يا دهر حتى أنت ملت عمادا

وسلبت حتى من هداك رشادا

O Time, even you have bent a pillar,

And robbed even the one who guided you of right guidance.

زعزعت شاهقها الذي رجت له

الأرضون فانهالت ربي ووهادا

You shook its towering peak, at which

The earths quaked, and hills and valleys crumbled.

وحشدت ما بين الفضا زمر القضا

جنداً أخفت لنصره الأجنادا

And gathered across open space the cohorts of Fate,

An army, for whose aid you cowed the other armies.

فلأنت أقصر ساعداً لو لم يكن

لبى لداعي ربه إذا نادى

For surely your arm would have been too short, had he not

Heeded his Lord's summoner when he called.

وفتكت في نواب آل محمد

فارتاد صرفك جمعهم وأبادا

And wreaked slaughter among the deputies of Muhammad's family;

Your vicissitudes sought out their company and annihilated it,

حتى ارتقيت محجة الإسلام والدا

عي الأنام إلى الهدى إرشادا

Until you reached Islam's clear path, and him who summons

Humankind to guidance, showing them the way;

كافي المروعة كافلاً أيتامها

كاليب الشريعة أن تمل عمادا

Provider for the frightened woman, guardian of her orphans,

Guardian of the sacred Law, lest you bend a pillar;

مصباح شرعتها صباح رشادها

وأمينها والجهبذ النقادا

The lamp of its code, the dawn of its right guidance,

And its trusted keeper, the master scholar and discerning critic;

من ينجح الآمال من تزكو به

الأعمال من عهدت يداه عهادا

He who fulfills hopes, through whom flourish

Deeds; he whose hands kept faith with their pledges.

جلل أطل على العراق فأرجف

الأقطار منه بوادياً وبلادا

A dire calamity loomed over Iraq and shook

The regions at its coming, desert and settled land.

بل عطل الأفلاك وانزعجت له

الأملاك بل عرش المهيمن مادا

Indeed, it halted the celestial spheres, and at it trembled

The angels; even the All-Watching One's throne swayed.

يا ظاعناً عنا وأمسى قبره

منا حشى ملسوعة وفؤادا

O departed one, whose grave has now become

Our stung entrails and heart!

أفلا بقيت لنا مناراً بهجة

عزاً جمالاً هيبة إسعادا

Could you not have remained for us a beacon, a delight,

Honor, beauty, majesty, and a source of joy?

ورزية أزجى طلائعها الردى

إذ أنت بين المسلمين تهادى

And a calamity whose advance guard Death sent forth

While you still moved gently among the Muslims.

فارتعت من خول النوى لكنني

أخلدت فيك إلى البقا إخلادا

I took fright at the minions of separation, yet I

Placed unwavering trust in your survival.

من ذا يرد الخطب من نسقي به

في الجدب من نرجو به الإمدادا

Who will ward off calamity? Through whom shall we find water

In drought? Through whom shall we hope for aid?

من ذا يجيب ندا اللهيف ويؤمن

الداعي المخيف ويعضد الأعضادا

Who will answer the anguished one's cry and give safety to

The fearful petitioner, and strengthen our arms?

من ذا نكيد به الزمان وصرفه

إن كاد أو من يسعف الأنكادا

Through whom shall we outwit Time and its vicissitudes

If it plots against us? Or who will relieve afflictions?

من ذا يعيد علي أياماً مضت

عدت بسعدك كلها أعيادا

Who shall restore to me days gone by,

All counted as festivals through your good fortune?

حسدتني الأيام فيك فما عسى

عذري إذا أشمت بي الحسادا

The days envied me for you; what, then, can

My excuse be, when my enviers are made to gloat over me?

بلغتني ما رمت منك سوى البقا

ما ضر لو بلغتنيه مرادا

You granted me all I sought from you except lasting life;

What harm if you had granted me that wish as well?

أفرشتني بعد المهاد قتادا

ومنحتني بدل الرقاد سهادا

You bedded me on thorny shrubs after a soft bed,

And gave me sleeplessness instead of sleep.

ولقد رأيتك والأكف تزاحمت

في رفع نعش أنت فيه منادى

And indeed I saw you, while hands jostled

To raise a bier in which you lay, being called upon;

وأراملاً وفضائلاً وفواضلا

تنعى ثواكل خلفه منادى

And widows, virtues, and benefactions

Lamented behind it like bereaved mothers, calling to you.

فدهشت مسلوب الحجا ذاوي الرجا

يوري الجوى بين الضلوع زنادا

So I stood bewildered, robbed of reason, withered in hope,

Anguish striking flints between my ribs.

حجبوك عن عيني إلى أن صيروا

يوم الرحيل حجابك الإلحادا

They hid you from my eyes, until they made,

On departure's day, burial itself your veil.

ينعاك منبرك الذي استبدلت عن

أعواده من نعشك الأعوادا

Your pulpit mourns you, for you traded away

Its timbers for the timbers of your bier.

ومعاشر من بحر علمك أو ردوا

شرعاً غدوا يترشفون ثمادا

And companies once brought to drink from the sea of your knowledge,

Crowding to its waters, now sip only scant water.

وجواهر الكلم التي حليتها

سرعان ما لبست عليك حدادا

And the jewels of speech that you adorned—

How swiftly they donned mourning for you!

ينهي مآثرك الكريمة من يرى

بعداده أن ينهي الأعدادا

He alone can exhaust your noble deeds who believes

That his counting can bring all numbers to an end.

لي فيك دمع لا يجف كأنما

أمست له السبع البحار مدادا

For you I have tears that never dry, as though

The seven seas had become their replenishing supply.

عذيتني ثمر العلوم فرائداً

نثرت عليك من العيون فرادى

You nourished me on the fruits of learning, rare pearls,

Which I scattered over you, one by one, from my eyes.

ولرب قائلةٍ ألا تسلو بلى

أسلو ولكن سلوة ورقادا

Many a woman says, 'Will you not find solace?' 'Yes—

I find solace, but only forgetfulness and sleep.'

بمن العزا وأنا المعزى في أب

ما زال يوسعني هدى أرقادا

In whom is there solace, when I am bereaved of a father

Who always lavished guidance and repose upon me?

قالت بإبراهيم قلت أجل هو

الكفو الكريم علا تقى وسدادا

She said, 'In Ibrahim.' I said, 'Yes, he is

The noble, worthy equal, exalted in piety and rectitude.'

ذو همةٍ نهضت بأعباء العلى

وسواه يضغف كفه الأنجادا

A man of resolve that shoulders the burdens of greatness,

And another's hand weakens the champions [wording unclear].

هو فرقد علماً وطود قد رسى

حلماً وجوداً طوق الأجيادا

He is a Farqad star in learning, a firmly rooted mountain

In forbearance; with generosity he garlands necks.

جمعاً لعمر علاهما الفضل الذي

لا ينتهي حداً ولا أفردا

Together—by their lofty worth!—they possess an excellence

That knows no limit, even when they are taken separately.

وبمن توسمنا بهم سمة الهدى

أحفاده أكرم بهم أحفادا

And in those in whom we have discerned the mark of guidance—

His grandsons: how noble they are as grandsons!

ولنا سلو بالتقي العيلم

المروي الورى الوراد والروادا

And we have solace in the pious one, the vast ocean,

Who gives drink to humankind, to arriving drinkers and water-scouts,

العالم العلم الذي شهدت له

آثاره وكفى بها أشهادا

The scholar, the beacon, to whom testify

His works, and they suffice as witnesses.

وسقى ضريحك وابل الرضوان لا

يعدوه إبراقاً ولا أرعادا

And may a downpour of divine favor water your tomb, and never

Pass it by with mere lightning or thunder.