اسمع حديثي فإن الصدق مقبول

وانظر دليل اشتياقي يبد مدلول

Listen to my account, for truth is accepted.

And behold the proof of my longing; its meaning will appear.

فلي شجون من الأشجان ما عُرفَتْ

قبلي لمن قلبَه بالبين مَتبولُ

I have sorrows among sorrows never known

before me to anyone whose heart parting has stricken.

أنا الذي وصلتْ أسباب وحشَته

وليس لي سبب للأنس موصول

I am he whose bonds of loneliness are joined,

while no bond joins me to companionship.

وقطَّع الوجد أحشائي فلي كبدٌ

نجيعُها في طلول البعد مطلول

Passion has torn my entrails; I have a liver

whose lifeblood lies unavenged amid the ruins of distance.

قد كان ينصرُ صبري قبل فرقتكم

واليوم أصبح صبري وهو مخذول

My patience once had support before parting from you;

today my patience stands forsaken.

ياللغريب الذي شطَّ المزار به

فللجوى والنوى فيه أفاعيلُ

Alas for the stranger whose place of reunion is far away!

Heartache and separation work their havoc upon him.

قد جنَّ شوقاً إلى أحبابه فغدا

كأنه في الورى المجنون بهلول

He has gone mad with longing for his loved ones, becoming

among mankind as though he were Bahlul the madman.

يهيم في الأرض لا يدري أمنزلُه

بالقفر أم حيث ربعُ القوم مأهول

He wanders the earth, not knowing whether his dwelling is

in the wilderness or where his people's quarter is inhabited.

حيرانَ قد ضلَّ في تيه الأسى فعسى

هادٍ من القرب إن البعد تضليلُ

Bewildered, he is lost in grief's wilderness; perhaps

nearness will bring a guide, for distance leads astray.

ظمان يسآل عن وِرد ينال به

ريّ الغليل وفي أجفانه النيل

Thirsty, he asks for a watering place where he may find

relief from burning thirst, while the Nile is in his eyelids.

هيهات يرويه ماء الدمع صعّده

فإنه في ضرام النار محمول

Far from quenching him is the tear-water he has sent rising,

for it is borne amid the blaze of fire.

ويح الشجي إنه ما زال في غصص

مذ كان عن ساحة الترحيب ترحيل

Alas for the sorrow-stricken man, forever choked with grief

since he was driven from the precinct of welcome.

فحسبه الله لا يشكو إلى أحد

إن الذي شاءه الرحمن مفعول

God suffices him; he complains to no one.

What the All-Merciful has willed will be done.

قد أنكر الحال إذ حال الزَّمان على

معالم الأنس فالمعلوم مجهول

He finds his condition strange, as time has turned against

the landmarks of companionship; the known is now unknown.

يرى النهار كمثل الليل من كربٍ

كأنه ليس للساعات تنقيل

Through anguish he sees the day as though it were night,

as if the hours never moved onward.

للناس من دهرهم انجاز موعدهم

ووعده في انتظام الشمل ممطول

Others find their promises fulfilled by time,

but his promised reunion is deferred.

لولا الأماني التي أضحت تعلله

ما عاش يوماً وبعض العيش تعليل

Were it not for the hopes that now console him,

he would not live a day; some living is mere consolation.

وفي التحية محياه إذا وردت

من سيد غيبه المأمون مأمول

His life lies in the greeting when it arrives

from a lord trusted in absence and looked to with hope.

وانشقتْ ندتهاديه فتنفَحه

من طيبها المسك ممنوحٌ ومنحول

It lets him breathe the perfume it offers, and wafts to him

from its fragrance, musk bestowed and freely gifted.

يا حبذا هي إذ تَهدى إلي وإذ

نوالها فوق ما أمَّلت مبذول

How lovely it is when it is sent to me, and when

its bounty is lavished beyond what I had hoped.

يجود لي السيد الأعلى بنفحتها

جود احتفاء به للريح تحميل

The highest lord bestows its fragrant breath upon me,

a gift of warm regard entrusted to the wind to carry.

فيلتقي وفرُها مملوك نعمتها

بما اقتضاه لها برٌ وتبجيل

Its abundance meets the one enslaved by its favor,

with the devotion and reverence that are its due.

وللصحائف تأتيني بها كرم

كأنه للأيادي البيضِ تمثيل

The pages that come to me bear a generosity

as though it embodied gracious, white-handed giving.

تلتاح في الأفق المرقوب طالعُه

وما لها من سماء الفضل تأفيل

They gleam on the horizon, their rising watched for,

and never set in the heaven of excellence.

إذا لمحت سناها وهو يبهرني

فإنما هو تكبير وتهليل

When I glimpse their brilliance and it dazzles me,

I can only proclaim God's greatness and oneness.

لله منها ثلاث قد سعدتُ بها

كأنها للسعود الزهر تشكيل

God be praised for three of them, which have gladdened me,

as though they formed a constellation of bright, auspicious stars.

أقبلتها وجه أمالي وكان لها

مني بحكم الهوى لثمٌ وتقبيل

I turned the face of my hopes toward them, and they received

from me, by love's decree, the touch of lips and kisses.

وقمت أنضو حساماً من مفاخرها

وفوق رأسي بها تاج وإكليل

I rose to unsheathe a sword from their proud distinctions,

with a crown and diadem upon my head through them.

أعزَّت النفس إذ عزت فليس لها

بعد اعتنائك تذليل وتضليل

They ennobled my soul, being precious; it shall know no

humiliation or misguidance after your attentive care.

يا سيدي بك فخري في الأنام وما

بغيرِ مجدك للعلياء تأثيل

My lord, in you lies my pride among mankind, and there is no

foundation for high distinction apart from your glory.

أنت العماد الذي ما زال معتلياً

بحيث للنجم في مرقاه تأميل

You are the pillar that has ever risen high,

to a height the star itself hopes to ascend.

أنت المقدم في كل الفضائل إذ

سواك فيهن مسبوق ومفضول

You lead in every virtue, while

all others in them are outstripped and surpassed.

أنت الذي بيمين الدين منه إذا

ما يَنصر الحق ماضي الحد مسلول

You are he from whom religion holds in its right hand, when

it champions truth, a drawn, keen-edged sword.

أنت الذي جمعتْ شتى العلوم له

حتى تعاضَد معقول ومنقول

You are he for whom the varied sciences were brought together,

until rational and transmitted knowledge supported one another.

بل استبان سبيلُ الأمر متضحاً

في الحكم يبرزُه نص وتأويل

Indeed, the matter's course has become quite clear;

in judgment, explicit text and interpretation bring it to light.

لك الطهارة ود الماء صورَتها

إذ صفوه في صوان المزن مجعول

Yours is a purity whose likeness water longs to have,

when its clearness is kept in the shelter of rain clouds.

يا واحد الدهر قولاً لا أنازعه

إنكارُ برهانه عجزٌ وتعطيل

O unique man of the age—an assertion I do not dispute—

to deny its proof is incapacity and negation.

لك البلاغة قد أبلغتَ حجَّتها

حتى تَبين محصور ومحصول

Yours is eloquence; you have made its argument conclusive,

until what is encompassed and what is attained are plain.

لك الكمال الذي أوصافه شهِدت

بإنه لوجود الفخر تكميل

Yours is perfection, whose attributes bear witness

that it completes the very existence of glory.

البيت ذو شرف والنفس فاضلةٌ

والخلق مستكرم والعرض مصقولُ

Your house is noble, your soul virtuous,

your character honorable, your honor polished bright.

تبارك الله ما أسنى وأشرف ما

سنى لكم منه تشريف وتفضيل

Blessed be God! How splendid and noble is what

He has bestowed upon you of honor and distinction.

على العلا قد جبلتم وهي موجبةٌ

أني على حبكم والله مجبول

You were fashioned for lofty virtue, which makes it inevitable

that I, by God, am fashioned to love you.

ما لي سواكم من الدنيا وساكنها

سؤالٌ ولا أمل أبغيه مسؤول

Apart from you, from this world and its inhabitants I have no

request, nor any hope I seek to have answered.

فليت شعريَ هل أحظى بقربكم

وهل لما فات يومَ البين تحصيل

Would that I knew whether I shall be blessed with your nearness,

and whether what was lost on the day of parting can be recovered.

ذخري عمادي عتادي عدتي وزري

ترى الأساطير تدني والأساطيل

My treasure, my pillar, my armament, my provision, my refuge—

do you think writings and fleets can bring me nearer?

هل حيلة في لقاء صد عن أملي

فيه من الدهر تبديل وتحويل

Is there a way to a meeting, when my hope for it has been thwarted

by time's changes and transformations?

ما كان أكرمَ عهدي في معاهدكم

لو لم يكن حبل وصلي منه مفصولُ

How gracious were my days in your haunts,

had the cord of my union not been severed from them!

والله ما نسيتْ نفسي مآنِسنا

حيث الهديل وللأغصان تهديلُ

By God, my soul has not forgotten our familiar haunts,

where doves cooed and the branches drooped,

وحيث راقت ورقَّت كل مبهجة

وطاب من ريقه الأيام معسولُ

and where every delight charmed and grew tender,

and the honeyed days tasted sweet from its nectar.

وحيث ابن عصام والندى وطنٌ

قد حل فيه من ابناء العلا جيلُ

And where Ibn Issam and generosity had their home,

where a generation of the sons of high distinction had settled.

سقياً ورعياً لهاتيك الربوع فلى

قلب بها هو مشغوفٌ ومشغول

May those quarters be watered and protected! For I have

a heart enamored of them and engrossed in them.

هناك كان سناكم كاملاً بصري

وإنه ها هنا بالسُّهد مكحول

There your radiance made my sight complete,

yet here it is rimmed with the kohl of sleeplessness.

يا مالكاً مهجتي ملكاً يصحِّحه

في عَقد ودي له حكم وتسجيل

O possessor of my heart's blood, with an ownership confirmed

by judgment and registration in the covenant of my love for him.

هذا حديث اشتياقي وهو مختصر

وربّما قيل فيه القول مملول

This is the account of my longing, and it is brief,

though perhaps its telling will be called tiresome.

خذوه عني صحيحَ النقل متصلاً

ففي الأحاديث مقطوع ومعلول

Take it from me, sound in transmission and unbroken,

for some reports are disconnected or flawed.

ثم أقبلوا من سلامي ردَّ عاطرة

تسري إليكم ودوح البان مطلول

Then accept from my greeting a fragrant reply,

traveling to you while the spreading ban trees are wet with dew.