1. Peace to the one who exchanged peace,
How did the other erase the first?

2. And which passion newly occurred,
Or did I forget that transforming passion?

3. Where are the covenants and the reproachers?
It is difficult for them to reproach.

4. Were they the delusions of time’s promise,
Or a night’s dream that then vanished?

5. About what did a tear flow, I ask,
One who is lost in beauty, that he be asked.

6. I say to my companion, gently,
Though he acted harshly, more beautifully.

7. Stop for the sick man, though stopping
Will not heal him, it will console him,

8. With my song and travel provisions,
And if our ties increase, a stopping place,

9. And a beautiful woman, if she were fair,
It would be ugly for her to be stingy.

10. She saw his estrangement licit because of
An old attachment to distance that fermented.

11. And an informing spy brought her news of him,
Racing ahead lest the news be cut off.

12. He saw her love an unreal illusion,
So he ripped up as much as he wished to rip up.

13. And tongues like spearheads
I parried when they were unleashed, stabbed.

14. And it refuses a beauty, if she inclines,
Her imposition on a crescent, inclining.

15. May God water our nights with talk,
Whenever a star rises or sets.

16. Live! Whenever a star appears,
Yearning for it, I let fall a tear.

17. And it was special, though no night
Passed after it that resolved.

18. The specter fulfilled its tryst,
As it grew accustomed, delaying.

19. So my night with him was not
The shortest, nor if he had not visited, the longest.

20. Dewy nightclouds shortened my walk;
With old, pure exertion I jest.

21. Worries’ caprices distract me
From serious, ancient goals.

22. And a sigh is sculpted on my cheek
Whose lightning bolt eats away at my scarf’s fringe.

23. And I am tempted to lament the House of the Prophet
If poetry attributes or seduces.

24. With my soul, their extinguished stars,
Though guidance refuses but to be lit.

25. And bodies of light for them in the desert
Fill it, so the dunes shine.

26. The earth could not bear
To carry what the ground bore in its belly.

27. It overflowed and became a sea’s dew,
It collapsed and became mountains piled up.

28. Ask the challenger about them in battle,
Where did the pinnacles of glory lead?

29. With whom did God defeat his enemies?
So the Messenger through them was victorious?

30. And this Book and its inimitability,
Upon whom and in whose house was it sent down?

31. And Badr, and at Badr, through it religion
Was perfected, from its beautiful afflictions.

32. And who slept while the others stayed up
And who was the most knowledgeable or most just?

33. Through whom was judgment decided on the Day of Gathering,
Categorizing therein that categorized case?

34. Far-reaching news whose details
I lengthen, it’s enough briefly mentioned as miraculous.

35. By God, the atheists were let loose
Upon the truth, and it nearly was undone,

36. So had we no guarantee in the return,
Debate’s argument would have shamed us.

37. Do they, O people, claim the Prophet decrees
Obedience, then is disobeyed, and is not washed?

38. And he commands, yet we quibble, alleging
He neglected his religion, neglected?

39. And they gather on their alleged authority,
And Sa’d opposes you with their ambiguities.

40. So their consensus is succeeded by
Their inferior preceding the superior?

41. And authority is stripped from its people
Because Ali was deemed its guardian?

42. And they went on vilifying his House unjustly,
Pelting them, pelting them with pebbles.

43. The claws of their malice crept in,
So they perished, one by one.

44. The delusions that led to al-Husayn’s catastrophe,
And what happened before and what ensued.

45. The Umayyads, clothed with their shame,
Though vengeance was concealed or achieved.

46. So oh son of the Prophet, the Day of Saqifa
Foreboded your day at Karbala.

47. And your father’s rightful authority usurped,
And your mother commendably killed.

48. O rider atop a braided stand,
You fancied, when erect, an acacia tree,

49. Desiring, galloping on four,
When they dispersed tents’ pegs.

50. When she assigned her gaze to the sky,
A troop to catch up to her was assigned.

51. Her proud gazelles were blemished
And the gazelles of the meadow grew distant.

52. Like when partridges in one direction
Try to reach Medina or Marqala.

53. intercede for a supplicant and I am safe
For one who seeks a connection.

54. Take on the burden of my passion’s message,
Then call Ahmad, the messenger with it.

55. Inspire me and say, O guide Prophet,
Your path grew dark and overgrown.

56. You fulfilled, so we forgot what you fulfilled,
And your law was complete and perfected.

57. But your cousin considered, in what you legislated,
To accept or enact it.

58. So he betrayed you in it, of the traitors,
Who altered the truth or changed it.

59. Until Taym ruled it,
And the Hashimites were disempowered.

60. And when Taym’s command went on,
The houses of ‘Adiy for them were destroyed.

61. And the Umayyads extended their necks,
When matters became easy and feasible.

62. The son of ‘Affan attained what was not
Expected, nor attained, but enabled.

63. So he became wealthy, and life,
Which had been rough before him, was smoothed.

64. He made it Persian-like,
And in it, with what he ignited, burned.

65. And they went on, driving him or leading him
To depravity’s meadows, watering hole to watering hole.

66. And when Ali assumed command,
He returned it to truth, so it was heavy.

67. And they came to him, blaming him for the deaths,
When they had fled from that blame.

68. There was hesitation while you were the adversary
Tomorrow, though postponing was from the negligent.

69. My praise is pure for you, O House of Yasin,
And my affection is sweet and my heart sincere.

70. And I have, for your enemies, penetrating
Words—what an eloquent speaker says!

71. When the way is too narrow for the companion,
I fill its expanses with flagpoles.

72. So the cores of each arrow become
For every warrior a death blow.

73. Why not take the path of salvation’s road
With you, when for me, after darkness, a gleam shone?

74. I rode my message to you, so I gained success,
When I was groping confusedly for it.

75. My bondage to idolatry was untied, and it
Was a burden shackled on my shoulders.

76. I will ally with you as long as there is
Thunderclap roaring and rumbling.

77. And I disavow those who oppose you,
For disavowal is the origin of loyalty.

78. And your master does not fear punishment,
So be for him tomorrow a haven.