يا يومُ أيُّ شَجىً بِمثلك ذاقه

عُصَبُ الرّسولِ وصفوةُ الرّحمنِ

O day, what grief like yours was ever tasted by

the Prophet’s kindred, the Merciful One’s chosen?

جرّعتَهم غُصصَ الرّدى حتّى اِرتوَوا

ولَذعْتَهمْ بلواذِعِ النّيرانِ

You made them gulp the choking draughts of death until they drank their fill,

and seared them with the scorching brands of fire.

وطَرَحتَهمْ بَدَداً بأجوازِ الفَلا

للذّئبِ آونةً وللعِقبانِ

You scattered them, one by one, across the desert’s breadth,

at times a feast for wolves and vultures.

عافوا القرارَ وليس غير قرارهمْ

أوْ بردِهمْ موتاً بحدّ طعانِ

They renounced repose, though their only resting place

was to lie cold in death beneath the spearpoints.

مُنِعوا الفُراتَ وصُرّعوا مِن حولِهِ

من تائقٍ للوِرْدِ أوْ ظمآنِ

They were denied the Euphrates and struck down all around it,

some yearning to reach its waters, others parched with thirst.

أوَ ما رأيتَ قِراعَهم ودفاعَهم

قِدْماً وقد أُعْرُوا من الأعوانِ

Did you not see their clash and their defense,

as they pressed forward, stripped of all supporters—

متزاحمين على الرّدى في موقفٍ

حُشِيَ الظُّبا وأُسِنَّةَ المُرّانِ

crowding one another toward death in a station

crammed with sword-blades and the points of supple spears?

ما إِنْ بهِ إلّا الشّجاعُ وطائرٌ

عنه حِذارَ الموتِ كلُّ جَبانِ

None remained there but the brave, while in flight

from it, for fear of death, went every coward.

يومٌ أذلَّ جماجماً من هاشمٍ

وسرى إلى عدنانَ أوْ قحطانِ

A day that brought low the proud heads of Hashim,

and whose wound spread through Adnan and Qahtan.

أرْعى جميمَ الحقِّ في أوطانهمْ

رَعْيَ الهشيمِ سوائِمَ العُدوانِ

It grazed down truth’s lush growth in their homelands

as aggression’s roaming herds graze withered brush.

وأنارَ ناراً لا تبوخُ وربّما

قد كان للنّيرانِ لونُ دُخانِ

And it kindled a fire that will not die away, though often

fires take on the hue of smoke.

وهوَ الّذي لم يُبقِ من دينٍ لنا

بالغدرِ قائمةً من البُنيانِ

It was that which left of our religion no

standing structure, through treachery.

يا صاحبيَّ على المصيبةِ فيهمُ

ومشارِكِيَّ اليومَ في أحزاني

O my two companions in calamity for their sake,

and my two sharers today in sorrow,

قوما خُذا نارَ الصَّلا من أضلُعِي

إن شئتما والماءَ من أجفاني

rise: take the fire’s blaze from between my ribs,

if you wish, and water from my eyelids.

وتَعلّما أنّ الّذي كتّمْتُه

حَذَرَ العِدا يأْبى على الكتمانِ

And learn that what I kept concealed,

for fear of enemies, refuses to be concealed.

فلو اِنّني شاهدتُهمْ بين العِدا

والكُفْرُ مُعْلَوْلٍ على الإيمانِ

Had I witnessed them surrounded by the enemy,

with unbelief raised above faith,

لخَضَبْتُ سيفي من نجيع عدوّهمْ

ومحوتُ من دمهمْ حُجول حصاني

I would have dyed my sword in their foes’ coursing blood,

and erased my horse’s white fetlock-marks with their blood.

وشفيتُ بالطّعنِ المبرِّحِ بالقنا

داءَ الحقودِ ووعْكَةَ الأضغانِ

With grievous thrusts of the lance I would have cured

the sickness of rancor and the fever of hatred.

ولَبعْتُهُمْ نفسي على ضَنٍّ بها

يومَ الطُّفُوفِ بأرْخصِ الأثمانِ

And I would have sold my soul for them, though sparing of it,

on the day of al-Tufuf, at the cheapest price.