ألا غادِ دمعَ العينِ إنْ كنتَ غاديا

فلستُ ألومُ اليومَ بعدك باكيا

Oh tears, flow from my eyes if you are about to flow,

For today after you left I will not blame the day for weeping,

ولو كنتُ لا أخشى دموعاً غزيرةً

تنُمُّ على ما بي كتَمْتُك ما بِيا

And if I did not fear abundant tears

That would sleep in me, I would have concealed you not at all,

وغيرُ لساني ناطقٌ بسريرتي

فلم يُنجِني أنّي ملكتُ لسانِيا

And my tongue speaks my innermost thoughts

So it did not protect me that I held my tongue,

أَعِنِّي على شَجْوي بشجوٍ مضاعفٍ

ولا تدنِني قلباً من الحزنِ خاليا

Help me in my lament with redoubled lament,

And bring not my heart near to being empty of sorrow,

ولا تُسْلِنِي عمّنْ رُزِئْتُ وإنْ تُرِدْ

مساعفتي في الرُّزءِ لم تك ساليا

And ask me not about whom I was harmed though you wish

To redouble my harm, you would not have asked,

إذا صاحبي أضحى وبي مثلُ ما به

غداةَ تلاقينا أطَلْنا التَّشاكِيا

When my companion has become in the morning after we met

What is in me, we complained of our suffering,

يَلومُ المُعافى وهو خِلوٌ من الأذى

ولم يَعْنِهِ من أمره ما عنانِيا

The unharmed blames though he is free of harm,

And what happened to him did not trouble me,

وَلو كان ما بي من هوىً لمُحَجَّبٍ

أقام على هجري أطَعْتُ اللّواحيا

And if what is in me were love for an unseen beloved

I would have obeyed the censurers,

وَهمٌّ عراني من أخٍ عَصَفَتْ به

صُروفُ اللّيالي ليتَه ما عَرانيا

And a concern stripped me of a brother whom

The turns of the nights blew away--would that it had not stripped me!

فقرّبَ منّي كلَّ ما كان شاحطاً

وَبَعّد منّي كلَّ ما كان دانيا

So it brought near me all that was far away

And distanced me from all that was near,

وَقُلتُ لِمَنْ أَلقى إِليَّ نعيَّهُ

على الكُرْهِ منّي لا أبا لك ناعيا

And I said to the one who conveyed his death to me

Against my will, I will not cry for you,

هَتَفْتَ إلى قلبي بفقد محمّدٍ

فغادَرْتَ أيّامي عليَّ ليالِيا

You cried out to my heart about the loss of Muhammad

So you made my days for me nights,

ولمّا تباكينا عليه وعُرِّيَتْ

طَماعتُنا منه شَأَوْتُ البَواكيا

And when we wept for him and our greed for him was laid bare

I became weary of weeping,

فقلْ لأُناسٍ أمكنوا من أديمهمْ

بما ركبوا منه هناكَ العَواريا

So say to people who enabled themselves by what they rode on him

There as the robes of honor,

خذوها كما شاء العقوقُ عَضيهةً

وجرّوا بها حتّى المماتِ المخازيا

Take it as transgression dictated to you

And drag it until death in the burial grounds,

ولا تَرْحَضوها بالمعاذير عنكُمُ

فَلَن تُخفِيَ الأقوالُ ما كان باديا

And do not quibble before you about excuses,

For words will not conceal what was evident,

ألُؤْماً مبيناً للعوين وأنتُمُ

تعدّون عِرْقاً في الأكارم خافياً

I blame you openly to the eyes though you

Count a vein among the generous as hidden,

فلو كنتُمُ منهُ كما قيل فيكمُ

لَكَفْكَفْتُمُ عنه سيوفاً نَوابيا

For if you were from him as was said about you

You would have curbed the swords from him,

خطَوْتُمْ إليه بالحِمامِ ذِمامَكمْ

فأَنَّى ولم تخطوا إليه العواليا

You walked against him with the doves of your turbans

So how when you did not walk the high roads?

أفي الحقِّ أَن تَعدوا عليه ولم يكنْ

على مثلكمْ ما غَدَرَ النّاسُ عاديا

Is it true that you transgressed upon him when he had not

Transgressed upon the likes of you what the people transgressed of old?

فَما نَفعُكم إنْ نِلتُمُ منه غِيلَةً

وما ضرَّه أنْ زَلَّ في التُّرْبِ هاويا

So what benefitted you when you attained a portion from him

And what harmed him when he fell into the dust fallen?

فَتكتُم به غَدْراً فألّا وكفُّهُ

تُقَلِّبُ مَسنونَ الغِرارَيْنِ ماضيا

For you conceal about him a betrayal--so restrain it

You flip the aged guileful ones of the past,

على قارحٍ مثلِ العَلاةِ وتارةً

تراه كسرْحانِ البسيطةِ عادِيا

At one point like the lofty plateau and at another

You see it as the smooth plain,

ملكتمْ عليه مِنَّةً لو نهضتُمُ

إلى كَسْبِها نِلتُمْ بذاك الأمانِيا

You possessed from him a favor which if you rose

To gain it you would have attained wishes,

ولكنّكم ضيّعتموه شَقاوةً

فكنتُمْ كمُهرِيقِ الإداوةِ صادِيا

But you wasted it wickedly

So you were like the pouring of harm,

وهوّن وَجْدي أَنّ قتلاً أراحَهُ

ولم يتحمّلْ للِّئامِ الأياديا

And comfort my anguish that killing gave him rest

And he did not endure the evil hands,

فيا لَيتَ أنّي يوم ذاك شَهِدتُهُ

فدافعتُ عنه باليدين الأعاديا

Oh would that I on that day witnessed him

And defended him from the enemies with my hands,

وروّيتُ من ماء التّرائبِ والطُّلى

من الغادِرين صَعْدَتي وسِنانِيا

And I quenched my rage and the coats of mail

From the traitors with my grinders and my fangs,

بَني مَزْيَدٍ لا تقتلوا بأخيكُمُ

من القومِ خَوّارَ الأنابيبِ خاويا

O sons of Muzaynah, do not kill your brother

From the people--the vile water-skin lickers,

وَإِنْ تثأَروا فالثّأْرُ بالحيِّ كلِّهِ

وما ذاك من داءِ الرّزيّةِ شافيا

And if you seek vengeance, then vengeance is with the whole tribe

And that is no cure for the meanness,

ألا قوّضوا تلك الخيامَ على الرُّبا

وكُبّوا جِفاناً للقِرى ومَقارِيا

Nay, demolish those tents upon the meadow

And silence the neighboring settlements,

وجُزّوا رقابَ الخيلِ حولَ قبابهِ

فلستُ براضٍ أنْ تجزّوا النّواصيا

And cut off the necks of horses around his tomb

For I am not pleased that you cut off the tails,

وحُثّوا عويلَ النّادباتِ وأبرزوا

إليهنّ عُوناً منكمُ وعَذارِيا

And urge on the wailing of the mourning women and show them

From you help and chaste ones,

ولا تسكنوا تلك المغانِيَ بعده

فقد أوحَشَتْ تلك المغاني مَغانِيا

And do not silence after him those songs

For those songs were made lonely by those songs

وَلَولا الّذي أَبقى لنا اللَّهُ بعده

بمَثْوى عليٍّ لاِفتَقدنا المعاليا

And were it not for Him who made the family of ‘Ali to remain for us after him

By the abode of ‘Ali we would have lost the high objectives,

هَوى كوكبٌ وَالبدرُ في الأفقِ طالعٌ

فما ضرّ مُرتاداً ولا ضلَّ ساريا

A star set and the moon rose on the horizon

So it did not harm a visitor or mislead a traveller,

إذا طعنوا لَزّوا الكُلى في نحورها

وإنْ ضربوا قدّوا الطُلى والتَّراقِيا

When they pierce, they split the kidneys in their throats

And when they strike, they extend the coats of mail and the plates,

بِداراً إلى السَّرحِ المُفيء بقفرةٍ

فَقد هاج راعي السَّرْحِ أُسْداً ضواريا

With an estate to the shaded pasture in the wilderness

For the shepherd of the pasture aroused a fierce lion,

ولا تَتَعمَّد جانِيَ القومِ منهمُ

فكلُّ اِمرئٍ في الحيِّ أصبح جانيا

And do not seek out the crime of the group among them

For each man in the tribe has become in the morning a criminal,

سقَى اللَّهُ قبراً حلّ غربيَّ واسطٍ

ولا زال من نَوْءِ السَّماكَيْن حاليا

May God water a grave that lodged in the west of Wasit

And it does not cease from the downpour of the two clouds,

ولا بَرحت غُرُّ السّحائبِ تُرْبَهُ

تُنشِّرُ حَوْذاناً به وأقاحيا

And the pride of the clouds does not stop perfuming it

Spreading vegetation around it and wild rue,

تَعزَّ اِبنَ حَمْدٍ فالمصائبُ جَمّةٌ

يُصِبْنَ عدوّاً أوْ يُصِبْنَ مصافيا

Take comfort, son of Hamad, for disasters are complete:

They strike an enemy or strike sympathizers.

وَهَلْ نَحن في الأيّامِ إلّا معاشرٌ

نُقضّي ديوناً أوْ نردّ عواريا

Do we live for anything but fortunes

To pay debts or return nakedness?

أجِلْ في الورى طَرْفاً فإنّك مبصرٌ

قبوراً مُثولاً أوْ دياراً خواليا

So lift your eyes in the land, for you are seeing

Graves overturned or abandoned houses,

وداءُ الرّدى في النّاسِ أعيا دواءُهُ

فلا تشكُ داءً أوْ تصيبَ مُداويا

And the disease of devastation in people its cure eludes,

So do not doubt a disease or prescribe cures,

إِذا شئتَ أنْ تَلْقى مُنى العيش كلِّه

فَكُنْ بالّذي يَقضي به اللّهُ راضِيا

If you wish to attain the full purpose of life

Then be content with what God ordains,

وكيف أُعاطيك العَزاءَ وإنّما

مُصابُك فيه يا اِبنَ حَمْدٍ مصابيا

But how can I console you when in truth

My calamity in it, O son of Hamad, is my calamity,

وَلَست أُبالِي مَن مَضى من أصادِقِي

إذا كنتَ لِي وُقِّيتُ فَقْدَك باقيا

And I do not care who of my friends has passed away

If you were spared to me, so I survived your loss,