يا غلة الأحشاء غاض المورد

يا ازمة الأيام غاب المنجد

O burning thirst within, the watering place has run dry!

O crisis of the days, the rescuer has vanished!

لا نجدة للمستغيث ولا روى

يشفي غليل حشاشة تتوقد

No help for the one crying out, nor a draught

to slake the thirst of a soul ablaze.

فل الغرار فلا فم لخطابة

عند الخطوب ولا حسام ولا يد

The edge is blunted: no mouth for oratory

amid calamities, no sword, no hand.

بكر النعي وقال قد أودى التقى

ومضى إمام المسلمين الأوحد

The death-tidings came early, saying: piety has perished,

and the peerless Imam of the Muslims has departed.

إن كان قد أودى التقى محمد

فلقد أصيب به النبي محمد

If Muhammad al-Taqi has indeed perished,

the Prophet Muhammad is stricken by his loss.

ذكر المنجم وهو ينعى المتقي

وصفاً لغير أبي الرضا لا يسند

The astrologer, announcing the pious one's death, gave

a description ascribed to none but Abu al-Rida.

فقزعت للتكذيب لكن في الحشا

قلق مخافة صدقه يتردد

I sprang to deny it, but within my breast

anxiety kept stirring, for fear that he spoke true.

ليت المنجم لم يصدق قوله

فالصدق في بعض المواطن انكد

Would that the astrologer's words had not proved true!

For truth, in some circumstances, is more grievous.

من يستقل بحمل كل عظيمة

وبمن يلوذ الصارخ المستنجد

Who can shoulder every mighty burden?

And with whom shall the crier seeking aid take refuge?

من للوفود وللعفاة يعمها

بشراً ووجه العام اقتم اربد

Who will meet delegations and suppliants, embracing them

with cheer, when the year's face is dark and ashen?

من للمنابر يرتقي اعوادها

بالبحر يطفح والفريد ينضج

Who will ascend the timbers of the pulpits,

with a sea overflowing and choice pearls ripening?

يا آية الله المقدسة التي

امست إليه بها الملائك تصعد

O sacred sign of God, by which

the angels have come to ascend to Him,

غادرتنا والخطب داج ليله

واليوم من صبغ الحوادث اسود

you left us while calamity's night was dark,

and the day black with the dye of disasters.

فمن المدافع والاسنة شرع

والبيض تبرق والمدافع ترعد

Who, then, will defend, when spearheads are leveled,

white blades flash, and cannons thunder?

الشرق يا شمس الهداية مظلم

مذ غاب عنه ضياؤك المتوقد

The East, O sun of guidance, is dark

since your blazing radiance vanished from it.

لو لم تعاجلك المنية لانجلى

عنه سحاب المغرب المتلبد

Had death not overtaken you, there would have lifted

from it the West's thickly gathered clouds.

ساروا بنعشك والدموع سواجم

تهوى وافناس الجوى تتصعد

They carried your bier, while streaming tears

fell, and breaths of anguish rose.

فيه السكينة والوقار وخلفه

وامامه غر الملائك حشد

Within it were serenity and dignity, and behind it

and before it, radiant angels thronged.

ولكل عين عبرة ولكل قلب

لوعة منها يذوب الجلمد

Every eye had a tear, and every heart

a burning grief that could melt solid rock.

جزع الحكيم كغيره في موطن

لا صابر فيه ولا متجلد

The sage was distraught like all others, in a place

where none could be patient or summon fortitude.

حملوا على الأيدي الايادي والندى

والعلم والتقوى التي لا تجحد

They carried upon their hands benefactions and bounty,

and learning and piety that none could deny.

قل للأولى قالوا سيوجد مثله

خلو المحال فمثله لا يوجد

Tell those who said, 'His like will yet be found':

Abandon the impossible: his like cannot be found.

بعد الأئمة لم يقم برئاسة

فينا كما كان التقي محمد

After the Imams, none assumed leadership

among us as Muhammad al-Taqi did.

للحرب والمحراب من عزماته

بطل ومنه القائم المتهجد

For battle and the prayer niche, his resolve yielded

a hero, and in him a worshipper standing through the night.

كانت سهام الليل من دعواته

لا تخطيء الاعداء حين تسدد

His supplications were arrows of the night,

never missing the enemies when aimed.

ان قلت بحر ندى فان يمينه

اسخى من البحر الخضم وأجود

If you call him a sea of bounty, his right hand

is more generous and giving than the vast ocean.

أو قلت بدر هدى فان ضياءه

أهدى وأجلى للظلام وأسعد

Or call him a full moon of guidance, his radiance

guides more surely, banishes darkness better, and is more blessed.

أو قلت سيف فالسيوف كليلة

عن حد سيف الله حين يجرد

Or call him a sword: all swords are blunt

beside the edge of God's sword when unsheathed.

ما البدر ما الشمس المنير ما الحيا

ما البحر ما عضب الغرار مهند

What is the full moon, the shining sun, the life-giving rain?

What is the sea, or a keen-edged sword of Indian steel?

ما كان الا آية قدسية

جاءت بتوحيد المهيمن تشهد

He was nothing but a sacred sign

that came bearing witness to the Guardian's oneness.

يا مخضع التيجان نهتف باسمه

فتذل تيجان الملوك وتسجد

O subduer of crowns, whose name we proclaim,

and so kings' crowns bow low and prostrate themselves!

لك آية القلم المجهز للعدى

بيض الضبا منه المداد الأسود

Yours is the marvel of the pen that strikes down foes:

its black ink is the white blades of swords.

ان البراعة في يراعتك التي

يعنو لهيبتها المليك الأصيد

Mastery lies in your reed pen, before whose

majesty the proud monarch bows.

حررت بالكلم القصار معاشراً

طال العناء عليهم فاستعبدوا

With brief words you freed communities

whose suffering had lasted long, until they were enslaved.

بوركت من قلم جرى في انمل

بيد على الدين الحنيف لها يد

Blessed are you, pen that ran among fingers

of a hand to which the upright faith is indebted.

ان العراق لشاكر لك نعمة

عنها يقصّر واصف ومعدد

Iraq is indeed grateful to you for a favor

beyond all description and enumeration.

أنت المؤسس نهضة دينية

عربية فيها العلى والسؤدد

You founded a religious awakening,

Arab in character, filled with eminence and glory.

ما ان نهضت بقوة لكنما

من قوة الملكوت كنت تؤيد

You did not rise by force; rather,

you were sustained by the power of the heavenly kingdom.

الفت بين المسلمين مجمعاً

شملا مدى الأيام لا يتبدد

You brought the Muslims together, gathering

a union never to scatter through the ages.

أعيى على الرؤساء قبلك أمرهم

حتى استقل بها الرئيس الأيد

Their affairs had baffled the leaders before you,

until the mighty leader took it upon himself.

كانت حياتك عزة وسعادة

فيها تعز المسلمون وتسعد

Your life was honor and happiness;

in it the Muslims gained honor and happiness.

واليوم قد هدت رزيتك القوى

والله اعلم بالذي يأتي غد

And today your loss has shattered our strength,

and God knows best what tomorrow brings.

لكن لنا ثقة بنيتك التي

خلصت بان طريقنا ستمهد

Yet we trust, through your intention, which

was pure, that our path will be smoothed.

ونفوز باسمك بعد موتك انه

من اعظم الأسماء وهو مخلد

And we shall triumph through your name after your death, for it

is among the greatest names, and is immortal.

من عزمك الماضي طبعت صوارماً

تردى العدى مسلولة لا تغمد

From your piercing resolve you forged keen swords,

to fell the foes, unsheathed and never sheathed.

اما الجنان فانها لك ازلفت

واستبشرت فيها الحسان الخرد

As for the gardens, they have been brought near for you,

and the lovely, bashful maidens within them rejoiced.

لكنما الدنيا عليك حزينة

حرى تقاسى غلة لا تبرد

But the world grieves for you,

parched, enduring a burning thirst that never cools.

ان غاب عن أفق الهداية نير

يهدى بساطع نوره المسترشد

If a luminary has vanished from the horizon of guidance,

whose radiant light guides the seeker,

فبنوه اعلام الفقاهة والتقى

وهم المصابيح التي لا تخمد

then his sons are beacons of jurisprudence and piety,

and they are the lamps that are never extinguished.

فمحمد الحبر الرضا بحر الندى

علم الهدى طود الحجى المتفرج

For Muhammad al-Rida, the scholar, is a sea of bounty,

a beacon of guidance, a mountain of wisdom, looking on.

وشقيقه عبد الحسين إذا دجا

ليل المشاكل فهو فيه فرقد

And his brother Abd al-Husayn: when darkness deepens

in the night of troubles, he is its northern star.

ومحمد الحسن الزكي المجتبى

طابت عناصره وطاب المحتد

And Muhammad al-Hasan, pure and chosen—

pure are his origins, and noble his lineage.

آل التقي هم الدعاة إلى الهدى

يا طالبي سبل الهدى بهم اهتدوا

The family of al-Taqi are callers to guidance;

O seekers of guidance's paths, be guided by them.

جمعوا الفضائل والمناقب والعلا

والكل في جمع الفضائل مفرد

They gathered virtues, noble qualities, and loftiness,

and each is peerless in gathering virtues.

بهم عزاء للانام وسلوة

وهم ملاذ للانام ومقصد

In them are consolation and solace for humankind,

and they are humankind's refuge and destination.