أفعى الأسى طرقت وغابَ الراقي

فأنا اللديغُ وأدمعي درياقي

The serpent of sorrow struck and the sublime one departed

So I am the bitten one and my tears are my shield

باتت تساورُ وهي غير ضئيلةٍ

حتَّى رشحن بسمِّها آماقي

It persisted in coiling though it was not small

Until its venom moistened my innermost being

لا راقَ نفسي العيشُ بعدك ليلةً

ضربت عليَّ بأسدف الأرواقِ

My soul did not find rest after you, even for a night

It struck me with the clubs of the litters

أثكلتنيها يا ثكلتك قبلها

غرراً أعزّ عليَّ من أحداقي

It made me childless, oh your bereavement before it

Joys dearer to me than my eyelids

فأعدت لي في فقدِ أطيب معرقٍ

في المجدِ مفقدَ طيِّب الأعراقِ

So it brought back to me in the loss of the sweetest vein

In glory, the loss of the good veins

ذهبا بأيامٍ خطرت مع الهوى

منها بمعلمة البرود رقاقِ

Gone are days that fluttered with passion

Among them with the guide of coolness, thinness

زمناً لبستُ حريرها ونضوتها

عن جدَّةٍ وأبيكَ لا الأخلاقِ

A time I wore its silk and enjoyed its softness

From a new and shining whiteness, not morals

فلأندبن اليوم صالحَ عهدها

ولأبكين نفائسَ الأعلاقِ

So I will lament today the goodness of its covenant

And cry over the elite of the lofty

ولأحلبنَّ من الشجون حشاشتي

دمعاً كمندفق الحيا المهراقِ

And I will milk from sorrows my sunken eye

A tear like the outpouring of slippery snakes

أمرقصاً دمعي وأخلاقي معاً

بنشائد الخنساء لا إسحاق

My tear and my nature together

With the elegies of Al-Khansa' not Isaac

فرِّق بأقتلها مجامعَ أضلعي

إنَّ المكارم آذنتْ بفراقِ

It tore apart the associations of my ribs

Indeed greatness has given notice of departure

قتلت أسًى لأغرَّ لولا وجودُه

قتل الزمان بنيه من إملاقِ

It killed a sorrow, had it not existed

The time would have killed its progeny completely

فأزلْ بنعيك في الورى رمق الورى

فالموتُ زال بممسك الإرماقِ

So remove your obituary in the land, the life of the land

For death has departed with your final grasp

هذا أبو حسن استقلَّ مشيّعاً

لكن بنعشٍ لا متون عتاقِ

This is Abu Hasan who rode his escort alone

But with a bier without camel litters

ومشتْ وراءَ سريره من هاشمٍ

غلبُ الرقاق خواضعُ الأعناقِ

And behind his coffin walked the Hashimites

Overcome, humbled necks bowed down

متماسكين من الحياءِ تهافتت

قطعاً قلوبُهم من الإقلاقِ

United in bashfulness, their hearts crumbled

To pieces from anguish

يا راحلاً بالصبرِ حمَّل قومَه

عبئاً من الأرزاء غير مطاقِ

O you who with patience burdened your people

With a load of misery unbearable

خرجتْ تمنّى لو بهاشم كلّها

خرجت وأنتَ لمجد قومك باقي

She went out wishing, if only all the Hashimites

Would go out while you remain for the glory of your people

فلو افتدى بسواه غيرُك أو وقى

من حدِّ أسياف المنيَّة واقي

If other than you were to ransom or protect

From the edge of the swords of death a protector

لوقتْك من دمها العفاةُ بما وقى

بوفاء ماء سماحك الرقراقِ

The virtuous would have protected you with what protected

With the loyalty of your pouring clemency

ولغيَّمت بالنقعِ دونك هاشمٌ

حتَّى تسدَّ مطالع الآفاقِ

And the Hashimites would have clouded without you

Until the horizons were blocked

وأتتكَ ترعد بالصواهلِ واغتدت

بالبيضِ تبرقُ أيَّما إبراقِ

And she would have come to you clamoring with the swords and been sated

With the white flashing any flashing

ولأمطرتْ بدمٍ سقت شوك القنا

منه بأغزر وابلٍ دفَّاقِ

And she would have rained with blood that watered the thorns

From it with the most abundant downpour

ولقارعت عنك الردى وشعارها

أنا من أمرَّ اليوم طعمَ مذاقي

And she would have contended for you against fate and its path

I am the one who tasted the flavor of my cup today

ولأقبلتْ بكَ يا عميدَ سراتها

والموت بين يديك رهنُ وثاقِ

And she would have come to you, o pillar of her great ones

With death before you taken captive

وأظنُّ أنَّك والتكرّم شأنكم

كرماً تمنُّ عليه بالإطلاقِ

And I suppose, such is your nature, generosity,

That you wish with absolute generosity

فيردن أفئدةٌ لهنَّ لظى الجوى

لم تبقِ باقيةً على الإحراقِ

So hearts will return to them, seared by the hot coals

They did not remain burning

لكن دُعيتَ وأيّ خلقٍ لم يكن

ليجيب دعوة قاهرٍ خلاّق

But you were called, and what nature would not

Answer the call of the compelling Creator

فمضى الردى بك راغباً بطلاقها

دنياً تجدُّ تبعلاً بطلاقِ

So fate took you willingly divorcing it

A world that renews a husband with divorce

معشوقةٌ وهي الملالُ وإنَّها

لعلى الملال كثيرةُ العشَّاقِ

A beloved, and it is tedious, though

Many lovers are wearied by its tediousness

سارٍ على أيدٍ رفعن برفعها

منك البنان مفاتح الأرزاقِ

Traveling by the hands that raised by raising you

The lofty minarets, keys to sustenance

أعتقن من رقِّ الزمان كرامَه

فجمعن بين الرقِّ والإعتاقِ

They freed the nobility of their bondage

Thus joining slavery and liberation

ودعت وقد رفعت عقيرتها العُلى

الله أين بمثقل الأعناق

And she bid farewell, having raised her camel litter

To the Most High, where are you with your heavy burden?

فبرغم أنفي اليوم حطَّك في الثرى

مَن كنت أرفعه على الأحداقِ

So despite my nose today, who lowered you in the dust

I used to raise above all others

فلو استطعتُ عن التراب رفعته

بالوضع بين ترائبٍ وتراقي

If I could lift you from the soil

I would place you between litters and high ground

واهاً لتربة ذلك الجدث الذي

فيه دفنت مكارم الأخلاقِ

Alas for the soil of that corpse in which

The morals of noble character were buried

مصَّت ندى تلك البنان فأعطشت

عودَ الرجاء وكان ذا إيراقِ

The dew of those fingers was sipped, leaving thirsty

The rod of hope, though it was dripping

إيهاً صروف الدهر دونك في الورى اب

تدري بلا فرقٍ ولا إشفاقِ

Woe to the turns of fate below you in the land

Uncaring, without distinction or sympathy

غطي التراب على قريعك وابرزي

في الناس كاشفةً لهم عن ساقِ

The dust covers your tomb, so come out

Baring to the people your leg

قدرٌ رمى شجر العلوم بمعطشٍ

فشكت أعاليه جفافَ الساقِ

Destiny threw down the tree of knowledge, leaving it thirsty

So its heights complained of the dryness of the leg

وذوى وزال عن القلوب لفقد مَن

قد كانَ بحراً والقلوبُ سواقي

It withered and was lost from hearts for one whose

Presence was an ocean while hearts were irrigation ducts

سُلبتْ نضارته وغودر عن يَدي

طلاّبه متساقطَ الأوراقِ

Deprived of his blossoms and stolen from

His pursuers, his pages falling

يا نازلاً غرف الجنان وتاركَ ال

صبِّ المشوق بقاتم الأعماقِ

O you who descended the chambers of paradise, leaving

The pouring darkness in the depths

وفدت عليك صلاةُ ربّك شائقاً

منعت إليه وفادةَ المشتاقِ

The prayer of your Lord came to you yearning

Forbidden for it is the yearning of the ardent lover

فاذهب وحسبُك للعُلى بمحمدٍ

فعلاه لا يرقى إليها الراقي

So go, your ascension to the Most High through Muhammad

Is enough, no sublime one ascends to it

عرجت به لسماء فضلك همَّةٌ

قالت أجلُّ من البراق براقي

A resolve ascended you to the heaven of your superiority

Saying more sublime than Al-Buraq is my mount

هذا الذي ورث النبوَّة علمَها

ومن الإِمامة حلّ أيَّ رواقِ

This one who inherited the knowledge of his prophecy

And from the imamate donned every litters

ولقد أقولُ لمن بغاه بضغنه

أقصرْ فلستَ تناله بلحاقِ

And I say to one who hates him in his spite

Fall short, you cannot reach him by pursuit

عجباً طمعت بمن يروضك عالماً

إنَّ القلوب تراضُ بالإرفاقِ

Wondrous, you hope to tame a master

Indeed hearts are tamed by gentle handling

لا تقربنَّ الصلَّ نضنض مطرقاً

فالصلُّ سورته مع الإطراقِ

Do not come near this kinship, buzzing angrily

For kinship, its defensive wall is gentleness

هو والحسينُ كلاهما قمرا عُلى

في فتيةٍ هم أنجم الآفاقِ

He and Hussein are both moons of the Most High

Among youths who are the stars of horizons

من كلِّ نهاض العزائم حائزٍ

قصبَ الرهان بيوم كلِّ سباقِ

Seizing the stalks of resolve on the day of every race

They carried the wager with valor

خطبت لهم بكر العُلى وهمُ لها

جعلوا جميل الذكر خيرَ صداقِ

The Most High asked for them in marriage and they

Made the good mention the best dowry

فبنو بخيرِ عقيلةٍ ما راعها

صرفُ النوائب منهم بطلاقِ

So they built with the best bride what guarded it

The turns of misfortunes from them with divorce

لولاهم غدت القلوبُ كمضغةٍ

بلهى الخطوب تلاكُ بالأشداقِ

Were it not for them, hearts would become like wads

Crazed by the misfortunes, meeting them with mouths agape

ولأطبقت ظلمُ الرزيَّة واختفى

ضوءُ السلوِّ بذلك الإطباقِ

And the darkness of misery would have prevailed and the

Light of serenity would have been obscured by it

فهم البدورُ تفاوتت بطلوعها

في المجد لا في التمِّ والإشراقِ

For they are the full moons that rose unequalled

In glory, not in blemish and brilliance

المجدُ أطلعها وقالَ معوّذاً

لا نِيلَ باهرُ مجدكم بمحاقِ

Glory rose over them saying, protected

Unattainable is your magnificent glory by pursuit