قل للمنية شوى

لم يخط سهمك إذ رمى

Say to Death: 'A mere graze?'

Your arrow did not miss when it struck.

أفقدتني في ابني الذي

قد كان ذخري للغنى

You bereaved me of my son, who

had been my treasure, my source of plenty.

داويته حتى إذا

لم يبق في الدنيا دوا

I treated him until

no remedy remained in the world.

ساهرته حتى جفت

أجفانه طيب الكرى

I kept vigil with him until

his eyelids forsook sweet sleep.

وطبيبه لم يدر ما

يشكوه من ألم الأذى

And his physician did not know what

tormenting pain he complained of.

خابت مداواتي له

بل خاب نذري والرقى

My treatment of him failed;

nay, my vow and healing charms failed.

وأيست منه إذ رأت

عيناي نازلة البلا

And I despaired of him when

my eyes beheld calamity descending.

حار الطبيب وحرت في

ما قد دهاه من الضنى

The physician was bewildered, and I was baffled by

the wasting sickness that had struck him.

ما كان أقصر عمره

وبقاءه بين الورى

How short his life was,

and his stay among humankind!

ما كان إلا سبعة

وثلاثة ثم انقضى

It was only seven

and three; then it ended.

واستل من أترابه

كالنجم من وسط السما

And he was plucked from his peers

like a star from the midst of heaven.

عجل الحمام عليه قب

ل بلوغ أعلا المرتقى

Death hastened upon him before

he reached the highest summit.

يا علة ما كان أر

دى خطبها لما دهى

O illness, how deadly was

its calamity when it struck!

ومنية حثت به

نحو المقابر والبلى

And a death that hurried him

toward the graves and decay!

وشماتة بي من مصا

بك يا حسين من العدى

And gloating over me at your loss,

O Husayn, from the enemies!

بل قد ذخرتك جنة

عند النوازل بالتوى

Nay, I had treasured you as a shield

when calamities brought ruin.

غدر الزمان بنا وما

أبقى علينا واعتدى

Time betrayed us and did not

spare us; it dealt unjustly.

أحسين عندك علم ما

في القلب من ألم الجوى

O Husayn, do you know what

pain of inward grief lies in my heart?

أعلمت أن مدامعي

منهلة تجري دما

Do you know that my tears

pour down, flowing as blood?

أحسين لو أبصرت ما

قد حل من صرف القضا

O Husayn, if you could see what

has befallen through the turns of fate,

لرأيت أمراً هائلاً

ومصيبة لا تفتدى

you would see a dreadful thing,

and a calamity no ransom can undo.

يا ويلتي لما أتى

بالنعش في وقت الضحى

Alas for me, when they brought

the bier in the forenoon,

وأتى الحداة مهرول

ين ليحملوه إلى الثرى

and the drivers came hurrying

to carry him to the earth,

ناديت يا حادي السري

ر عساك تمهل بالسرى

I cried: 'O driver of the bier,

may you slow your night journey!

ارحم كئيباً هائماً

ثكلان منهد القوى

Have mercy on a sorrowful, distraught man,

bereaved of his child, his strength shattered.

قد ذاب لولا نطقه

ما كان مخلوقاً يرى

He has melted away; but for his speech,

he would be no creature one could see.

وارفق بجسم ناحل

منه السقام قد اشتفى

And be gentle with an emaciated body

from which sickness itself has found relief.

قد كان يأوي في سوي

دا القلب مني والحشا

He once dwelt in the inmost

core of my heart and bosom.

لو كان حاديه به

بعض الذي بي ما حدا

If his driver had within him

some of what is in me, he would not drive him on;

أو كان يعلم بالذي

في القلب من جمر الغضا

or if he knew what

embers of ghada wood lie in my heart,

لرثى لما بي من رحمة

من نكبتين على ولا

he would, in compassion, pity my suffering

from two calamities in succession.'

وارحمتا بل حسرتا

لرزية لا ترتجى

Oh, pity for me! Rather, oh, my anguish!

For a loss with no hope of recovery!

هيهات أرجوها وقد

علقته أشراك الردى

How could I hope for it, when already

the snares of death have caught him?

لو كان يفدى شخصه

والموت يرضى بالرشى

If his person could be ransomed,

and Death would accept bribes,

لفديت منه قلامة

بسواد عيني إذ أتى

I would ransom even a paring of his nail

with the pupil of my eye when Death came.

لكنه ما كل ما

يرجو امرئ يعطى الرجا

But not everything

a person hopes for is granted him.

يا قبر حياك الإل

ة تحية فيها المنى

O grave, may God greet you

with a greeting containing all that is wished for.

وسقاك غيث الهاطلا

ت على الزمان من الحيا

And may the rain of pouring clouds water you

for all time with life-giving rain.