دع المنى فحديث النفس مختلق

واعزم فأن العلى بالعزم تستبق

Abandon wishes, for the soul's talk is fabrication.

Be resolute, for resolve wins the heights of honor.

ولا يؤرقك الا هم مكرمة

إن المكارم فيها يحمد الأرق

Let nothing keep you awake but concern for a noble deed,

for wakefulness in pursuit of noble deeds is praised.

والسيف اصدق مصحوب وثقت به

ان لم تجد صاحباً في وذه تثق

The sword is the truest companion you can trust,

if you find no friend whose affection you can trust.

وامنع العزما ارست قواعده

سمر الألسنة والمسنونة الذلق

The most impregnable glory is that whose foundations are laid

by brown-tongued spears and sharpened, keen blades.

وانما ثمر العلياء في شجر

لها الرماح غصون والضبا ورق

The fruit of high honor grows only upon trees

whose branches are lances and whose leaves are blades.

وليس يجمع شمل الفخر جامعه

الا بحيث ترى الأرواح تفترق

No gatherer can bring glory into one whole

except where you see souls departing.

وللردى شرك بثت حبائله

على الأنام وكل فيه معتلق

Death has a snare whose cords are spread

over humankind, and everyone is caught in it.

فما يجير الردى من صرف حادثه

كهف ولا سلم ينجي ولا نفق

Nothing shelters against death and its calamitous turns:

no cave, no rescuing ladder, no tunnel.

إذا دجى ليل خطب أو نبا زمن

فاستشعر الصبر حتى ينجلي الغسق

When a night of calamity darkens, or the times turn harsh,

clothe yourself in patience until the darkness clears.

فكل شدة خطب بعدها فرج

وكل ظلمة ليل بعدها فلق

Every grievous calamity is followed by relief,

and every dark night is followed by dawn.

فلا يغرنك عيش طاب مورده

فرب عذب اتى من دونه الشرق

Let not a life whose spring runs sweet deceive you,

for many a sweet draught is barred by choking.

دنياً رغائبها في أهلها دول

وما استجدت لهم من نعمة خلق

A world whose coveted gifts change hands among its people,

and whose newly granted blessings are already worn.

وليس في عيشها روح ولا دعة

وان بدالك منها المنظر الأنق

There is neither relief nor repose in its life,

even if its pleasing outward show appears to you.

دنياً لأل رسول الله ما اتسقت

اني تؤملها تصفو وتتسق

A world that never ran smoothly for the family of God's Messenger—

how can you hope it will become clear and harmonious?

تلك الرزية جلت ان يغالبها

صبر به الواجد المحزون يعتلق

That calamity was too great to be overcome

by the patience to which the grieving, sorrowful man clings.

فكل جفن بماء الدمع منغمر

وكل قلب بنار الحزن محترق

Every eyelid is submerged in tears,

and every heart burns in sorrow's fire.

بها أصابت حشا الإسلام نافذة

سهام قوم عن الإسلام قد مرقوا

In it, Islam's inmost heart was struck and pierced

by arrows of men who had broken away from Islam.

واستخلصت لسليل الوحي خالصة

من الورى طاب منها الأصل والورق

It singled out for revelation's scion a chosen band

from humankind, pure in both root and leaf.

أصفاهم الله إكراماً بنصرته

فاستيقنوها وفي نهج الهدى استبقوا

God honored them by choosing them to champion him,

so they were certain of it and raced along the path of guidance.

من يخلق الله للدنيا فأنهم

لنصرة العترة الهادين قد خلقوا

Whomever God may create for worldly life, these men

were created to defend the guiding family of the Prophet.

كأنهم يوم طافوا محدقين بهم

محاجر وهم ما بينهم حدق

On the day they circled and enclosed them, they seemed

like eye sockets, with those within them as pupils.

رجال صدق قضوا في الله نحبهم

دون الحسين وفيما عاهدوا صدقوا

Men true to their word, they fulfilled their vows for God's sake

in defense of Husayn, faithful to what they had pledged.

وقام يومهم بالطف إذ وقفوا

بيوم بدر وان كانوا بها سبقوا

Their day at al-Taff, when they stood their ground, equaled

the day of Badr, though Badr's men had come before them.

وقى أولئك في بدر نبيهم

وهؤلاء بهم آل النبي وقوا

Those at Badr shielded their Prophet,

and through these men, the Prophet's family was shielded.

من كل بدر دجى يجري به مرحاً

إلى الكفاح كميت سابق أفق

Each a full moon in darkness, borne spiritedly

into combat by a swift, noble bay horse.

ينهل في السلم والهيجاء من يده

وسيفه الواكفان الجود والعلق

In peace and battle, there pour from his hand

and sword, both streaming, generosity and blood.

تقلدوا مرهفات العزم وادرعوا

سوابغ الصبر لا يلوي بهم فرق

They girded on the keen blades of resolve and donned

the full mail of patience; no fear turned them aside.

والصبر اثبت في يوم الوغى حلقاً

إذا تطاير من وقع الضبا الحلق

Patience's rings hold firmer on the day of battle,

when mail-rings fly apart beneath the blows of blades.

رسوا كانهم هضب بمعترك

ضنك عواصفه بالموت تختفق

They stood rooted like hills in a battlefield,

constricted, its storms throbbing with death.

ولا بسين ثياب النقع ضافية

كأن نقع المذاكي الوشي والسرق

And wearing ample garments of dust,

as though the dust of seasoned steeds were brocade and silk.

مستنشقين من الهيجاء مطيب شذا

كان أرض الوغى بالمسك تنفتق

Breathing from battle a perfumed fragrance,

as though the battlefield were splitting open with musk.

عشق الحسين دعاهم فاغتدى لهم

مر المنية حلواً دون من عشقوا

Love of Husayn summoned them, and so for them

death's bitterness grew sweet in defense of the one they loved.

جاؤا الشهادة في ميقات ربهم

حتى إذا ما تجلى نوره صعقوا

They came to martyrdom at their Lord's appointed hour,

until, when His light shone forth, they fell thunderstruck.

وما سقوا جرعة حتى قضوا ظمأ

نعم بحد المواضي المرهفات سقوا

They were given no sip before they died of thirst;

yes—by the edges of keen, sharpened swords they were given drink.

عارين قد نسجت مور الرياح لهم

ملابساً قد تولى صبغها العلق

Naked, the swirling winds had woven for them

garments that blood had taken upon itself to dye.

حاشا أباءهم ان يؤثروا جزعاً

على المنية ورداً صفوه رنق

Their proud spirit forbade them to choose, in panic,

over death, a draught whose clarity was muddied.

مضوا كرام المساعي فائزين بها

مكارماً من شذاها المسك ينتشق

They passed on, noble in endeavor, attaining through it

honors from whose fragrance musk is inhaled.

واغبر من بعدهم وجه الثرى وزها

ببشرهم في جنان الخلد مرتفق

After them, the earth's face grew dusty, while there blossomed

a resting place in eternal gardens, bright with their glad faces.

هنالك اقتحم الحرب ابن بجدتها

يطوى الصفوف بماضيه ويخترق

There, war's own seasoned son plunged into battle,

folding up the ranks with his keen sword and breaking through.

يطاعن الخيل شزراً والقنا قصد

ويفلق الهام ضربا والضبا فلق

He thrust obliquely at the cavalry, the lances splintered,

and cleaved heads with blows, the blades broken into shards.

ظمئان تنهل بيض الهند من دمه

فيستهل لها بشرا ويعتنق

Thirsting, while India's bright swords drank deeply of his blood,

he greeted them with a radiant smile and embraced them.

دريئة لسهام القوم مهجته

كأنه غرض يرمي ويرتشق

His lifeblood was a target for the men's arrows,

as though he were a mark to be shot at and pierced.

لو ان بالصخر ما قاساه من عطش

كادت له الصخرة الصماء تنفلق

Had the rocks felt the thirst he endured,

the solid rock would have all but split apart.

نفسي الفداء لشاك حر غلته

والماء يلمع منه البادر الغدق

My soul be the ransom for one lamenting his thirst's burning heat,

while the water gleamed in rushing abundance.

موزع الجسم روح القدس يندبه

شجواً وناظره بالدمع مندفق

His body torn asunder, the Holy Spirit lamented him

in grief, his eye streaming with tears.

والشمس طالعة تبكي وغائبة

دماً به شهد الأشراق والشفق

The sun wept at its rising and its setting

blood, to which morning's radiance and twilight bore witness.

تجري على صدره عدواً خيولهم

كأن صدر الهدى للخيل مستبق

Their horses galloped across his chest,

as though guidance's breast were a racecourse for horses.

تبدو له طلعة غراء مشرقة

على السنان وشيب بالدما شرق

His radiant, shining countenance appeared

upon the spearhead, his gray hair drenched in blood.

فما رأى ناظر من قبل طلعته

بدراً له من أنابيب القنا أفق

Before his countenance, no eye had ever seen

a full moon whose horizon was formed of lance-shafts.

وفي السباء بنات الوحي سائرة

بها المطي وادنى سيرها العنق

In captivity, the daughters of revelation journeyed,

borne by camels whose slowest pace was a brisk trot.

يستشرف البلد الداني مطالعها

ويحشد البلد النائي فيلتحق

The nearby town craned to see their approach,

and the distant town gathered and joined in.

تزيد نار الجوى في قلبها حرقاً

بماء دمع من الآماق يندفق

She fanned the fire of anguish in her heart to fiercer burning

with tears streaming from the corners of her eyes.

فلا تجف بحر الوجد عبرتها

ولا تبوخ بفيض الأدمع الحرق

Her tears did not dry in the heat of sorrow,

nor did the burning die down beneath the flood of tears.

وسيد الخلق يشكو ثقل جامعة

تنوء دامية من حملها العنق

And the master of creation complained of a shackle's weight,

his neck, bleeding, strained beneath its burden.

تهفو قلوب العدى من عظم هيبته

لكنهم برواسي حلمه وثقوا

The enemies' hearts trembled at his mighty presence,

but they trusted the firm mountains of his forbearance.

ما غض من بأسه سقم ولا جدة

ان الشجاعه في اسد الشرى خلق

Neither sickness nor youth diminished his valor,

for courage is innate in the lions of al-Shara.