1. A brother whose memory oft brought me delight
Now the thought of him fills me with grief and blight

2. To his palace I’d hasten with steps day and night
But now ‘tis his grave where my visits alight

3. With him I felt wealthy, of people in spite
If only his life could have been prolonged outright

4. Whenever I came with a need or a plight
My affairs on his hands would turn out alright

5. A youth pure of heart, from dawn until night
In good times or bad, he’d stand up for what’s right

6. You’d rest through the night without fear or fright
And spend the day safe ‘neath his power and might

7. To his Lord departed this Ali so bright
The hero, the star of his age and his time

8. Death snatched him away without pity or slight
Slipping in through a gap in his armor to smite

9. His troops gathered round him were useless that night
No aid could be rendered try as they might

10. Now he wakes every morn in a dwelling uptight
A narrow, dark hole that’s sealed up airtight

11. Those doors will stay shut until the end of all life
When the trumpet is blown announcing new light

12. He left behind castles and mansions bedight
To rot in a grave that is dismal and trite

13. For tapestries lush he now has but earth blight
And clay is his scent, once so fragrant and bright

14. A brother now gone, never more to unite
An exile, though Egypt was once his delight

15. No longer I’ll bid him farewell for the fight
As chieftain he marches to frontier outright

16. No more will I greet his return from the blight
With news of a vanquished foe, captives in tow

17. May our good days remember him doing what’s right
Though when he was with us, we failed to requite

18. Let not, my dear brother, your memory take flight
For all men must follow the path you did smite