يا معمل الوجنا وهي علندة — Mohammed Al Hamdani

يا مُعْملَ الوَجْنَا وهيَ عَلَنْدةٌ

وعسفتَ عِرض الخبتِ وهو رحيبُ

O you who drive the stout she-camel hard, strong as she is,

and have crossed the breadth of the spacious sandy plain,

إذَا أنتَ زُرتَ الهاشميِّ بيثرِب

فاكبادُنا شوقَا إليه تذُوْبُ

if you visit the Hashimite in Yathrib,

our livers melt with longing for him.

فاهْدِ سلاَميِ لاِبنِ آمنةَ الذي

أبى الله أنْ يُلْقَى لذاك ضَرِيبُ

Then convey my greeting to Aminah's son, for whom

God has refused to let an equal be found.

وشُقَ يجنِب القبر جَيبَك باكِياً

فقبلَك كم شُقّتْ عليهِ جُيُوبُ

And rend your robe's front beside the grave, weeping;

for before you, how many robe-fronts were torn for him!

وقل لا تضعْ يا ابن الذبيحين امّةً

رَجَوْك وَمَنْ يرجُوك لَيْس يخيبُ

And say: O son of the two offered for sacrifice, do not abandon a community

who have hoped in you; whoever hopes in you is not disappointed.

سل الله يُسقينَا ويخصب أرضَنَا

فما زلت تدعو اللهَ وهُوَ يجيبُ

Ask God to give us water and make our land fertile,

for you have never ceased calling upon God, and He answers.

ويَحْفظنا في سيرِنَا ويَرُدّنا

على كلّ حالٍ نفتدي ونؤوبُ

And may He protect us on our journey and bring us back,

in every circumstance; we ransom ourselves and return.

فانت قريبٌ حينَ أدمُ مُطْرق

ونوحٌ على جنبِ الصراطِ قَريبُ

For you are near when Adam bows his head,

and Noah is near, beside the Sirat.

لك الكوثرُ العذبُ النميرُ وأنّنَا

عِطَاشٌ عسىَ مِما لديك نُصِيْبُ

Yours is al-Kawthar, sweet and pure, while we

are thirsty; may we obtain some of what you have.

ومَا ضرَّ بُعْدَ الدار يا أهل يثرِب

إذا ما تَدانَتْ أنْفُسٌ وقُلوبُ

And a distant home does no harm, O people of Yathrib,

when souls and hearts draw close.

عليك سلاَمُ الله مَا هَبّت الصّبا

وما اهْتَزّ غُصْنٌ في الزمَان رطيبُ

God's peace be upon you as long as the east wind blows,

and as long as a supple branch sways through the ages.

رأى البرق من نجدٍ عشْيةَ رَفْرفا

فبتُّ عميدَ القلبِ حرّان مُدْنِفا

He saw the lightning flicker from Najd one evening,

so I spent the night heart-stricken, burning, sick with love.

فهُجْنَ له شوقاً حمائمُ هُتّفٍ

كَشفْن دفينَ الوجدِ حتى تكشّفا

Then loudly cooing doves stirred longing in him,

uncovering his buried passion until it stood revealed.

لقد كَلّفوهُ فوقَ مَا يستطيعه

ولو قنِعوا بالبعضِ ممّا به كفى

They have burdened him beyond what he can bear;

had they been content with part of what he bears, it would have sufficed.

خليليِ مِنْ سَعْدٍ عفى الله مَا مضى

فلا تحْدِثَا شرًّا جديداً وَقد عَفا

My two friends from Sa'd, may God forgive what has passed;

do not stir up fresh harm when He has already pardoned.

أَمُسْتحسَنٌ عذليِ إِذا الوُرْقُ لي شدا

على البان مِنْ نجدٍ أو البرقُ رفْرَفا

Is reproaching me commendable when gray doves sing to me

on the moringa trees of Najd, or lightning flickers?

وهل ضائر دمعي إذا جاد مِنّةً

ذكرتُ بها إلْفاً قديماً وَمأْلَفَا

And are my tears harmful when they pour forth as a blessing,

through which I recall an old beloved and a familiar haunt?

فانَّ أمرأ القيس بن حُجْرٍ بعلمكم

دعا صَاحبَيْه يومَ سِقْطِ اللِّوى قِفَا

For Imru' al-Qays, son of Hujr, as you know,

called to his two companions one day at Siqt al-Liwa: 'Halt, you two.'

وقيساً بكى الأظعانَ يومَ عبورهم

على جبلي نعمان حتى تلَهّفَا

And Qays wept for the caravans on the day they crossed

over the two mountains of Nu'man, until he lamented bitterly.

وللناسِ أشجانٌ فلو هانَ نازِحٌ

على فاقدٍ لم يَبْك يعقوبُ يُوسفا

People have their sorrows; if an absent one mattered little

to one bereft, Jacob would not have wept for Joseph.

وَمَا لمتُ قلبي يوم سَارَ بسيرهم

ولكنّ ألومُ الجسمَ حين تخلّفا

I did not blame my heart the day it traveled with them,

but I blame my body for staying behind.

وقد كنتُ أخْفيتُ الهوى وشجونَة

فاظهَر هذا الدَّمْعَ مني مَا اخْتفَا

I had concealed love and its sorrows,

so these tears revealed what lay hidden within me.

فيابانة الرّوْحَا نامي بغِبْطةٍ

فَعيني عنها قد نفى النومَ مانفَا

O moringa tree of al-Rawha, sleep in bliss;

for what has driven sleep away has banished it from my eye.

وَلضم تَر عيني بعدَهم حَسَناً يُرىَ

ولَم تَلقْ نفسي عن هوى القوم مَصْرفَا

Nor has my eye seen anything fair to behold since they left,

nor has my soul found an escape from love of those people.

أَبوْها فلم تَأبَى الحنينَ اليهم

جَفَوَها فقالت يا فديتَ على الجِفَا

They rejected it, yet it did not reject yearning for them;

they shunned it, and it said: 'Oh, may you be ransomed, despite your coldness!'

وَمَا حيلتي فيهم وفيّ وكَمْ كَذَا

أنوحُ عَلى رَبْع وفي طَلَلٍ عَفا

What can I do about them and myself? How often, like this,

have I lamented over a dwelling and amid a faded ruin!

ذكرتُ زَمان ابنِ الحسين وكان لي

بمِعْرَفتيه قِبْلةً ومُعَرِّفَا

I recalled the days of the son of al-Husayn, who was to me,

through my knowing him, a direction of prayer and a guide.

وعَصْرَ رفيقِ الخصر إن كان ذالذا

أخاً لأخٍ باقٍ على حَالة الصَّفا

And the days of the slender-waisted one, if this one was to that one

a brother to a brother, steadfast in unclouded affection.

سَمِيِّ رسول الله أشبهَهُم به

فذا مصطفى منهم وذلك مُصْطفَا

The namesake of God's Messenger, the one most like him among them;

this one is chosen from among them, and that one is chosen.

أمرُّ على قبريهما مُتَلْجلَجاً

فأملأُ ذابَلْ ذا مدامعَ ذرَّفا

I pass their two graves, stammering,

and fill this one—no, that one—with streaming tears.

وقد كنْتُ أَسلفْتُ المدائحَ فيهِما

ولابُدّ قضَى الدَّين مَنْ كانَ أسْلَفا

I had advanced praises for them both,

and whoever made an advance must settle the debt.

نحجُّ إلى هذا الضريحين كُلُمَّا

أردنا فنلقي البَيْتَ والحجرِ والْصَفَا

We make pilgrimage to these two tombs whenever

we wish, and find the House, the Stone, and al-Safa.

فتعفى بهم زلاّتُنا وذنوبُنَا

ولم نَنْض أحمالاً ولم نطو صَفصَفا

Through them our missteps and our sins are pardoned,

though we have unloaded no burdens and crossed no barren plain.

أميطوا حجابَ الترِب ننظر جلالَكم

على العَهْدِ فالمحجوبُ إِنْ نظر أشْتفَا

Remove the veil of earth so we may behold your majesty,

true to the covenant; one denied the sight finds healing when he sees.

وأوفوا لنا العَهْدَ القَديمَ فانَّكم

رجال الوفا إنْ قَلّ في العَرَب الوفا

Fulfill for us the ancient covenant, for you

are men of fidelity, though fidelity be scarce among the Arabs.

إذا ما بكتْ خنساءُ عاماً لِصَخرهَا

بكيتكما عشرين عَاماً وَنيّفا

If al-Khansa wept a year for her Sakhr,

I have wept for you both twenty years and more.

وإِنْ لم يَجُدْ مُزْنٌ عَلى جَدَيثكمَا

بعثْتُ غماماً من جفوني وُكّفَا

And if no rain clouds pour upon your two graves,

I will send pouring clouds from my eyelids.

سَلاَمٌ يعيدُ الروضَ نحو ثراكُما

رِئاماً ويُثْني الطيرَ في الجوّ عُكّفا

A greeting of peace that draws the gardens back toward your earth,

in loving attachment, and turns the birds aloft to linger in devotion.