1. My son, I wept for you with burning tears,
Alas, my weeping eyes could not avail.

2. I left you whole and well, your face aglow,
Your clothes all tidy, and your visage hale.

3. Then turned away, o what sorrow I bore!
My heart distraught, my mind began to fail.

4. Long was the journey, and I hoped that I
Could shield you, and defend you without fail.

5. Would that the road had lengthened, that we had
Not met again after the farewell!

6. What, are you dead? Nay, by my life, you sleep,
Laid down to rest, ensconced within your veil.

7. My eyes deceived me, seeing you laid down--
Speak, my beloved, for I hear your wail!

8. Alas, the silence overcame, you did not speak,
And fancy bowed to truth that would prevail.

9. Upon your gentle face, a tender smile,
Its fairness glowing, beautifully pale.

10. Before your time, you were enshrouded by fate--
The ablest doctor’s efforts were to no avail.

11. Can the fresh, fruitful branch be rightly cut
And severed from the ancient trunk that held it hale?

12. My son, with waking eye I raised you well,
And from your youth were seeds of glory laid.

13. The virtues bloomed in you, and righteousness
Nurtured in piety and worthy toil.

14. You kept the laws, upheld by faith,
And turned from crooked paths that might derail.

15. In you I placed my hopes, and lost you--
Lost all my hopes, and now what can avail?

16. Alas for your bereft mother, she has lost
The jewel of her soul, dealt a blow most frail.

17. She would have followed you far quicker, if not
For truth that held her back from despair's travail.

18. Woe to the grieving uncles, had you seen them
Bent double in their grief, their faces pale.

19. The two dear friends poured out their elegy--
And lo, the verses flowed in tears' regale.

20. Before, they only knew you young and hale--
Now crushed by overwhelming, dreadful trail.

21. O dweller of Paradise, though grief has robbed
Our minds, you are the intercessor to our avail.

22. Say to my Maker, my Creator, Tester--
I am His servant, obedient, meek and frail.

23. Ask Him forgiveness for my trespasses,
For they weigh heavy--but His mercy will not fail.

24. Ask Him patience for me; it will suffice
That in His pleasure, you find pleasure and prevail.

25. I hope to meet you when the Giver permits--
To Him I go, for to Him I must avail.