1. I raised my delight then found no joy
The hoped-for son brought only disappointment

2. I exerted myself raising him until his moustache grew
Yet he passed away despite my family and homeland

3. I yearned for manners and piety from my son
A grieving laments from my burning heart

4. For his youth, knowledge, and fine character
Which fate cast away into ruin

5. For his brilliance whose radiant sun was obscured
Leaving bleary eyes behind at dawn

6. How I hoped in vain and was only pained
While man knows not the wisdom of the One God

7. God's will prevailed over one I had treasured
And he left me weeping forevermore

8. Hussein you left me with enduring sorrow
Though I sought patience I could find none

9. Once I laughed for no reason every month
Now I stay up nights with no respite

10. Forgive your father if his tears run dry
Perplexed between weeping and stoicism

11. Had my heart not drunk tears of anguish
I would have wept without restraint

12. My wounded heart will not stop its crying
For in such distress tears are no remedy

13. Had I lived for myself I'd have held nothing back
But I live for one needing my support

14. You have brothers, some helpless, still suckling
Like little birds chirping for food

15. My longing is like yours when we parted
I long to kiss the blessed House

16. No cure lies in parents' hands so I have no choice
But to open my heart to sadness

17. I complained of a fatal illness with no cure
So it rejoiced to be a shadow without a body

18. If your medicine existed I would have sought it out
Even if it lay in the lion's jaws

19. My son, your grief is the greatest blow
For after you I grieve no other

20. Were it not for my certainty, my certainty
I would have hastened to the abode of ruin

21. You made my home desolate after its joy
With the light of your face, now gone

22. How the house suffers from what has befallen it
And its dwellers from sorrows and sleeplessness

23. My hands offered me the cup of patience - drink
But how can my trembling hands take it?

24. However long my life extends
It will pass in oppressive gloom

25. Sleep until I find death made easy
For I do not avoid that fate

26. Know that tranquility has left me
And hardship has met my resistant heart

27. My cares over the blaze in my liver were prolonged
As reason views with critical eyes

28. I am cleansed of love but for God, He inspired
My heart - my love is for the Eternal Refuge

29. Why do I struggle for my children?
While death gestures waiting to pounce

30. To all people death leads to oblivion
It eludes those who elude the tomb