has no mercy descends upon him.

وان دعا فأحبه واحم جانبه

يا خير من دفنت في القاع أَعظمه

If he calls, love him and guard his side,

O best of those whose bones lie buried in the ground.

فَكل من أَنتَ في الدارين ناصره

لَم تَستَطِع محن الايام تهضمه

For all whom you champion in both worlds

Cannot be crushed by the trials of the days.

عَلَيكَ مِن صَلوات اللَه كلها

يا ماجِدا عمت الدارين أَنعمه

Upon you be all of God's blessings,

O glorious one whose favors encompass both worlds.

يندى عَبير أَو مسكا صوب عارضها

وَيبدأ الذكر ذكراها وَيختمه

The downpour of their cloud drips perfume or musk,

And their remembrance opens the recitation and closes it,

ما رَبح الريح أَغصان الاراك وَما

جابَت عَلى أبرق الحنان حوّمه

As long as the wind sways the arak branches, and as long as

Its circling birds range over Abraq al-Hanan.

وَينثى فيعم الآل جانبه

بكل عارِض فضل فاضَ مسجمه

May it spread, its reach embracing the Family,

With every cloud of grace whose downpour overflows.