حتام أبطائي بيوم متابي

أأروم بعد الشيب رد شبابي

How long will I delay the day of my repentance?

Do I seek, after gray hair, to restore my youth?

وعلام أوقن بالمعاد ولا أرى

روحي تعد ذخيرتي لمآبي

And why am I certain of the resurrection, yet do not see

my soul preparing my provision for my return?

فإذا سلبت عن الذي في كسبه

انفقت عمري ما يكون جوابي

Then, if I am stripped of that on whose acquisition

I spent my life, what will my answer be?

أأقول مد لي الغرور عنانه

فركضت في شوطي صبا وتصابي

Shall I say, “Delusion extended its reins to me,

so I galloped on my course in youthful passion and affected youthfulness”?

أو ما يقال فهبك أيام الصبا

كنت اعتقلت بهذه السباب

Or will it not be said, “Suppose that in the days of youth

you were held captive by these causes [uncertain reading].

أو ما أنقضى عصر الشباب وآذنت

أيام لهواك والصبا بذهاب

Has youth's season not passed, and notice been given

by the days of your diversion and youthful passion of their departure?

وأقمت أنت على الغر وقد نرى

فتك الردى ومصارع الأتراب

Yet you persisted in delusion, though we see

death's ravages and the deaths of peers?”

هذا إذا قدرت جهلاً أنه

يقع العتاب ولات حين عتاب

This assumes you suppose, in ignorance, that

there will be reproach—when it is no time for reproach.

لهفي على الصحف التي أميتها

من ذلتي وملأتها من عابي

Alas for the records I dictated [uncertain reading]

from my abasement, and filled with my faults!

كيف اعتذاري في غد منها إذا

عرضت علي ونشرت لحسابي

How shall I excuse myself for them tomorrow, when

they are presented to me and spread out for my reckoning?

ماذا أقول وقد تيقنت التي

فيها هناك إذا قرأت كتابي

What shall I say, having known for certain what

they contain, there, when I read my record?

هبني اسامح والإله فستره

واف فواخجلي من الكتاب

Suppose I am pardoned, and God's concealment

is complete—oh, my shame before the scribes!

إن لم يداركني الإله برحمة

منه غدا فعذابه أولى بي

If God does not rescue me with mercy

from Him tomorrow, His punishment is more fitting for me.

ما كان أغفلني وها أنا قد صحا

عقلي فأين أنابتي وإيابي

How heedless I was! Behold, now awake

is my mind—where, then, are my repentance and return?

ما نافعي أن اللسان مطاوع

لي في المقال وأن قلبي آبي

What good is it to me that my tongue is obedient

to me in speech, while my heart refuses?

هذا اشد لما أخاف وإنما

أرجو له هادي ذوي الألباب

This makes what I fear more grievous; I only

hope for help in this from the Guide of those with understanding.

يا نفس ضاق بك المدى فاستفتحي

بالذل باب الراحم الوهاب

O soul, the way has narrowed around you; seek to open

through humility the gate of the Merciful, the Bestower.

وقفي بباب رجاء رحمته التي

كم أطفأت زفرات من سطا وعقاب

And stand at the gate, hoping for His mercy, which

has so often quenched sighs born of severity and punishment.

فالعفو كاف والشفاعة ظلها

ضاقق وفقرك أنفع الأسباب

For pardon suffices, and intercession's shade

is ample [uncertain reading]; your need is the most useful means.

ومحمدها ديك أشرف مرسل

في العالمين بسنة وكتاب

And Muhammad, your guide [misdivided text], is the noblest messenger

in all the worlds, with a Sunna and a Scripture.

خير البرية أحب الحوض الذي

يروي الظلماء هناك بالأكواب

The best of creation, master [uncertain reading] of the Pool that

quenches the thirsty [uncertain reading] there with cups;

داعي الأنام إلى الهدى وقلوبهم

إذ ذاك بالاشراك خلق حجاب

summoner of humankind to guidance, while their hearts

then had a veil formed over them by idolatry;

ومطهر البيت الحرام بنوره الهادي

من الآزلام والأنصاب

and purifier of the Sacred House, by his guiding light,

of divining arrows and idol-altars;

وأمام كل المرسلين وصاحب المعراج

والأسرا وقرب القاب

and foremost among all messengers, master of the Ascension,

and the Night Journey, and nearness of a bow's span.

وأتاه بالوحي الأمين على حرا

فهدى الورى بالقانت الأواب

And the Trustworthy One came to him with revelation upon Hira,

thus guiding humankind through the devout, ever-repentant one.

لله أي مخاطب ومخاطب

وقفا هناك على أعز الخطاب

By God, what a speaker and what an addressee!

The two stood there amid the most exalted discourse.

وأراه أحكام الصلاة فبورك المأموم

ثم وصاحب المحراب

And he showed him prayer's rules—blessed be the prayer-follower

there, and the master of the prayer niche.

فأتى بها ودعا الورى فأجابه

من حاز فضل السبق في اصحاب

Then he brought it and summoned humankind, and was answered

by those among his companions who won the merit of being first.

فأقام يدعوهم ويوضح رشدهم

ويعيب ما اتخذوا من الأرباب

Then he continued calling them and clarifying their right path,

and condemning the gods they had adopted.

فأبوا وعادوه وآذوا صحبه

كفراً عسوا فيه على الأحقاب

But they refused, opposed him, and harmed his companions,

in disbelief in which they had hardened over the ages.

واتوه في بدر وفي أحد بمن

جمعوا وجاءوه مع الأحزاب

And they came against him at Badr and at Uhud with those

they had assembled, and came against him with the Confederates.

وأمده بملائك جاءت على

مثل الخيول لواحق الأقراب

And He reinforced him with angels who came on

forms like horses, with drawn-in flanks.

فتحكمت فيهم كماة صحابة

قتلا وأسرا في أذل رقاب

Then champions among his companions held sway over them,

with slaughter and captivity for the most humbled necks.

كانوا بذلة كفرهم وعنادهم

مثل الذئاب رأت أسود الغاب

In the abasement of their unbelief and obstinacy, they were

like wolves that had seen the forest's lions.

وثووا ببدر في القليب مهادهم

هضبان جمر بالحميم مذاب

And they lay at Badr in the well, their resting bed

mounds of embers molten in scalding water.

وأتاه يوم الفتح باقيهم وقد

منوا إليه بسابق الأحساب

And the rest came to him on the day of conquest, having

claimed merit before him through their ancient ancestral honors.

فعفا وآمنهم فآمن كلهم

والشمس تبدو بعد ستر سحاب

Then he pardoned them and granted them safety, and all of them believed,

and the sun appeared after a veil of cloud.

فتجاوز الرشد المنير أولئك آل

آباء حتى حل في الأعقاب

So radiant guidance passed beyond those clans

of forefathers, until it settled among the descendants.

أن السعيد لمن قضاه اله

خلقاً سعيداً وهو في الأصلاب

Indeed, blessed is the one whom God decreed

a blessed creature while he was still in the loins.

وحباهم بحنين فانتقلوا إلى

إعطائه الواقي من الأعطاب

And he favored them at Hunayn, so they turned to

his giving, which shields from ruin.

يعفو لوجه الله ليس لغيره

وعلى حقوق الله غير محابي

He pardons for God's sake, not for anyone else,

and concerning God's rights, shows no favoritism.

ذو المعجزات الباهرات كأنها

شمس الضحى لم تستر بضباب

Possessor of dazzling miracles, as though they were

the midmorning sun, unhidden by fog.

لم يحوها نظم وهل شهب الدجى

مما ينظم في سلوك سحاب

No verse has encompassed them—are the stars of night

among things that can be strung on threads of cloud?

صلى عليه الله ما سرت الصبا

تختال بين أرجاع وهضاب

May God bless him as long as the east wind travels,

swaying proudly among pools and hills;

أو سار ركب في الفلاة يؤم من

إرجاء بيت الله خير جناب

or a caravan crosses the wilderness, seeking among

the precincts of God's House the finest sanctuary;

أو حن مشتاق إليه وحل من

أرجاء طيبة في أعز رحاب

or one longing for him yearns, and alights within

Tayba's bounds, in the most honored courts;

أو غردت ورقاء في بان النقا

فارتاح مغترب إلى الأحباب

or a gray dove warbles in a bān tree on the dune,

and an exile feels drawn toward loved ones.