Sol 5.6

  1. O burning thirst of the heart—the watering place has run dry!

    O crisis of the age—the rescuer has vanished!

  2. No aid remains for one who cries for help, nor any draught

    to cool the burning thirst of a heart ablaze.

  3. The sword-edge is notched; no mouth remains for eloquence

    when calamities strike, nor sword, nor helping hand.

  4. The death-knell came at dawn, declaring: the pious one has perished,

    and the peerless imam of the Muslims has departed.

  5. If the pious Muhammad has indeed perished,

    then through him the Prophet Muhammad himself has been stricken.

  6. The astrologer spoke, announcing the pious man’s death—

    a description attributable to none but Abu al-Rida.

  7. I rushed to deny it, yet within my breast

    anxiety kept stirring, for fear his words were true.

  8. Would that the astrologer’s prediction had proved false,

    for truth, in certain places, is most bitter.

  9. Who now can shoulder every grave burden?

    And with whom shall the distressed supplicant seek refuge?

  10. Who will receive delegations and favor all who seek his bounty

    with gladness, when the face of the year has grown dark and ashen?

  11. Who will mount the pulpits, ascend their timbers,

    overflowing like the sea and bringing forth matchless pearls?

  12. O sacred sign of God, by whom

    the angels have come to ascend unto Him!

  13. You left us while calamity’s night was pitch-dark,

    and today is black with the dye of disasters.

  14. Who now will face the cannons and leveled spears,

    as white blades flash and cannons thunder?

  15. The East is dark, O sun of guidance,

    since your blazing radiance vanished from it.

  16. Had death not overtaken you so swiftly,

    the massing clouds of the West would have cleared away from it.

  17. They bore your bier onward while tears poured down;

    hearts plunged, and anguished breaths rose upward.

  18. Upon it rested serenity and dignity, while behind it

    and before it thronged the radiant nobility of the angels.

  19. Every eye held a tear, and every heart

    an anguish that could melt solid rock.

  20. The wise man despaired like all others in a place

    where none could remain patient or steadfast.

  21. Upon their hands they bore beneficence and generosity,

    knowledge, and an undeniable piety.

  22. Tell those who said, “His like will come again”:

    Abandon that impossibility—his like will never be found.

  23. After the Imams, no one assumed leadership

    among us as did the pious Muhammad.

  24. For war and for the prayer-niche, his resolve produced

    a hero—and a worshipper standing through the night.

  25. His nightly prayers were arrows

    that never missed the foe when aimed.

  26. If you call him a sea of generosity, his right hand

    was more munificent and giving than the boundless ocean.

  27. Or if you call him a full moon of guidance, his light

    guided more surely, dispelled darkness more brightly, and brought greater joy.

  28. Or if you call him a sword, all other swords are blunt

    beside the edge of God’s sword when it is drawn.

  29. What is the moon, what the shining sun, what life-giving rain?

    What is the sea, what a keen-edged Indian blade?

  30. He was nothing less than a sacred sign

    come to bear witness to the Sovereign’s oneness.

  31. O you whose name we cry aloud, humbling crowns,

    so that the crowns of kings bow low and prostrate!

  32. Yours is the miracle of the pen, armed against the foe:

    its black ink becomes the white blades of swords.

  33. The eloquence of your reed pen is such

    that the proud and mighty king bows before its majesty.

  34. With brief words you liberated a people

    whose long suffering had left them enslaved.

  35. Blessed be the pen that moved through the fingertips

    of a hand that rendered mighty service to the true faith.

  36. Iraq is indeed grateful to you for a blessing

    that no describer or enumerator can adequately recount.

  37. You founded a religious awakening,

    Arab in spirit, filled with loftiness and glory.

  38. You did not rise by earthly strength; rather,

    you were sustained by the power of the heavenly realm.

  39. You united the Muslims in an assembly,

    a union that shall never scatter throughout the days.

  40. Their affair had defeated the leaders before you,

    until the strong-handed leader undertook it alone.

  41. Your life was honor and happiness,

    in which the Muslims found honor and joy.

  42. Today your loss has shattered our strength,

    and God knows best what tomorrow will bring.

  43. Yet we trust the intention of yours

    that was sincerely set on preparing our path.

  44. Through your name we shall triumph after your death; it is

    among the greatest names, and it shall endure forever.

  45. From your unyielding resolve you forged sharp swords

    that strike the foe, forever drawn and never sheathed.

  46. As for the gardens of Paradise, they have been brought near to you,

    and within them the fair, secluded maidens rejoice.

  47. But this world grieves for you,

    burning with a thirst it endures and cannot cool.

  48. Though a luminary has vanished from guidance’s horizon—

    one whose radiant light guided every seeker of the way—

  49. his sons are beacons of jurisprudence and piety,

    the lamps that shall never be extinguished.

  50. Muhammad, the learned and well-pleasing scholar, is a sea of bounty,

    a banner of guidance and a towering mount of far-ranging wisdom.

  51. And his brother Abd al-Husayn—when the night

    of difficulties darkens, he is its guiding star.

  52. And Muhammad al-Hasan, the pure, the chosen—

    noble are his elements, and noble his lineage.

  53. The pious man’s family are the callers to guidance;

    O seekers of guidance’s paths, be guided by them.

  54. They gathered virtues, noble qualities, and eminence,

    and each, in gathering every virtue, stands alone.

  55. In them humanity finds consolation and solace,

    and they are humanity’s refuge and destination.

Sol 5.6