سرْ ناشداً يا أيّها السائرُ

ما حار مَنْ مَقْصِدُه الحائرُ

O traveler, I implore you,

None who sought guidance ever went astray,

ما حار مَن زار إِمامَ الهدى

خيرَ مزورٍ زاره الزّائر

None who visited the Imam of guidance,

The best visited by visitors, ever went astray,

من جَدُّهُ أطهرُ جدٍّ وَمَنْ

أَبوه لا شكَّ الابُ الطاهر

His grandfather is the purest ancestor,

And his father, undoubtedly, the righteous father,

مُقَاسِمُ النارِ له المسلمُ ال

مؤمنُ منَّا ولها الكافر

The one who will divide hellfire,

Every believing Muslim of us, and every disbeliever for it,

دان بدينِ الحقِّ طفلاً وما

إِنْ دانَ لا بادٍ ولا حاضر

He adhered to the religion of truth as a child,

Not out of compulsion or coercion,

الواردُ الكهفَ على فتيةٍ

لا واردٌ منهم ولا صادر

The one who entered the cave upon youths

With no visitor among them nor one leaving,

حتى إِذا سلَّم ردُّوا وفي

ردهمُ ما يُخْبِرُ الخابر

Until when they bid farewell, their farewell

Informed the informer,

أَذكرُ شجوي ببني هاشمٍ

شجوي الذي يَشْجَى به الذاكرُ

I remember my ardour for the Hashimites,

My ardour that saddens the rememberer,

أَذْكُرُهُمْ ما ضحكَ الروضُ أو

ما ناحَ فيه وبكى الطائر

I remember them whenever the meadow laughed

Or whenever a bird therein cried and wept,

مُساهِري وَجْدي بما نابهم

لا نامَ عنهم وجديَ الساهر

My vigils and ardour for what befell them

Neither sleep regarding them, nor my vigils sleep,

يومُ الحسينِ ابتزَّ صبري فما

منِّيَ لا صبرٌ ولا الصابر

The day of Hussein my patience was severed

I had no more patience nor endurance,

لهفي على مولايَ مُسْتَنصراً

غُيِّبَ عن نَصْرَتِهِ الناصر

Yearning for my Master, seeking aid,

While his supporter was prevented from aiding,

ظمآن والمهرُ به ما به

لا يبعدُ المهرُ ولا الماهرُ

Thirsty, while the sun by midday

Did not distance, nor the skilled one,

حتى إِذا دار بما ساءنا

على الحسينِ القَدَرُ الدائر

Until when it turned, with what saddened us,

Against Hussein, the circling decree,

خرَّ يُضاهي قمراً زاهراً

وأين منهُ القمرُ الزاهر

He fell, rivaling a shining moon,

While, where is the shining moon from him?

وأمُّ كلثومٍ ونسوانُها

بمنظرٍ يُكْبِرُهُ الناظر

And Umm Kulthum and her women

Appearing in a scene that amazes the onlooker,

يسابقُ الطِرفَ إليها وقد

أنحى على منحره الناحر

The glance racing to them, and he

Had collapsed, throat-slit, by the slaughterer,

والدمعُ من مقلتها قاطرٌ

والدمُ من أَوداجِهِ قاطر

And tears from her eyelids pouring,

And blood from his jugular gushing,

يا مَنْ هُوَ الصفوةُ من هاشمٍ

يعرفُها الأولُ والآخرُ

O finest of Hashim's line they know,

The former and the latter,

ذا الشاعر الضبيُّ يَلْقَى بكم

ما ليسَ يَلْقَى بكمُ شاعرُ

This eloquent youth meets you

With what no other poet meets you with.