أيرجع لي قرب الحبيب المعاهد — Al Burai

أَيرجع لي قرب الحَبيب المعاهد

وَتَجديد عهد الوصل بين المعاهد

Will the nearness of the pledged beloved return to me,

And the renewal of union's pledge amid the old haunts?

وَهَل بعد شت الشمل وصل علائق

علقن بقلب فاقد غير فاقد

And after the gathering is scattered, can the bonds be joined

That clung to a heart bereft, yet not bereft?

فَما زلت مطلولا دمي وَمدامعي

عَلى طلل بالابرق الفرد هامد

For my blood has remained unavenged, and my tears

Upon a lifeless ruin at lonely al-Abraq.

وَسفك دمي عَن سفح دمعي مفهم

بان عيون العين سم الاساود

And my blood shed through my streaming tears makes plain

That the eyes of wide-eyed beauties are the venom of black serpents.

وَبين بطاح الرمل من شعب عامر

خدور بدور ناعمات نواهد

And amid the sandy flats of Shi'b 'Amir

Are chambers of moonlike maidens, tender and full-breasted.

كأن شعاع النور في قسماتها

شَقائق حسن في رياض خرائد

As though the rays of light upon their features

Were anemones of beauty in gardens of shy maidens.

يرنحها سكر الشَبيبة وَالصبا

فعند الهَوى العذرى مطل الموارد

The intoxication of youth and tender age makes them sway;

So in chaste love, the watering places keep one waiting.

فَيالَيتَ شعري عَن خيمات حاجِر

وَسكان ذاك البرزخ المُتَباعِد

Would that I knew of the little tents at Hajir,

And the dwellers of that distant tract,

وَعن روضة كانَت مقيلا وَمسمرا

لنا وَلليلى في الزَمان المساعد

And of a garden that was a midday refuge and a place for evening talk

For us and Layla, when time was kind;

وَما كانَ من علم الفَريق وَما حكموا

عَن الطالِب المَهجور خلف العَضائد

And what the company knew, and what they decided

About the forsaken seeker behind the tall palms.

قفا بي بذات الاثل من أَيمن الحمى

لا نشد قَلبا لا يرد بناشد

You two, halt with me at Dhat al-Athl, on the right of the protected grounds,

That I may seek a heart no seeker can restore.

وأستخبر النجدى ان هب عائدا

بربع اللوى عَن ظنتي وَعقائدي

And question the Najdi breeze, if it blows back,

At al-Liwa's dwelling, about my suspicions and convictions.

لعل عَليل الريح يهدى روائحا

لراحة صب للصبو مكابد

Perhaps the gentle wind will bring fragrances

To comfort a lovesick man struggling with longing.

أَماوَالَّذي حج الملبون بَيتَه

يؤمونه بالهدى ذات القَلائد

Indeed, by Him whose House the pilgrims visit, chanting their response,

Approaching it with garlanded sacrificial animals;

ومن طافَ بالبَيت المعظم ناسِكا

وَشاهد من أَنوار تلك المشاهد

And by those who circle the revered House in worship,

And witness the lights of those sacred sites:

لئن ندرت لي عطفة بوصا لكم

عَلى بعد دارينا وَقرب الحواسِد

If I should receive a rare kindness through union with you,

Despite our two homes' distance and the enviers' nearness,

لاستغرقن العمر شكرا عَلى الَّذي

مَنَنتُم بِهِ مستعز ما غير جاحد

I shall spend my whole life in thanks for what

You have bestowed, esteeming it greatly, never denying it.

فَما صدني من بعدكم بعد منزلي

وَلا خوف قطع من ظَلام الشَدائد

For my distant dwelling has not kept me from reaching you afar,

Nor fear of crossing the darkness of hardships.

وَبين قبا وَالشام شمس جَلالة

جلا الكَون سامى نورها المُتَصاعِد

Between Quba and al-Sham shines a sun of majesty,

Whose lofty, rising light has illumined the universe:

نبيّ نضاه اللَه سيفا لدينه

وَمكنه من كل عاد معاند

A Prophet whom God unsheathed as a sword for His religion,

And gave mastery over every hostile, obstinate foe.

وَناداه باسمي أَحمَد وَمُحَمَّد

عَلى أَنه مستجمع للمحامد

And called him by the two names Ahmad and Muhammad,

As one in whom all praiseworthy qualities are gathered.

فَها هو خير الخلق من خير أُمة

يدل عَلى نهج لا رَشاد قاصِد

Here he is, the best of creation, from the best community,

Pointing to a straight path of right guidance.

وَنحن به نَعلو عَلى الامم الَّتي

مضت وَكتاب اللَه أَعدل شاهِد

And through him we rise above the nations that

Have passed, and God's Book is the fairest witness.

أَتانا بنور الحق وَالشرك عامر

فأصبح رسم الشرك واهى القَواعِد

He brought us the light of truth while idolatry flourished,

And idolatry's structure became frail at its foundations.

وَمد عَلَينا منه ظل هداية

وَأَمطَرنا من بره كل جائد

And spread his shade of guidance over us,

And every rain cloud of his goodness showered us.

ألا يا نَسيماهب من قبر طيبة

بثثت رياح المسك بين التَلائد

O breeze that blew from the tomb in Tayba,

You have spread musk-scented winds among ancestral treasures.

أَعدلي الى تلك الرياض هدية

لا كرم ساع في الانام وَقاعد

Send back for me to those gardens a gift

For the noblest of all who walk or sit among humankind:

سلاما كعد الرمل وَالقطر وَالحصى

وَنبت الاراضيوَالنجوم الشواهد

Greetings as numerous as sand grains, raindrops, and pebbles,

And earth's plants and the witnessing stars;

جَديدا عَلى مر الجديدين جاريا

الى أَبدالا باد لَيسَ بنافد

Ever renewed as day and night pass, flowing

For ever and ever, never running out;

عَلى خير خلق اللَه حيا وَمَيتا

وأشرف مَولود لا شرف والد

Upon the best of God's creation, in life and in death,

And the noblest child born to the noblest father.

حَبيب زرعت الحب في كبدي له

وَلست لزرع الحب أَوّل حاسِد

A beloved for whom I planted love within my liver,

Nor am I the first to envy the planting of love.

وَقدمت مدح الهاشمي تجارة

الى موسم الارباح كنز الفَوائد

And I offered praise of the Hashimi as a trade

To the season of profits, a treasury of benefits.

اليك شَفيع المذنبين انتهت بنا

طَلائِع فكر تَبتَغي حق وافد

To you, intercessor for sinners, we have been brought

By the vanguards of thought, seeking a visitor's due.

كان فتيت المسك مسود خطها

وألفاظها تزرى بدر الفَرائد

Crumbled musk was what blackened its script,

And its words put the choicest pearls to shame.

هنيأ لها ان أَدركت مطلب الغنى

لديك وأَضحى سوقها غير كاسد

Fortunate is it to have attained the goal of wealth

With you, its market now free of stagnation.

أَتَتكَ من النيابَتين مجيدة

بمدحك تَرجو منك مهر القَصائِد

It has come to you on behalf of two, excelling

In your praise, seeking from you the dowry of poems,

لقائلها عَبد الرَحيم بن أَحمد

وَصاحبه عانى الذنوب ابن راشد

For its speaker, 'Abd al-Rahim ibn Ahmad,

And his companion Ibn Rashid, a captive of sins.

فَما زالَ في أَرضي المَغارِب حامِلا

لثقل ذنوب كالجبال الرواكِد

For in the two western lands he has continued bearing

The burden of sins like unmoving mountains,

فَقيراً حَقيرا مستقرا بذنبه

يُبارِز بالعصيان أَعدل ناقد

Poor and lowly, entrenched in his sin,

Defying through disobedience the fairest judge.

وَذَنبي يا مَولاي أَضعاف ذنبه

وَبحرك للراجين عذب المَوارِد

And my sin, my master, is many times his,

And your sea's watering places are sweet for those who hope.

وَجودك مَوجود وَفضلك فائض

وَمَهما سئلت الشيء جدت بزائد

Your bounty is present, and your grace overflows,

And whatever you are asked for, you give beyond it.

فَلا تخلنا يا سيد المرسلين من

عَواطف بر أَو جَميل عَوائد

So do not leave us, master of the messengers, without

Tender kindness or gracious, recurring favors.

وَقل أَنتُما في ذِمَتي من جهنم

وَمن محن الدنيا وَمكر الحَواسِد

And say, "You two are under my protection from Hell,

And from the world's afflictions and the scheming of enviers,

وَمن سَكَرات المَوت وَالقَبر وحده

وَعن كل هول واقف بالمراصد

And from death's agonies and the solitary grave,

And from every terror lying in ambush."

وَبر وأَكرم من يَلينا رحامة

وَصحبة دين واتفاق عقائد

And be kind to and honor those bound to us by kinship,

And by companionship in religion and concord of beliefs.

فَلَيسَ لنا ركن يَقينا مِن الَّذي

نحاذر لَولاك سهل المَقاصِد

For we have no support to shield us from what

We fear, but for you, so easy to approach.

وَلا عمل نَرجو النَجاة به سِوى

شفاعتك العظمى لساه وَعامد

Nor any deed through which we hope for salvation, except

Your supreme intercession for the heedless and the willful.

وَصلى عليك اللَه ما لاحَ بارق

تجاوبه في الجوحنة راعد

And may God bless you whenever lightning flashes,

Answered in the air by a thundercloud's moan;

وَما ارفض من واهى العراكل مسجم

وَقوّم من نبت الثرى كل ساجد

And whenever every downpour streams from loosened bonds,

And raises upright each earth-grown plant bowed low;

وَما غردت وَرقاء في عذباتها

سحيرا عَلى غصن من الايك مائد

And whenever a gray dove warbles among its branch tips,

Before dawn, upon a swaying woodland branch:

صَلاة تبارى الريح مسكا وَعَنبرا

وَتَعلو بسامى النور فَوقَ الفراقد

A blessing rivaling the wind with musk and ambergris,

And rising with lofty light above the Farqad stars;

وَتَستَغرِق الاعصار وَالحقب عمرها

بغير اِنتهاء خالد في الخَوالد

And spanning all ages and epochs throughout its life,

Without end, abiding among things eternal.

تخصك يا فرد الوجود وَتنثني

عموما عَلى الصحب الكِرام الموالد

It singles you out, unique one of existence, then turns

To embrace all the companions, noble of birth:

عَتيق وَفاروق وَعثمان وَالفَتى

عَليّ وأتباع وآل أَماجد

'Atiq, Faruq, 'Uthman, and the valiant youth

'Ali, and noble followers and kin.