1. Ask the travelers why the tears overflow
And why the throng gushes forth

2. Their radiant sun has set
Their murky seas have withdrawn

3. If what they claimed is true
Goodness will return, arising

4. Abdul Ghani passed away so I wept a sea
Of tears so great it could be crossed

5. And his bereaved mother said about him
The words of Mary when she felt the pangs

6. In time he came to her after time
So her bereavement redoubled, convulsing

7. Soon she will see him as I see him
When we rise up from the earth, standing

8. She cried for him dead and parched for him living
And passion for him in her was renewed

9. She carried him and suffered him perforce
And nurtured him inside her, tossing

10. If a mother dries for her son, a twisting woe
Would that her penalty be miscarriage

11. She pined, while he from yearning for her
Burned, but she pretended not to see

12. She complained of an illness with no cure
I was convulsed with greater twisting

13. And God said: If you love My reward
For the unwanted, see how I console

14. You see the cheeks, how the years effaced their bloom
And dimmed the shining eyes with murk

15. I say, though the wise are perplexed by it
God's ordainment is done, no objection

16. God's reward is greater for the nurtured
So patience, if loss comes, brings comfort

17. These are but fleeting days, harsh
To one gentle, agreeable

18. Passing for their people, time adorns
And brings out whiteness in their blackness

19. So many people I've seen, misery in them
Though I'd seen them enjoying ease

20. And when I visited them healthy
When I returned, I found them sick

21. Say: what clouds life's joy
And speeds its passing, when trouble clears, away

22. Safest in it is the unique one
Who, when it widens, tightens all the more

23. Today my son's death made an enemy secretly rejoice
Tomorrow the foe will settle scores, if able

24. As if death in life is unheard of
Though of things most often said

25. Perhaps Abdul Ghani may be my treasure
To give me drink when the cisterns fill

26. And lower for me there a wing of glory
I promised in womb's compassion lowering

27. Through his intercession, forgive my sins
And let me dwell there, pleased, in the gardens

28. A lion cub, the little terror, surrenders?
Does the fierce lion thus submit?

29. Did the nights not blunt your assault?
Why then not sharpen it with whetting?

30. The noblest virtues eulogized you today—
But for death you would have achieved more virtues

31. All birds shaded your bier except the falcon
That dove only to seize prey

32. People remained, then dispersed, but
The angels refused to disperse from you

33. My tears' downpour harmed my eyelids
And their reddening brought them darkness

34. However long I am without you, my heart will not forget you
So take my vow—do not fear breaking

35. Let a stranger weep for you and mourn you
Counting his exile since you harsher

36. Enduring his life among serpents
Patient whenever biting hurt

37. Beware—gain is loss
So what wealth has a clingy clutterer?

38. A beloved is gone, no consoling his loss
So the name of the Healer rings false

39. May God water the dwelling of a beloved
Who blackened the days of my whitening

40. Though he was not yet fully grown
The great ones were pleased with his council