1. Old age spreads out a lifetime then folds it up,
And time makes a worry distant then draws it near.

2. My lifetime's companion - his leave-taking cannot be avoided
By my white hair, though its occasions have pressed hard.

3. I have had forty years wherein I was the firmest companion,
And I have had two others as allies - I cannot do without them.

4. I am not surprised that my peers bear witness
To my white hair, though I doubt its advancing.

5. Thanks be to God that white hair comes
To one devoted to Unity and Justice, not Determinism or Anthropomorphism.

6. Thanks be to God that white hair comes
To the religion of Shi'ism, no other religion opposes it.

7. I prefer only him whom his deeds prefer
And his efforts purify and sustain him.

8. One like the successor 'Ali, present at any raid
While the people waver between going astray and foolishness.

9. One like the successor 'Ali, when battle was joined
While the sword struck whom it would, according him the merit.

10. One like the successor 'Ali, when a problem was obscure,
While his knowledge was an overflowing sea on every side.

11. One like the successor 'Ali, when all shifts were exhausted
Who was generous with sustenance, preferring others to himself

12. So he had no fear of hunger or thirst,
While God would sate him, and God would water him.

13. The gate to the City - do not seek with it a substitute
To enter by, and leave free the side of error.

14. Equal to the virgin daughter and no equal to her but she
While the matter reveals the thing that would rival it.

15. O day of Badr, the mention of its stand remains preserved
So the Tablet preserves it, and Revelation dictates it!

16. And You, O Uhud, say: is there anyone in the world
Who can disbelieve what I have said concerning it?

17. Fair one, flow freely speaking
For you are clothed in a beauty turned entirely towards us.

18. And if I return to the day of Ghadir, how much
Is there of glory and pride I relate and transmit!

19. Had Aaron seen that he whom rancour struck blind below discernment
Would be made successor, it would have astonished him.

20. If I wrote all the successor attained,
The expanse of the earth would not encompass it.

21. But I briefly compose it in verses -
I have a secret from those of my people who support him.

22. Just as the clan of Harb in their entirety were accursed by me
And I oppose whoever opposes him.

23. My master, Commander of the Faithful, verily
I cling to the rope of your alliance; I do not loose it.

24. You have become my master; I desire no substitute.
To you I direct praise, praise which its purpose attains.

25. By God, I have no fear of overweening fortune
Or expectation dependent on you which does not gain its wish.

26. O Family of Ahmad, a traveller does not desist
Going round and round you, my nature journeying or taking rest.

27. It heads East and West, no halting for it,
As if Fate itself, while God is its director!

28. How many poets have I contended with in poetry and subdued
As soon as I said anything its rhymes flowed pleasantly!

29. Whenever I compose a line in your praise
The wind lifts it up and the sun waters it.

30. People say "the poetry of Ibn 'Abbad," and so he worships
Whoever seeks poetry and knows its meanings.

31. My masters of the House of Zahra, this eulogy
Has arrived from a slave to his masters.

32. If it were recited tomorrow among the inhabitants of the Gardens
The houris would pride themselves on gathering up its pearls.

33. O Shaykh of the Two 'Iraqs, recite it slowly
For the adornment of poetry is in the fine style of its reciter.