هي الصدمة الأولى فمن بان صبره

على هول ملقاها تضاعف أجره

It is the first shock; whoever shows his patience

Amid the terror of facing it has his reward doubled.

ولابد من موت وفوت وفرقة

ووجد بماء العين يوقد جمره

And death, loss, and separation are inevitable,

And grief whose embers are kindled by the eye’s water.

وما يتسلى من يموت حبيبه

بشيء ولا يخلو من الهم من الهم فكره

He whose beloved dies finds no consolation

In anything; nor is his mind free of grief, of grief.

ولكنه جرح يعز اندماله

وكسر جناح لا يؤمل جبره

But it is a wound whose healing is difficult,

And a broken wing whose mending cannot be hoped for.

أذم صباح الأربعاء فإنه

تبسم عن ثغر المنية فجره

I condemn Wednesday morning, for

Its dawn smiled, revealing the mouth of Death.

أصاب الهدى في نجمه بمصيبة

تداعى سماك الجو منها ونسره

It struck guidance, in its star, with a calamity

From which the sky’s Simak and its Nasr collapsed.

وأفقر أهل الأرض من باذل الغنى

إذا قنط المحتاج واشتد فقره

And left earth’s people bereft of the giver of wealth,

When the needy man despaired and his poverty grew severe.

عدمنا أبا الإسلام والملك والندى

وفارقنا قرد الزمان ووتره

We have lost the father of Islam, kingship, and generosity,

And the age’s “monkey” and its peerless one has left us.

فلا تعذلونا واعذرونا فمن بكى

على فقد أيوب فقد بان عذره

So do not reproach us; excuse us, for whoever weeps

For the loss of Ayyub has a clear excuse.

وكنا إذا ضاقت بأمر صدورنا

تكفله منا يداه وصدره

And whenever some matter constricted our breasts,

His hands and breast would take charge of it for us.

وإن عبست أيامنا ووجوهنا

مشى بيننا في معرض الصلح بشره

And if our days and faces frowned,

His cheerfulness walked among us in the guise of reconciliation.

أقام بأعمال الفرات وخيله

يراع بها نيل العزيز ومصره

He resided in the Euphrates districts, and his cavalry

Kept al-Aziz’s Nile and his Egypt in dread.

إلى أن رماها من أخيه بضيغم

فرى نابه أهل الصليب وظفره

Until he assailed it with a lion in his brother’s person,

Whose fang and claw tore apart the people of the Cross.

فلما قضى نحبي حياة ودولة

بأمرك في إدراكها ثم أمره

Then, when he completed the two allotted spans of life and rule,

Attaining it by your command, and then by his own,

تعاقبتما مصراً تعاقب وابل

يبيت بقطر النيل ينهل قطره

You two succeeded one another in Egypt like successive downpours

Whose drops pour all night over the Nile’s region.

نزلت بدار حلها فحللتها

فمغناك مغناه وقصرك قصره

You alighted at a home where he had dwelt, and dwelt there too;

So your dwelling is his dwelling, and your palace his palace.

وواخيته في البر حياً وميتاً

فقبرك في دار القرار وقبره

And you shared brotherhood with him in goodness, living and dead;

So your grave and his are in the abode of permanence.

وقد شخصت أهل البقيع إليكما

وإلا فسكان الحجون وحجره

And the people of al-Baqi have gazed toward you both,

Or else the dwellers of al-Hajun and its precinct.

هنيئاً لملك مات والعز عزه

وقدرته فوق الرجال وقدره

Blessings upon a king who died while glory was his,

And his power above men, and his stature too.

وأدرك من طول الحياة مراده

وما طال إلا في رضى الله عمره

And attained what he desired of a long life,

And his life was prolonged only in pleasing God.

وأسعد خلق الله من مات بعدما

رأى في بني أبنائه ما يسره

And the happiest of God’s creatures is he who dies after

Seeing in his sons’ sons what delights him.

شهيد تلقى ربه وهو صائم

فكان على أهل الشهادة فطره

A martyr, he met his Lord while fasting;

So his breaking of the fast was among the martyrs.

مضى وهو راض عنك لم ترم صدره

بضيق ولا جاشت من الغيظ قدره

He passed away pleased with you; you had not afflicted his breast

With distress, nor did his cauldron boil with rage.

حمى حوزة الإسلام والدين بعده

ثمانية من أجلهم عز نصره

After him, the domain of Islam and the faith was guarded by

Eight men, through whom its victory grew mighty.

فخذ حصرهم مني ففي حسناتهم

وإحسانهم ما ليس يمكن حصره

Take their enumeration from me, for in their virtues

And their beneficence lies what cannot be numbered.

وسامح فللتركيب في النثر فسحة

يطول بمعناها على النظم نثره

And forgive me: composition has ample room in prose,

Its prose, through that breadth of meaning, extends beyond verse.

تبعت القوافي طاعة وضرورة

فلا تلحني فيمن تأخر ذكره

I followed the rhymes in obedience and necessity;

So do not blame me for anyone whose mention came later.

فمن ناصريه عزه وتقيه

وسيفاه منهم والصلاح وفخره

For among his champions are his Izz and his Taqi,

And his two Sayfs among them, with Salah and his Fakhr.

أولئك أهل الحل والعقد ينتهي

إلى أمرهم طي الزمان ونشره

These are the men who loose and bind; there devolve

Upon their command time’s folding and unfolding.

ومن كافليه قطبه وشهابه

إذا بات محتاجاً إلى الشد أزره

And among his guardians are his Qutb and his Shihab,

When he passes the night needing his back strengthened.

هما أخوا أيوب والملك الذي

أتى بهما تلواً له وهو بكره

They are brothers to Ayyub and to the king who

Brought them to follow him, being his firstborn.

وما حسن فوق الحسين وإنما

تأخر عنه بالولادة عصره

And Hasan is not above Husayn; it is only that

His time came later than the other’s through birth.

ولو خلف ابناً واحداً سيد الورى

لما حاز ميراث الخلافة صهره

Had the master of mankind left one son,

His son-in-law would not have gained the inheritance of the caliphate,

ولم يتنازع عمه وابن عمه

عليها إلى أن يجمع الخلق حشره

Nor would his uncle and his uncle’s son have contended

Over it until creation is assembled at its Gathering.

فكيف بخيس آل أيوب أسده

لقد بان خوف الدهر منهم وذعره

Then what of a thicket whose lions are the house of Ayyub?

Time’s fear and dread of them have become plain.

وعلى الله نجماً تعرف الشمس أنه

أبوها ونور البدر منها وزهره

And may God exalt a star that the sun knows to be

Her father, while the full moon’s light and radiance come from her.

وأبقى المقام الناصري فإنه

لدولتكم كنز الرجاء وذخره

And preserve the Nasiri station, for it is

For your dynasty, the treasure of hope and its reserve.

أفاض على الأيام أحسن سيرة

يموت بها جور الزمان وغدره

He poured forth upon the days the finest conduct,

Through which time’s tyranny and treachery die.

إذا كانت البلوى من الله فليكن

من الحزم حمد الله فيها وشكره

If the affliction comes from God, then let

Praising God amid it and thanking Him be a mark of prudence.