1. Do you know, or do you not know,
That the wounds of martyrs are mouths,

2. A mouth not like the pretender's words,
Nor like another who implores compassion,

3. Who cries over the oppressed hungry,
"Spill your blood and you will be fed",

4. And cheers the subservient masses,
"Debase your dignity and you will be honored."

5. Do you know the necks of tyrants
Are burdened with sin and misdeeds,

6. And the bellies of the wicked
Digest from greed what they digest.

7. Do you know the injustice that claims
Glory that pure "Mariam" never attained,

8. Will sigh if this blood flows,
And this foreign tongue protests.

9. What a pity, they never found
Solace for the oppressed, never pitied,

10. What a balm you are, sipped
When no balm is hoped for,

11. What a smile, though frowning,
With which hopes still beam.

12. Do you know the martyr's wounds
Still question, seeking revenge?

13. Do you know the martyr's wounds
Digesting hunger, feasting on dreams?

14. They suck blood, then crave more blood,
Remaining eager, still starving.

15. Say to those resigned to humiliation,
Whether harnessed or muzzled:

16. Charge ahead, cursed one, to the crack of bullets,
And test your fate, however divided.

17. Plunge in, as those before plunged in,
And initiate, as the ancients initiated.

18. Either to where life appears
To your eyes a prize to be won,

19. Or to a grave, preferable
To the gloom of your home.

20. Charge ahead, cursed one, for you expect
To be deprived of life's blossoms?

21. Does it hurt more than your degradation?
Does it kill more than your destruction?

22. Charge ahead, who else dares challenge death,
When the most wretched flee from it?

23. Charge ahead, who else blames the hero
If one like you does not dare?

24. They say, who are these mobs?
So let them know, with your blood, who they are,

25. And let your blood tell them
They are your servants if you command their service,

26. And that you are nobler than their best
And your heel than their cheek more revered.

27. My brother Ja'far, o spring's relief,
Handed over to a cold, rotten grave.

28. O flower from the gardens of eternity,
Ravaged by a destructive gale.

29. O ember from the flame of life
Extinguished as its hearth ignited.

30. O the human rise's bud as it blooms,
O the dawn's smile as it beams.

31. I kissed your wounds in the "Fatiha"
The immaculate scripture as it is recited.

32. And I kissed your chest where the heart lies,
Punctured, bleeding, torn.

33. Where the birds of sorrow nest,
Circling, terrified, confused.

34. Where the traits of men settle
And their essence is refined.

35. I stroked a cheek with the water of youth,
Flowing like the shining full moon.

36. And I touched flowing locks
As a lover would do.

37. And I consoled myself with the melting lead
As pilgrims console themselves at "Zamzam".

38. And I picked up foam
From your lips, honey is what it seemed.

39. And you compensated my kiss with a kiss
That expressed all that hurts.

40. A kiss that captured memories
Lost like a vanishing dream.

41. My brother Ja'far, the passing years
After you are to me an ambiguous echo.

42. Thirty we journeyed together,
Sometimes tortured, sometimes blissful.

43. Struggling against fate which then submits,
Defeating destiny which then defeats.

44. My brother Ja'far, I do not speak fantasy,
While the avenger is awake and does not dream.

45. But with what the patient are inspired,
And what the passionate divinely glimpse.

46. I see a horizon lit by bloodshed,
The stars extinguished and dimmed.

47. And a rope from earth climbed
As the rising were given a ladder.

48. Whenever a traitor extends a hand to cut it,
He is confronted, intent on severing it.

49. He writhes among corpses around him,
Massive, though his glories are more massive.

50. And hands extend behind the veil
To draw in the horizon what they draw.

51. And generations come and go,
While a fire adjacent to them is lit.

52. I forewarn you the zeal is aflame,
And its valley overflowing with pain.

53. Woe to the suffocating tomorrow,
When tomorrow breathes what it swallows.

54. And blood that was shed by
An oppressor delighting in oppression,

55. Will spout from your pure chest,
An outpouring of injustice to God it demands.

56. It will long remain drawing blood,
And blood alone will cool the blood.

57. And the chests it shed,
And excellently spilled their blood,

58. And scattered their ribs, scattered
Like coins of silver and gold are scattered.

59. They will be embraced by the youth's chests,
Harsh on the truth, showing no mercy.

60. My brother Ja'far, the banner of certainty,
I forewarn you if you seek knowledge.

61. You were killed so hearts revolved around you,
And the great masses were humbled to you.

62. The path was blocked, with no way out,
The road narrowed, with no escape.

63. The south conveyed to the north news of you,
The pessimist eulogized and consoled.

64. Telephone tormented telephone,
With the dialed numbers and connections.

65. You taught how men die,
And how their funerals are held.

66. And how the crowds are drawn to you,
As pilgrims are drawn to the Sacred Sanctuary.

67. I laughed as the questioning whisperers whispered,
Painful to the hearing however they murmured.

68. They say you have died, though the kinfolk
Claim otherwise than their claim.

69. And you are well, as we hope,
And you are mighty, as you know.

70. I laughed and said, congratulations to them,
Though they did not honor you or pelt you with stones.

71. For they seek blood that will quench
The blind and noseless thirst.

72. Blood that will prove the devouts liars,
And the dissenters truthful in their dissent.

73. They seek blood that will unite
Hearts and make them harmonious.

74. Until you proved their expectations right,
What a losing winner you turned out to be!

75. For they are worthier, when you descended,
Like a root upon numbers divided.

76. They are worthier, though an old woman is startled,
For her only son, wailing and lamenting.

77. She blasphemes that the sky no longer
Rains upon the ruined or shows mercy.

78. A sister who rends her clothes over you,
So a sleeve is planted in her chest.

79. She pleads for you to the stars' glow,
Hoping you shine among them.

80. She claims you will come in the morning,
Though the grave has belied her claim.

81. So that your loss makes the country's nose
And my nose and their noses high with pride.

82. My brother Ja'far, by the covenants of brotherhood,
Sincere between us I swear,

83. And by the tears, endless after you,
And the sorrow, undefeated after you.

84. By the home overwhelmed with loneliness,
Like your grave, questioning if you will visit.

85. And by the family and relatives wondering,
For you deviate from them.

86. I swear memories prey on me,
As termites prey on a feeble palm tree.

87. When a joyous phantom returns,
Confronted by a haunting specter.

88. And I am a twig in the hands of winds,
Asking them when I will break.

89. My brother Ja'far, the sorrows of life
Will wear out my rope but not sever it.

90. Remove from your grave the debris of conscience,
Do not conceal anything from me, so I won't conceal.

91. If you have any grievance,
I have manifold remorse.

92. And if in what we were tested with,
And the destiny that befell us,

93. You produce an excuse to console a brother,
You are the bestower, the blesser.

94. The extract of a lifetime with all sorts,
Full, like a lexicon compiled.

95. With it I cannot argue,
To me it is silent and mute.

96. Your grave was asked with the youth's tears,
And your tomb illuminated with blood.