Sol 6.1

  1. أَلا هَل درت من أَقصَدَت أَسهمُ الهُلكِ

    فأَصبح عقدُ المَجد منفصمَ السِّلكِ

    Ah, do death's arrows know whom they have struck down,

    leaving glory's necklace with its thread snapped?

  2. وَهَل عَلِمت ماذا جنته يَدُ الرَدى

    لَقَد فتكت ويلُ اِمِّها أَيَّما فتكِ

    And does death's hand know what it has wrought?

    Indeed, it slew—woe to its mother!—with terrible slaughter.

  3. أَباحَت حِمىً ما راعه قطُّ حادِثٌ

    وأَردت فتىً للأَخذ يُدعى وَللتَركِ

    It violated a sanctuary that no calamity had ever frightened,

    and felled a young man called upon to take and to relinquish.

  4. أَصمَّت برُزءٍ عمَّ فادحُه الوَرى

    وَخُصَّ به بيتُ النبوَّة والمُلكِ

    It dealt a deafening calamity whose crushing weight engulfed humankind,

    while the house of prophecy and kingship bore it especially.

  5. فأَيُّ فؤادٍ لا يَذوبُ من الأَسى

    وأَيَّةُ عين لا تَفيض ولا تَبكي

    So what heart does not melt with grief,

    and what eye fails to overflow and weep?

  6. أَصمَّت بزين العابدين نُعاته

    فَكَم ثَمَّ من سمع بمعناه مستكِّ

    His death-heralds deafened us with news of Zayn al-Abidin;

    how many an ear there was stopped by its import!

  7. سَرى نعيُه قبل اليَقين ولَم أَكن

    لأَحسبُه إِلّا مَقالاً من الإِفكِ

    News of his death spread before confirmation, and I would not

    consider it anything but a tale of falsehood,

  8. عَلى أَنَّه أَقذى العيونَ وأَوشكت

    صدورُ العُلى وَالمجد ترفضُّ من ضَنكِ

    though it filled the eyes with grit, and nearly

    the breasts of eminence and glory burst with anguish.

  9. فَلَمّا تجلّى للقلوب يَقينُه

    وَدُكَّت له شمُّ الذُرى أَيَّما دَكِّ

    But when its certainty became clear to hearts,

    and lofty summits were utterly crushed by it,

  10. بَكى حَزَناً من كان لا يعرفُ البُكا

    وأَنشد كلٌّ مقلتيه قِفا نبكِ

    those who had never known weeping wept in sorrow,

    and each recited to his two eyes: ‘Halt, you two; let us weep.’

  11. وأَمسَت بِقاعُ الفضل عاطلة السُرى

    وأَضحت بحارُ المجد راكدةَ الفُلكِ

    And the lands of excellence became devoid of night travel,

    and glory's seas lay with their ships becalmed.

  12. لَقَد كانَ شكّي فيه أَبردَ للحَشا

    فَيا لَيتَني ما زلتُ منه عَلى شَكِّ

    Indeed, my doubt of the news was cooler to my breast;

    if only I still remained in doubt about it!

  13. كَذا جِدُّ أَحداثِ اللَيالي وَصَرفِها

    فَأَيُّ اِمرئٍ مدَّت إليهِ يَدَ الهلكِ

    Such is the grim earnestness of the nights' calamities and reversals;

    for any man toward whom they stretch destruction's hand,

  14. برغم العَوالي السمهريَّة والظُبى

    أصيبَ ولم تطعن عليه ولَم تَنكِ

    despite the tall, stout-shafted spears and sword edges,

    is stricken, though they neither pierce him nor wound him.

  15. أَبا هاشِمٍ أَشرقتَ كوكب سُحرَةٍ

    فَلا عَجَبٌ إِن غبتَ عنّا على وَشكِ

    O Abu Hashim, you shone as a predawn star;

    so no wonder you vanished from us so soon.

  16. فقدتُك فقدَ الرَوض زَهرَ كمامه

    وَرحتُ من الأَشجان أَبكي وأَستَبكي

    I lost you as a garden loses the blossoms of its buds,

    and in sorrow I took to weeping and moving others to tears.

  17. لئن ظَلَّ صَبري عنك مُنفَصم العُرى

    فَقَلبي من الأَحزان ليس بمُنفَكِّ

    Though the bonds of my patience over your loss remain severed,

    my heart is not free of sorrows.

  18. وإِن لَم أَكن أَبصرتُ شخصَك في الوَرى

    فَما غابَ عنّي شَخصُ إِحسانك المَحكي

    And though I never beheld your person among humankind,

    the image of your recounted kindness never left me.

  19. أعزّي أَباكَ البرَّ عنك وإِنَّني

    وإِيّاه من وَجدٍ سهيمان في شِركِ

    I console your virtuous father for your loss, although I

    and he are partners in a common anguish.

  20. أَتَكتَحل الأَجفانُ بعدَك بالكرى

    سلوّاً وتفترُّ الثغورُ من الضِحكِ

    Can eyelids, after you, line themselves with sleep,

    in forgetfulness, and mouths part in laughter?

  21. وَهَيهات ما في الأنس بعدك مطمَعٌ

    وَلا لأسارى حزنِ يومكَ من فَكِّ

    Far from it! There is no hope of solace after you,

    nor release for those captive to your day's sorrow.

  22. أَلوذُ بستر الصَبر عنك تجلُّداً

    فَيأبى له عظمُ المصاب سِوى الهَتكِ

    For your loss I seek refuge in patience's veil, mustering fortitude,

    but the calamity's enormity allows that veil only to be rent.

  23. وإِن رُمتُ إِطفاءً لنار تلهُّفي

    عليكَ غَدا حُزني لها أَبَداً يُذكي

    And if I seek to extinguish the fire of my yearning

    for you, my grief keeps kindling it forever.

  24. ولَو رُدَّ عنك الحتفُ بالبأس لم يَقف

    سِنانيَ عَن طعنٍ وَسيفيَ عَن بَتكِ

    Had valor been able to ward death off from you, never would

    my spearpoint have ceased thrusting, nor my sword cleaving.

  25. إِذاً خاضَ لُجَّ الموت دونكَ فتيةٌ

    عَلى ضُمَّرٍ تَهوى الشَكائم بالعَلكِ

    Then youths would have plunged into death's deep waters in your defense,

    on lean steeds that delight in chewing their bits.

  26. ولكن قضاءُ اللَه غَيرُ مُدافَعٍ

    وأَحكامُه تَجري وَلَم تَخشَ من دَركِ

    But God's decree cannot be repelled,

    and His judgments run their course without fear of being overtaken.

  27. وَلِلَّه قَبرٌ ضمَّ جسمَك فاِنبرى

    بطيب شذا ريّاكَ يهزأ بالمسكِ

    And to God belongs a grave that embraced your body and began

    to mock musk with the sweet scent of your fragrance.

  28. فَكَم ضَمَّ من مَجدٍ وكم حازَ من عُلاً

    وَكَم حاز من رُشدٍ وكم نال من نُسكِ

    How much glory it embraced, how much eminence it possessed,

    how much right guidance it held, how much devotion it gained!

  29. يعزُّ على أَرض الغريِّ وكربلا

    وَطيبةَ ذات الطيب والحرم المكّي

    It grieves the land of al-Ghari and Karbala,

    and fragrant Tayba and the Meccan Sanctuary,

  30. بأَنَّك في أَرض سِواهنَّ مُلحَدٌ

    وَلَو أَنَّه تَعلو السِماكين في السمكِ

    that you lie buried in a land other than theirs,

    even if it towers above the two Simak stars in height.

  31. فَلا برحت تَسقي ثراكَ مدامعٌ

    تزيد على عِزِّ السَحائب في السَفكِ

    So may tears never cease to water your soil,

    surpassing the might of the clouds in their outpouring.

  32. أَبا ناصِرٍ لا يستفزنَّكَ الأَسى

    عَلى حادِثٍ يُشكى إليه فَلا يُشكي

    O Abu Nasir, let sorrow not unsettle you

    over a calamity one complains to, but which gives no relief.

  33. فإِنَّك طودٌ لا تَذلُّ لفادحٍ

    وَهيهات طودُ المجد ليس بمنُدَكِّ

    For you are a mountain, not humbled by a crushing blow;

    far from it: the mountain of glory cannot be crushed.

  34. تأَسَّ بخير الخَلق آبائك الألى

    بكت لرَزاياهم أَولو الدين والشِركِ

    Take your example from the best of creation, your forefathers, whose

    afflictions drew tears from the faithful and the polytheists.

  35. عَلى أنَّها لَم يُبقِ قبلك صَرفُها

    عَلى سوقةٍ في العالمين ولا مَلْكِ

    Moreover, before you, its vicissitudes have spared

    no commoner in all the worlds, nor any king.

  36. ولا تُبدِ للبأساءِ إِلّا تكرُّماً

    وإِن بالغت في النَهر يَوماً وفي النَهكِ

    Show adversity nothing but magnanimity,

    even if one day it is relentless in rebuking and wearing you down.

  37. وَكُن في صُروف الدَهر كالذهب الَّذي

    يَزيدُ عياراً كلَّما زيد في السَبكِ

    And amid time's reversals be like gold, which

    increases in purity the more it is smelted.

  38. وَكَيفَ وأَنتَ النَدبُ لَو أَنَّ حاكياً

    حكى عنك غير الصَبر كذَّبتُ ما يَحكي

    And how could it be otherwise, noble as you are? Were a narrator

    to report of you anything but patience, I would disbelieve his report.

  39. أَفاضَ عليك اللَهُ درع وِقايةٍ

    تقيكَ من الأَسواء موضونة الحَبكِ

    May God drape over you a protective coat of mail,

    shielding you from evils, its links tightly interwoven.

  40. ودم لا نأت للعزِّ عنك مآرِبٌ

    ولا خرجت غرُّ العُلى لك عن مُلكِ

    And live on: may glory's aims never stray far from you,

    nor may the radiant heights of eminence pass out of your possession.