رجعي يا بلابل الأغصان

واستثيري بلابل الأشجان

Warble, O nightingales of the boughs,

and rouse the tumults of sorrow.

رددي لي بكل لحن شجي

واستجيدي مهيج الأحزان

Repeat for me every mournful melody,

and seek the finest strain that stirs sorrows.

أنت مثلي في عالم الشجو إلا

أنني عالم بما قد شجاني

You are like me in the world of sorrow, except

that I know what has grieved me.

والشجي الجهول فيما شجاه

كالمعزي وجداً من الثكلان

The sorrowful one who knows not what grieves him

is, in anguish, like the consoler beside the bereaved.

كم كتمت الهوى ألذ نعيم

وعذابي بما النعيم الثاني

How often I concealed love, the sweetest bliss,

and my torment in what is the second bliss.

قد حباني بها الإله ولكن

قد رماني بهجرها وابتلاني

God granted her to me, but

He struck me with her forsaking and put me to the test.

ذكرتني بهجرها لي هجري

وادتوائي لمنهج الرضوان

By forsaking me, she reminded me of my own forsaking

and my aversion to the path of divine approval.

أغفلتني بزهوها وكأني

ما احتسبت المعاد في حسباني

Her splendor made me heedless, as though

I had not reckoned the resurrection in my account.

جرأتني على التمرد نفسي

في هواها وقادني شيطاني

My soul emboldened me to rebel

in love for her, and my devil led me on.

بالرقيبين قد علمت ولكن

سوء حظي عن الهدى أعماني

I knew of the two watchers, yet

my ill fortune blinded me to guidance.

لست أدري إذا استطار فؤادي

يوم بعثي بجسمي العريان

I do not know—when my heart flies in terror

on the day I rise in my naked body—

ما اعتذاري لدى الحساب إذا ما

نشرا ما اقترفت طمول زماني

what excuse I shall have at the reckoning, when

the two lay open what I committed throughout my lifetime.

ما اعتذاري وقد جنيت ذنوباً

أثقلتني وسودت ديواني

What excuse have I, having committed sins

that burdened me and blackened my record?

ما اعتذاري إذا دعيت وخفت

حسناتي بكفة الميزان

What excuse have I when I am summoned, and light are

my good deeds in the balance's pan?

ما اعتذاري إذا سئلت بماذا

قد تقضي بك الزمان الفاني

What excuse have I when asked, ‘In what

did your fleeting lifetime pass?’

ما اعتذاري إذا نشرت وعدت

ما جنته يداي والرجلان

What excuse have I when laid bare and counted are

the deeds my two hands and feet have wrought?

وأقيمت علي مني شهود

باجترامي جوارحي ولساني

And witnesses from my own self are raised against me:

my limbs and my tongue, testifying to my crimes.

لهف نفسي إذا أخذت كتابي

بشمالي وأبت بالخسران

Alas for my soul when I take my book

in my left hand and return with loss,

واستتمت علي حجة حق

عن قضاء المهيمن المنان

and a rightful case against me is made complete

through the judgment of the Guardian, the Bountiful Giver.

من مجيري من العذاب إذا ما

حكمتني حكومة الديان

Who will protect me from punishment when

the Requiter's judgment rules against me?

من مجيري من الشقاء إذا ما

قيدتني سلاسل الخذلان

Who will protect me from misery when

the chains of abandonment bind me?

من مجيري على الصراط إذا ما

أرعشتني عواقب العصيان

Who will protect me on the Sirat when

the consequences of disobedience make me tremble?

من مجيري إذا دفعت بزجر

من زبان ملبياً لزبان

Who will protect me when I am thrust onward with a rebuke

by one hell-warden answering another?

عقبات وربما كنت أدري

ما ألاقي بها وما يلقاني

Obstacles—and perhaps I knew

what I would encounter there, and what would meet me.

إن عدتني بها حسان فعال

وتخوفت ضيعتي وهواني

If worthy deeds pass me by there,

and I fear my ruin and humiliation,

وأذيق العصاة جر عذاب

واستحقوا المصير للنيران

and sinners are made to taste the drag of torment,

and deserve their passage to the fires,

فنجاتي بسيد الرسل طه

وبكائي أسبطه الظمان

then my salvation is through the master of messengers, Ta-Ha,

and my weeping for his thirsty grandson.

أظمأته عصابة الشرك ظلما

وسقته الردى يد العدوان

The band of polytheism unjustly made him thirst,

and aggression's hand gave him death to drink.

منعوه من الورود لماء

وبكفيه يلتقي البحران

They barred him from approaching water,

though in his two palms the two seas meet.

وأثاروا عليه حرباً عواناً

واستثاروا كوامن الأضغان

They stirred against him a renewed war

and roused the grudges lying hidden.

فاستدارت عليه سبعون ألفاً

وتنادت عليه بالخذلان

Then seventy thousand formed a ring around him

and cried out together against him in betrayal.

ألبوها عليه من كل فج

من شام تجري إلى كوفان

They rallied that host against him from every pass,

from Sham, rushing toward Kufan.

واستخفوا لحربه بثلاث

بين سهم وصار وسنان

And they rushed to fight him with three weapons:

an arrow, a sword, and a spearhead.

جر قلبي له وروحي فداه

من وحيد يجول في الميدان

My heart is drawn to him; may my soul ransom him—

a lone man roaming the battlefield,

بفؤاد مؤجج يتلظى

بين حر الظما وحر الطعان

with a heart ablaze, burning,

between thirst's heat and the heat of spear-thrusts,

مستغيثاً بجده وأبيه

مفرداً بينهم بلا أعوان

seeking help from his grandfather and his father,

alone among them, without helpers.

وينادي مذكراً وهو نور

اللَه أجلى مذكراً من بيان

And he calls out, reminding them—he is the light

of God, a clearer reminder than eloquence—

قائلاً فيهم أنا ابن علي الـ

ـمرتضى وابن خيرة النسوان

saying among them, ‘I am the son of Ali,

al-Murtada, and the son of the finest of women,

وابن طه محمد خير خلق الـ

ـلَه طراً وآية الرحمن

and son of Ta-Ha, Muhammad, the best of the creatures of

God, without exception, and the sign of the All-Merciful.

فلماذا دمي يحل ولحمي

من نبي الهدى نما بلبان

Why, then, is my blood lawful to shed, while my flesh

grew on milk from the Prophet of guidance?’

فأتاه من العدى سهم حتفٍ

ليته شق مهجتي وجناني

Then from the enemies there came to him an arrow of death—

would that it had pierced my life's blood and my heart!

وانتحى قلبه فرن صداه

في حشى الدين صرة الآذان

It aimed for his heart, and its echo rang

through the vitals of faith, a shriek piercing the ears.

فهوى للصعيد خير إمامٍ

ساطع النور طيب الأردان

Then the finest imam fell to the ground,

radiant with light, fragrant of sleeves,

ضارعاً للإله فيما ابتلاه

في سبيل التسليم والإذعان

imploring God amid the trial He laid upon him,

in the path of surrender and submission.

ونحاه القضا بضربة سيفٍ

من خولي وطعنةٍ من سنان

And fate struck him down with a sword-blow

from Khawli, and a thrust from Sinan.

ورقى الشمر صدره بحسام

هد ركن الهدى وصرح الأماني

And Shimr climbed upon his chest with a sword

that shattered guidance's pillar and the edifice of hopes.

ومضى يقطع الوريد بعضب

سله البغي في يدي شيطان

He went on cutting the jugular with a keen blade

that tyranny had drawn in a devil's hands.

فاكتسى الكون بالظلام حداداً

لمصاب بكت له الثقلان

Then the universe clothed itself in darkness, in mourning

for a calamity over which humankind and jinn wept.

ونعاه الوجود والعرش أن قد

فل عضب الهدى مع الإيمان

And existence and the Throne proclaimed his death, saying that

the keen blade of guidance had been blunted, together with faith.

قتلوه وما رعوا فيه حق الـ

ـمصطفى لا ولا على الشان

They killed him, and honored not in him the right of

al-Mustafa—no, nor his station.

تركوه مرملاً بدماء

فوق حر الثرى بلا أكفان

They left him smeared with blood

on the scorching earth, without shrouds.

فابك شجواً له بحر الفؤاد

وزفير بأنة الثكلان

So weep for him in sorrow, with the heart's heat

and sighs bearing the bereaved one's moan.

واجر حزناً عليه دمعك لكن

من نجيع بمدمع هتان

And let your tears flow in grief for him, but

of fresh blood, from a streaming eye.