1. Content with whatever fate God decrees
And patience for whatever events occur

2. My dear friend, dust now shrouds my loved ones
None remains above the dust for me to love

3. Stop less frequently at the halting places
For what you think is far, is actually near

4. Were you not told of the occupant of the grave?
Though distant from both groups, he's in clear view

5. Both neighbors and friends have despaired of him
Coming and going around him as they please

6. What life could be pleasant away from the grave?
What life with death could possibly please?

7. Bid peace to the desolate, bending tomb
When the tattooed arrowsman takes aim and shoots

8. Else my streaming eyes, if rain does not fall
South and north winds make flow and ebb

9. When thought of loved ones convulses my heart
Tears mixed with blood pour forth in a flood

10. My concerns put me to bed as if I were
A watcher over the stars' rising places

11. As if the meteors' setting between my eyelids
Would from my sight disappear and then show

12. It's as if my concerns and the meteors
Were one, and when their fire flared in my chest, a blaze

13. My breath fragments, and so I break up the night
Yearning, as a she-camel yearns for her young

14. I say, and my soul and grief intermingled
And my heart from the heat of parting melts

15. I have no equal, for in that I'm incapable
Though for people generally, I'm exemplary

16. If I speak of something, it's as if I were it
A marvel how taking similes makes one eloquent

17. I'm the dead, the bereft, the youth wasted away
After that, what likeness could I possibly attain?

18. I'm settled only in a tomb, as if to console me
A wild animal nourished its young within

19. I return to lick the dust in it, as if
It were a sweet mouth of youth I adore

20. Ali remained concealed in his burial place
Though the moon must set after it has risen

21. Far from friends, held by a firm tomb
Which sips his breath and is sweetened

22. On a journey where his provision was but piety
The throngs cannot divert him or lead him astray

23. Misfortune snatched him away from me suddenly
Time takes away and despoils constantly

24. I had hoped his life would add to mine
But fates opposed my hopes aggressively

25. I had hoped in every calamity he would be there
But destiny said hopes are mendacity

26. He was quick to respond when called to help
Though many are called but do not reply

27. He brought life to the guest house, letting all know
Its precincts would welcome hospitality

28. He had no fault or anything to criticize
Rather, was of pure garb, full of nobility

29. We approved of him since no weakness was found
No seeker of good from him was denied

30. But fate frowned and took his youth away
Eyes and hearts tilted toward him, refracted

31. It redoubled my pain and intensified his loss
My consolation from him receded dubiously

32. He's not like one whose era has long passed
Whose memory with us faded and dimmed

33. I say as a mourning dove sang her refrain
And swayed amongst the branches of trees

34. I implore the branches, as I'm most adept
At lamentation amongst the skillful singers

35. I was made to drink the wine of ardent longing
Its intoxication preoccupies lovers' thoughts

36. One rejoicing at our misfortune was revealed
Though fate's manifestations are myriad

37. So I said: await what destiny will unfold
Since it may bring you sins though yours are abundant

38. We cried seeking reward for our crying
We were patient, and patience is the course of the wise

39. My lack of composure at misfortunes is not
From frailty, but fate apportions to the doomed

40. Nor is my endurance feigned or hard-hearted
But the way of the noble is ever erect

41. Happy are those who rely solely on themselves!
My Lord, I repent and return unto You