تملَّك حَبَّاتِ القلوبِ لأجل ذا

تملَّك حَبَّاتِ القلوبِ لأجل ذا

دَعاهُ حَبِيباً كلُّ صَبٍ مُتَيَّمِ

دَعاهُ حَبِيباً كلُّ صَبٍ مُتَيَّمِ

He took possession of the cores of hearts; for this

He captured the hearts' affection for the sake of that one

every lovesick, enthralled lover called him beloved.

Every lovelorn youth called him "my love"

ويوسُف لم يظْفَرْ بمَسْحةِ حُسْنِه

ويوسُف لم يظْفَرْ بمَسْحةِ حُسْنِه

على أنه رَبُّ الجمالِ المُكرَّمِ

على أنه رَبُّ الجمالِ المُكرَّمِ

And Yusuf did not attain even a touch of his beauty,

Yet Joseph did not attain the delight of his beauty

though he is the honored master of beauty.

Though he is the lord of sublime beauty

فأين النِّساءُ القاطِعاتُ أَكُفَّها

فأين النِّساءُ القاطِعاتُ أَكُفَّها

وشَقُّ ابن مُزْنٍ صَدْرَه شَقَّ مُغْرَمِ

وشَقُّ ابن مُزْنٍ صَدْرَه شَقَّ مُغْرَمِ

Where, then, stand the women who cut their palms,

Where are the women cutting their palms

beside the moon, son of rain-clouds, splitting its breast like a lovestruck lover?

And the rending of Ibn Muzn's chest rending the enamored

ودُرٌّ يَتِيمٌ لم يُهَذِّبْه كافِلٌ

ودُرٌّ يَتِيمٌ لم يُهَذِّبْه كافِلٌ

وآدابُه ليست إلى الناس تَنْتمِي

وآدابُه ليست إلى الناس تَنْتمِي

And he is an orphan pearl whom no guardian refined;

A lonely pearl not polished by a guardian

and his manners do not derive from humankind.

Its manners do not belong to people

يقول أنا الأمِّيُّ في اللَّوحِ ناظِرٌ

يقول أنا الأمِّيُّ في اللَّوحِ ناظِرٌ

وفي مَكْتَبِ الأرْواحِ رَبِّي مُعَلِّمِي

وفي مَكْتَبِ الأرْواحِ رَبِّي مُعَلِّمِي

He says: I, the unlettered one, gaze upon the Tablet,

It says, I am the illiterate looking at the tablet

and in the school of spirits, my Lord is my teacher.

And my Lord taught me in the realm of spirits

إذا لاح في مَوْضُونَةِ السَّرْدِ خِلْتَهُ

إذا لاح في مَوْضُونَةِ السَّرْدِ خِلْتَهُ

خِضَمّاً تَرَدَّى بالغَدِير المُنَسَّم

خِضَمّاً تَرَدَّى بالغَدِير المُنَسَّم

When he appears in tightly woven mail, you would think him

When its prose splendor shines through

a vast sea cloaked in a breeze-stirred pool.

Tumbling, rippling in the lake

أأعْداءُه خُشْبٌ مُسَنَّدةٌ ولم

أأعْداءُه خُشْبٌ مُسَنَّدةٌ ولم

تَحِنَّ حَنِينَ الجِذْعَ حين التَّألُّمِ

تَحِنَّ حَنِينَ الجِذْعَ حين التَّألُّمِ

Are his enemies propped-up logs, though they never

Are its foes stacks of firewood

moaned as the tree trunk moaned in anguish?

That did not sigh the tree's sigh when it hurt

أم الصَّخْرُ إنَّ الصَّخْرَ سَلَّم إذْ بَدا

أم الصَّخْرُ إنَّ الصَّخْرَ سَلَّم إذْ بَدا

وما سَلَّمتْ تسْليمَ أخْرسَ أعْجَمِ

وما سَلَّمتْ تسْليمَ أخْرسَ أعْجَمِ

Or are they rocks? Indeed, the rocks greeted him when he appeared,

Or is it the boulder - the boulder submitted when it appeared

and their greeting was not that of someone mute and inarticulate.

But the mute foreigner did not submit surrender

فسَلْ يوم بَدْر حين لاحَتْ نُجومُه

فسَلْ يوم بَدْر حين لاحَتْ نُجومُه

وشمسٌ بغَيْرِ النَّقْع لم تتثَلَّمِ

وشمسٌ بغَيْرِ النَّقْع لم تتثَلَّمِ

So ask the day of Badr, when its stars shone,

So ask the day of Badr when its stars shone

and a sun, save for dust, remained unnotched

A sun without blemish that did not become tarnished

بكُلِّ كَمِيٍ كان في بَطْنِ أُمِّه

بكُلِّ كَمِيٍ كان في بَطْنِ أُمِّه

تعلَّم أن يُغْذَى ويُرْوَى من الدَّمِ

تعلَّم أن يُغْذَى ويُرْوَى من الدَّمِ

by any armored warrior who, in his mother's womb,

With every fetus that was in its mother's womb

had learned to be fed and have his thirst quenched with blood.

It learned to be fed and sustained by blood