1. I wept blood, as if shedding tears could avail,
And redoubled my sorrow, as if grief could heal.

2. I turned away from joy’s delight, for I
Resented contentment, even in one who laughed through sorrow.

3. I see life in this world like a dreamer’s dreams—
Its pleasures fade and its events pass away.

4. So for an awful disaster I clapped my hands,
And for great adversity I gnashed my teeth.

5. In my twenty-sixth year, did I lose six
Mountains that, from the storm of death, became like carded wool?

6. I lost my cousin’s son, my cousin, my friend,
My finest youths thereby, my brother, and my son.

7. When will the days replace—like Muhammad’s son
And, after him, Saraya’s boy and the pillar’s pride—

8. Men, that if the lofty peaks collapsed on them,
The heart would rest assured with them against that?

9. I was anguished by a wailing that filled my eyes,
But now its crier fills my ears at dawn.

10. Chaste of spirit, free of any speck of doubt,
Pure of heart, untouched by any stain of hatred,

11. Close to benevolence, rectitude, and piety,
Far from lewdness, slander, and disgrace.

12. Timid of vileness, stingy with his honor,
When some blamed him for stinginess and cowardice.

13. He wearied the blamer with his benevolence,
So the critic praised him and the hopeful loved him.

14. He passed—pure of garb, soul, and step—
Chaste of skirt’s hem, pocket, and neckline.

15. And naught remains of his mementos but a moan
That separates between sleep and eyelid in the night.

16. And had war bereft me of him, it would have seen—
As it saw in avenging his uncles—from me,

17. And I would have wept over the eyelids of swords and spears
Yelping at sunrise during striking and stabbing.

18. O son of my father and mother! You were like a father to me—
Tenderly—but obedient toward me as my son.

19. May it bring you tranquility! After you, tears flow
Unchecked for agony and the heart imprisoned by sorrow.

20. With grief, I made the mountains of patience like carded wool
And turned the hillocks of fortitude to fleece.

21. I then tried composing poetry in your elegy,
But was shaken until I almost erred in meter.

22. I built my firmness on fearing you,
Unaware that fate destroys what I erect.

23. I accomplished, regarding you, what I hoped
Save for continuance, aiming only at burial.

24. You attained proximity while no advantage
Of glory remained that you had not provided for us.

25. You left your father moaning in every empty spot
Of glory until you sufficed for us.

26. Saraya, qualities of Saraya you inherited—
As if this blossom were from that branch.

27. May He who you strove to obey and for whose House
You cried “At your service,” being sacred to Him, reward you—

28. And may He who you never forgot in life
Reward you with intercession, mankind gathered on the Day of Assembly.

29. You would enliven the night by invoking God humbly
Until you became, through worship, like the rugged mountains.

30. So it gladdened me to regulate your supererogations at dawn
And delighted me to chant your litanies at dusk.

31. I felt safe from fate’s caprices after you—
Who ever felt secure yet frightened?

32. I will weep for you by the honor with which you clothed me,
The heavy burden you shouldered from me.

33. I know that grief and death are one—
This saddens hearts while that terminates life.

34. If the life of separation has grown long between us
As my sorrow has dragged on through its appointed time,

35. Your love is in my heart, your memory on my tongue,
Your form before my eye, your name within my ear.