1. سقتكَ يا ربعَ العُلى عهادَها

    وطفاءُ بشرٍ أطلقت مزادَها

    May you be watered, O abode of glory, with its returning rains,

    by a dense cloud of gladness that has unloosed its waterskins.

  2. تلمع للزهو بها بوارقٌ

    تقدحُ في قلب العِدى زنادَها

    Lightning flashes gleam within it in pride,

    striking their flints in the heart of foes.

  3. لاطفها فيك نسيمٌ أَرِجٌ

    إلى حماكَ ساقها وقادَها

    Within you a fragrant breeze caressed it,

    and drove and guided it to your sanctuary.

  4. فألبستك زهرها وأنبتت

    ما بين أجفان العدى قتادَها

    So it clothed you in its blossoms and made grow

    its thorn-bushes between the eyelids of foes.

  5. وأبرزت منك لأحداق الورى

    حديقةً نوءُ السرور جادَها

    And from you it revealed to the eyes of humankind

    a garden that joy's rainstorm has lavishly watered.

  6. يا رائد الأفراح في دار العُلى

    قد صدقتك نفسُك ارتيادَها

    O seeker of joys in the house of glory,

    your soul has been true to you in seeking them.

  7. باكر مُناك وارتشف رياضها

    كما اشتهيت واقتطف أورادَها

    Visit your wishes early, and sip their gardens,

    as you have desired, and pluck their roses.

  8. وحيّ في الدست زعيمَ هاشمٍ

    وخيرَ من سادت به وسادَها

    And greet, upon the seat of honor, Hashim's chief,

    and the best of those through whom it rose and who led it:

  9. القائمَ المهديّ أقضى من ثنت

    رياسةُ الدين له وِسادَها

    the upholder, al-Mahdi, the best judge of those for whom

    the leadership of religion has folded its cushion.

  10. وقُل ولا تحفل بغيظ أنفسٍ

    قد تركت لغيِّها رشادَها

    And say—heed not the rage of souls

    that have abandoned their right guidance for their waywardness:

  11. ما علماءُ الأرض إلاَّ رجلٌ

    قد جمع الله به آحادَها

    The scholars of the earth are but one man,

    in whom God has gathered all its individuals.

  12. لجّة علمٍ عذُبت موارداً

    كلّ ذوي الفضل غدت ورَّادَها

    A deep sea of knowledge whose watering places have grown sweet;

    all people of merit have become its water-seekers.

  13. وروضةٌ لو كشف الله الغطا

    رأيت أملاك السما روَّادَها

    And a garden—were God to lift the veil,

    you would see the angels of heaven frequenting it.

  14. أعلمهم بالله بل أدلّهم

    على التي من خلقه أَرادَها

    The most learned of them concerning God—nay, their surest guide

    to what He desires from His creatures.

  15. حامى عن الدين فسدَّ ثغرةً

    ما ضمنوا عنه له انسدادَها

    He defended the faith and closed a breach

    whose closure for the faith they had not pledged in his stead.

  16. فاستلَّها صوارماً فواعلاً

    فعل السيوف ثكلت أَغمادَها

    So he unsheathed them as keen blades, performing

    the work of swords bereaved of their scabbards.

  17. الموقدُ النارَ عشيًّا للقرى

    وبِشره يتقد اتقادَها

    He who lights the fire at evening for hospitality,

    and whose smiling face blazes with its blaze;

  18. والمرخصُ الزادَ وكان جدّه

    لراكبي ظهرَ الفلاة زادَها

    and who makes provisions cheap—his forefather was

    the desert's sustenance for riders upon its back.

  19. قد فاخرت جفانهُ شهبَ السما

    بضوئها وكاثرت عِدادَها

    His serving bowls have vied with the stars of heaven

    with their radiance, and rivaled them in number.

  20. بُشراك وضَّاحَ الدجى بفرحةٍ

    قد بلغت فيها العُلى مرادَها

    Glad tidings to you, O brightener of darkness, of a joy

    in which glory has attained its desire.

  21. حلَّت نطاق الليل عن صبيحةٍ

    قد نسجت أيدي الهنا أبرادَها

    It has unfastened night's girdle from a morning

    whose robes the hands of bliss have woven.

  22. لو عربُ الإِسلامِ باهت فرسه

    بحسنها لاستحقرت أَعيادَها

    Were the Arabs of Islam to vie with its Persians

    in its beauty, the latter would deem their festivals paltry.

  23. أنت الذي قد عقد الله به

    عُرى الهدى وأحكم انعقادَها

    You are the one through whom God has tied

    the bonds of guidance and made their binding firm.

  24. منك أعدَّت هاشمٌ لمجدها

    مَن نشر الله به أَمجادَها

    From you, Hashim has prepared for its glory

    one through whom God has spread its glories.

  25. فقلّلت فيك مريدي فخرها

    وفي بنيك كثَّرت حسَّادَها

    Thus in you it has made aspirants to its glory few,

    and in your sons it has multiplied its enviers.

  26. أَبناء مجدٍ نشأوا سحائباً

    سقى الإِلهُ خلقه عهادَها

    Sons of glory who grew up as clouds—

    may God water His creation with their returning rains.

  27. أَنملُها العشرُ جميعاً حُلَمٌ

    أَرضعت الدنيا بها أَولادَها

    Their ten fingertips are all teats;

    with them the world has suckled its children.

  28. بيض المساعي ومساعي غيرهم

    بيضٌ وصفرٌ أَحسنوا انتقادَها

    Pure-white are their endeavors, while the endeavors of others

    are white and yellow coins, which they have expertly assayed.

  29. لم تبتدئ بين الورى أكرومةٌ

    إلاَّ وكلٌّ منهم أعادَها

    No noble deed has begun among humankind

    but each of them has repeated it.

  30. عقدت أطناب العُلى وابتدروا

    يرفع كلٌّ منهم عمادَها

    Glory's tent-ropes were tied, and they hastened,

    each of them raising its pole.

  31. وغيرهم يهدم علياه التي

    سعى أَبوه قبله فشادَها

    While another tears down his own eminence, which

    his father, before him, strove to build.

  32. قومٌ إذا شبَّ ابنُ مجدٍ منهم

    أَلقت لكفّيه العلى قيادَها

    A people among whom, when a son of glory comes of age,

    glory casts its reins into his two hands.

  33. أَو زوَّجوه فبأخت شرفٍ

    يحكي طريفُ مجدِها تِلادَها

    Or, if they wed him, it is to honor's sister,

    whose new-won glory mirrors her ancestral glory.

  34. لو لم تجد منه المعالي كفوَها

    لم ترضَ إلاَّ في الخِبا انفرادَها

    Had lofty honors not found their equal in him,

    they would have chosen only solitude within the tent.

  35. يا من يرومُ بأبيه هضبهم

    ونفسه قد سكنت وهادَها

    O one who seeks their heights through his father,

    while his own soul has settled in their lowlands,

  36. خلفك والفخر بنار ذهبت

    بضوئها وخلَّفت رمادَها

    leave behind you pride in a fire that has departed

    with its light and left its ashes behind.

  37. بني العُلى دونكموها غادةً

    عذراءَ قد أَصفتكم ودادَها

    Sons of glory, take her—a graceful maiden,

    a virgin who has devoted her love entirely to you.

  38. جلَّت بكم قدراً فما أَنشدتُها

    إلاَّ ازدهت جبريل فاستعادَها

    Through you her worth has grown great; never have I recited her

    without her captivating Gabriel, who asked to hear her again.