1. Was it when you were killed, the loss of the bereaved
Or the affliction of the afflicted, more cruel adversity?

2. You ended one catastrophe with your death,
And beyond death, another continued, full of wonders

3. Year after year passed, and for the loss
Your echo returns, resonating grief

4. If not for the descent of innocence from the Most High
The grave would not have protected your absence, O absent one

5. If not for the descent of innocence from the Most High
The grave would not have protected your absence, O absent one

6. It descended upon you, so it purified your reputation from
The accusations of slanderers, with its pure radiance

7. Their eyes were clouded by rottenness of their hearts
And so the clear sky appeared, laden with clouds

8. Let that innocence represent itself in the adornment
Of a virgin blossoming with irresistible beauty

9. And over your tomb let there stand an image
Carved from pure white marble of that maiden

10. The morning is her rising, and the origin of her beauty
Eden, and the crown upon her head a wreath of stars

11. In her features is a gentle spirit seen
And her body a purity cast into a mould

12. She drew near you and greeted you with a gentle
Sweet smile that soothed the bitterness of your pouring tears

13. And with fingers like rays she gestured
To banish evil suspicions into nothingness

14. And with a heavily laden sole she trod upon
The vile serpents who plotted and crept

15. As a symbol against those despicable conspirators
Who failed and were struck with disappointment

16. When her statue is completed and perfected
It will fill the eyes with harmonious beauty

17. It will be a meeting-place for rays from her glance
Cast by a compassionate archer's bow

18. And let them inscribe for you a likeness in which
Your wondrous affairs appear clearly

19. An inscription, softened, in which you see
The form of an oppressed, haggard sufferer

20. Under wounds on his body, more painful
Are the wounds of a melting heart

21. Prostrated at her feet, sorrow did overcome him
Exaggerated, though not wrathful

22. It was not his lost life that pained him
Nor loss of blissful riches

23. But the injustice of a people in whom was dignity
For the esteemed, and wealth for the seeker

24. They showed him what he had not known before his death
Of prevention of loved ones and distance of kin

25. It did not satisfy them that he died, until they stirred up
With their dust, the atmosphere of the setting star

26. And more painful than the cup of torment
Was placing grit in his drink, for the imbiber

27. What beast is it, that if the wounded is repulsive
Spoke slander to tear the reputation of the absent?

28. So think of those who backbite the murdered, whose
Mouths are tired, unable to bite

29. And think of what is beyond that - the treachery
Of the lowly and betrayal of a companion

30. They clamored, yet what they hid beneath their wailing
Made the tragedy surpass the lament of lamenters

31. This is the fitting manner, that there be seen
Behind your grave, erect for the observer

32. In his eternal silence, the most eloquent preacher
To the dissolute, with the clearest speaking tongue

33. The jealousy of foes distressed you, while you lived
Appointed to them, erecting hatred

34. Death has given your soul, O Zayd, a respite
In a dreamlike state, laden with troubles

35. They prevented it from you, so you remained restless away
From rest, where settlement would be refuge for the frightened

36. But justice that does not sleep pursues
Injustice, between the steadfast and the avenger

37. It uncovered the veil from the truth, so it shone,
Its radiance overwhelming the fleeing darkness

38. The detractors of honor failed, even if
Their honor was not stained with blemishes

39. How could the slanderers who attributed to you
Such major shortcomings and faults?

40. They envied you, they did not pardon your brother, but rather
Acted on intense greed in their natures

41. So the praiseworthy and you are in one regard
And the disgraceful and their ilk in one regard

42. What place did their stinginess leave
Facing your bounty, striking like clouds?

43. And the wretchedness of their effort and lack of gain
Beside your beautiful, profitable effort?

44. They took wide steps seeking heights
So they fell short of your close steps

45. And your guidance led you, beyond them, to what
They did not see, by keen penetrating thought

46. To claim you had traits you were not given
For the demands of the unjust are evil demands

47. People are either a thinker or a preserver
Of glory, which distracts the thinker’s mind

48. But the brother of achievements - would his glory be diminished
If he was neither scholar nor writer?

49. You aspired to the beautiful aspirations of a knower
Of its loftiness, from the suspicion of liars

50. No harm comes from censuring the chaste, and perhaps
His shortcoming was in the critic's eye

51. Has the essence of crowns been devalued
If the nature of tongues and judges refuse?

52. You attained generosity while they did not attain
The distant consequences of events

53. Giving while keeping one's wealth
Is the foremost sound opinion

54. By it the knowledgeable are protected from decline
The warner of prohibitions reminding in succession

55. After the people's knowledge of their rights
Would one seeking them be content with the unseeker?

56. If each blessing did not attain a share
The world would not be safe from great tribulations

57. Turn, O most faithful of men, if in its time
The caller to duty calls

58. O you who attained by your perseverance and dedication
The highest place of enduring glory

59. And who subdued by your intelligence and strength
What hardships cannot subdue

60. And they threw, but the comet threw off
Nothing but a comet

61. He was not wealthier than them, yet that
Door was the door of benevolence

62. If only they had met the needy
In those vast courts

63. In the wisdom and workings of this world
Is wondrous marvel

64. The despised may attain honor and reward
And those in fear may encounter punishment

65. A world that defies all ordainment
And mixes up accounts

66. In its deceptive blossoms, for the happy is a mirage
And in the roses, a delusion

67. So every truth in it
Is a subject of doubt

68. I was none other, O Tawfiq, but one
Ransomed by companions

69. Of gentle manner and conduct
That brings ease

70. And pure nature that time did not taint
Though it was struck by affliction

71. And manliness in every incident
Answering its caller

72. But how much, how much can be said
When fate decrees, if one lives rightly

73. The ordainment of He who created the land
No questioning or blaming

74. It is He who consolation is sought from
For the torments

75. And in Him the hopes are realized
For whoever hoped in anything else, is disappointed

76. Edward, live with abundance of blessings
And exalted station

77. In joy that is pure, and do not blame
The protected from faults

78. It is inevitable, if the people of your country
Grieve for that affliction

79. For you are that branch from
A pure, wholesome origin

80. From a family whose manners
Were purified, flawless

81. Struck with an arrow aiming high
So from it came what came

82. And you are the best remnant
From it, hoped for or feared

83. You are adorned by refined manners
And solid morals

84. Grace and wit in speech
In questioning and answering

85. Resolve that defeats the world's woes
And mocks difficulties

86. Opinion - if you expressed it in puzzlement
It would settle the discourse

87. Glory that refused honor and generosity
To resemble clouds

88. O you we console, and know more than
We know of what is right

89. And the promise of the Guardian of happiness
Is no false promise

90. So for one in whose eternity is mercy
And for you, resignation