تقدم قبل الركب دمعي ليبقا

ويستودع الغدران ماء مرقرقا

My tears went ahead of the caravan, to remain

and entrust the pools with shimmering water.

ففرح آماق الجفون دوامه

وما زجه منها دم فترنقا

Their ceaseless flow [wounded] the corners of my eyelids,

and blood from them mingled with it, making it turbid.

وهي جلدي حوشيتمو يوم بنتمو

ومات اصطباري بعدكم لكم البقا

My fortitude weakened—may you be spared—on the day you departed,

and my endurance died after you; may you live on.

وسرتم فلا قلبي استقر مكانه

ولا مدمعي الساري أمامكم رقا

You journeyed on: my heart did not remain in its place,

nor did my tears, traveling by night ahead of you, cease.

وحرقتم قلبي فلم ير منزل

سواه بأيدي ساكنيه تحرقا

You burned my heart; no dwelling has been seen

other than it, burned by the hands of its inhabitants.

وأفرشتمو جفني القتادو مضجعي

فلولا زفيري عاد بالدمع مورقا

You spread qatad thorns beneath my eyelid and on my bed;

but for my sighs, they would have leafed out with tears.

أجيراننا النائبين بشراكموا غدا

إذا انتمو أصبحتمو جيرة النقا

O our departing neighbors, glad tidings are yours tomorrow,

when you become neighbors of al-Naqa.

نعمتم ونعمان الأراك أمامك

وخلفتموا من عاقه عنكم الشقا

You dwell in bliss, with Nu'man of the arak trees before you,

leaving behind one whom misery kept from you.

تشبت بالحادي وهادي سراكموا

ليودع شكواه فلم يترفقا

He clung to the camel-driver and the guide of your night journey,

to entrust them with his complaint, but neither showed gentleness.

ولم يرعيا من حرمة القصد موثقاً

لمن بات في أسر الصبابة موثقا

Nor did they honor a pledge owed to the sanctity of his purpose,

toward one who spent the night bound in the captivity of longing.

كئيب غدا ثوب السقام موسعاً

عليه وثوب الاصطبار مضيفا

A grieving man, with sickness's robe grown loose

upon him, while endurance's robe grew tight.

يسايركم شوقاً ويثنيه حطه

وهل يدرك العاني المقيد مطلقا

He travels alongside you in longing, but his lot turns him back.

Can a shackled captive catch someone who is free?

كأني بكم والبيد تطوى لديكمو

وقد فزتمو دون المتيم باللقا

I seem to see you, with the deserts folded away before you,

having won the meeting denied the lovesick one.

فلاحت لكم بين النخيل أشعة

أضاءت بها لا كوان غرباً ومشرقا

Then rays appeared to you among the palm trees,

by which creation shone, west and east.

وقد عفتم الأكوار لما علمتمو

بها أن تلك الأرض أشرف مرتقى

You had shunned your camel-saddles once you learned

through them that this land was the noblest height to ascend.

وسابقتموا أقدامكم بوجوهكم

ليشرف خد ظل بالترب ملصقا

You made your faces outrun your feet,

so that a cheek kept pressed to the dust might be ennobled.

وقد عبرت عن وجطكم عبراتكم

إذ الدمع منكم ثم أفصح منطقا

Your tears had expressed your anguish,

for there your tears were the most eloquent speech.

ووافيتمو باب السلام وكلكم

مع الأمن من هول اللقاء غدا لفا

You reached the Gate of Peace, and every one of you,

despite safety, became [enfolded] in the encounter's awe.

إذا رفع الصب المسلم رأسه

تغشته أنوار الجلال فأطرقا

Whenever the lover offering greetings raised his head,

the lights of majesty enfolded him, and he lowered his gaze.

وجاءتكمو بشري القبول أنكم

وأنستمو نور الرضا متألقا

Glad tidings of acceptance came to you—that you...

and you beheld the light of favor shining.

فبالله أدوا شكر ما فزتمو به

بذكر كمو الصب الكثيب المؤرقا

By God, give thanks for what you have won

by remembering the grieving, sleepless lover.

وقولوا تركنا في الديار متيمت

بييت أخا وجد ويصبح شيقا

And say: 'We left in the homeland a lovesick man

who spends his nights in anguish and wakes yearning.'

ينوح ولا يسطتيع من فرط عجزه

براحا فقد فاق الحمام المطوقا

He laments, unable, in his utter helplessness,

to leave; he has surpassed the ring-necked dove.

وكونوا شفيعي اليوم عند شفيعكم

غدا تغنموا شكرأص وأجؤراً محققا

Be my intercessors today before your intercessor

tomorrow; gain thanks and assured rewards.

لعلي أحظى قبل موتي بزورة

تزاحم بي وقتاً من العمر ضيقا

Perhaps before my death I may obtain a visit

that squeezes for me into a narrow span of life.

فقد بات قلبي خافقاً خوف أنني

أرى سعي آمالي من القرب مخققا

My heart has spent the night fluttering, afraid that I

will see my hopes' pursuit of nearness [fail].

ترى أنظر الدار التي شرفت به

وبقعة قبر فاقت الأرض مطلقا

I wonder: shall I see the dwelling honored by him,

and the site of a grave that surpasses all the earth?

وانشق روةح القرب من نحو روضة

يفوق شذاها المندلي المفتقا

And breathe the solace of nearness from a garden

whose fragrance surpasses freshly released Mandali perfume?

وبسكن قلبي جنة القرب آمناً

ليالي لا أخشى عليها التفرقا

And shall my heart dwell safely in the paradise of nearness,

for nights in which I fear no separation?

وتسكب عيني للسرور مبردا

ترفرفه عهدي به أمس محرقا

And shall my eye pour out, for joy, a cooling [tear],

making it flutter—I knew it yesterday as scorching?

وآتيه من زلات غدا عند جاه

وإن كنت من أثقالها اليوم موبقا

And shall I come to him, [safe] from sins tomorrow through [his] standing,

although their burdens today have brought me to ruin?

وفي صدق توحيدي وفقري وفاقتي

إلى العفو مالا ينتقي ثم بالتقي

In my sincere affirmation of God's oneness, my poverty, and my need

for pardon lies something not selected there through piety [wording unclear].

وحبي أزكى العالمين وخيرهم

وأرافهم بالمذنبين وأرفقا

And in my love for the purest and best of all beings,

the most compassionate toward sinners, and the gentlest,

واشرف أهل الأرض أصلاً ومحتدا

وفرعاً واسماهم مقاما وأسقما

the noblest of earth's people in origin and ancestry,

and in lineage, highest of them in station and [loftiest],

وخاتم جمع الأنبياء وغن يكن

تأخر مسبوقاً فقد جاء أسبقا

the seal of all the prophets—though he

came later, preceded by others, he arrived foremost.

نبي له الحوض الروي وأنني

لآمل أن أغدو وغدا بعض من سقي

A prophet whose is the well-watered Pool; and I

truly hope to become tomorrow one of those given drink.

فإني على الإسلام شبت ومنيشب

عليه فقد أضحى من النار معتقا

For I have grown gray in Islam; whoever grows gray

in it has become freed from the Fire.

وفي رحمة الله الفسيحة طامعاً

ومن خوف زلاتي الفظيعة مشفقا

I hope for God's vast mercy

and tremble in fear of my dreadful lapses.

وإني بغيب الله ما زالت مؤمنا

وبالبعث في الأخرى مقراً مصدقا

I have always believed in God's unseen realm,

acknowledging and affirming resurrection in the life to come.

وإني وأمثالي نرى جاهه غدا

معداً لمن وافاه بالذنب مرهقا

I and those like me see his standing tomorrow

prepared for whoever comes to him weighed down by sin.

نبيإذا ما قوبلت معجزاته

بشمس الضحي كانت من الشمس أشرقا

A prophet whose miracles, if compared

with the morning sun, would be brighter than the sun.

حباه بقرآن تحدي به الورى

فكلهم أضحى على العجز مطبقا

He endowed him with a Qur'an by which he challenged humankind,

and all of them became unanimous in their inability.

وبان وهم أهل الفصاحة عيهم

وهان به ما كان في القول منتقي

Their speechlessness became clear, though they were masters of eloquence,

and what had been choice in speech was humbled by it.

وصرح كل أن ينال مناله

محال وأن النجم أقرب مرتقي

Everyone declared that attaining its like

was impossible, and the star was an easier height to reach.

ولم ير في الأعجاز إلا موافق

على الحق مخذولاً غدا وموفقا

In its inimitability none was seen but one assenting

to the truth, whether forsaken or granted success.

إذا بان عجز الأنس عنه وفيهم

تنزل كان الجن بالعجز أخلقا

If humankind's inability to match it was plain, though among them

it was revealed, the jinn were still likelier to be unable.

هدنا وأهدي كل خير لنا به

وحل عقال الغي عنا وأطلقا

He guided us and bestowed every good on us through it,

untied the tether of error from us and set us free.

فصرنا به أوفى البرايا فصاحة

وأوفر بالتأويل علماً وأحذفا

Through it we became the most fully eloquent of creatures,

the richest in knowledge of interpretation, and the most skilled,

وأغني به في الخلق من كل أمة

وما يستوي أهل السعادة والشقا

and through it richer among mankind than every nation;

the blessed and the wretched are not equal.

وأسرى إلى الأقصى به الله يقظة

بليل ورقاه إلى السبع فارتقى

God took him awake by night to al-Aqsa,

and raised him in the night to the seven heavens, and he ascended.

وحن إليه الجذع عند انتقاله

لمنبره عنه وأن تشوقا

The palm trunk yearned for him when he moved

from it to his pulpit, and moaned with longing.

وصعد كفيه وقد أمسك الحيا

فما رجعا حتى انبرى متدفقا

He raised his hands when rain had been withheld,

and they did not return until it burst forth in torrents.

ولما ظغا صوب الحيارا كتفوا به

أشارت يداه نحوه فتمزقا

When the rain's downpour grew excessive, [they sought relief] through him;

his hands gestured toward it, and it broke apart.

وسلمت الأحجار عند مروره

بها والحصا بالذكر عاد منطقا

Stones greeted him as he passed

them; the pebbles became articulate in remembrance.

فتباً لجهال يشكون في الذي

غدا بيننا عند الجماد محققا

Woe to ignorant people who doubt what

was established among us even for inanimate things.

وكلمه ضب وإذ قال من أنا

أقر له بالمعجزات وصدقا

A desert lizard spoke to him; when he said, 'Who am I?'

it acknowledged his miracles and affirmed him.

وإن لنطق الذئب والعير آية

وشكوى بعير جاءه مترفقا

Indeed, the speech of the wolf and the ass is a sign,

as is the complaint of a camel that came to him seeking kindness.

وفي نخل سلمان وفي تمر جابر

براهين حق لا تدافع بالرقى

In Salman's palms and Jabir's dates

are proofs of truth that cannot be countered by incantations.

فذي أثمرت في العام عام غراسها

وصار بها سلمان حراً واعتقا

Those palms bore fruit that year, the very year they were planted,

and through them Salman became free and was emancipated.

وذلك ما طابت به غر ماؤه

نفوساً فوقاهم وفضل أوسقا

And those dates were what satisfied his creditors

in their hearts: he paid them in full, and measures remained over.

وخبره لحم الذراع بحاله

وقد صار سهم السم فيه مفوقا

The meat of the foreleg told him of its condition,

the arrow of poison having been nocked within it.

وأمضى بيمناه لدي أم معبد

بضرعي هذيل حابل فتدفقا

He passed his right hand, at Umm Ma'bad's,

over the udders of a lean, pregnant ewe, and they streamed.

فروتهمو جمعاً وراحوا لشاتهم

ومحلبها ما زال ملآن متأقا

She gave them all their fill, and they went to their ewe,

while her milking bowl remained brimful.

تجمع فيه كل ما كان في الورى

وفي أنبياء الله طرأ مفرقا

In him was gathered all that, among mankind

and God's prophets, had appeared scattered.

ولولاه ما طاب السري نحو طيبة

غراماً ولاقى مشيم الركب معرقا

But for him, night travel toward Taybah would not be sweet

out of love; and the caravan's lightning-watcher met [it], sweating [wording unclear].

ولا وسدت وجناء من لعب الكرى

به والسرى منها زراعاً ومرفقا

Nor would a sturdy she-camel have pillowed one, toyed with by drowsiness

and night travel, upon her foreleg and elbow.

ولا اقتحمت سفن النجائب بالسري

إلى مكة بحراً من الآل مغرقا

Nor would the ships of noble camels have plunged by night

toward Mecca into a drowning sea of mirage.

ولا شام طرف بارقا ظن أنه

على أبرق الحنان لاح وأبرقا

Nor would an eye have watched a flash of lightning, thinking it

had appeared and flashed over Abraq al-Hanan.

ولكن هدانا ربنا رشدنا به

ففزنا وحزناً خير ما حاز ذو تقى

But our Lord guided us; through him He directed us aright.

We triumphed and gained the best that any pious man has gained.

حمي ووقانا كل سوء بجاهه

وهل فاز إلا من حمى الله وأو وقى

He sheltered us and guarded us from every evil through his standing.

Who succeeds but one whom God shelters or guards?

عليه سلام الله ما أورق الغضا

وما فاض دمع مندد ذكره وراقى

God's peace be upon him as long as the ghada trees put forth leaves,

and as long as tears overflow [unclear phrase] at mention of him, and [unclear ending],

وما شدت الورقاء في رونق الضحى

وما شدت الركبان للسير أينقا

and as long as the ring-dove sings in the brilliance of morning,

and as long as riders saddle she-camels for the journey.