رغد العيش فزده رغدا

بسلاف منه تشفي سقمي

Life is pleasant; make it pleasanter still,

with choice wine, by which you heal my sickness.

طرب الصب على وصل الحبيب

وهنى العيش على بعد الرقيب

The ardent lover rejoices in union with the beloved,

and life is sweet when the watcher is far away.

وفني من أكؤس الراح النصيب

وائتني تؤماً بها لا مفردا

Give me my full share of the cups of wine,

and bring it to me in pairs, not singly;

فالهنا كل الهنا في التوأم

آتني الصهباء ناراً ذائبه

for bliss, all bliss, lies in the pair.

Bring me the tawny wine as molten fire;

كللتها قبسات لاهبه

واسقنيها والندامى قاطبه

blazing sparks have crowned it.

Give it to me and all the drinking companions to drink.

فلعمري إنها ري الصدى

لفؤاد بالتصابي مضرم

For, by my life, it is the quenching of thirst

for a heart inflamed by youthful dalliance.

ما أحيلي الراح من كف الملاح

هي روح هي روح هي راح

How sweet is wine from the hand of the fair!

It is spirit, it is solace, it is wine.

فأدرها في غدو ورواح

كذكاء تتجلى صرخدا

So pass it round in morning and evening.

Like Dhuka, the sun, Sarkhad wine shines forth;

رصعتها حبب كالأنجم

حبذا آناء أنس أقبلت

bubbles like stars have studded it.

How lovely the hours of companionship that have come!

أدركت نفسي بها ما أملت

وضعت أم العلى ما حملت

My soul attained in them what it hoped for.

The mother of eminence delivered what she had carried:

طاب أصلاً وتعالى محتدا

مالكاً ثقل ولاء الأمم

noble in origin and exalted in lineage,

holding the weight of the nations' allegiance.

آنست نفسي من الكعبة نور

مثل ما آنس موسى نار طور

My soul perceived a light from the Kaaba,

as Moses perceived the fire of Tur,

يوم غشى الملأ الأعلى سرور

قرع السمع نداء كندا

on the day joy enveloped the heavenly host.

A call struck the ear, like the summons

شاطئ الوادي طوى من حرم

ولدت شمس الضحى بدر التمام

at the shore of Tuwa's valley, from a sanctuary.

The sun of morning brightness bore the full moon,

فانجلت عنا دياجير الظلام

ناد يا بشراكم هذا غلام

and the deep gloom of darkness cleared away from us.

Cry out: 'Good news for you! This is a boy!'

وجهه فلقة بدر يهتدي

بسنا أنواره في الظلم

His face is a portion of the full moon; one is guided

by the radiance of his lights amid darkness.

هذه فاطمة بنت أسد

أقبلت تحمل لا هوت الأبد

This is Fatimah, daughter of Asad;

she has come bearing eternal divinity.

فاسجدوا ذلا له فيمن سجد

فله الأملاك خرت سجدا

So prostrate yourselves humbly before him, with those who prostrated;

for the angels fell prostrate before him

إذ تجلى نوره في آدم

كشف الستر عن الحق المبين

when his light shone forth in Adam.

The veil was lifted from the manifest Truth,

وتجلى وجه رب العالمين

وبدا مصباح مشكاة اليقين

and the face of the Lord of the worlds shone forth.

The lamp in the niche of certainty appeared,

وبدت مشرقة شمس الهدى

فانجلى ليل الضلال المظلم

and the sun of guidance appeared radiant;

the dark night of error was dispelled.

نسخ التأبيد من نفي ترى

فأرانا وجهه رب الورى

The everlasting force of 'you shall not see' was annulled,

and the Lord of creation showed us his face.

ليت موسى كان فينا فيرى

ما تمناه بطور مجهدا

Would that Moses had been among us to see

what he longed for on Tur, worn with striving,

فانثنى عنه بكفي معدم

هل درت أم العلى ما وضعت

then turned back from with a pauper's empty hands.

Did the mother of eminence know what she had borne?

أم درت ثدي الهدى ما أرضعت

أم درت كف النهى ما رفعت

Or did the breast of guidance know what it had suckled?

Or did the hand of wisdom know what it had raised?

أم درى رب الحجى ما ولدا

جل معناه فلما يعلم

Or did the master of understanding know what he had fathered?

His essence is sublime and not yet understood.

سيد فاق على كل الأنام

كان إذ لا كائن وهو إمام

A lord who surpassed all creation,

he existed when no being existed, and he was an imam.

شرف اللَه به البيت الحرام

حين أضحى لعلاه مولدا

God honored the Sacred House through him

when it became the birthplace of his eminence;

فوطى ترتبه بالقدم

إن يكن يجعل للَه البنون

so he trod its soil with his foot.

If sons are to be attributed to God—

وتعالى اللَه عما يصفون

فوليد البيت أحرى أن يكون

and God is exalted above what they ascribe—

then the newborn of the House is more deserving to be

لولي البيت حقاً ولدا

لا عزيز لا ولا ابن مريم

truly a son of the Guardian of the House,

not Aziz, no, nor the son of Mary.

هو بعد المصطفى خير الورى

من ذرى العرش إلى تحت الثرى

He is, after the Chosen One, the best of creation,

from the heights of the Throne to beneath the earth.

قد كست علياءه أم القرى

غرة تحمي حماها أبدا

His eminence has clothed the Mother of Cities

in a blaze of glory that forever guards her sanctuary,

حيث لا يدنوه من لم يحرم

سبق الكون جميعاً في الوجود

where none approaches it without entering ihram.

He preceded the entire cosmos in existence

وطوى عالم غيب وشهود

كلما في الكون من يمناه جود

and folded up the realm of the unseen and the seen.

All that is in the cosmos is bounty from his right hand,

إذ هو الكائن للَه يدا

ويد اللَه مدر الأنعم

for he is the one who exists as God's hand,

and God's hand pours out blessings.

سيد حازت به الفضل مضر

بفخار قد سما كل البشر

A lord through whom Mudar attained distinction,

with a glory that has risen above all humankind.

وجهه في فلك العليا قمر

فبه لا بالنجوم يهتدي

His face is a moon in the sphere of loftiness;

by it, not by the stars, one is guided

نحو مغناه لنيل المغنم

هو بدر وذراريه بدور

toward his abode, to attain the bounty.

He is a full moon, and his descendants are full moons;

عقمت عن مثلهم أم الدهور

كعبة الوفاد في كل الشهور

the mother of ages has proved barren of their like.

A Kaaba for visitors in every month,

فاز من نحو فناها وفدا

بمطاف منه أو مستلم

whoever comes as a visitor to its courtyard triumphs

through a circuit around it or a reverent touch.

ورثوا العلياء قدماً من قصي

ونزار ثم فهر ولوي

They inherited eminence of old from Qusayy,

and Nizar, then Fihr and Lu'ayy.

لا يباري حيهم قط بحي

وهم أزكى البرايا محتدا

No clan is ever a match for theirs,

and they are the purest of creation in lineage.

وإليهم كل فخرٍ ينتمي

أيها المرجي لقاه في الممات

All glory traces its descent to them.

O you whose meeting is hoped for at death,

كل موتٍ فيه لقياك حياة

ليتما عجل بي ما هو آتٍ

every death in which I meet you is life.

Would that what is coming would hasten me away,

علني ألقى حياتي في الردى

فايزاً منه بأوفى النعم

that I might find my life in death,

winning from it the fullest blessings.