1. كذا تنقضي الأيّامُ حالاً على حالِ

    وتنقرضُ الساداتُ بادٍ على تالي

    Thus the days pass, state following state,

    and the lords die out, the first followed by the next.

  2. ويلحَقُ أبناءُ النبيِّ أباهُمُ

    على مَهَلٍ من سيرِ عمرٍ وإعجالِ

    And the Prophet's sons follow their father,

    whether life's course is slow or swift.

  3. ضُحَى كلِّ يوم سالبُ من سَراتهم

    بصيرَةَ عُمْيٍ أو هدايةَ ضُلَّالِ

    Each day's morning steals from their chiefs

    the sight of the blind or the guidance of the straying.

  4. إذا اخضرَّ فرعٌ منهم اغبرّ أصله

    فصوّحَ حتى يتبعَ العاطلَ الحالي

    When a branch among them turns green, its root grows dusty

    and withers, until the adorned follows the bare.

  5. ويا وشْكَ ما تمسى الديارُ خليّةً

    إذا ذهب الباقي ولم يعد الخالي

    And how soon the dwellings become empty

    when the remaining one departs and the departed never returns.

  6. مدارجُ تحت الأرض سوّتْ جسومَهم

    وإن عَرَّجتْ أرواحهم أفْقَها العالي

    Paths beneath the earth have made their bodies equal,

    though their spirits have ascended to their lofty horizon,

  7. سوى ما يُبَقِّي الدهرُ من بركاتهم

    ضرائحَ أنوارٍ بها يسأل السالي

    save what time preserves of their blessings:

    tombs of light, where the consoled seek blessings.

  8. ولا كضريح أمس هِلْنا ترابَه

    على جسدٍ باقي العلا في النَّقا بالي

    And none is like the tomb whose earth we heaped yesterday

    over a body whose glory endures, though it decays in the sand.

  9. على الطاهر ابن الطاهرين وإنّه

    لهالةُ بدرٍ منه بل غابُ رئبالِ

    Over the pure one, son of the pure; and he is

    truly a halo shed by a full moon—rather, a lion's thicket.

  10. بأيّةِ نفسٍ ليلةَ السبت روَّحَتْ

    يدُ الموت لم تنقد لها قودَ أخلالِ

    What a soul, on Saturday night, was borne away

    by death's hand—a soul that never yielded to it as weaklings do!

  11. تباشرتِ الأملاك ليلاً بقربه

    وأصبح منها في قبيلٍ وفي آلِ

    The angels rejoiced that night at his nearness,

    and by morning he was of their tribe and their family.

  12. سُقِينا به ميْتا كما كان جاهُهُ

    لدى الله حيّاً عام جدبٍ وإمحالِ

    We were watered through him in death, just as his standing

    with God had watered us in life, in a year of drought and barrenness.

  13. فلله نفس كان وقت ارتفاعها

    إلى الله والغيثُ المنزّلُ في حالِ

    God, what a soul! The hour of its ascent

    to God and the descent of rain were one and the same moment.

  14. لئن بايعتنا المزنُ رُوحاً برُوحه

    لقد غَبَنَتْناهُ من الثمن الغالي

    If the rainclouds bartered us a breath of life for his soul,

    they surely cheated us of him, that precious price.

  15. قُنوطاً بني الحاجات إن نجاحها

    بلا كافلٍ بعدَ الحسين ولا والي

    Despair, children of need! The fulfillment of your needs

    has no guarantor after al-Husayn, no guardian.

  16. أجِمّوا المطايا إنه عامُ قِعدةٍ

    وفي غِيَرِ الأحوالِ تغييرُ أحوالِ

    Rest your mounts: this is a year for staying put,

    and in fortune's turns lies a change of condition.

  17. قفوا فانفضوا أذوادَكم حولَ قبرهِ

    فلا حظَّ في حَطٍّ عَداه وترَحالِ

    Halt, then scatter your little camel-herds around his grave;

    there is no gain in alighting elsewhere or journeying on.

  18. مضى من يخاف العتبَ وهو بنجوةٍ

    ويرعَى مصوناً سُبّة القيلِ والقالِ

    Gone is one who feared reproach, though beyond its reach,

    and, though safeguarded, heeded the disgrace of talk and gossip;

  19. ومن بحرهُ طامٍ ويُروَى تعلُّلا

    ببلِّ اللَّهاةِ من نطافٍ وأوشالِ

    one whose sea overflowed, yet whose thirst was slaked sparingly

    by moistening his throat with droplets and trickles.

  20. أبا أحمدٍ عوّدتني أن تُجيبني

    فما وجهُ إعراضٍ زَوَى وجهَ إقبالِ

    Abu Ahmad, you accustomed me to your replies;

    what face of refusal has veiled the face of welcome?

  21. بكيتك لليوم الشريق بنقعه

    وما رشَّ فيه الطعنُ من دمِ أوصالِ

    I wept for you, for the battle-day choked with its dust,

    and for the blood of limbs that spear-thrusts splashed upon it;

  22. وللسيفِ لم يعدَمْ مَضاءً وزينةً

    بنصلٍ وجفنٍ جهدَ قيْنٍ ولا جالي

    and for the sword, which never lacked sharpness or adornment

    in blade and sheath, through a smith's or polisher's toil.

  23. عُدِمْتَ فلم يظفَرْ بعاتق حاملٍ

    يفرِّقُ حيناً بين شَنْفٍ وخَلخالِ

    You were lost, and it could find no shoulder of a bearer

    who, at times, parted earring from anklet;

  24. وللرمح فات الرمحُ بعدك أن يرى

    شمائلَ عطّافٍ مع الطعن مياّلِ

    and for the spear: after you, the spear lost the sight

    of the ways of one who wheeled and swayed as he thrust;

  25. وللسابق المنقول من ظهر لاحقٍ

    إلى سبعة مما تنخّلها الفالي

    and for the racer, passed down from Lahiq's loins

    to seven of the steeds the discerning chooser selected.

  26. حَمَى ظهرَه العالي نزولُك أن يُرى

    مقاماً لراجٍ أو مفازاً لجَوّالِ

    Your dismounting kept its lofty back from being seen

    as a station for a hopeful seeker or a crossing for a wanderer.

  27. به نفرةٌ من سَرجه ولجامه

    لفقدك مع لينٍ لديه وإسهالِ

    It shies from its saddle and its bridle

    for loss of you, despite its gentleness and docility.

  28. وعمياء من طُرْقِ الحِجاج تلجلجتْ

    بأصواتِ خُطّابٍ وأفواه نُقّالِ

    And for a dark path of argument, which became entangled

    in orators' voices and the mouths of transmitters:

  29. توسّعت مع ضيق الخصام بفلجها

    وأوضحت منها كلَّ لَبْسٍ وإشكالِ

    amid dispute's narrowness, you found breadth by prevailing in it,

    and clarified every ambiguity and difficulty within it.

  30. وللأَرض يحيا تُربُها وهو ميِّتٌ

    وإن لم يَجُدها صوبُ أسحمَ هطّالِ

    And for the earth, whose dust comes alive though it is dead,

    even when no downpour from a dark, pouring cloud waters it,

  31. بمالك أو يغنى بفقرك ربعُها

    على قفره أو يَنْعَم الطللُ البالي

    through your wealth; or whose homestead grows rich through your poverty,

    despite its barrenness, or whose decayed ruins thrive;

  32. وللّيلة الظلماء قمتَ سراجَها

    على رِجْلِ قوّالٍ مع الله عمّالِ

    and for the dark night, whose lamp you stood as,

    on the feet of one fervent in prayer and service to God;

  33. وبيت صلاةٍ شدتَه فوقفته

    على دعواتٍ صالحاتٍ وأعمالِ

    and for a house of prayer you built, then endowed

    for righteous supplications and deeds;

  34. وللطارق المعترِّ إن لمَّ طارقا

    تجاوده في النفس والأهل والمالِ

    and for the needy night visitor, whenever he arrived,

    to whom you gave freely of yourself, your family, and your wealth:

  35. لَجَا مستضيفاً كلَّ بيتٍ يظنّه

    فلا سامرٌ ولا نُباحٌ ولا صالي

    he sought refuge and hospitality at every house he thought might offer it,

    but no night-talker, no barking, no one warming by a fire,

  36. إلى أن أراه اللهُ نارَك فاهتدى

    على ضلّةٍ أُكرمتَ يا مُوقدَ الضَّالِ

    until God showed him your fire, and he found his way

    while lost. May you be honored, O kindler of wild lote-wood!

  37. على كلّ مأمولٍ سلامي فإنني

    يئستُ وماتت يومَ موتك آمالي

    Farewell to all that might be hoped for, for I

    have despaired, and on the day you died my hopes died.

  38. لمن تَمخُضُ الأشعارُ بعدك زُبدةً

    وتجمع بين الحاءِ والميم والدالِ

    For whom, after you, do poems churn their butter

    and join together ḥāʾ, mīm, and dāl?

  39. وَفَى بالجوى قلبي وقصَّر منطقي

    فأكثرُ قولي فيك أيسرُ أفعالي

    My heart fulfilled its share of anguish, but my speech fell short;

    so the most I say of you is the least I do.

  40. وإنك لو تسطيع منّاً ومُنَّةً

    لداويت أوجاعي وداريت أوجالي

    And if you could bestow favor and lend strength,

    you would heal my pains and soothe my fears.

  41. إذاً لحملتَ الحزنَ عني بكاهلٍ

    ضعيفٍ على ما اعتاد من حمل أثقالي

    Then you would carry my sorrow from me on a shoulder

    frail, for all the heavy burdens of mine it had grown used to bearing.

  42. يقولون تخفيفاً لحزني مُعمَّرٌ

    نجا مِئَةً أو كاد مطلعَها العالي

    They say, to lighten my grief, that he lived long,

    surviving a hundred years, or nearly reaching that lofty summit.

  43. وذاك عزاءٌ عنك لو يعقلونه

    أمدُّ لدمعي بل أشدُّ لإعوالي

    That consolation for your loss, if they but understood,

    only prolongs my tears—rather, intensifies my wailing.

  44. بقدرِ بقاءِ المرء قدرُ الأسى له

    وذكرُ نعيمٍ دام لي بك أشقى لي

    The measure of a man's years is the measure of grief for him,

    and recalling the bliss you long gave me makes me more wretched.

  45. وما دُهِيَ الإنسانُ فيمن يحبُّه

    بفقدٍ كأخذٍ جاء من طول إمهالِ

    Never is a man, in someone he loves, struck

    by a loss like a taking that comes after long reprieve.

  46. رثاك نسيبٌ ودّه ولاؤه

    مُحِقٌّ إذا زُنَّ القصيُّ بإبطالِ

    Your elegist is a kinsman, whose affection is his allegiance,

    rightful in his claim when the distant one is accused of falsehood;

  47. ومولاكُمُ فيكم على ما شرطتمُ

    وإن بان عنكم في عُمومٍ وأخوالِ

    and your loyal client among you, on the terms you laid down,

    though his paternal and maternal uncles set him apart from you.

  48. فيا ليت لا يعدَمْ وفودُك عادةً

    بشِبليْك من عطفٍ عليهم وإسبالِ

    Would that your visitors never lack their accustomed kindness

    from your two lion-cubs—affection toward them and lavish bounty.

  49. فما مات من عاشا لسدّ مكانِهِ

    ولا حضرا وموضعٌ منك بالخالي

    He is not dead, whose place those two live to fill;

    nor, while they are present, can any place of yours lie vacant.

  50. وما غادَيا أو راوحاك زيارةً

    نراك بها مستبشرا ناعمَ البالِ

    Whenever they visit in the morning or come to you in the evening,

    we see you through the visit, rejoicing and at peace of mind.

  51. ولو ما أغبّاك الطُّروقَ كفتهما

    خلافة جبريلٍ عليك وميكالِ

    Even had they not made their visits to you at intervals, enough for them would be

    Gabriel and Michael attending you in their stead.