ليومك في الاحشاء وجد مبرح

برحت ولكن الاسى ليس يبرح

For the day of your passing, a searing grief fills my depths.

You have departed, but sorrow does not depart.

مضيت وما ابقيت الا حشاشة

تذوب واجفاناً من الدمع تفرح

You passed away, leaving nothing but a last flicker of life

that melts away, and eyelids that rejoice through tears.

رمى الدهر عن قوس الحوادث اسهماص

بها المجداودي والحوادث تفدح

Time shot arrows from the bow of calamities;

by them glory perished, and calamities crush.

لك الخير لا تبعد فكل مسرة

تبين إذا بان الحبيب وتنزح

Blessings upon you—may you not be far away, for every joy

departs when the beloved departs, and draws away.

تغير وجه الصبح عما عهدته

فقد عاد من بعد التبسم يكلح

The face of morning has changed from what I knew:

after smiling, it has begun to scowl.

نعيت به فاستشعر الحزن والجوى

فؤاد به نار الرزية تلفح

Your death was announced that morning; grief and anguish seized

a heart scorched by the fire of bereavement.

فما زلت مما راعني الصبح بالأسى

اكابد منه روعة حين اصبح

Ever since morning startled me with sorrow, I have not ceased

to struggle with its terror whenever I awaken.

كأن فم الناعي وقد شب نعيه

لنا النار زند في الجوانح يقدح

As though the death-announcer's mouth, whose tidings kindled

fire within us, were a flint striking sparks within our ribs.

كأن لساناً بين فكيه شفرة

تقطع احشاء لنا وتجرح

As though the tongue between his jaws were a blade

cutting and wounding our innermost parts.

كأني قبل الاذن بالعين سامع

فما صاح حتى ظلت العين تسفح

As though I heard with my eye before my ear:

he scarcely cried out before my eye was streaming.

فلله نعش بالسكينة سائر

يخف ويعلوه الوقار فيرجح

How wondrous the bier, borne along in serenity:

light, yet crowned with dignity that makes it weighty.

يحجب غيم النعش شمس فضيلة

غدت بعد اشراق إلى الغرب تجنح

The bier's cloud veils a sun of virtue

that, after shining, now inclines toward the west.

فلا عجب ان غابت الشمس ان ترى

نجوم المئاقي في دجى الحزن تلمح

No wonder, if the sun has set, that you should see

stars at the eyes' corners gleaming in sorrow's darkness.

أشبه بالشمس المنيرة فضله

على أنه أسنى ضياء وأوضح

I liken his excellence to the radiant sun,

though his light is brighter and clearer.

لقد اغمدوا في الترب منه صفيحة

فلله ما وارى الضريح المصفح

They have sheathed his blade in the earth;

how wondrous what the slab-covered tomb has concealed!

بكته القوافي وهويرثي وربما

بسمن ابتهاجاً وهو يطرى ويمدح

The rhymes wept for him as he was elegized; often

they had smiled with delight as he was extolled and praised.

له السبق إذ لا حلبة غير منبر

وليس سوى خيل الفصاحة تسبح

His is the lead when the only racecourse is a pulpit,

and none but the steeds of eloquence gallop.

إذا ما جرى سبحاً لادراك غاية

نكبر اجلالا له ونسبح

Whenever he galloped to attain a goal,

we cried 'God is greatest!' in awe of him, and 'Glory to God!'

كأن على الاعواد منه إذا ارتقى

ذراهن بحراً بالفوائد يطفح

As though, upon the pulpit's timbers, whenever he climbed

their heights, he were a sea overflowing with useful teachings.

كأن بها من حبه أريحية

فمن طرب اعطافها تترنح

As though love for him filled them with joyous ardor,

so their sides swayed in rapture.

إذا جمع الخصم الألد انبرى له

بوازعة تلوي الجماح وتكبح

When a relentless opponent marshaled his case, he confronted him

with a check that turned back and curbed his defiance.

إذا نضبت يوم المقامة حجة

على الخصم جاء البحر لا يتضحضح

Whenever, on the day of debate, an argument ran dry

against an opponent, he came—a sea that never grew shallow.

وكم أمد جلى إليه بغرة

تقبل في يوم الرهان وتمسح

How many a goal he reached first, bearing a white forehead-blaze

kissed and stroked on the day of the race,

بملتقطات من بيان وحكمة

يحلى بها نادي الحجى ويوشح

with choice gleanings of eloquence and wisdom

that adorned and garlanded the gathering of the wise.

تزهد في الدنيا زواجر وعظه

فيلقى فلاحاً فيه من شاء يفلح

The admonitions of his preaching turned hearts away from worldly life,

so whoever sought salvation found it in his preaching.

له مقول قد أوتي الحكم لم يزل

باقليده باب الغوامض يفتح

His tongue was endowed with wisdom; it never ceased

to open the door of obscure matters with its key.

ينال بعفو منه مالا يناله

أخو جدل في جهده ظل يكدح

With effortless ease, he attained what could not be attained

by a disputant who toiled with all his effort.

يقولون قس قلت ضل قياسكم

فان جواد الهاشميين أفصح

They say, 'Quss'; I say, 'Your comparison has gone astray,'

for Jawad of the Hashimites is more eloquent.

فقدناه فرداً لا يسد مكانه

الوف من القوم الذين ترشحوا

We lost him, unique; his place cannot be filled

by thousands among those who have put themselves forward.

أبا كاظم ان الرثاء تعلة

وسلوة محزون به يتروح

Abu Kazim, elegy is a solace

and a comfort through which a grieving man finds relief.

وفي كل رزء يحسن الصبر بالفتى

ولكنه في مثل رزئك يقبح

In every loss, patience befits a man,

but in a loss such as yours it is unbecoming.

إذا الدهر لم يسمح بمثلك فاضلا

فما عذر قلبي وهو بالصبر يسمح

If Time will not grant a virtuous man like you,

what excuse has my heart for granting patience?

رثيتك عن قلب قريح وانما

يجيد الرثا قلب الحزين المقرح

I elegized you from a wounded heart; only

a grieving man's wounded heart can fashion elegy well.

نظمت لئالي الدمع فيك قصيدة

وخير من الدر القصيد المنقح

I strung pearls of tears into a poem for you,

and polished verse is finer than pearls.

إذا ساءني حزن الفراق يسرني

نعيمك في دار الخلود فافرح

When the sorrow of parting grieves me, I am gladdened

by your bliss in the abode of eternity, and I rejoice.

كما ان شعري في رثائك تارة

ينوح واخرى بالهنا لك يصدح

Likewise, my verse in mourning you sometimes

wails, and at other times sings out in joy for you.

كأن رياض الحزن اخلاقك التي

تضوع بانفاس الرياض وتنفح

As though the upland meadows were your virtues, which

exhale the meadows' fragrance and waft their perfume.

لقد عاد روض الفضل بعدك ذاوباً

ونبت الربى بعد السحاب يصوّح

The garden of excellence has withered since you left,

and the uplands' plants dry out after the rain-cloud passes.

سقى جدثاً هالوا على المجد تربه

سحائب لطف تستهل وتدلح

May the grave whose earth they heaped upon glory be watered

by clouds of grace, pouring rain and heavy-laden.

وشق بايوان الصفاء ضريحه

وكان جديراً بالنواظر يضرح

And his grave was dug in the Iwan of al-Safa,

and he deserved to be buried within our eyes.

وفاز بريحان الجنان وروحها

كريم له ابوابها تتفتح

And the basil of Paradise and its repose were won

by a noble man for whom its gates open wide.

فان له عند الحسين تجارة

يفوز بها فوزا عظيماً ويربح

For he has a trade with Husayn,

through which he wins a mighty triumph and profits.