1. You would ransom him if death embraced him
A soul for you has torn itself with its grief

2. Oh you who like a planet has fallen from the horizon of sublimity
In a night clothed with darkness by the dawn

3. Your life was a delight for onlookers
And today your death is agony for eyes

4. If only I was buried before you in the soil
And drank the cup of death before beholding it

5. Or if only my eye was blinded before the day
When fate lined it with the blindness of loss

6. Why wouldn't a burning heart wish for death without you
You who always strove for its contentment

7. Or how could an eyelid not yearn for blindness for your sake
You who were its comfort and its joy

8. Alas for the day whose affliction persists
And the fire of calamity it uncovered

9. No, by Him who makes me weep and laugh, by Him
Who gives life then takes it away

10. After you, living no longer holds appeal for me
What is left of life and its prolonged sorrows?

11. Far from it! A bereaved woman desires life
You were her life and refuge

12. She wished to sacrifice herself for you
But you refused except to be her sacrifice

13. You cared for her as if you were her son
Out of kindness you were her father and sibling

14. Woe to her, that she did not share your fate
However hard and cruel it was

15. I swear by the Lord of those praying in Mecca
And those circumambulating its stones and incline

16. If not for my certainty that I will join you
I would have overwhelmed her with its bitterness

17. By God, futile is the effort and broken are the ties
Of hopes because of what has afflicted and stripped her

18. No soul will enjoy life after you
Your life was their meadow and garden

19. Rather, the heart has no solace but grief
Nor the eye anything but tears, ever

20. Oh you palm tree of glory bearing the heights
Whose freshness has withered and palms dried up

21. You were the arm by which I wielded
And the hand by which time feared my power

22. You relieved my woes and protected my side
From every misfortune spreading its harm

23. And today tribulations have assaulted me
Which I never worried about or feared

24. Blessed were the days of union and their goodness
However sweet and pleasant they were

25. Days in which the beauty of your face delighted me
With its perfection I took pride amongst all people

26. When you sat by my side it was as if
I had coupled the sun’s brightness at noon

27. And when I saw you amongst the Prophet’s family
I shielded my eyes embarrrassed by your beauty

28. In your company the water springs of life
Would clear, its roses and basil ever fragrant

29. So I have been afflicted by the heat of our separation
Fate decreed its echoes never subside

30. And I was tested by its adversities with such calamity
Whose affliction was great and wounds vast

31. Grief and sorrow surely overwhelm me
And condole you with the deepest consolations

32. For when I recall the fleeting nature of our lives
Whose utterance or meaning does not remain

33. Grief is lightened and tribulations mean little to me
However grave what it has unleashed and tested me with

34. How to survive in this abode
Which he who built, built for demise?

35. An abode destined for no delight to last
Not its dwellings or habitations

36. Neither felicity makes it joyous nor adversity melancholic
Both states of poverty and riches are equal

37. Its fortunes paired with misfortunes
And comforts with its misery and torment

38. When it laughs, it weeps, and when innocent, remains guilty
And if it heals, it wounds the sick, tired soul

39. Where are the kings who ruled it?
And inhabited its towns and villages?

40. Where are the Caesars and Emperors
Who raised the buildings of its glory and sublimity?

41. Where are the Khusraus who clung
To its covenants and held onto its pillars?

42. It seduced them with its wine and mirage
Until they perished by its cup and sought its ruins

43. It pounced on them with the cunning of ambush
God is Greatest! How little its loyalty!

44. Lost is the sanity of those who admired its beauty
And so were devoted and enhanced its charms

45. The people crave surviving through it yet
God only wills that they survive without it

46. These days are but stages
Folded as the breaths of life march on

47. Until, reaching the end of their course
They let go of their staff and rest their burden

48. Oh comfort of the eye, scorched by loss
And resolute spirit, its flames have subsided

49. The soul weeps for you in utter grief
Wailing in profound agony and wounds

50. And it speaks the truth when blindness is lifted
And it sees its guidance and foresight

51. You succeeded when you refused vile dwellings
And ascended to the heavenly gardens’ heights

52. You surpassed me, reaching before me the ultimate
Station of truth I could not attain

53. Every Friday eve you stayed up worshiping God
As eyes fell shut and drowsiness drew near

54. Until God called you, pleased
To grant you glorious reward pleasing Him

55. Your ambition surpassed that of the greatest
Their elders and youth in fervor

56. While people strived for this world
Defiled, you turned away seeking the sanctified

57. You attained it while still a youth
Alas for your sublime ambition! Alas!

58. If you have settled in paradise in bliss
Then your father is relieved of worries and distress

59. Taibah and its environs mourned your death
And Mecca and its minarets wept your loss

60. Separation began inciting grief
In Tus, Baghdad, and Samarra

61. You brought joy to eyes with your integrity
Gracing you in the prime of youth with its adornments

62. God send His prayers upon you from the abode
Where perfection lies buried in its chambers

63. And may your Lord’s mercy come upon you morn and eve
Watering your tomb, giving it life

64. No longing loved one or soul remembering its passion
Has ever grieved as I grieve for you