أين القصور أبا يزيد ولهوها

والصافنات وزهوها والسؤددُ

Where are the palaces, Abu Yazid, and their revelry,

And the poised steeds, their splendor, and lordly eminence?

أين الدهاء نحرت عزته على

أعتاب دنيا زهوها لا ينفدُ

Where is the cunning whose glory you sacrificed upon

The thresholds of a world whose pomp never ends?

آثرت فانيها على الحق الذي

هو لو علمت على الزمان مخلدُ

You preferred its perishable things to the truth, which

Is, had you known, everlasting through time.

تلك البهارج قد مضت لسبيلها

وبقيت وحدك عبرة تتجددُ

Those glittering vanities have gone their way,

And you remain alone, a lesson ever renewed.

هذا ضريحك لو بصرت ببؤسه

لأسال مدمعك المصير الأسودُ

This is your tomb: if you could see its wretchedness,

That dark fate would make your eyes stream.

كتل من الترب المهين بخربةٍ

سكر الذباب بها فراح يعربدُ

Heaps of lowly dust in a ruin,

Where flies have grown drunk and begun to carouse.

خفيت معالمها على زوارها

فكأنها في مجهل لا يقصدُ

Its features are hidden from its visitors,

As though it stood in an unknown wilderness no one seeks.

والقبة الشماء نكس طرفها

فبكل جزء للفناء بها يدُ

And the lofty dome's gaze has been cast down;

For decay has a hand in every part of it.

تهمي السحائب من خلال شقوقها

والريح في جنباتها تترددُ

The clouds pour rain through its cracks,

And the wind wanders through its recesses.

وكذا المصلى مظلم فكأنه

مذ كان لم يجتز به متعبدُ

The prayer hall, too, is dark, as though

Since its beginning no worshipper had ever passed through it.

أأبا يزيد وتلك حكمة خالق

تجلى على قلب الحكيم فيرشدُ

O Abu Yazid, such is the Creator's wisdom,

Shining upon the wise man's heart, so he finds guidance.

أرأيت عاقبة الجموح ونزوة

أودى بلبك غّيها الترصدُ

Have you seen the outcome of defiance, and a reckless impulse

Whose lurking folly destroyed your reason?

تعدوا بها ظلما على من حبه

دين وبغضته الشقاء السرمدُ

Through it you unjustly assailed one, love for whom

Is faith, and hatred of him everlasting misery.

ورثت شمائله براءة أحمد

فيكاد من بريده يشرق أحمدُ

His virtues inherited Ahmad's innocence,

So that Ahmad almost shines forth from his [robes].

وغلوت حتى قد جعلت زمامها

ارثا لكل مدمم لا يحمدُ

And you went so far as to make its reins

An inheritance for every ugly wretch, deserving no praise.

هتك المحارم واستباح خدورها

ومضى بغير هواه لا يتقيدُ

He violated sanctities and profaned their secluded chambers,

And went his way, bound by nothing but his own desire.

فأعادها بعد الهدى عصبية

جهلاء تلتهم النفوس وتفسدُ

He turned it, after guidance, back into tribal fanaticism—

Benighted, devouring souls and spreading corruption.

فكأنما الإسلام سلعة تاجر

وكأن أمته لآلك أعبدُ

As though Islam were a merchant's wares,

And its community were slaves to your family.

فاسأل مرابض كربلاء ويثرب

عن تلكم النار التي لا تخمدُ

Ask, then, the encampments of Karbala and Yathrib

About that fire which never dies.

أرسلت مارجها فماج بحره

أمس الجدود ولن يجّنبها غدُ

You unleashed its smokeless flame, and its sea surged

In the forefathers' yesterday; tomorrow will not be spared it.

والزاكيات من الدماء يريقها

باغ على حرم النبوة مفسدُ

And the pure blood spilled by

A ravaging rebel against the sanctuary of prophethood;

والطاهرات فديتهن حواسرا

تنثال من عبراتهن الأكبدُ

And the chaste women—may I be their ransom—bareheaded,

Their livers spilling forth amid their tears;

والطيبين من الصغار كأنهم

بيض الزنابق ذيد عنها الموردُ

And the innocent children, as though they were

White lilies denied their watering place,

تشكو الظما والظالمون

أصمهم حقد أناخ على الجوانح موقدُ

Lamenting thirst, while the oppressors

Are deafened by blazing hatred encamped within their ribs;

والذائدين تبعثرت اشلاؤهم

بدوا فثمة معصم وهنا يدُ

And the defenders, their limbs scattered

Across the open desert: there a wrist, and here a hand.

تطأ السنابك بالظغاة أديمها

مثل الكتاب مشى عليه الملحدُ

Hooves bearing tyrants trample their skin,

Like the Book trodden upon by an unbeliever.

فعلى الرمال من الأباة مضرج

وعلى النياق من الهداة مصفدُ

Upon the sands lies one of the unbowed, drenched in blood,

And on the she-camels, one of the guides is shackled;

وعلى الرماح بقّية من عابد

كالشمس ضاء به الصفا والمسجدُ

And on the spears, the remains of a worshipper

Who, like the sun, lit al-Safa and the mosque.

ان يجهش الأثماء موضع قدره

فلقد دراه الراكعون السّجدُ

If sinners [fail to know] the measure of his worth,

Those who bow and prostrate themselves have surely known it.

أأبا يزيد وساء ذلك عثرة

ماذا أقول وباب سمعك موصدُ

O Abu Yazid—what a grievous fall that was!

What can I say, when the gate of your hearing is shut?

قم وارمق النجف الشريف بنظرة

يرتد طرفك وهو باك أرمدُ

Rise, and cast a glance at noble Najaf;

Your eye will turn back, weeping and inflamed.

تلك العظام أعز ربك قدرها

فتكاد لولا خوف ربك تعبدُ

Those bones—your Lord has exalted their worth,

So that, but for fear of your Lord, they would almost be worshipped.

ابدا تباركها الوفود يحثها

من كل حدب شوقها المتوقدُ

Forever the delegations bless them, driven

From every height by their blazing longing.

نازعتها الدنيا ففزت بوردها

ثم انقضى كالحلم ذاك الموردُ

You vied with them for the world and won its draught,

Then that watering place vanished like a dream.

وسعت إلى الأخرى فخلد ذكرها

في الخالدين وعطف ربك أخلدُ

They strove for the hereafter, and their memory lived on

Among the immortals; your Lord's mercy endures longer still.

أأبا يزيد لتلك آهة موجع

أفضى اليك بها فؤاد مُقصدُ

O Abu Yazid, that is surely a sufferer's groan,

Confided to you by a mortally wounded heart.

أنا لست بالقالي ولا أنا شامت

قلب الكريم عن الشتامة أبعدُ

I am no hater, nor one who gloats;

A noble heart is far above reviling.

هي مهجة حرى اذاب شفافها

حزن على الإسلام لم يك يهمدُ

It is a burning heart whose tender membranes were melted by

A grief for Islam that has never died down.

ذكرتها الماضي فهاج دفينها

شمل لشعب المصطفى متبددُ

You reminded it of the past; its buried sorrow was stirred

By the shattered unity of the Chosen One's people.

فبعثته عتبا وان يك قاسيا

هو في ضلوعي زفرة يترددُ

So I sent it forth as reproach, though it may be harsh;

Within my ribs it is a sigh that echoes.

لم استطع صبرا على غلوائها

أي الضلوع على اللظى تتجلدُ

I could not patiently bear its raging heat;

What ribs could endure the blaze?