ما راعني الليل ولا السبسب

إليك والولهان لا يرهب

Neither night nor the barren plain frightened me

on my way to you; and the love-distraught man knows no fear.

والشوق لا يقعد عن مطلب

صباً إذا عن له مطلب

And longing never holds back from a quest

a passionate lover, when a goal presents itself to him.

أكلف العيس مدا غاية

نيل السهى من نيلها أقرب

I burden the pale camels with a goal's far reach;

reaching al-Suha is nearer than reaching it.

وأقطع البيد علي أشهب

يشبهه في سيره الكوكب

And I cross the deserts on a gray steed;

the star resembles him in his course.

تحسب في قيعانها مطمعاً

وهو على استيفائه أشعب

You see a tempting prize in their level plains,

and he is Ash'ab in claiming it all.

في ليلة أظلم من زاهد

في الحب يلقاك ولا يرعب

On a night darker than one indifferent

to love, who meets you without fear,

كأنما أنجم أفلاكها

نافرة في مهمهٍ ربرب

it is as though the stars of its spheres

were a startled herd of gazelles in a trackless waste.

إن السرى تسعد آمال من

تشقي به الكوماء والمصعب

Indeed, night travel gladdens the hopes of one

by whom the high-humped she-camel and unbroken male are wearied.

كم لذة تسفر عن ذلة

وراحة فاز بها المتعب

Many a pleasure reveals abasement,

and rest is won by the weary.

وليس من عاف خبيث الهوى

يمكنه من ذوقه الطيب

And one who rejects the foulness of passion

cannot taste its sweetness.

مر المنايا دون عذب اللما

أمنية للمرء تستعذب

The bitterness of death for the sweetness of dark lips

is a wish a man finds sweet.

سقى ليالينا بسفح اللوى

سفح سحاب ذيله يسحب

May our nights at the foot of al-Liwa be watered

by a cloud's downpour, its hem trailing,

منهمر الودق ملث الحيا

شؤبوبه من مدمعي أسكب

pouring rain, persistent in life-giving showers,

its torrent more profuse than my tears.

كأنه صوب ندى الأمجد

إبراهيم لو ماثله الصيب

As though it were the rain of the most glorious one's bounty—

Ibrahim—if rain could match him.

ابن أبي اليمن الإمام الذي

مذهبه ما عنه لي مذهب

Son of Abu al-Yumn, the imam whose

way is one from which I have no departure.

مولى تواليه فيوليك ما

تلبس نعماه ولا تسلب

A patron you befriend, who bestows on you what

you wear as his bounty, never to be stripped away.

والعلم لا تخلق أثوابه

ما لبست لكنها تقشب

And knowledge's garments never wear out,

however long they are worn; rather, they are renewed.

يا فاضلاً تفضل راحاته

الدأماء والفضل لها ينسب

O excellent man, whose palms surpass

the ocean, and excellence is ascribed to them.

فإنها تعذب للمرتجى

والبحر ترجوه فما يعذب

For they are sweet to the hopeful petitioner,

while the sea, though you hope in it, does not turn sweet.

ودرها يطغو لطلابه

والدر في قاموسه يرسب

And their pearls rise for those seeking them,

while pearls sink in the sea's depths.

أغربت أفضالا فلا غروان

نافس فيك المشرق والمغرب

You have shown wondrous generosity; no wonder that

the East and West vie over you.

ورعت إجلالا قلوب العدى

فكل قلب منهم قلب

And you struck foes' hearts with reverent fear;

so every heart among them is heart-stricken.

وحزت آداباً إلى نيلها

الاك عجزٌ دأب من يدأب

And you have attained refinements whose attainment,

save for you, leaves every striver's efforts powerless.

مناقب تفحم طلابها

كم مطلب عز فما يطلب

Virtues that confound those who seek them—

how many a goal is so elusive it is not pursued!

وسيرة تعجب منها الوري

وإنني منها بك الأعجب

And a life-course at which mankind marvels;

and through it, I marvel at you most of all.

إذ ليس ينجب من دهرنا

وأنت ابن الأنجب الأنجب

For no one from our age proves noble,

and you, son of the noblest, are the noblest.

تعساً لمن جاراك في سؤدد

وكيف يستهون ما يصعب

Woe to whoever vies with you in eminence!

And how can he deem easy what is hard?

كل ولم يشبهك إلا كما

أشبه رضوى الرجل الأحدب

He faltered and resembled you only as

the hunchbacked man resembles Radwa.

ولست من يدرك في غاية

أو يدرك الشمس ضحى غيهب

Nor are you one to be overtaken at any goal,

unless deep darkness overtakes the sun at midmorning.

سام بك المجد إلى ذروة

ما نالها في عربه يعرب

Glory soared through you to a summit

that Ya'rub never reached among his Arabs.

قد كسيت بترون منه سناً

أفضل ما يكسى وما يكسب

Batroun has been clothed in radiance from him,

the finest that can be worn or won.

لو لم تنله حلب لم يكن

في حلب ضرع المنى يحلب

Had Aleppo not gained him, there would be

no udder of hope to milk in Aleppo.

كذلك المختار لو لم يقم

في يثرب ما شرفت يثرب

Likewise, had the Chosen One not dwelt

in Yathrib, Yathrib would not have been honored.

وكل مصر فبسكانه

يمدح في الأمصار أو يثلب

And every city, by its inhabitants,

is praised among cities or reviled.

كالغيث لا تجدب أرض بها

حلّ وإن حال فلا تخصب

Like rain: no land is barren where

it settles; if it departs, that land is not fertile.

إليك جاءت بركابي نوى

تقرب في السير ولا تقرب

To you distance has brought my riding camels,

bringing me closer in travel, yet never coming close.

وبي من الدهر خطوب لها

أدعى وللبؤس بها أخضب

And time has laid calamities upon me, to which

I am summoned, and by which I am stained with misery.

أحتسب اللَه وإياك لي

من نائبات فيه لا تحسب

I count on God and on you to shield me

from its calamities beyond counting.

فإنه لامنَّه في اللها

يحلو ولا مأمنه يصحب

For its bounty in gifts is not

sweet, nor does its protection endure.

ومن يكن يغدر من طبعه

فإنه يعطيك ما يعطب

And whoever has treachery in his nature,

then he gives you what brings ruin.

بقيت يا كهف بنيه لنا

بقاء من منه له المهرب

May you remain for us, refuge of time's children,

with the endurance of Him from whom one flees only to Him.

وهاك من مختصرات الثنا

لهجة برّ فيك لا يكذب

And take, from these concise praises,

the utterance of a devoted man who speaks no falsehood of you.