1. صاحِ ارْكَبِ العزمَ لا تُخْلِدْ إلى اليأس

    واصْحَبْ أخا الحزم ذا جِدٍّ إلى فاس

    Friend, mount resolve; do not resign yourself to despair.

    And accompany a man of prudence, full of earnestness, to Fes.

  2. واشْرَح متونَ صباباتي لِجيرتها

    وحَيِّ حَيًّا بهم قد كان إيناسي

    And expound the texts of my yearnings to its neighbors,

    and greet a community with whom I once found solace.

  3. واقْرَا السّلام على تلك المعاهد مِنْ

    حَيْرَانَ تلفظه ناسٌ إلى نَاسِ

    And convey greetings of peace to those familiar haunts, from

    a bewildered man cast off from one people to another.

  4. وقُلْ لهم ذلك المضنى وحَقِّكُمُ

    باقٍ على العهد ذو وَجْدٍ بكم رَاسِ

    And tell them: that worn-out one, by your honor,

    remains faithful to the pledge, with ardent love for you firmly rooted.

  5. لا يُبْصِرُ الحُسْنَ إلاَّ في وجوهِكُمُ

    وليس يجنح في حبٍّ لوَسواسِ

    He sees beauty only in your faces,

    and in love he yields to no whisper of doubt.

  6. وعُجْ إلى حيثُ مَنْ عَيْنِي لفُرْقته

    تبكي وتَزْفَرُ بالأشواقِ أنفاسي

    And turn to the place of him at whose parting my eye

    weeps, and my breaths sigh with longing;

  7. ومَنْ أنا فيه هَيْمانٌ يقّلبني

    دهري بأنواع تهيامي وأجناس

    and the one for whom I am love-mad, while I am tossed

    by my fate through kinds and varieties of my love-madness;

  8. ومَنْ فؤادي به مُضْنًى يحمّلني

    ما بعضه دُكّ منه الشّامخُ الرّاسي

    and the one by whom my heart is worn out, who burdens me

    with a burden whose mere part would crush the towering, firmly rooted mountain.

  9. ذاك الذي نال ما لم يِحْوِه بشَرٌ

    من العَطايا ولم يُعرف بمقياس

    That is the one who attained what no human has possessed

    of gifts, and who is beyond any measure:

  10. غَوْثُ البرايا أبو العبّاس أحمدُ مَنْ

    معناه أعظمُ أن يُجْلَى بقرطاس

    the succor of creation, Abu al-Abbas Ahmad, whose

    reality is too great to be revealed on paper.

  11. روحُ الوجود وقُطبُ الكون مركزه

    مُمِدُّه سرّه الساري إلى النّاس

    The spirit of existence and Pole of the cosmos, its center,

    its sustainer, its secret flowing to humankind;

  12. رمزُ الوجود وسِرُّ الحقّ طَلْسَمُه

    مكنونُه كنزه المَخْفِي بحرّاس

    the symbol of existence and secret of the Real, its talisman,

    its hidden mystery, its treasure concealed by guards;

  13. حقيقة الكون معنى السِّرِّ مُجْمِعُه

    فَيْضُ الإِلهِ بلا لَبْسٍ ولا باس

    the reality of the cosmos, the meaning of the secret, its gatherer,

    the outpouring of God, without ambiguity or harm.

  14. أعني التجانيَّ تاجَ العارفين ومَنْ

    بسابغ الفضل مِنْ عرفانه كاسي

    I mean al-Tijani, crown of the gnostics, and the one

    who clothes me in abundant grace from his spiritual knowledge;

  15. ومَنْ محبّتُه دِيني وخِلَّتُه

    عقلي وروحي وجُلاّسي وأحداسي

    and the one whose love is my religion, and whose friendship

    is my reason, my spirit, my companions, and my intuitions,

  16. ومسمعي وفؤادي وانبساطُ يدي

    ومُقْلتي ولساني بين جُلاّسي

    my hearing, my heart, and the outstretching of my hand,

    and my eye and my tongue among my companions.

  17. يا سامعي إنْ تكنْ للسِّرِّ ذا ظَمَإٍ

    فَجِئْى لأَِحمدَ ساقي السّرِّ بالكأسِ

    O my listener, if you thirst for the secret,

    then come to Ahmad, who pours the secret from the cup.

  18. رِدْ وِرْدَهُ العذْبَ واستنشِقْ روائحَه

    تَظْفَرْ بأعطارِ ذاك الورد والآس

    Come to his sweet watering-place and inhale its fragrances;

    you will gain the perfumes of that rose and the myrtle.

  19. واستَعْمَلِ الْجِدَّ في تحصيل واجِبِهِ

    إنْ لم تكن في بِسَاطِ القُرْبِ ذا ياس

    And apply diligence to fulfilling what is due to him,

    if you do not despair of the carpet of nearness.

  20. واهْرَعْ إليه إذا ما كُنْتَ ذَا ظَمَإٍ

    واسْرِعْ إلى اللّه مَشَّاءً على الرّاس

    And rush to him whenever you are thirsty,

    and hasten to God, walking tirelessly upon your head.

  21. وانهَضْ فقد لاح للإِسعادِ طالعُهُ

    وقُمْ ولا تَكُ للإِسعاد بالنّاسِي

    And rise, for his rising star has shone to bring felicity;

    and stand; do not be forgetful of felicity.

  22. واخلّعْ ظلاماً على قلبٍ مُنِعْتَ به

    أن تستضيءَ من المعنى بنبراسِ

    And cast off the darkness upon a heart that has barred you

    from being illumined by a lamp of inner meaning.

  23. وما ظنُونُك بالوِرْدِ الذي نظمت

    يَدُ النُّبُوَّةِ هل يُبْنَى بلا ساس

    And what do you think of the litany composed

    by the hand of prophethood—can it be built without a foundation?

  24. وما تظنّ بمنهاجٍ لسالكه

    أمْناً مِنَ أهْوَالِ نيرَانٍ وأرماس

    And what do you think of a path whose traveler finds

    safety from the terrors of fires and graves?

  25. يا ربِّ أَدْعُوك بالأَسْمَا وأَعْظمِهَا

    وأَعْظَمِ الرُّسْلِ ذي الإِحسان والبأس

    O my Lord, I invoke You by the Names and the greatest of them,

    and by the greatest of the messengers, endowed with benevolence and might,

  26. وحمزةٍ وعليّ وابنه حَسَنٍ

    مع الحُسَين وزهراءٍ وعبّاسِ

    and by Hamza, Ali, and his son Hasan,

    with al-Husayn, Zahra, and Abbas:

  27. اجْعَلْ قلادة جيدي في أصابعه

    وارْحَمْ به قلبِيَ المُضنَى به القاسي

    place the necklace of my neck in his fingers,

    and through him have mercy on my hardened heart, worn out by him.

  28. وَابْعَثْ له عند سمع النّظم مرحمةً

    تنفي عليّ شَقَاوَاتِي وإفلاسي

    And send him, when he hears the verse, compassion

    that dispels my miseries and my destitution.

  29. وَاجْعَلِْ نِظَامي وإن نالت مَفَاصِلُه

    إلاّ به أَرتجي مَحْواً لأرجاسي

    And make my verse—even if its joints have attained... [wording unclear]—

    through it alone I hope for the erasure of my defilements.

  30. وَعُمَّ مثواه تسليماً فليس سوى

    تسليمِ ذاتك كُفْءَ القُطب في النّاس

    And fill his resting-place with salutations, for none but

    Your own salutation befits the Pole among humankind.