رأيت الدهر كيف غدايرينا

على العدوى له الداء الدفينا

I saw how Time came to show us

in its enmity, the sickness hidden within it.

اسرَّ ضغونه حتى اذا ما

تنمر واثباً بثَّ الضغونا

It concealed its grudges until, at last,

it turned tiger-like and sprang, unleashing its rancor.

تعيفت السراة الطير فيه

بوارح تفزع الاجد الامونا

The nobles read omens in its birds—

ill-omened flights that frighten the sturdy, trusty she-camel.

نعى ناعيك مكة والمصلى

وزمزم والمواقف والحجونا

Your death's herald mourned Mecca and the prayer-ground,

and Zamzam, the standing-places, and al-Hajun.

نعى الناعي لك الجيد المحلى

تعطل منك والعقد الثمينا

The herald mourned for you the adorned neck,

left bare without you—and the precious necklace.

نعى الناعي قوامك خيزرانا

حقرت اذا تثنى الياسمينا

The herald mourned your bamboo-slender form;

you put jasmine to shame whenever you swayed.

نعى الناعي خدوداً ام قدودا

تقصفها يد النكبا غصونا

Did the herald mourn cheeks, or slender forms

that misfortune's hand snaps like branches?

وما اقسى ضمائرنا عليه

وقد رَّقت وكان ارقُّ لينا

How hard our hearts have been upon him,

though they softened, and he was softer still.

أئنُّ اذا ذكرت له انيناً

ومن لي ان يعيد لي الانينا

I groan when I recall a groan of his;

and who can bring that groaning back to me?

نوى ظعناً واقسم لو توانى

حلقت به واوقفت الظعونا

He resolved to depart; I swear, had he lingered,

I would have encircled him and halted the departing caravans.

احنُّ وترزم الانضاء فيه

روازحها فتوسعها حنينا

I yearn, and the weary mounts rumble for him—

their exhausted ones, flooding the others with plaintive cries.

حدا الحادي بها للبين سوقا

عنيفاً كاد ينزعها الوضينا

The camel-driver urged them toward separation,

so fiercely that he almost stripped them of their girths.

فطارت تنبري عنقاً فيا من

يشدُّ بانفها الحلق البرينا

They flew, surging onward at a swift gait—oh, who

will tighten the rings—the nose-rings—in their noses?

ولم تعلق بها الابصار حتى

تخال يقين اعضدها ظنونا

No sooner did eyes fasten upon them

than you took their solid forelegs for mere conjecture.

اذا خوَّت بجنب القاع كوماً

تعيد سهول معظمها حزونا

When they knelt spread-limbed, high-humped, beside the plain,

they turned much of its smooth ground into rugged hills.

فكاد السير يمشقها حروفا

مرتلة ونقرأها لحونا

The journey nearly drew them out into letters,

chanted in measure, which we read as melodies.

ركائب غير أن سبحت يداها

ببحر الآل تحسبها سفينا

They are mounts, yet their forelegs swim

through a sea of mirage; you would think them ships.

من البلد المخوف تقلُّ ركباً

عليها تقصد البلد الامينا

From the perilous city they carry a company

upon their backs, heading toward the secure city.

ومشتملين بيض الريط لاثوا

رداء النسك ليس بمحرمينا

And men wrapped in white cloths have wound about them

the robe of devotion, though not consecrated pilgrims.

يزّجون المطي بلا لغوب

لبيت فيه غير مقصرينا

They urge the mounts onward without weariness

toward a house, falling short in nothing there.

سروا في حيث لم تخدِ المهارى

بهم نحو المضاجع مزمعينا

They traveled by night where swift camels never strode

with them, resolved to reach the resting-places.

يسير على الرقاب لهم دليل

اذا ضلُّوا يضيء فيهتدونا

A guide for them travels upon their necks;

when they lose their way, he shines and they are guided.

ومحتمل على الاعناق قدساً

تحفُّ به الملائك حاملينا

And a holy one is borne upon their necks,

surrounded by angels bearing him.

سرت بسريره للقبر آيا

تشيع منه فرقانا مبينا

Verses traveled with his bier toward the grave,

escorting a manifest Criterion issuing from him.

لقد دفنوا به سور المثاني

من التنزيل والسر المصونا

They buried with him the chapters of the Oft-Repeated,

of revelation, and the safeguarded secret.

وواروا بالثرى اسلاً مقاما

واسيافا يقمن وينحنينا

And beneath the earth they concealed upright spears

and swords that stand erect and bend.

فيا لدنا نزعت له لسانا

ويا عضباً فجعت به القيونا

O supple lance, whose tongue was torn away,

O keen sword, through whose loss the smiths were bereaved!

رمينا عن ضلال غير أنا

بمهدي لنا غرضا رمينا

We were struck through error; yet

our own Mahdi was the target through whom we were struck.

فيا ركنا به عليَّت ركناً

ويا حصناً هدمت به الحصونا

O pillar, through whom I raised a pillar,

O fortress, through whom I demolished fortresses!

فقدتك واحداً لي في قبيل

كأني قد فقدت العالمينا

I lost you, one man of mine within a clan,

as though I had lost all the worlds.

ذكرتك والنعي اصمَّ سمعي

فلم اسمع لثاكلة رنينا

I remembered you while the death-news deafened my hearing,

so I heard no bereaved woman's wail.

ذكرتك والبلاد نوىً شطونٌ

عشية قد نويت نوى شطونا

I remembered you, with distant lands between us,

that evening when you intended a far-off departure.

تطلَّع بين حيزومي وقلبي

اواراً لا اطيق له كمونا

It rose between my breastbone and my heart,

a blaze I cannot bear to keep concealed.

اعرني نظرة عجلاً والا

فانَّ العين طامحة جفونا

Lend me a glance at once—or else,

for my eye strains upward, its eyelids raised.

اعد وجهاً لعيني منك طلقا

اقبِّل بين عينيه الجبينا

Let my eyes see your smiling face again,

so I may kiss the brow between its eyes.

أبن لا بنت معذرة وأنَّى

وعهدي انَّ عهدك لن يبينا

Explain your excuse—may you never depart!—but how,

when I believed your bond would never be severed?

غصبتك من يدي علقا نفيسا

على رغمي وكنت بك الضنينا

I was robbed of you, a precious treasure taken from my hand,

against my will, when I guarded you so jealously.

وما ظني اجود بك اغتصابا

ولكن خيّب الاجل الظنونا

I never thought I would give you up under compulsion,

but the appointed end disappointed my expectations.

فتى وشجت عروق الرسل فيه

وآدم لم يكن ماء وطينا

A youth in whom the messengers' bloodlines intertwined,

while Adam was not yet water and clay.

اخو النسب القصير وطال مجداً

فضمَّ ذؤابة الحسبين فينا

Of short lineage, yet long in glory,

he united among us the crest of both noble lines.

نضا حسباً تصرَّح جانباه

كماء المزن منسكبا معينا

He bared a nobility, clear on either side,

like raincloud-water pouring forth in a clear stream.

اذا طفحت حصاة الحلم منه

بها قرع الهجائن والهجينا

When the pebble of his forbearance overflowed,

with it he struck the purebred and the crossbred alike.

يئدُّ مظاهر الادراع منه

مضمَّرة الحشا قبّاً بطونا

Clad in layered armor, he weighs down

his lean-flanked steeds with tucked-up bellies.

جرى مجرى الرياح بشوط فضل

يبزُّ به المسومة الصفونا

He ran like the winds in a race of excellence,

thereby outstripping the marked, poised steeds.

تبتّ به لعمر الجود قوم

على سرف النوال معوَّدونا

By generosity's life, a people swear by him,

accustomed to lavishness in giving.

وتعزيه لبحر العلم صيدٌ

بمستنّ العلوم مدربونا

And proud nobles trace him to the sea of knowledge,

well-trained in the racecourse of the sciences.

اذا عُدُّ وافهم نفر فرادى

وان يعدوا حسبتهم مئينا

When counted—understand—they are a few individuals,

yet if they race, you would reckon them in hundreds.

وان نحروا بيوم قرىً اطاروا

عراقيب المطافل عاقرينا

And if they slaughter on a day of hospitality, they send flying

the hamstrings of camels with young, striking them down.

فكم فكُّوا من الأسرى ببدرٍ

قيوداً بعد ما غلقت رهونا

How many captives at Badr they freed

from chains, after they had become forfeited pledges.

اعز الناس كلهم قبيلاً

لها تعنو القبائل اجمعونا

The most honored of all people in their clan,

to which all tribes bow, every one.

اذا عقد النطاق لهم صغيرٌ

تظل له الأكابر صاغرينا

When a young one of theirs fastens his girdle,

the great men remain humbled before him.

ومهما أنسى لم انس ابن عمٍّ

يذكرني العمومة إن نسينا

Whatever I forget, I shall not forget a cousin

who reminds me of our paternal kinship if we forget.

اذا اضطربت ضمائرنا رجعنا

الى القربى نكلفها السكونا

Whenever our hearts grew troubled, we returned

to kinship, charging it to bring us calm.

شددنا ازرنا فينا لوانا

الى الصفح الجميل معاً دعينا

We would strengthen one another, if we

were summoned together to gracious forgiveness.

ترَّحل محرزاً دنياه حياً

واحرز ميتاً اخراه دينا

He departed, having secured his worldly life while alive,

and, dead, secured his hereafter through faith.

فليس غضاضة ان غضَّ طرفا

وفاز بقاصرات الطرف عينا

It is no disgrace that he lowered his gaze

and won wide-eyed maidens of restrained gaze.

فلا تجزع ابا المهديّ وانظر

الى امم مضوا امماً قرونا

Do not grieve, Abu al-Mahdi, but look

at peoples who passed away, nation after nation, generation after generation.

حجاك فقد رسا طوداً وانَّى

تهز الريح طود حجى رزينا

Your reason has stood firm as a mountain; how could

the wind shake a steadfast mountain of reason?

وهل صرف الردى الا غريمٌ

يطالبنا بانفسنا ديونا

Is death's vicissitude anything but a creditor,

demanding our very selves as debts?

سقى الزوراء زائرها سحاب

من الغفران منبعث هتونا

May a cloud water the visitor to al-Zawra,

arising from forgiveness and pouring down in torrents.