سلا مَن سلا مَن بنا استبدلا

وكيفَ محا الآخرُ الأوّلا

Peace to the one who exchanged peace,

How did the other erase the first?

وأيّ هوىً حادث العهد أم

س أنساه ذاك الهوى المُحوِلا

And which passion newly occurred,

Or did I forget that transforming passion?

وأين المواثيقُ والعاذلاتُ

يضيق عليهنّ أن تعذُلا

Where are the covenants and the reproachers?

It is difficult for them to reproach.

أكانت أضاليلَ وعدِ الزما

ن أم حُلُمَ الليلِ ثم انجلى

Were they the delusions of time’s promise,

Or a night’s dream that then vanished?

وممّا جرى الدمعُ فيه سؤا

لُ من تاه بالحسن أَن يُسألا

About what did a tear flow, I ask,

One who is lost in beauty, that he be asked.

أقول برامةَ يا صاحبيَّ

مَعاجاً وإن فعلا أجملا

I say to my companion, gently,

Though he acted harshly, more beautifully.

قفا لعليل فإنّ الوقوفَ

وإن هو لم يشفِه علّلا

Stop for the sick man, though stopping

Will not heal him, it will console him,

بغربيّ وجرةَ ينشُدنَه

وإن زادنا صلةً منزلا

With my song and travel provisions,

And if our ties increase, a stopping place,

وحسناء لو أنصفتْ حسنَها

لكان من القُبح أن تبخَلا

And a beautiful woman, if she were fair,

It would be ugly for her to be stingy.

رأت هجرَها مرِخصاً من دمي

على النأيِ عِلقاً قديماً غلا

She saw his estrangement licit because of

An old attachment to distance that fermented.

ورُبَّتَ واشٍ بها منبضٍ

أسابقه الردَّ أن يُنبلا

And an informing spy brought her news of him,

Racing ahead lest the news be cut off.

رأى ودَّها طللا ممحِلا

فلفَّق ما شاء أن يَمحَلا

He saw her love an unreal illusion,

So he ripped up as much as he wished to rip up.

وألسنة كأعالي الرماح

رددتُ وقد شُرعتْ ذُبَّلا

And tongues like spearheads

I parried when they were unleashed, stabbed.

ويأبى لحسناءَ إن أقبلت

تعرُّضَها قمراً مقبلا

And it refuses a beauty, if she inclines,

Her imposition on a crescent, inclining.

سقى الله ليلاتنا بالغوي

ر فيما أعلَّ وما أنهلا

May God water our nights with talk,

Whenever a star rises or sets.

حياً كلّما أسبلت مقلةٌ

حنيناً له عبرةً أسبلا

Live! Whenever a star appears,

Yearning for it, I let fall a tear.

وخَصَّ وإن لم تعد ليلةً

خلت فالكرى بعدها ما حلا

And it was special, though no night

Passed after it that resolved.

وفَى الطيفُ فيها بميعاده

وكان تعوّد أن يمطُلا

The specter fulfilled its tryst,

As it grew accustomed, delaying.

فما كان أقصرَ ليلي به

وما كان لو لم يزر أطولا

So my night with him was not

The shortest, nor if he had not visited, the longest.

مساحبُ قصَّر عنّي المشي

بُ ما كانَ منها الصِّبا ذيَّلا

Dewy nightclouds shortened my walk;

With old, pure exertion I jest.

ستصرفني نزواتُ الهمو

م بالأرَب الجِدِّ أن أهْزِلا

Worries’ caprices distract me

From serious, ancient goals.

وتنحتُ من طرَفي زفرةٌ

مباردها تأكل المُنصُلا

And a sigh is sculpted on my cheek

Whose lightning bolt eats away at my scarf’s fringe.

وأُغري بتأبين آل النبي

يِ إن نسّبَ الشعرُ أو غزّلا

And I am tempted to lament the House of the Prophet

If poetry attributes or seduces.

بنفسي نجومَهم المخمَداتِ

ويأبى الهدى غير أن تُشعَلا

With my soul, their extinguished stars,

Though guidance refuses but to be lit.

وأجسامَ نور لهم في الصعي

د تملؤه فيضيء الملا

And bodies of light for them in the desert

Fill it, so the dunes shine.

ببطن الثرى حملُ ما لم تُطِقْ

على ظهرها الأرضُ أن تحمِلا

The earth could not bear

To carry what the ground bore in its belly.

تفيض فكانت ندًى أبحرا

وتهوِي فكانت عُلاً أجبُلا

It overflowed and became a sea’s dew,

It collapsed and became mountains piled up.

سل المتحدِّي بهم في الفخا

ر أين سمت شُرفات العلا

Ask the challenger about them in battle,

Where did the pinnacles of glory lead?

بمن باهل اللهُ أعداءَه

فكان الرسولُ بهم أبهلا

With whom did God defeat his enemies?

So the Messenger through them was victorious?

وهذا الكتاب وإعجازُه

على مَنْ وفي بيت مَنْ نُزِّلا

And this Book and its inimitability,

Upon whom and in whose house was it sent down?

وبدرٌ وبدرٌ به الدِّينُ تم

مَ من كان فيه جميلَ البلا

And Badr, and at Badr, through it religion

Was perfected, from its beautiful afflictions.

ومن نام قومٌ سواه وقام

ومن كان أَفقَهَ أو أعدلا

And who slept while the others stayed up

And who was the most knowledgeable or most just?

بمن فُصِلَ الحكم يوم الحنين

فطَّبق في ذلك المَفْصِلا

Through whom was judgment decided on the Day of Gathering,

Categorizing therein that categorized case?

مساعٍ أطيلُ بتفصيلها

كفى معجزاً ذكرُها مجمَلا

Far-reaching news whose details

I lengthen, it’s enough briefly mentioned as miraculous.

يميناً لقد سُلّط الملحِدون

على الحقّ أو كاد أن يبطُلا

By God, the atheists were let loose

Upon the truth, and it nearly was undone,

فلولا ضمانٌ لنا في الظهور

قضى جدَلُ القول أن نخجلا

So had we no guarantee in the return,

Debate’s argument would have shamed us.

أأللهَ يا قومُ يقضِي النبيُّ

مطاعاً فيُعصَى وما غُسِّلا

Do they, O people, claim the Prophet decrees

Obedience, then is disobeyed, and is not washed?

ويوصِي فنخرُصُ دعوى علي

ه في تركه دينَه مهمَلا

And he commands, yet we quibble, alleging

He neglected his religion, neglected?

ويجتمعون على زعمهم

وينبيك سعدٌ بما أَشكلا

And they gather on their alleged authority,

And Sa’d opposes you with their ambiguities.

فيُعقِب إجماعُهم أن يبي

تَ مفضولُهم يقدُمُ الأفضلا

So their consensus is succeeded by

Their inferior preceding the superior?

وأن يُنزع الأمرُ من أهله

لأنّ عليّا له أُهِّلا

And authority is stripped from its people

Because Ali was deemed its guardian?

وساروا يحطّون في آله

بظلمهمُ كلكلاً كلكلا

And they went on vilifying his House unjustly,

Pelting them, pelting them with pebbles.

تدبُّ عقاربُ من كيدهم

فتفنيهمُ أوّلا أوّلا

The claws of their malice crept in,

So they perished, one by one.

أضاليلُ ساقت مصابَ الحسين

وما قبلَ ذاك وما قد تلا

The delusions that led to al-Husayn’s catastrophe,

And what happened before and what ensued.

أميَّةُ لا بسةٌ عارَها

وإن خَفِيَ الثأرُ أو حُصِّلا

The Umayyads, clothed with their shame,

Though vengeance was concealed or achieved.

فيومُ السقيفة يا بن النبي

يِ طرّق يومَك في كربلا

So oh son of the Prophet, the Day of Saqifa

Foreboded your day at Karbala.

وغصبُ أبيك على حقِّه

وأمِّك حَسّنَ أن تُقتَلا

And your father’s rightful authority usurped,

And your mother commendably killed.

أيا راكبا ظهرَ مجدولةٍ

تُخالُ إذا انبسطت أجدلا

O rider atop a braided stand,

You fancied, when erect, an acacia tree,

شأت أربَعَ الريح في أربَعٍ

إذا ما انتشرن طوين الفلا

Desiring, galloping on four,

When they dispersed tents’ pegs.

إذا وَكَّلتْ طَرفها بالسما

ء خِيل بإدراكها وُكِّلا

When she assigned her gaze to the sky,

A troop to catch up to her was assigned.

فعزَّت غزالتَها غُرّةً

وطالت غزال الفلا أيطلا

Her proud gazelles were blemished

And the gazelles of the meadow grew distant.

كطّيك في منتهىً واحد

لتُدرِكَ يثربَ أو مرقلا

Like when partridges in one direction

Try to reach Medina or Marqala.

فِصلْ ناجيا وعلىَّ الأمانُ

لمن كان في حاجةٍ مُوصَلا

intercede for a supplicant and I am safe

For one who seeks a connection.

تحمَّلْ رسالةَ صبٍّ حملتَ

فناد بها أحمدَ المرسَلا

Take on the burden of my passion’s message,

Then call Ahmad, the messenger with it.

وحيِّ وقُلْ يا نبيّ الهدى

تأشَّب نهجُك واستوغلا

Inspire me and say, O guide Prophet,

Your path grew dark and overgrown.

قضيتَ فأرمضنا ما قضيتَ

وشرعُك قد تمَّ واستكملا

You fulfilled, so we forgot what you fulfilled,

And your law was complete and perfected.

فرامَ ابنُ عمكّ فيما سنن

تَ أن يتقبَّل أو يَمثُلا

But your cousin considered, in what you legislated,

To accept or enact it.

فخانك فيه من الغادري

ن من غيَّر الحقَّ أو بدّلا

So he betrayed you in it, of the traitors,

Who altered the truth or changed it.

إلى أن تحلّت بها تيمها

وأضحت بنو هاشم عُطَّلا

Until Taym ruled it,

And the Hashimites were disempowered.

ولما سرى أمرُ تيم أطا

ل بيتُ عديٍّ لها الأحبلا

And when Taym’s command went on,

The houses of ‘Adiy for them were destroyed.

ومدّت أميَّةُ أعنَاقها

وقد هُوّن الخطبُ واستُسهلا

And the Umayyads extended their necks,

When matters became easy and feasible.

فنال ابن عفّانَ ما لم يكن

يُظَنّ وما نال بل نُوِّلا

The son of ‘Affan attained what was not

Expected, nor attained, but enabled.

فقرَّ وأنعمُ عيش يكو

ن من قبله خَشناً قُلْقُلا

So he became wealthy, and life,

Which had been rough before him, was smoothed.

وقلّبها أردشيريّةً

فحرَّق فيها بما أشعلا

He made it Persian-like,

And in it, with what he ignited, burned.

وساروا فساقوه أو أوردوه

حياضَ الردى منهلاً منهلا

And they went on, driving him or leading him

To depravity’s meadows, watering hole to watering hole.

ولما امتطاها عليٌّ أخو

ك رَدَّ إلى الحقّ فاستُثقِلا

And when Ali assumed command,

He returned it to truth, so it was heavy.

وجاؤُا يسومونَه القاتلين

وهم قد ولُوا ذلك المقتَلا

And they came to him, blaming him for the deaths,

When they had fled from that blame.

وكانت هَناةٌ وأنت الخصيمُ

غداً والمعاجَلُ من أُمهِلا

There was hesitation while you were the adversary

Tomorrow, though postponing was from the negligent.

لكم آل ياسين مدحي صفا

وودّي حلا وفؤادي خلا

My praise is pure for you, O House of Yasin,

And my affection is sweet and my heart sincere.

وعندي لأعدائكم نافذا

تُ قولِيَ ما صاحبَ المِقولا

And I have, for your enemies, penetrating

Words—what an eloquent speaker says!

إذا ضاق بالسير ذرعُ الرفيق

ملأتُ بهنّ فروجَ الملا

When the way is too narrow for the companion,

I fill its expanses with flagpoles.

فواقرُ من كلّ سهمٍ تكون

له كلُّ جارحةٍ مقتَلا

So the cores of each arrow become

For every warrior a death blow.

وهلّا ونهجُ طريقِ النجاة

بكم لاح لي بعد ما أشكلا

Why not take the path of salvation’s road

With you, when for me, after darkness, a gleam shone?

ركبتُ لكم لُقَمي فاستننتُ

وكنتُ أخابطه مَجهَلا

I rode my message to you, so I gained success,

When I was groping confusedly for it.

وفُكَّ من الشِّرك أسِري وكا

ن غُلّاً على مَنكِبي مُقفَلا

My bondage to idolatry was untied, and it

Was a burden shackled on my shoulders.

أواليكُمُ ما جرت مزنةٌ

وما اصطخب الرعد أو جلجلا

I will ally with you as long as there is

Thunderclap roaring and rumbling.

وأبرأُ ممن يعاديكُمُ

فإن البراءةَ أصلُ الولا

And I disavow those who oppose you,

For disavowal is the origin of loyalty.

ومولاكُمُ لا يخاف العقابَ

فكونوا له في غدٍ موئلا

And your master does not fear punishment,

So be for him tomorrow a haven.