1. With what tears did we greet the riders at dawn,
And with what worries did misfortunes fight us?

2. Was the best of the youth indeed surrendered to loss
And abandoned by his neighbors and kin?

3. The swords of India wept copiously for him,
As did the hilts of swords and scabbards.

4. The heights became heedless as if
The zephyr and tribulations had erased their traces.

5. We did not notice except the delegations which arrived
With hearts melted by those pouring tears.

6. When asked about the family of David, they wailed
As the doves wail over their nestlings.

7. So what news makes our hearts blackened
And what events make our sorrows turn white?

8. The raiders swooped down on Shum from among them,
Destructive armies for loss with sharp blades.

9. No coat of mail in the litters was of use,
Nor were there any white swords among the grips.

10. Oh, for the shining status of the honored ones among them
If death had come in waves of battalions!

11. If tears are shed in grief and agony,
Then it is time for tears like drenching rain!

12. For the morn of a journey whose traveler is death
And the eyebrow of a sun whose bereaver is grief.

13. For the plateau of forbearance, from whose pinnacles propriety looked on,
And the blossom of glory, raised by glorious deeds.

14. The grave took from him the adornment of his youth,
Making me imagine the soil is woven of affliction.

15. Alas! I cannot behold a gathering
Witnessed by its manners and ants.

16. And oh, how I cannot bear a smile
When sorrows preach their sermons around me!

17. If the lads have turned gray because of his death,
Then how much have those who shared his love turned white!

18. And if the hand of glory and elevation has withered through him,
Then how much have my palms been filled with sorrows!

19. Some people say: If you seek solace after him,
Then every consolation in your tragedy is a confidant.

20. By God, my eyes are not dry for you,
Can eyes and heart turn solid when melting?

21. Nor for the anguish after you is there copious discharge,
Even if clouds rise up between the ribs.

22. How the nights plot to oppress us!
And worries besiege us with determination.

23. We make peace with this life though it fights us
And hope for its rebuke though it rebukes.

24. The souls walk humiliated toward it
And hardened affairs submit to it.

25. If the sturdy lion is defeated, and its cub,
Then never do they have except God as victor.

26. It is fate decreed, if it comes forward,
Then neither the absent are protected, nor the lion attacks.

27. And however much we sought unsullied living,
Its bitterness was not without troubles.

28. Whoever examines the souls of people
Will find them debts necessitated by adversities.

29. The days do not cease to seek us with them,
So that some desired things are attained, and seekers prevail.

30. People are but waders in the water of loss,
A drifter atop soil, and one who sinks down.

31. Abu Hassan! The veil was long, though it did not
Impede my hope of meeting you.

32. Abu Hassan! Every one who bid farewell has gone.
So who will guarantee the glory that you will return?

33. Shall I bewail you, or your father, because of the raid
That was carried out? Difficult indeed are the doctrines!

34. One formidable on the mountain of maturity fell,
And one shining in the light of youth was extinguished.

35. The roots of glorious deeds shook, and their branches too,
For the branches may follow the roots in flourishing.

36. With what coincidence, while life is with its water,
And what coincidence later, while living runs dry?

37. Misfortunes were not content with just one of you,
Yet one of you was absent from the scene of all.

38. Were they true to a promise from death,
Which betrayed them, and a promise of life that lied?

39. Take solace, O family of David! Your hearts
Are swords that drive sorrow away with their blades.

40. Who can combine in himself the collected qualities—
Your famous resolve is a path for that combination.

41. How can this death be, when your patience is
In which there are clear benefits and goals?

42. And how many prospects have your souls harbored
With no water except the fine, pouring clouds?

43. You remain closely embracing steadfastness
As the loved ones embraced on the day of farewell.

44. You stayed, while the threat of loss clung on,
With excuses for what it brought and repentant.

45. The spirit of God continued to bestow the greatest
Abundance, watered by the clouds.