مِن لِنواحة الدُجى بِأَخ يَمـ

ـلي عَلَيها الشجي مِن إِيحائه

From the lamentations of darkness, with a brother

Whose passion flows over it and whose purest blood and breath

يُخلص الآلهة العَميقة مِن أَنبـ

ـل أَنفاسه وَأَزكى دِمائه

Release the unfathomable gods,

Tell it the tidings of hope though the smiles

قُل لَها صوح الرَجاء وَغاضَت

بِسمات الوُجود بَعدَ اِنقِضائه

Of existence vanished after its passing,

They taught it how tears should flow, to drain

عَلَموها كَيفَ الدُموع لِتَستَنـ

ـزف ماء العُيون مِن جرائه

The water of the eyes because of it,

And they filled its chest with the songbirds of death

وَاِملأوا صَدرَها أَغاريد لِلمَو

ت عَلى شَدوِها يَد مِن وَرائه

Clapping over its song, beyond it a hand,

And the hand of death scatters sincere purposes -

وَيَد المَوت تَنثر القَصد الحَر

ى جَراثيم في مَواضع دائه

Germs into the places of its disease,

So it aimed its arrow and did not miss the Shaykh

فوقت سَهمَها فَلم تُخطئ الشَيخ

وَلَكن تَعجَلت في اِنتهائه

Though it was hasty in his ending,

My eyes witnessed the death of virtue

شَهدت مصرع الفَضيلة عَينا

ي وَمَهوى الصَريع مَن عَليائه

And the deep fall of the lofty one from his heights,

And my onlooker saw a martyr whom blood

وَرَأى ناظِري شَهيداً يَكاد الدَ

م يَجري عَلى جزين رِدائه

Nearly flows over the hem of his gown,

And I saw the pasture and sighted

وَتَبينت ما يَريع وَأَبصَر

ت فَتى مُقبِلاً عَلى آبائه

A youth coming to his fathers,

So look around him, angels of eternity

فَاِنظُروا حَولَهُ مَلائكة الخُـ

ـلد يَطوفن في جَميل اِحتِفائه

Circling in the beauty of his feast,

An angel from whose wing the roses blow

ملك مِن جَناحه يَهب الوَر

د وَيَنشو النَعيم مِن أَعضائِهِ

And bliss sprouts from his limbs,

And a merciful one of the cherubim

وَرَحيم مِن المَلائكة الغُر

يَمد الظَليل مِن أَفيائه

Who extends the shade from his sides,

Adorn it, O angels, with flowers, or honor his noble bier,

كَليل بِالوَرود أَيَّتها الأَمـ

ـلاك أَو ظللي كَريم فَنائه

And do your best for the One, the Only, and preserve for me some of his story,

How I burnt in the embers of his presence, a group

وَاِحفلي ما اِستَطَعت بِالواحد الـ

ـفرد وَصوني عَلَيهِ بَعض روائه

Of his mourners beside me,

In my agony there is clarity, and in my eyes

كَم تَحَرَقت في مَجامر إذكا

ها بِجَنبي طائف مِن رثائه

From his love, from his distress and his hopes,

A tear that inflames sorrows or extinguishes

إِن في لَوعَتي بَياناً وَفي عَيني

مِن وَجدِهِ وَمِن بَرحائِهِ

In the duct if its hope is dashed,

O destiny who aimed true, striking the heart

مَدمَعاً يُلهب الأَسية أَو يُطفئ

في المَسيل وَقَد رَجائه

Of time in its holiness and grandeur,

For the shrouded one in his relics

يا قَضاء رَمى فَأقصد قَلب الدَ

هر في قُدسِهِ وَفي كِبرِيائه

Of the messengers of good, or the echo of his prophets,

I said, carry his bier through the valleys of the wind

لِلمَسجي بِثَوبِهِ مِن بَقايا

رُسل الخَير أَو صَدى أَنبيائه

And walk with it over its setbacks,

And flow out and ask permission in God's heaven

قُلت سَيروا بِنَعشِهِ في هَوادي ا

لريح وَاِمشوا بِهِ عَلى نَكبائِهِ

To allow you into His skies,

And enter it, for among you is one humble

وَاستَفيضوا وَاِستَأذِنوا في سَماء

اللَه يَأذَن إِلَيكُم في سَمائه

And one streaming with tears,

Set forth in the sky and seek the dawn

وَأَدخُلوها فَمِنكُم خاشع الطَر

ف وَمِنكَم مُستَرسل في بُكائه

And build his tomb from its light,

O blot on virtue, in whose mystery and depths

وَاِنفُروا في السَماء فَالتَمِسوا الـ

ـفَجر وَصُوغوا ضَريحه مِن ضِيائه

Lay all that is noble,

The hope in its spring has dried, the sweet

يا ذماء مِن الفَضيلة كُل النبـ

ـل في سره وَفي أَحشائه

Dream in the depths of its water is arid,

And the throbbing heart from thought is folded

غاض في نَبعِهِ الرَجاء وَجَف الأَ

مَل الحُلو في قَرارة مائِهِ

Away, precious in its remoteness,

A nation was too hasty for him, and in ourselves

وَاِنطَوى خافق أَغَر مِن الفكـ

ـر عَزيز عَلى بُعد اِنطِوائه

A need to keep him remains,

So sob, O souls, for weeping, or gather me

عوجِلَت أُمة عَلَيهِ وَفي أَنفُسِـ

ـنا حاجة إِلى اِستِبقائه

To his family,

And come, let us ask death what would

فَاجهَشي لِلبُكاء أَيَّتها الأَنفُـ

ـس أَو أَجملي عَلي لِأَوائه

Lift the puzzle of its thick covering,

Is it death, this great stillness

وَتَعالي نَستَلهم المَوت ما يَر

فَع عَن لُغزِهِ سَميك غِطائه

Over the serenity of the earth, or its nudity?

Is it death, this first step

أَهُوَ المَوت هَذِهِ الهدأة الكُبرى

عَلى وَهدة الثَرى أَو عَرائه

To the Savior of the world from its troubles?

Is it death, that endless forever

أَهُوَ المَوت هَذِهِ الخُطوة الأُو

لى إِلى مُنقذ الوَرى مِن عَنائه

Folded in on itself, in its markings?

Lie buried there in its mummy cloths

أَهُوَ المَوت ذَلِكَ الأَبَد المَطـ

ـوي في نفسِهِ عَلى سَيمائه

So postpone it if you want, not by the threads of dawn

If you desire it, nor by its intelligent design,

هَذِ بَينَنا المَظاهر وَالسر

دَفين هُناكَ في موميائه

Do you ask existence the meanings of the heavens

Or deduce them from its air?

فَأَجله إِن أَرَدت لا مِن خَيوط الفَجر

إِن شئته وَلا مِن ذِكائه

That is hidden over the generations, so there is no

Hope in fathoming it and bringing it to light,

أَفَتَستَلهم الوُجود مَعاني السَـ

ـموات أَم تَستَمدها مِن هَوائه

O Abu al-Qasim overlooking the world

From his grave and from his heights,

تِلكَ مَخبوءة القُرون فَلا مطمـ

ـع في كنهها إِلى اِستجلائه

For you I have a great hand that stirred a memory

And roused it from its slumber,

يا أبا القاسم المطل عَلى العال

لم مِن لَحدِهِ وَمِن علوائه

For you I have covenants on my shoulder I could never

Fulfill, even if you add to their burdens,

لَكَ عِندي كُبرى يَد نَبهت ذِكـ

ـرى وَاِستَنفَرته مِن إِغفائه

I was in the company of the dead people

So destruction made its way to its lodgings,

لَكَ في عاتِقي مَواثيق ما أَجـ

ـدرها إِن تُزيد مِن أَعبائه

Hoping you might see lively ones there, and find

The living in their midst, alive in their quarters,

كُنت في رِفقة مِن الناس مَوتى

فَاِنتَهَجَت الرَدى إِلى نَزلائه

Some in graves are dead, and some

In being lost was the way to their survival,

آملاً أَن تَرى هُنالك أَحيا

ء فَحي الرِغام في أَحيائه

Lord, grant from You the soul of my father al-Qasim

What You never granted to his peers,

بَعض مَن في القُبور مَوتى وَبَعـ

ـض كانَ في فُقدانه سَبيل بَقائه

Grant him the mercy of heaven and bless

His offspring and his children.

رَب هِب مِن لَدُنكَ روح أَبي الـ

ـقاسم ما لَم تَهب إِلى نَظرائه

هب لَهُ رَحمَة السَماء وَبارك

في ذَراريه وَفي أَبنائه