1. The heart pined for him, though cloven in twain,
A phantom distressed the longing soul,

2. That liberation was like a healing balm, while below it
Suspicion does him wrong, and a promise that will fail,

3. The least of what I endured was the stance of a visitor
Who feared people’s eyes, and the gathering place was too confining for him,

4. And less than that - previously I was steadfast -
Was my patience, though my soaring thoughts had turned away.

5. What have I encountered from fate that fills me with panic?
It does me injustice, alarming me even in my dreams,

6. From every aspect I have blame for it,
While it is peeved at me, and difficulties abound,

7. Is it not enough that I lived in it while my days
And my heart with sorrows were being shredded?

8. Its waters flow turbid, not from flooding,
And I seethe from the excess agony, so I avert myself,

9. It is easy for them if I were to fling away my resolve,
And seek what lies between retreat and begging for subsistence,

10. Yet death is more felicitous, the goal of all of them for me,
Than my standing among them petitioning for favor,

11. So when I am famished, I will eat my finger-flesh,
And when thirsty, my own blood will I sip,

12. My records will take the place of envoys’ speeches,
Since my cunning for anything else is deficient,

13. How wondrous are days that wrong – was there not in them
Ali son of Hussein, the judicious one?

14. Sanctuary for one who wanted protection,
And for the needy, a rain-heavy cloud,

15. Hearts are filled when he appears smiling,
And his intelligence is like the times – and more,

16. How much you obscure in speech when praising him,
Words, which when contemplated upon, grow dense.

17. Until when praise was strewn about, affection for him
Became visible - the thickest, gentlest beginning,

18. So you return from his manners with benefits,
And with more like those that branch out from them,

19. And it is evident for his noble spirit to be seen
Acting outside obeying his Lord.

20. And it suffices him from hearing idle things – his study
Of the Prophet’s words, his recital, and the Mus’haf.

21. And his jurisprudence in religion, followed by
An governance which Islamic Law elucidates,

22. And an outpouring of convention among groups
Who come and others go with permits.

23. And the sweetest thing he facilitates therewith at his side
Is an attainment through which the jurist gains and is granted.

24. And thus easily did all of his actions pass
With no reservations, nor affectations,

25. And he called for Qafsah, so its supporter answered him
After the hostilities – and he is the unwavering hero.

26. And he proceeded to rip open every obstinate belly
That faced him, and every hardened one that he detected.

27. The swords obeyed him, and their sheaths,
As did their naked blades and sword-belts.

28. So you see him like a serpent in his motions,
Smoothly gliding over the flat ground, crawling,

29. Until Tunis wraps its head in its mountain-passes,
And he walks about all of its outskirts, roaming,

30. And his shelter is deprived of fresh water,
For he is tossed into every quarter.

31. Thus he caused the livers, after their hiding-places,
To be seen, and made taut their fattened and emaciated.

32. And she saw him her greatest boon when he came to her
While the star in the time of deliverance lags,

33. He continues every so often to display a bloom
While time perishes, and its light does not dim.