لك اللّيلَ بعد الذّاهبين طويلا

ووفدَ همومٍ لم يردن رحيلا

You have the long night after they are gone,

And a delegation of sorrows that did not want to leave,

ودمعٍ إذا حبّستَه عن سبيله

يعود هتوناً في الجفون هَطولا

And tears, if you restrain them from their path,

They gently return to the eyelids pouring down.

فيا ليت أسرابَ الدموع الّتي جرتْ

أسَوْن كليماً أو شفين غليلا

I wish the flocks of tears that flowed

Could extinguish my burning thirst or heal my sickness,

أُخال صحيحاً كلّ يومٍ وليلةٍ

ويأبى الجوى ألّا أكون عليلا

I pretend to be healthy every night and day,

Yet my inner self refuses except to be sick.

كأنّي وما أحببتُ أهوى مُمَنَّعاً

وأَرجو ضَنيناً بالوصالِ بخيلا

It is as if I and my love are forbidden loves,

And I hope for an ungenerous union.

فَقُل للّذي يبكي نُؤَيّاً ودِمْنَةً

ويندب رسماً بالعراءِ مَحيلا

So say to the one who cries softly and grievously

And mourns an image in the bare land:

عداني دمٌ لِي طُلّ بالطفِّ إنْ أُرى

شجيّاً أُبكِّي أرْبُعاً وطلولاً

"Let my blood be lawful to me if I see

A complaint that makes me cry for long.

مصابٌ إذا قابلتُ بالصّبرِ غَرْبَه

وجدتُ كثيري في العزاءِ قليلا

If I face its strangeness with patience,

I will find many to console me a little.

ورُزءٌ حملتُ الثِّقْلَ منه كأنّني

مدى الدّهر لم أحملْ سواه ثقيلا

And blame I carried whose heaviness was as if

I had borne no other burden as heavy as it all my life.

وجَدتمْ عُداةَ الدّين بعد محمّدٍ

إلى كَلْمِه في الأقربين سبيلا

And you found the enemies of the faith after Mohammed

A way to hurt him through his nearest kin.

كأنّكُمُ لم تنزعوا بمكانه

خشوعاً مبيناً في الورى وخمولا

It is as if you never bowed down humbly

Openly in the world, feeling weak and submissive,

وأَيُّكُمُ ما عزّ فينا بدينه

وقد عاش دهراً قبل ذاك ذليلا

And which of you gained honor through his faith,

When before that he lived an age in disgrace?

فقل لبني حَربٍ وآلِ أُميَّةٍ

إذا كنتَ ترضى أن تكون قؤولا

So say to the tribes of Harb and Banu Umayya,

If you wish I call you despicable.

سَللتُمْ على آلِ النبيّ سيوفَه

مُلِئْنَ ثُلوماً في الطّلى وفلولا

You stole against the household of the Prophet, swords

Filled with smoothness in the scabbards and remnants.

وقُدْتُمْ إلى مَن قادكمْ من ضلالكمْ

فأخرجكمْ من وادييه خيولا

And you were led to the one who led you from your misguidance

And brought you out from its two valleys, horses.

وَلم تَغدروا إلّا بِمَن كانَ جدُّهُ

إليكمْ لتَحْظَوْا بالنّجاةِ رسولا

You only betrayed the one whose grandfather

Was to you, so you might gain deliverance, a messenger.

وترضون ضدَّ الحزم إن كان ملككُمْ

بَدِيناً وديناً دنتموه هزيلا

And you are pleased to oppose wisdom if your rule

Be lasting, and you make the lasting frail.

نساءُ رسولِ اللَّه عُقْرَ دياركمْ

يرجّعن منكمْ لوعةً وعويلا

The wives of the Messenger of God, your homes

Were sacrilegious, and they return from you bitterly wailing

لهنّ ببَوْغاءِ الطّفوف أعزّةٌ

سُقوا الموتَ صِرْفاً صبيةً وكهولا

For them in Bouqaa' of Taff griefs

They were given death to drink, children and adults.

كأنّهُمُ نُوّارُ روضٍ هَوَتْ به

رياحٌ جَنوباً تارةً وقَبولا

It was as if they were lamps in a garden demolished

By winds blowing from south or north,

وَأَنجمُ ليلٍ ما علون طوالعاً

لأعيننا حتّى هبطن أُفولا

And stars of night that did not rise high

Until for our eyes they set into their decline.

فأيُّ بدورٍ ما مُحين بكاسفٍ

وأيُّ غصونٍ ما لقين ذبولا

What moons were there not darkened by eclipse?

And what branches were there that did not wither?

أَمِن بعد أَن أَعطَيتموه عهودَكمْ

خفافاً إلى تلك العهود عُجولا

After you gave him your covenants swiftly,

Did you not hastily break those covenants,

رجعتمْ عن القصد المبين تناكصاً

وحُلتمْ عن الحقّ المنير حُؤولا

And turn back deliberately from the clear path,

And swerve from the shining truth, deviating?

وقعقعتُمُ أبوابَه تختِلونَه

ومَن لم يردْ خَتْلاً أصاب خُتولا

You clattered his doors, deceiving him,

And whoever did not want deceit met foolishness.

فما زلتمُ حتّى أجاب نداءكمْ

وأيُّ كريمٍ لا يجيب سَؤولا

You did not cease until he answered your call,

And which generous man does not answer a questioner?

فلمّا دنا ألفْاكُمُ في كتائبٍ

تطاوَلْن أقطار السّباسب طولا

So when he came near, he found you in battalions

Stretching, the horses' buttocks elongated.

متى تك منها حَجْزَةٌ أو كحجزةٍ

سمعتَ رُغاءً مضعفاً وصهيلا

When did you hear from them the clatter or like the clatter

Of a small horse, doubled clamor and neighing?

فَلَم يُرَ إلّا ناكثاً أو مُنكّباً

وإلّا قَطوعاً للذّمامِ حَلولا

But he saw only those who break vows or who flee,

Or the cut off, the vile, arrivals,

وإلّا قَعوداً عن لِمامٍ بنَصْرِهِ

وإلّا جَبوهاً بالرّدى وخذولا

Or holding back from the banners, failing to help them,

Or cowardly, betraying and weak.

وضِغْنَ شغافٍ هبّ بعد رقاده

وأفئدةً ملأى يَفِضْنَ ذُحولا

And snoring from sleepers waking,

And breasts filled flowing with madness,

وبيضاً رقيقاتِ الشّفار صقيلةً

وسمراً طويلاتِ المتون عُسولا

And white slender-lipped mares, sleek,

And brown, long-bodied, docile.

ولا أنتمُ أفرجتُمُ عن طريقه

إليكمْ ولا لمّا أراد قُفولا

Neither did you make way for him to you

Nor when he wanted to return.

عزيزٌ على الثّاوي بطَيْبَةَ أَعْظُمٌ

نُبِذْنَ على أرض الطُّفوف شُكولا

Dearer to the settler in Tayba was Azra’s son,

Abandoned on the ground of Taff, ripped apart.

وكلُّ كريمٍ لا يلمّ برِيبةٍ

فإنْ سِيم قولَ الفحش قال جميلا

Every generous person is not touched by any shame.

If he is attributed evil words, he says good.

يذادون عن ماءِ الفراتِ وقد سُقوا الش

شهادةَ من ماءِ الفرات بديلا

They are prevented from the Euphrates' water and made

To drink the cup of martyrdom instead of Euphrates' water.

رمُوا بالرّدى من حيث لا يحذرونه

وغُرّوا وكم غَرّ الغُفولُ غَفولا

They threw them into death where they did not fear it

And they were deluded - how often is the deluded deluded!

أيا يوم عاشوراء كم من فجيعةٍ

عل الغُرّ آلِ اللّه كنتَ نَزولا

Oh day of Ashura, how many calamities

Against the Prophet's family you brought down!

دخلتَ على أبياتهمْ بمصابهمْ

ألا بئسما ذاك الدّخول دُخولا

You entered upon their homes with their disaster.

Yes, miserable is that entering, that entry!

نزعتَ شهيدَ اللّه منّا وإنّما

نزعتَ يميناً أو قعطتَ قليلا

You took away from us the martyr of God, but

You only took away our right hand or little.

قتيلاً وجدنا بعده دينَ أحمدٍ

فقيداً وعزَّ المسلمين قتيلا

We found after him the religion of Ahmed

Shackled, and the honor of the Muslims slain.

فلا تبخسوا بالجور مَن كان ربُّه

برَجْعِ الّذي نازعتموه كفيلا

So do not diminish with injustice the one whose Lord

Is pledged to return what you disputed with him.

أحبّكُمُ آلَ النبيّ ولا أرى

وَإنْ عذلوني عن هواي عديلا

I love the Prophet's family, and I do not see,

Even if they wrong me, any replacement for my love.

وقلت لمن يُلحي عن شَغَفي بكم

وكم غيرِ ذي نصحٍ يكون عذولا

And I said to the one who turns me from passion for them,

'How many who lack good advice are turned away!'

روَيْدَكُمُ لا تنحلوني ضلالَكمْ

فلن تُرحِلوا منّي الغَداةَ ذَلولا

Restrain yourselves, do not lead me to your misguidance,

For you will not make me in the morning humiliated.

عليكم سلامُ اللَّه عيشاً وميتَةً

وسَفْراً تطيعون النّوى وحلولا

Upon you is the peace of God, living and dead,

Traveling, obeying the resolve and halting.

فما زاغ قلبي عن هواكم وأخمصي

فلا زلّ عمّا ترتضون زليلا

So my heart has not swerved from passion for you,

Nor has my step swerved from what you approve.