عهد وصل بالرقمتين قديم

سلفت فيه نضرة ونعيم

An ancient pledge of union at al-Raqmatayn,

Where freshness and bliss once flourished.

قف عليه مسلما إن فرضاً

في الديار الوقوف والتسليم

Pause there and offer greeting: indeed, a duty

At the dwellings is to pause and greet.

يا خليلي والخليل المواسي

خير ذخر إذا أطل عظيم

O my two friends—the friend who shares one's grief

Is the best treasure when a great calamity looms.

أسعد اني بوقفة في المغاني

ريثما يشتفي الفؤاد السليم

Help me with a pause among the dwelling places,

Until the stricken heart finds healing.

ذكرتني منازل الوحي لما

عاث في أهلها الزمان الغشوم

They reminded me of the dwellings of revelation, when

Cruel time wreaked havoc upon their people.

صدعت شملها صروف الليالي

فهي قفرى وفيؤها مقسوم

The vicissitudes of nights shattered their unity;

They lie desolate, their spoils divided.

فغريب مشرد وقتيل

مستضام وصابر مسموم

One an exiled stranger, another slain,

Oppressed, and another patient one, poisoned.

واستمرت على الوصي خصوب

ورزايا يطيش منها الحليم

And upon the appointed successor continued 'fertile seasons' [wording uncertain],

And calamities that unhinge even the forbearing.

يوم جاءت إلى القبيلة تشتد

رجال كانت عليها تحوم

On the day there came to the tribe, rushing,

Men who had been circling around it.

نقضت بيعة الهدى واستجدت

بيعة كلها ضلال وشوم

They broke the pledge to guidance and renewed

A pledge wholly of error and ill omen.

وردوا منهل الغواية طرقا

وغدير الرشاد عذب جموم

They came to error's befouled watering place,

While the pool of right guidance was sweet and overflowing.

أعلى يعكفون وفيهم

أسد الله والعماد القويم

Do they cling to [unclear], while among them stands

God's lion, the upright pillar?

عميت أعين تساوى لديها

فلق الصبح والظلام البهيم

Blind were the eyes to which were equal

The break of dawn and pitch-black darkness.

من سما للمنون في يوم بدر

يوم صالت أبطالها والقروم

Who rose to meet death on the day of Badr,

The day its champions and mighty warriors charged?

وبأحد من رد بأس عداها

ثابت الجاش مقدماً لا يخيم

And at Uhud, who repelled the might of its enemies,

Steadfast of heart, advancing, never hanging back?

وبيوم الأحزاب إذ عظم الأمر

وراع الإسلام خطب جسيم

And on the day of the Confederates, when the danger grew great

And a grievous crisis terrified Islam,

وسطا فارس الكتيبة يختا

ل به مشرف اقبل عظيم

And the host's horseman charged, swaggering

On a towering, advancing giant [wording uncertain],

من جلا كربها وجلى دجاها

وبمن فل جيشها المهزوم

Who dispelled its anguish and cleared its darkness,

And through whom was its routed army shattered,

غير مولاهم ومن بعلاه

صدع الذكر والكتاب الحكيم

But their master, whose exalted rank

The Remembrance and the wise Book proclaimed aloud?

عدلوا بالدني فرعا شريفا

وشجت بالنبي فيه الأروم

They equated the lowly with a noble branch

Whose roots were intertwined with the Prophet.

أفهل يستوى وهيهات غاو

ورشيد وجاهل وعليم

Then can a misguided man—far from it—be equal

To one rightly guided, or an ignorant man to one learned?

لم يرشحهم لعلياء فضل

فيسودوا ولانجار صميم

No merit nominated them to the heights,

That they might rule, nor any true lineage.

وأتتهم عقيلة الوحي حرى

قد برتها أحزانها والهموم

The noble lady of revelation came to them, grief-stricken,

Her sorrows and anxieties having worn her away.

أفرغت عن لسان أحمد فيهم

حججاً كان حقها التسليم

From Ahmad's tongue she poured forth to them

Arguments that rightly called for submission.

فرموا حقها الصريح بأفك

زخرفوه والأفك مرعى وخيم

They met her unequivocal right with a lie

They had embellished; falsehood is a baleful pasture.

ما رعوها وهي الكريمة فرعاً

ومتى أسعف

They showed her no regard, though noble in lineage—

And when did help come [unfinished line]?

لا عدت خطة الهوان رجال

ليس في جمعها الغفير كريم

May abasement never pass those men by,

In whose vast multitude there is not one noble man.

أغضبوا بضعة الهدى فعليهم

They angered the flesh of guidance; upon them—

غصبوا إرثها وعدوه غنماً

وهو الغرم والأله الغريم

They seized her inheritance and counted it gain,

Yet it is a liability, and God the claimant.

بيت أحزانها مشيد ولكن

صبرها واهن القوى مهدوم

Her house of sorrows stands erected, yet

Her patience is feeble in strength, torn down.

وقست منهم القلوب عليها

وأبوها البر الرؤف الرحيم

Their hearts hardened against her,

Though her father was kind, compassionate, merciful.

جاءهم معدمي ثراء حيارى

فاهتدى حائر واثرى عديم

He came to them when they were penniless and bewildered,

Then the bewildered found guidance, and the destitute grew rich.

فاض إحسانهم عليهم سجالا

وسقتهم من راحتيه العيوم

Their bounty poured upon them in streams,

And [unclear word] gave them drink from his two palms.

فغدا عيشهم حميدا ولكن

عهدهم في بني النبي ذميم

Thus their life became praiseworthy, yet

Their pledge toward the Prophet's sons was blameworthy.

سيذوقون ما جنوه وشيكا

يوم يغدو الشفيع وهو خصيم

Soon they will taste what they have perpetrated,

On the day the intercessor becomes their adversary.

سوموها كتائبا ولحرب

المصطفى كان ذلك التسويم

They arrayed them in battalions; it was for war against

The Chosen One that they arrayed them thus.

وانتضوها صوارماً بشباها

قد أصيب الحسين وهو فطيم

They unsheathed them as swords; by their edges

Husayn was struck while still newly weaned.

أقصدته بكربلاء سهام

راشها بالحجاز رام غشوم

Arrows struck him dead at Karbala,

Feathered in the Hijaz by a ruthless archer.

ثم هبت أمية مثلما ثارت

إلى وردها عواطش هيم

Then Umayya rose as there surge

Toward their watering place thirst-maddened she-camels.

من طريد مبعد وطليق

وزنيم ينميه رجس زنيم

Outcast and banished men, and a freed captive,

And a bastard whose forebear was a foul bastard,

تستذل الرقاب من كل حي

لاغفار نجت ولا مخزوم

Subjugating the necks of every tribe—

Neither Ghifar nor Makhzum escaped.

تهب الخمس للطريد نوالا

ان بعض النوال بخل ولوم

Bestowing the fifth upon the outcast as a gift:

Indeed, some gifts are nothing but miserliness and reproach.

فكأن الأموال نبت ربيع

طفقت ترتعي به وتسوم

As though the wealth were springtime herbage,

She began grazing on it and roaming at pasture.

ثم لما تناول القوس باريها

وأوفى عميدها والزعيم

Then, when the bow was taken up by its maker,

And its chief and leader stood forth,

نكثت فرقة وخف إلى البصرة

فيها ذميلها والرسيم

One faction broke faith, and toward Basra hastened

Its brisk trot and its rapid pace.

واستبدت بالأمر أخرى فمرت

في غمار الغي القديم تعوم

Another seized sole command and passed on,

Swimming in the depths of ancient error.

واستزل التحكيم اراء قوم

كان من قبل رأيها التحكيم

Arbitration led astray the judgments of a people

Whose judgment beforehand had favored arbitration.

بأبي الصابر المكابد منهم

محناً غادرته وهو كظيم

May my father be ransom for the patient one, who suffered from them

Ordeals that left him choking back his grief.

واذكر المجتبى حبيب رسول

الله فهو المصبر المظلوم

And remember al-Mujtaba, beloved of the Messenger of

God: he is the long-suffering, wronged one.

قابلوا عظم حلمه بسناه

ومن الحلم قد يضام الحليم

They met his immense forbearance with his radiance [wording uncertain];

Through forbearance, a forbearing man may be wronged.

أعلى ابن البتول يغدو ابن هند

حاكما وهو بالخنا موصوم

Over al-Batul's son, does Hind's son become

A ruler, though branded with lewdness?

يا لها من رزية غشي الدنيا

مطلا سحابها المركوم

What a calamity! The world was covered

By its piled-up clouds, raining incessantly.

وإذا ما بكيت فابك شهيد

الطف ان المصاب فيه عظيم

And whenever you weep, weep for the martyr of

Al-Taff: the calamity of his loss is immense.

ما جنت مثله الليالي ولم يسم

إلى شأو مثله المحتوم

The nights never wrought its like; nor did there rise

To a comparable height any inevitable doom.

فإذا حاول الأسى ذو التأسي

لم يجد من عزائه ما يروم

When one seeking consolation grapples with grief,

He finds no consolation of the kind he seeks.

قمر خر من سماء المعالي

فتهاوت حزناً عليه النجوم

A moon fell from the heaven of exalted deeds,

And the stars tumbled down in grief for him.

وبكاه الكليم موسى وقاسى

فيه نار الأحزان ابراهيم

Moses, God's interlocutor, wept for him, while

Abraham endured the fire of sorrows for him.

لهف نفسي على الحسين لهيفاً

ظامي القلب والفرات جميم

My soul aches for Husayn, anguished,

With a thirsting heart, though the Euphrates brimmed.

منعوه عذباً وساموه مراً

فأبى والاباء في الشهم خيم

They denied him sweet water and imposed bitter suffering;

But he refused; refusal is the noble man's nature.

كيف يرضى وسم الهوان سري

بالمعالي جبينه موسوم

How could a noble man accept the brand of humiliation,

Whose brow is branded with exalted deeds?

فسطا يحطم الرماح مشيحاً

أسد غيله القنا المحطوم

He charged, shattering spears with fierce resolve—

A lion whose thicket was the splintered lances.

خائضاً غمرة الوغى فيه طرف

يملك الطرف رائع لهموم

Plunging into battle's turmoil, with a noble steed

Captivating the eye, magnificent and spirited.

مرح يسبكر في السلم تيها

مثلما غازل الرياض نسيم

Lively, it strides proudly in peacetime,

As a breeze flirts with the gardens.

وبيوم الرهان تطلع منه غرة

صحن خدها ملثوم

And on the day of racing, its blaze appears,

The broad surface of its cheek veiled.

مستسلا من غمده نجم حتف

للفنا في طلوعه تقويم

Unsheathing from its scabbard a star of death,

Whose rising sets the calendar of annihilation.

شامه كالوميض عضباً ولكن

من سناه سوى الردى لم يشيموا

He drew it, a keen blade like lightning; yet

From its radiance they glimpsed nothing but death.

عارض يمطر الكمات فيغدو

منه روض الأعمار وهو هشيم

A rain cloud showering the warriors, so that

From it life's garden becomes dry stubble.

لمساعي عميده شاكرات

في مجال الفرند تلك الرقوم

Grateful for the labors of its master

Are those patterns across its watered steel.

ثل عرش الوغى وشاد بناء

المجد لكن حده مثلوم

It toppled war's throne and raised the edifice of

Glory, though its edge was chipped.

قامت الحرب فارتماها ببأس

يقعد الشوس هوله ويقيم

War arose; he hurled himself against it with a might

Whose terror seats the fierce and makes them rise.

باسل بأسه يخص الأعادي

ونداه بين الأنام عميم

A valiant man whose might is reserved for enemies,

While his bounty embraces all mankind.

في محياه جنة البشر لكن

بشبا سيفه تشب الجحيم

In his face is a garden of gladness, yet

At his sword's edges hell flares up.

وعلى الموت عاقدته رجال

قد زكت في الفخار منها الأرو

Men pledged themselves to him unto death,

Their lineages had grown pure in glory.

عارضوا البيض بالوجوه رضاء

ووجوه الردى عوابس شيم

They willingly met bright swords with their faces,

While death's faces were frowning and dark-marked.

ووقوه حد السيوف وفازوا

برغيد الجنان حيث النعيم

They shielded him from sword-edges and won

The ease of gardens where bliss abides.

وشذا ذكرهم بكل ندي

عطر الكائنات منه الشميم

The fragrance of their remembrance, in every gathering,

Perfumed all creation with its scent.

نثروا في الصعيد كل سري

جوهر الحمد في علاه نظم

They scattered upon the earth every noble man,

In whose exalted rank the jewel of praise was strung.

وسليب من السهام تردى

وشي هيجاء زانه التسهيم

And a stripped man clothed himself in arrows,

A battle brocade adorned with arrow-work.

يا رسول المليك هذا حسين

سبطك الطاهر الصفي الكريم

O Messenger of the Sovereign, this is Husayn,

Your grandson, pure, chosen, noble,

بين شوك القنا يشك حشاه

وهو ريحان روضك المشموم

Among the lances' thorns that pierce his entrails,

He, the fragrant basil of your garden.

لم يزل صابراً يجاهد حتى

جاءه سهم بغيها المسموم

He remained patient, fighting, until

The poisoned arrow of its aggression reached him.

فهوى للثرى حضيب المحيا

عافراً خده الأغر الوسيم

He fell to the earth, his face stained with blood,

Rubbing his bright, handsome cheek in the dust.

وعلي صدره تجول مذاكي

الخيل مرخى عنانها والشكيم

And over his chest roamed the seasoned

Horses, their reins and bits slackened.

عاديات ترضى صدراً لديه

أودع الحلم والتقى والعلوم

Charging, they crushed a breast in which

Forbearance, piety, and knowledge had been placed.

أتطيب النفوس عيشاً وتغدوا

موطئا للجياد تلك الجسوم

Can souls find life sweet, while

Those bodies become a trampling ground for steeds?

أم يلذ الزلال وردا وعنه

سبط طه محلا محروم

Or can pure water taste sweet to drink, while from it

Taha's grandson is barred, driven away?

أم ترى بعدما تهتك جهراً

ستريبت الهدى يصان حريم

Or do you think that, after the public tearing of

Guidance's household veil, any sanctuary is safe?

وصفايا النبي فوق المطايا

تترامى بها الفلا والحزوم

And the Prophet's chosen women, borne on mounts,

Are tossed across deserts and rugged heights.

خفرات بدون من حجب العفة

لما استقل عنها الحميم

Modest women emerged from the veils of chastity

When their close kinsman departed from them.

أبرزوهن من ظلال خدور

حيث يذكو هجيرها والسموم

They brought them out from the shelter of curtained chambers,

Where midday heat and scorching winds blaze,

بعدما كن في سرادق عز

بقنا الخط سقفه مدعوم

After they had dwelt within a pavilion of honor,

Its roof upheld by the lances of al-Khatt.

يا لها الله لوعة يوم سارت

ضعنا والحسين ثاو مقيم

O God, what anguish on the day they departed

In camel litters, while Husayn lay there, remaining!

خلف الدمع بالجفون كراها

إذ جفاها الرقاد والتهويم

Tears replaced the slumber in their eyelids,

When sleep and drowsing deserted them.