عوفيت نضو هواك برح داؤه

ولقد يعز على سواك دواؤه

May you be spared! The one wasted by love of you is grievously ill,

and his cure is surely hard for anyone but you.

يعي الطبيب علاج من أشفي على

حب ولا يعي الحبيب شفاؤه

The physician is baffled by treating one near death

from love, yet healing him does not baffle the beloved.

أني يصور علة قد جاورت

أعضاء صب لا ترى أعضاؤه

How can he depict an illness that has settled

in a lover's limbs, when his limbs cannot be seen?

عبث النحول به فلو جردته

من ثوبه لخفى عليك خفاؤه

Wasting has ravaged him; were you to strip him

of his robe, his very invisibility would escape you.

فاستبق منه بقية لم يبقها

حبيك وهي دموعه ودماؤه

So preserve a remnant of him that was not spared

by love for you: his tears and his blood.

ذهبت بها الأهوال في سنن الأسى

فاسترجعتها للجوى أهواؤه

Terrors swept it away along the paths of grief,

then his passions reclaimed it for burning anguish.

أمميت قلبي وهو في تاموره

لولا بقاؤك فيه هان بقاؤه

O slayer of my heart, dwelling in its innermost core,

but for your presence there, its survival would matter little.

رفقاً بمن يرضى الغبي دياره

ودثاره وفناؤه وفناؤه

Be gentle with him whose dwellings please the fool,

as do his cloak, his courtyard, and his annihilation.

لا تمس الباً للزمان على شجٍ

سيان فيك صباحه ومساؤه

Do not side with Time against a grief-stricken man,

for whom, because of you, morning and evening are alike.

تطوى عليه النائبات كأنه

سرى الهوى وكأنها أحشاؤه

Misfortunes fold themselves around him, as though

love coursed through him and they were his entrails.

وتراه يغضي الطرف منه تكرما

إن الكريم يزينه إغضاؤه

And you see him lower his gaze from it in noble restraint:

a noble man is adorned by his forbearance.

أبداً يعلل بالرجاء فؤاده

دهراً ويخفق بالرجال رجاؤه

He forever soothes his heart with hope,

through the years, while his hopes in men fail.

أفٍ لدهر نام عن أعيانه

بعيونه وتيقظت سفهاؤه

Fie on an age that sleeps, heedless of its eminent men,

its eyes slumbering while its fools awaken.

وترعرت فيه الصغار بعيدما

لبسوا الصغار وقد ذوت كبراؤه

The petty have flourished within it, soon after

donning humiliation, while its great men have withered.

ولو اعتبرنا الأمر فيه لسرنا

بالمنع عنه وساء منه عطاؤه

And were we to weigh how matters stand in it, we would rejoice

at its refusals, and its gifts would displease us.

خفرت عهود ذمامه ولو اقتدى

بأبي الوفاء لصح منه وفاؤه

Its covenants of protection were broken; had it emulated

Abu al-Wafa, its fidelity would have proved true.

المستضاء من الخطوب برأيه

فكأنما شهب الدجا آراؤه

He whose judgment is sought as light amid calamities,

as though his counsels were shooting stars in the dark.

وإذا توقد فكره بذكائه

ليلا تبلج صبحه وذكاؤه

And when his thought blazes with his keen intelligence

at night, his dawn and sun shine forth.

رب المعالي الغر من شهبائنا

بلغت بهن الشهب بل شهباؤه

Master of radiant honors, from our Shahba,

through them she reached the stars—nay, his Shahba did.

الأفضل المولى الأمام الأكمل

الندب الهمام سمت به اسماؤه

The most excellent master, the most accomplished imam,

the generous, high-minded man whom his names have exalted.

نجل الأمام سمي فاروق الهدى

حيا ثراه حياً حكاه حياؤه

Son of the imam, namesake of the Faruq of guidance—

may rain, mirrored in his modesty, revive his grave.

ما لقب العرضي إلا بعدما

عرضت عليه من العلى علياؤه

He was named al-Urdi only after

his high station among the heights was offered him,

ولأنه قامت بجوهر ذاته

اعراض فضل لم تدم فضلاؤه

and because the substance of his being sustained

qualities of excellence whose eminent bearers did not endure.

وإذا تأملت الزمان وجدته

شبحا يلوح وروحه علماؤه

And when you contemplate the age, you find it

a looming form whose soul is its scholars.

مولاي ما غال السرارُ كمال من

ولى وفيك نموه وضياؤه

My lord, the moon's dark phase did not efface the fullness of him

who departed, while in you remain his waxing and his light.

كلا ولا حجب التراب فضائلا

منه وعنك الفضل حط غطاؤه

No, nor has the earth concealed virtues

of his, while in you excellence stands unveiled.

ان الكريم بنوه بعد مماته

خلفاؤه في الأمر أو حلفاؤه

Indeed, a noble man's sons, after his death,

are his successors in affairs, or his allies.

فاسلم يسالمنا الزمان فأننا

حرب لديه كأننا عقلاؤه

So remain safe, and Time will make peace with us; for we

are enemies in its eyes, as though we were its sages.

واولو العلوم قوى الزمان وقوته

ابداً تفر لديهم ضعفاؤه

Men of learning are Time's strength and sustenance;

its weaklings forever flee before them.

وإليك اهدي الفكر بنت ثنائه

والخير ما يهدي إليك ثناؤه

To you thought has offered the daughter of its praise,

and the finest thing offered you is its praise.

عذراء فض ختامها عن نفسها

بيراعه فتأرجت ارجاؤه

A virgin whose seal it broke, laying her bare,

with its reed pen, till its surroundings grew fragrant.

وأمدها صوناً فلاح سناؤها

والحسن لايخفى عليك سناؤه

It furnished her with protection, and her radiance shone;

and beauty's radiance is not hidden from you.

فاطلع بها في افق مجدك مدحة

فالبدر أنت وهذه جوزاؤه

So raise her as praise on the horizon of your glory:

for you are the full moon, and she is its Orion.

ولئن تضاءل عند ذاتك حمدها

فالبحر اغزر من سحاب ماؤه

And though her praise dwindles beside your very self,

the sea's water is more abundant than the clouds'.

والعجز يدرك في صفاتك وصفها

في كل فضل ممكن احصاؤه

In describing your qualities, her account falls short

in every virtue that can be enumerated.