حي المنازل بالدموع الذرف

إن لا يحييها السحاب بأوطف

Greet the dwellings with streaming tears,

if the clouds do not greet them with thick-fringed rain.

وقفاً عليها صاحبي وإن عفت

بعد الأحبة وقفة المتأسف

Pause beside them, my two companions, though they have faded,

after the loved ones left—a grieving man's pause.

واستنشدا الأطلال عن سكانها

فعمى تجيب سؤال صب مدنف

And ask the ruins about their dwellers;

so perhaps they will answer a lovesick, wasting man's question:

أين استقلوا ظاعنين وخلفوا

بين الجوانح شعلة لا تنطفي

Where did they go, departing and leaving

between the ribs a flame that never goes out?

عجباً برته النائبات وقبل ذا

من جاء يستشفي السقام بها شفي

How strange: calamities have worn it away, though before this

whoever came there seeking a cure for sickness was healed.

ربع الوفا لو سال طرفي عندما

عمر الزمان على رسومك لم يف

O abode of fidelity, were my eye to stream blood

for all time over your traces, it would not fulfill your due.

حقاً تذوب على عراصك مهجتي

وتسيل فيه عن الدموع الذرف

Rightly does my lifeblood melt upon your courtyards,

and flow there in place of streaming tears.

يا ربع أين تحملوا عنك الألى

كل بدوح علائه موفٍ وفي

O abode, where have those who left you gone—

each towering among the spreading trees of his glory, and faithful?

عاثت بهم غير الزمان كانما

نقدتهم الأيام نقد الصيرفي

Time's reversals ravaged them, as though

the days had assayed them as a money-changer assays coins.

بدأت بجعفر قبل ذاك فهدمت

من دين أحمد كل طود مشرف

They began with Ja'far before that, and demolished

every towering mountain of Ahmad's faith.

وأتت على موسى وكان بعزمه

مهما انبرى خطب لقاه بمرهف

And they swept away Musa, who, with his resolve,

faced every crisis that arose with a keen-edged sword.

وقضت على زاكي النجار عليها

رب التقى والمجد ركن المعتفى

And they claimed its Ali, noble of lineage—

master of piety and glory, the supplicant's pillar.

لهفي لغصن بعد بهجته ذوي

بالرغم منا بالتراب مكنف

Alas for a branch that withered after its splendor,

against our will, enclosed in earth.

يا تربة شقت فوارت أحمدا

من لا يشق لك الحشى لم ينصف

O earth that was cleft and then concealed Ahmad,

whoever does not rend his heart for you has not done you justice.

لو شق بالزفرات قلبي عندها

أو خد بالعبرات خدي لم أف

Were my heart rent by sighs beside it,

or my cheek furrowed by tears, I would still fall short.

عجباً عراه الخسف قبل إتمامه

والبدر قبل تمامه لم يخسف

How strange that eclipse overtook him before his fullness,

yet the full moon is not eclipsed before its fullness.

عجباً لورد المجد يقطف يانعاً

والورد قبل أوانه لم يقطف

How strange that glory's rose is plucked in full bloom,

yet the rose is not plucked before its season.

أسفي عليك وقد طوتك يد الردى

لو كان يجدي الوجد فرط تأسفي

My grief for you, now that death's hand has folded you away—

if only the depth of my grief could ease anguish!

صبراً خدين المكرمات رضاً بها

فالصبر أنت من الأنام به حفي

Be patient, companion of noble deeds, accepting these trials;

for you, among mankind, are devoted to patience.

والصبر لا يسطيعه أحد سوى

رجل بكم يا ابن الأكارم يقتفي

And no one can muster patience except

a man who follows your example, O son of the noblest.

فلك العزاء بخير من يمشي على

وجه الثرى من ناعل أو محتفي

So yours is consolation in the best of those who walk upon

the face of the earth, shod or barefoot:

حسن الفعال أمام كل فضيلةٍ

مولىً بنيل ذرى المعالي مشغف

Hasan, fair in deeds, foremost in every virtue,

a lord enamored of attaining the summits of glory.

فبقى بقاء الدهر كهفاً مانعاً

وبحسن سيرته الخلائق تقتفي

May he endure as long as time, a sheltering cave,

and may all people follow his fine conduct.

وسقى ضريحاً ضم أحمد وابل الر

ضوان من باري الأنام بموكف

And may the tomb that holds Ahmad be watered by a downpour of divine

favor from the Creator of mankind, in pouring rain.