قف بذات السفح من اضم

وانشد السارين في الظلم

Stop at Dhāt al-Safḥ in Iḍam,

And ask those traveling through the darkness:

هل رووا علما عن العلم

أَم رأوا سَلمى بذي سلم

Have they related any tidings of the landmark,

Or seen Salmā at Dhū Salam?

لَيتَ شعري بعد ما رَحَلوا

أي أَكناف الحمى نَزَلوا

Would that I knew, after they departed,

In which reaches of the protected pasture they camped.

أَبِذات البان أم عدلوا

ينشدون القلب في الخيم

Was it at Dhāt al-Bān, or did they turn aside,

Seeking the heart among the tents?

فَسَقى مَرعاهم المطر

وَسرى روح الصبا العطر

So may the rain water their pasture,

And the east wind's fragrant breath drift by night

في رياض طلها درر

بين منثور وَمنتظم

Through gardens whose dew is pearls,

Some scattered and some strung together.

نورها الفضي ملتهب

في رقوم لونها ذهب

Their silvery blossoms blaze

Amid patterns whose color is gold;

فيه من حب النَدى حبب

فوق زهر منه مبتسم

There, droplets of dew form beads

Above flowers smiling from that dew.

مذ تَراءَت لي خدورهم

وَبدت للعين دورهم

Since their curtained chambers came into my sight,

And their dwellings appeared before my eyes,

هيجت وَجدي بدورهم

يا لقلب بالغَرام رمى

Their full moons have stirred my longing—

Ah, for a heart struck by love!

فجهات الصبر مظلمة

وَمَرامي الهجر مؤلمة

So the paths of patience are dark,

And estrangement's shafts are painful;

وَهي أَرواح مقسمة

هيجت لعس اللمى ألمي

And they are souls divided,

The duskiness of lips has stirred my pain.

كَم صبا قَلبي بها وَلَها

كَما أَذابَت مهجَتيولها

How often my heart yearned for her, distraught with love,

Just as she melted my very soul with longing.

كَم حفظت العهد لي وَلَها

قبل سن الحلم بالحلم

How often I kept the pledge, for myself and her,

Before coming of age, with forbearance.

أَنا في تأَليف قافيَتي

غير محتاز الى فئة

In composing my rhyme, I am

Not aligned with any faction.

سقمي في الحب عافيتي

وَوجودي في الهَوى عدمي

My sickness in love is my health,

And my existence in passion is my nonexistence.

وَصفكم صاف عَن الشبه

يا عَزيز الشكل وَالشبه

Your description is free of ambiguity,

O you whose form and likeness are rare.

وَعَذاب تَرتَضون به

في فمي أَحلى من النعم

And torment with which you are pleased

Is sweeter in my mouth than blessings.

قسما بالنجم حين هَوى

ما المعافى وَالسقيم سوا

I swear by the star when it falls:

The healthy and the sick are not alike.

فاِخلع الكونين عنك سوى

حب مَولى العرب وَالعجم

So cast both worlds off yourself, except

Love for the master of Arabs and non-Arabs:

سيد السادات من مضر

غوث أَهل البدر وَالحضر

The master of masters, from Muḍar,

Succor of the people of the full moon [as written] and the towns,

صاحب الآيات وَالسور

مشبع الاحكام وَالحكم

Bearer of the verses and the surahs,

Who expounds ordinances and wisdom in full;

قمر طابَت سريرته

وَسَجاياه وَسيرته

A moon whose inner nature is pure,

As are his qualities and his conduct;

صفوة الباري وَخيرته

عدل أَهل الحل وَالحرم

The Creator's chosen one and His elect,

Equal in worth to those outside and within the Sanctuary.

ما رأت عيني وَلَيسَ تَرى

مثل طه في الوَرى بشرا

My eye has not seen, nor will it see,

Among humankind, a mortal like Ṭā Hā:

خَير من فوق الثَرى أَثَرا

طاهر الاخلاق وَالشيم

The best in deeds of all upon the earth,

Pure in character and disposition.

جاوز السبع الطباق إِلى

قابَ قَوسين استمر علا

He passed beyond the seven layered heavens to

The distance of two bows, and continued upward;

وَأَحالته الحظوظ عَلى

سر علم اللوح وَالقَلَم

And his fortunes led him to

The secret knowledge of the Tablet and the Pen.

نالَ عَبد اللَه موهبة

امظيم الفضل موجبة

ʿAbd Allāh received a gift,

Entailing [great?] bounty.

يا أَعز الناس مرتبة

عد بفضل الجود وَالكَرَم

O most exalted of mankind in rank,

Bestow abundant generosity and bounty.

عد بفضل الجود منك عَلى

صاحب النيابَتين فَلا

Bestow the abundance of your generosity upon

The holder of the two deputyships, so that no

يَعتَري عَبد الرَحيم بِلا

وارع حق الصحب وَالرحم

Affliction may befall ʿAbd al-Raḥīm;

And uphold the rights of companions and kin.

قل لهم أَنتم من السعدا

واشمل الادنين وَالبعدا

Tell them: You are among the blessed,

And embrace those near and far.

وَإِذا كنت الشَفيع غدا

لِلوَرى فالقاسميّ سمى

And when tomorrow you are the intercessor

For humankind, then al-Qāsimī is your namesake.

أَنتَ عَبد اللَه ذو الشرف

وَهو عَبد اللَه ذو السرف

You are ʿAbd Allāh, endowed with honor,

And he is ʿAbd Allāh, given to excess.

صده عَن مذهب السلف

كثرة العصيان وَاللمم

He was turned from the forebears' path

By much disobedience and lesser sins.

صار بالاوزار مرتهنا

ظالما للنفس ممتهنا

He became a hostage to his burdens of sin,

Wronging his own soul, brought low,

لذنوب كالجبال جنى

هتك أَعراض وَسفك دم

For sins like mountains that he committed:

Violating honor and shedding blood.

ضاقَ عنه وجه مذهبه

عزعنه نيل مذهبه

The course of his path has grown too narrow for him;

His goal has become hard for him to attain.

قم غداة الحشر بي وَبه

يوم جمع الخصم وَالحكم

Stand by me and him on the morning of the Gathering,

The day the adversary and the judge are gathered.

لَم يخب من كنت مؤئله

يا من الرحمن فضله

No one whose refuge you are has been disappointed,

O you whom the All-Merciful has favored.

ما عَلى الجاني وأَنتَ له

عصمة من أوثق العصم

What has the sinner to fear, when you are his

Safeguard among the firmest safeguards?

بك مزن الجود ماطرة

وَبحار الخير زاخرة

Through you the clouds of generosity rain down,

And the seas of goodness overflow;

فَجَميع الرسل قاصرة

عَن مَساعي ظاهر القدم

For all the messengers fall short

Of the deeds of him whose preeminence is clear.

وَصَلاة اللَه كل ضحى

وَسَلام اللَه ما برحا

And God's blessings at every forenoon,

And God's peace—may both never cease—

جاوزا ختما وَمفتحا

خير كمتم خير في القدم

May both extend beyond ending and beginning,

The best [unclear word], the best of old;

المصفى منصب الشرق

ذو الوفا أَعلى الوَرى شرفا

The purified one—station of the East [text unclear];

The faithful one, highest of creation in honor,

أَحمَد المختار وَالخلقا

شهداء اللَه في الأمم

Aḥmad the Chosen, and creation [reading uncertain],

God's witnesses among the nations.