يا راكب الرتل السريع

ما ذاك عهدي بالوديع

O rider of the speeding train,

that is not how I knew the gentle one.

هلا رفقت بمعشر

خلفتهم صرعى الصدوع

Why did you not deal gently with a company

whom you left struck down by heartbreak?

ودوا قراع الموت في

ك وخانهم فقد القريع

They wished to fight death for

you, but the loss of their champion betrayed them.

قل لا حصون تقيك من

سهم الحتوف ولا دروع

Say: no fortresses can protect you from

the arrow of death, nor can armor.

مهلا رويدكما الذي

أجراك يا مجري الدموع

Gently! Take your time! What is it

that made you race, O you who make tears flow?

ما بال نعشك سابحا

سبح السفينة في الجموع

Why does your bier sail

like a ship amid the crowds,

متنقل بين الأكف

وبين هامات الجميع

passing between the palms

and among the heads of all?

ما للمحاجر في السها

دوما لطرفك في هجوع

Why are the eyes sleepless,

while your own eye lies in slumber?

أجب المنادي عند قب

رك صارخا هل من سميع

Answer the caller beside your grave,

crying out: “Is there anyone to hear?”

رحماك يا مرحوم في ال

دارين بالباكي الهلوع

Have mercy, O one shown mercy in the

two abodes, on the distraught weeper.

بالله ريثك كي نود

ع من يسائلك الرجوع

By God, linger, so that we may bid farewell

to the one who asks you to return.

في الناس ذكرك خالد

حاشا جميلك أن يضيع

Your memory endures among the people;

far be it that your goodness should be lost.

إن غاب نجمك بالوفا

ة فشمس ذكرك في طلوع

If your star has set in death,

the sun of your memory is rising.

تدري الدياجي وحدها

ما في قيامك والركوع

The dark nights alone know

what lay in your standing prayer and bowing.

في كل موضع سجدة

نفحات ذكرك في شيوع

In every place of prostration,

the fragrant wafts of your remembrance spread.

تنأى عن اللمم المغا

ضى عنه كالأمر الفظيع

You shunned the minor sins passed

over, as though they were a dreadful offense.

وبما به مولاك قد

أولاك في الدنيا قنوع

And with what your Lord had

bestowed upon you in this world, you were content.

ما كان يبطرك النعي

م بها ولم يفطرك جوع

Luxury never made you arrogant

in this world, nor did hunger break you.

كل بفضلك شاهد

وعليك كلهمو جزوع

All bear witness to your virtue,

and all are anguished over you.

لولا الفضائل ما تبيّ

نت الوضيع من الرفيع

Without virtues, you could not distinguish

the lowly from the noble.

هذا المحسين بيننا

في بيت أهليه البديع

Here is al-Muhsin among us,

in his family's splendid house.

بيت المنستيري وما

أدراك ما البيت المنيع

The house of al-Monastiri—and what

can tell you what that impregnable house is!

بيت بمثل محمد

شرفت أصوله والفروع

A house that, by one like Muhammad,

had its roots and branches ennobled.

هذا أريج العبقري

ة في ابنه الزاكي الضليع

Here is the fragrance of genius

in his pure, accomplished son.

في نجله وشقيقه ال

مبرور سلوان الجميع

In his son and his brother,

the virtuous one, lies solace for all.

أكرم بحر مثله

ساع لنهضتنا نزوع

How noble a free man like him,

striving, eager for our renaissance!

فلتبكه الخضرا بكا ال

خنسا على الصنو الصريع

Let al-Khadra weep for him as

al-Khansa wept over her fallen brother.

ما كان إلا باذلا

في البر جهد المستطيع

He did nothing but expend

in goodness all the effort within his power.

لم يسع كل حياته

إلا إلى حسن الصنيع

Never, throughout his life, did he strive

for anything but good deeds.

من كان مشتريا بدن

ياه الهدى ربح الجميع

Whoever trades his worldly life

for guidance has gained everything.

لولا مخافة ربّه

لم يدر ما معنى الخضوع

Were it not for fear of his Lord,

he would not have known what submission meant.

كم كان يبسم للشدا

ئد حين يبكيه الخشوع

How often he smiled at hardships,

when humble reverence made him weep!

حتى قضى مستبشرا

ونعاه ناعيه المريع

Until he died rejoicing,

and his dread-bearing herald announced his death.

يا زهرة ذويت على الأ

غصان إبّان الربيع

O flower, you withered on the

branches in the midst of spring.

غرسوك ثاني مرة

وسقوك لكن بالدموع

They planted you a second time

and watered you—but with tears.

جدثا حوى جسدا كري

ما فاشمخر على الربوع

A grave that held a noble body

thus towered above the dwellings,

وحنا عليه حنوها

أم الفطيم على الرضيع

and bent over him with the tenderness

of a weaned child's mother toward a suckling.

وأكنّه مثل المود

ة والإخا بين الضلوع

And sheltered him as love

and brotherhood are sheltered between the ribs.

وتفتّحت فيه الكوى

من جنّة طفقت تضوع

And windows opened within it,

from a paradise that began to waft fragrance.

والحور حافلة به

بين المباخر والشموع

And the houris thronged around him,

among censers and candles.

بشراك يا رمسا بمن

تحويه يغبطك البقيع

Glad tidings, O grave, for the one

you hold—al-Baqiʿ envies your good fortune.

فيك المطيع لربه

افسح بربك للمطيع

Within you lies one obedient to his Lord;

make room, by your Lord, for the obedient one.

ناداه فيك مؤرخ

محمد لكم شفيع

A chronicler called to him within you:

“Muhammad is an intercessor for you all.”