غنى بذكر الحمى فارتاح كل شجى

وخاض بالدمع حادي الركب في لجج

He sang of the sanctuary, and every grieving heart found solace;

and the caravan's singing driver waded through seas of tears.

واسترخص السيران أدنى تواصله

من الأحبة بالغالي من المهج

The travelers deemed the slightest communion a bargain,

with loved ones, even at the price of the dearest souls.

ولذ قطع الدجى إذ حار الدليل بهم

بما تلقوه دون الحي من أرج

And crossing the darkness grew sweet when their guide was bewildered,

thanks to the fragrance they encountered before the encampment.

واستعذب الموت إذ لاحت موارده

في منهل بدنو الدار ممتزج

And they found death sweet when its watering places appeared,

at a watering place mingled with nearness to the abode.

وطاب كاس سرى دارت بها طرق

ما بين منعطف منها ومنعرج

And sweet was the cup of night travel, passed round by roads

between their bends and winding turns.

حتى إذا لاح نور القرب وابتسمت

تلك الثنيات من وجه الحمى البهج

Until, when the light of nearness shone and there smiled

those mountain passes on the sanctuary's radiant face,

وانحط ركبهم من فوقها فرقوا

بقرب من يمموه أرفع الدرج

and their caravan descended from their heights, they ascended

through nearness to the one they sought, to the highest ranks.

ولاحت الحجرة الغراء مشرقة

كالدر ما بين أصداف من السبج

And the resplendent chamber appeared, shining

like a pearl amid shells of jet.

تبدو لوامعها بين الستور لهم

كالشمس تبدو بما في الغيم من فرج

Its gleams appeared to them between the curtains,

like the sun appearing through openings in the clouds.

فأي ماء دموع لم يرق قرحا

وأي نار ضلوع ثم لم تهج

What stream of tears, then, was not shed in anguish?

And what fire within the ribs did not blaze there?

واي وجه مصون لم يحط على

بساط ترب بسلك العز منتسج

And what honored face was not lowered upon

a carpet of dust woven with the thread of glory?

وكم لسان فصيح كل من دهش

فعاج نحو لسان المدمع اللهج

And many an eloquent tongue faltered in bewilderment,

and turned to the tearful eye's ever-speaking tongue.

منازل كان جبريل الأمين بها

يظل وهو لخير العالمين نجى

Dwellings where Gabriel the Trustworthy

would linger, a confidant of the best of all beings.

وأربع غير ما جاء النبي به

في سمع سكانها الأبرار لم يلج

And abodes where nothing but what the Prophet brought

ever entered the hearing of their righteous inhabitants.

وبقعة جلت الظلماء بهجتها

فنور سكانها يغني عن السرج

And a place whose splendor dispelled the darkness;

for its inhabitants' light makes lamps needless.

يتلون فيها كتاباً جاءه سوراً

من ربه عربياً غير ذي عوج

They recite there a Book that came to him in chapters,

from his Lord, in Arabic, free from crookedness.

والناس أضياف من حطوا رحالهم

منه بباب نوال غير مرتج

And people are guests of him with whom they set down their saddles,

at his gate of bounty, never shut,

حيث النوال إذا ما أملوه همي

والعفوان أيئست منه الذنوب رجى

where bounty rains down whenever they hope for it,

and pardon is hoped for, even when sins have made one despair of it.

شفيع أمته يوم المعاد إذا

ضاق المجال عليهم جاء بالفرج

His community's intercessor on the Day of Return, when

they are hard-pressed, he brings relief.

وذب غنهم وأغنتهم شفاعته

عند الحساب عن الأعذار والحجج

And he defends them, and his intercession spares them,

at the Reckoning, any need for excuses or arguments.

والناس إذ ذاك في شغل بأنفسهم

كل على غير ما يغنيه لم يعج

While people then are occupied with themselves,

each turns to nothing beyond what may avail him.

هدى ربه سبل الرشاد ولم

يجعل علينا به في الدين من حرج

His Lord showed the paths of right guidance, and did not

place upon us, through him, any hardship in religion.

طوبى لمن كان في تلك الديار له

منزل لم يكن عنه بمنعرج

Blessed is he who, in those lands, has

a dwelling from which he never turns away.

يحظى بكل نعيم وافر وندا

في ظل ذاك المقام الرحب مندمج

He enjoys every abundant delight and bounty,

enfolded in the shade of that spacious abode.

ويجتلي نور أيام اللقاء ولا

يفدي برؤية يوم للنوى سمج

And he beholds the light of days of reunion, and does not

pay for it with the sight of a day made ugly by separation.

صلاة ربي عليه ما سرى فلك

وما أهلت له الركبان بالحجج

My Lord's blessings upon him, as long as a celestial orb travels by night,

and as long as caravans raise their voices to Him in pilgrimage,

وما بدا وجه بدر التم في غسق

والليل في شفق والصبح في بلج

and as long as the full moon's face appears in the darkness,

with night in twilight's glow and dawn in radiance.