لك الويل من دهر رمى الصيد بالغدر

وخاتلها بالمكر من حيث لا تدري

Woe to you, age that struck the proud nobles with treachery,

and deceived them with cunning from an unsuspected quarter.

لقد باء خسراً أي عذر لغادر

ولا بد للخسران من بارد العذر

It has indeed incurred loss—what excuse has a traitor?

And loss must have its hollow excuse.

أضاع بأيدي المارقين دماءها

وكم حفظت أبناء من سورة الضر

It squandered their blood at the hands of the renegades,

though how many sons they had protected from harm’s onslaught!

إلى اللَه أشكو لوعة ترقص الخشا

وترفض قسراً من جواها عرى الصبر

To God I lament an anguish that makes the innards quiver,

and forcibly unravels, through its burning grief, the bonds of patience.

بها علقت كف الضلال فأصبحت

ترامي بسامي عزها نوب الدهر

The hand of misguidance clung to them, and they came to be

assailed in their lofty glory by the calamities of time.

تضوع من عليائها الدهر وارتوى

بوابل كفيها ذوو العسر باليسر

Time drew fragrance from their eminence, and quenched were

those in hardship by their hands’ downpour of ease.

فكيف اجترى لا قدس اللَه سره

عليها بأنواع الخيانة والغدر

How, then, did it dare—may God not sanctify its secret—

to assail them with every kind of betrayal and treachery?

مصائبها وجداً تذيب قوى الصفا

وتهوى الرواسي الشم حزناً على العفر

Their calamities melt, with anguish, even the strength of rock,

and the lofty, firmly rooted mountains fall in sorrow upon the dust.

مصاب أمير المؤمنين وسيد ال

برايا وناموس الملائكة الغر

The loss of the Commander of the Faithful and lord of

creation, and confidant of the radiant angels;

مجمع شمل الدين بالرشد والتقى

مفرق شمل الكفر بالبيض والسمر

gatherer of the faith’s ranks through right guidance and piety,

scatterer of unbelief’s ranks with bright swords and dusky spears.

هو العروة الوثقى وباب مدينة ال

علوم وساقي الحوض في الحشر والنشر

He is the firmest handhold and the gate to the city of

knowledge, and giver of drink at the Pool at the Gathering and Resurrection.

أمام عليه طالما قد تنزلت

ملائكة الرحمن بالنهى والأمر

An imam upon whom, so often, descended

the Most Merciful’s angels with prohibitions and commands.

تروح وتغدوا ليلة القدر بالثنا

سلاماً تحييه إلى مطلع الفجر

They come and go on the Night of Decree with praise,

greeting him with peace until the rising of dawn.

على غفلةٍ لا في زحام كريهةٍ

له سددت كف الردى أسهم الغدر

Unawares—not amid the tumult of a fierce battle—

the hand of death aimed treachery’s arrows at him.

لك الويل يا أشقى ثمود ابن ملجم

فتكت بطلاع الثنايا إلى النصر

Woe to you, most wretched of Thamud, Ibn Muljam!

You slew the bold scaler of mountain passes toward victory.

دسست له تحت الظلام غوائلاً

بها أصبح الإسلام محدودب الظهر

You laid deadly snares for him beneath the darkness,

by which Islam was left hunchbacked.

فألفيته كالبدر يزهو جبينه

بدائرة المحراب يصدع بالذكر

And you found him like the full moon, his brow radiant,

within the prayer niche’s enclosure, proclaiming remembrance aloud.

يصلي وأملاك السماء تحاشدت

تصلي عليه والهدى كامل البشر

He was praying, while heaven’s angels assembled,

invoking blessings upon him, while guidance beamed with perfect joy.

فلقت بحد السيف هامة فيصلٍ

وخضبت وجهاً دونه هالة البدر

You split, with the sword’s edge, the head of an arbiter,

and stained a face that outshone the full moon’s halo.

قتلت به دين الإله ووحيه

وهدمت أركان الإنابه والسر

By killing him, you killed God’s religion and His revelation,

and demolished the pillars of repentance and mystery.

لقد عجت الأملاك في ملكوتها

صراخاً عليه فهي ثكلى إلى الحشر

The angels clamored in their heavenly realm,

wailing for him, bereaved until the Gathering.

ونادى بصوتٍ يملؤ الدهر دهشة

أمين الهدى جبريل في الملأ الغر

And, in a voice that filled time with wonder, cried out

Gabriel, guardian of guidance, amid the radiant host:

قواعد دين اللَه قسراً تهدمت

وأعلام حزب اللَه دانت إلى الكسر

“The foundations of God’s religion have been forcibly demolished,

and the banners of God’s host have fallen broken;

وعروته الوثقى أباحوا انفصامها

وحال صباح الدين في غسق الكفر

they permitted His firmest handhold to be broken,

and faith’s morning turned into unbelief’s dusk,

بقتل إمام خصه اللَه للورى

لاهدائها للرشد والحمد والشكر

through the killing of an imam whom God singled out for humankind,

to guide them to righteousness, praise, and thanksgiving.”

تسلب هذا الدهر أراد بشره

وخاض الورى في مجهل أبد الدهر

This age shed [the robes of] its gladness,

and humankind plunged into a trackless wilderness for all time.

وهبت رياح زلزل الكون وقعها

فطبقت الآفاق بالحالك النكر

And winds blew whose force shook the universe,

covering the horizons with terrible blackness.

فويل لقوم أسلموه إلى الردى

كأن لم يكن في ورده كلأب البر

Woe, then, to a people who surrendered him to death,

as though, among those who sought his water, he had not been like a kindly father.

قتلتم به فرض الصلاة وندبها

وغاردتموا فرض الصيام بلا شهر

By killing him, you killed obligatory prayer and its voluntary observances,

and left the obligation of fasting without a month.

تقمصتموها حيث بؤتم بعارها

ملابس ذل ليس يبلى إلى النشر

You donned them, taking on their disgrace—

garments of humiliation that will not wear out until the Resurrection.

فللَه ما لاقت حشاً خفراته

لدى نعيه الأملاك في فادح الأمر

By God, what the hearts of his modest women endured

when the angels announced his death amid that grievous calamity!

له انشق ي ظفر الرزايا فؤادها

أسىً قبل أن ينشق ملتمع الفجر

For him, their heart split [beneath] the claw of calamities,

in grief, before the gleam of dawn broke.

ولما وعى شبلاه من جانب الحمى

نعي أبي الأشبال متنزل السفر

And when his two lion cubs heard, from the sanctuary’s side,

the death-tidings of the cubs’ father, haven of travelers,

ألما وقد أودى السى بحشاهما

وقالا وقيت النائبات أبا الغر

they came, their two hearts already ravaged by grief,

and both said: “May calamities spare you, father of the radiant ones!

فدتك الورى يا خير من وطئ الثرى

من اغتال ليث الغاب في ليلة القدر

May humankind ransom you, best of those who trod the earth!

Who assassinated the forest’s lion on the Night of Decree?”

جرى دمعها هدراً بمجرى دمائه

فها هي بعد اليوم مطوية البشر

Their tears flowed in vain along the course of his blood;

and behold, henceforth their gladness is folded away.

فصوب طرفاً نحو شبليه قائلاً

علام البكا فالصبر أجمل بالحر

Then he turned his gaze toward his two cubs, saying:

“Why weep? Patience better befits the freeborn.

فيا فلذة الأحشاء يا حسن التقى

بسم العدى نقضي خلياً من الأمر

O piece of my heart, O pious Hasan,

we shall die by the enemies’ poison, bereft of authority.

وقرة عيني يا حسين لأنت في

خيار الورى صعرى على جانب النهر

And delight of my eye, Husayn, surely you, among

the finest of humankind, shall lie slain upon the riverbank,

عطاشى ولم تبرد بشيءٍ سوى الظبا

قلبوهم والماء من حولهم يجري

thirsty, with nothing but sword blades to cool

their hearts, while water flows all around them.

وفوق العوالي السمر تجلى رؤوسهم

وتهدي لداعي الكفر في السر والجهر

And atop the tall dusky spears their heads shall be displayed,

and offered to the caller to unbelief, in secret and openly.

وخيل العدا قسراً تروح وتغتدي

بأجسامهم خبطاً برمضاء كالجمر

And the enemies’ horses shall pass violently, evening and morning,

trampling their bodies on ground scorching like embers.

وتنهب من تلك الخيام رحالها

وتحرق في مشبوبة الشر والكفر

And those tents shall be plundered of their belongings,

and burned in the kindled blaze of evil and unbelief.

وتسبي على النيب المهازيل حسراً

ربيبات وحي صانها اللَه بالخدر

And, unveiled, upon gaunt aged she-camels, shall be taken captive

the foster-daughters of revelation, whom God had guarded in seclusion.”