لا أرى للزمان يا صاح عذرا

أفيدري لمن تأبَّط شرَّا

I see no excuse for time, O friend

Does it know for whom it brought evil

ولمن بغتةً ألمَّ بخطبٍ

ساءَ فيه الأنامُ عبداً وحرَّا

And for whom it suddenly brought distress

Mankind's servants and freemen alike were afflicted

ردَّ فيه حزناً نواصي الليالي

ووجوهُ الأنام شعثاً وغبرا

It brought back sorrow to the forelocks of nights

And the faces of people became disheveled and dusty

وحشا المكرمات حرَّى وعينُ ال

مجد عبرى ومهجة الفضل حرَّى

It made the generous stingy, and the eyes of

Glory shed tears, and the brow of virtue became hot

جذَّ من دوحة المكارم غصناً

فذوى بغتةً وقد كانَ نضرا

It plucked a branch from the palm tree of generosity

And it suddenly withered though it had been fresh

قد نعته العلياءُ وهو بقبرٍ

مذ حواه لصبرها صارَ قبرا

The eminent ones eulogized him while he was in a grave

After patience placed him in a grave

يا هلالاً رجوتُ يكمل بدراً

محقته يدُ الردى فاستسرَّا

O crescent, I hoped you would become a full moon

But the hand of evil erased you, so be consoled

مَن عذيري من لائمٍ فيك لا أق

بل عذلاً وليس يقبل عذرا

Who can I blame, if a critic blames you?

Rather, excuse him, for he will not accept an excuse

لامَ حتَّى بلومه ضقتُ ذرعاً

مثل ما ضقتُ في مصابكَ صدرا

I have restrained myself from blaming him

Just as I have restrained my chest from your calamity

قلتُ دعني ومقلةً لي عبرى

ببكاها ومهجة لي حرَّى

I said, leave me be and my tears will complain

Weeping for him, and my brow will be hot

لا تسمني قرارَ عيني فهذا

ضوؤها في ثرى اللحود استقرَّا

Do not let my eyes find comfort, for their

Light has settled in the darkness of the tomb

هو منِّي شطرُ الحشا أوَأسلو

بعدما من حشاي فارقتُ شطرا

Without me, it is half of my inner darkness

After half of my inner self parted from me

عجباً صرتُ فيه أسمح للترب

ومنه عليه أطرح وقرا

Strangely, I have become lenient with dust

And I lay him in it and pour it on him

بعد ظنِّي على العيونِ جميعاً

أن ترى ذلك المحيَّا الأغرَّا

After I expected all eyes would see

That radiant and most noble one

كانَ لي في حياته العيشُ حلواً

وهو اليوم بعده قد أمرَّا

In his life, living was sweet for me

And today, after him, it has become bitter

وبحسبي ما عشتُ داءً لنفسي

أنا أبقى ويسكن اللحدُ قسرا

And it suffices me, what I have lived, an affliction upon myself

That I remain while the grave settles him against his will

كيف ما متُّ إنَّني لجليدٌ

وبه أنشبت يدُ الموت ظفرا

However I die, I am frigid

And the hand of death has clung onto that strongly

أستجدُّ الثيابَ حياً لجسمي

وهو يبلى في التربِ ميتاً معرَّى

I don fresh clothes for my body while alive

Yet he wears out in the soil, dead and naked

لم أخلني كذا أكون صبوراً

وفؤادي بسهمه قد تفرَّى

I did not spare myself to be patient

While my heart is wounded by his arrow

رمتُ رفعَ الآلام عنه بجهدي

شفقاً لا لأبلغ الناسَ عذرا

I avoided alleviating the pain from him out of

Compassion, not to relay any excuse to people

وبذلت الطريفَ من جلِّ مالي

مع بذل التليد منه ليبرا

And I spent the finest of my money

Along with spending the most cherished for his treatment

وبودِّي لو كانَ يبقى وأملقتُ

إذاً كانَ ذا لعيني أقرَّا

I wish he could remain, and I would be

Content if he stayed, that would comfort my eyes

سوءةٌ للزمانِ مالي أراه

ساءَ مَن أحسنوا لأبناه طرَّا

It is an evil of time that I see him

Those who were good to their children fared poorly

هم بنو المصطفى ومَن في البرايا

كبني المصطفى سماحاً وبرَّا

They are the Prophet's sons, and those in the wilderness

Are like the Prophet's sons in generosity and righteousness

فئةُ المجد معشرُ الشرف المحض

قبيل العليا وناهيك فخرا

The party of glory, the people of pure nobility

The tribe of the eminent, needless to say their pride

قد أرَّق الحرصُ الأنامَ ولكن

لم يكن غيرُهم على الأرض حرَّا

Greed has robbed people, but none other than them

Were free in the world

قد كساهم محمدٌ صالحَ الأفعال

بُرداً من فخره طابَ نشرا

Muhammad, the righteous in deeds, clothed them

With a cloak of his pride, pleasantly scented

ورعٌ من رآه قالَ لعمري

إن لله في معانيكَ سرَّا

Devoutness - whoever saw him said

"By my life, you have a sublime essence within you"

ملكيُّ الصفات لكن تراه

بشريّ الأعضاء قد جلَّ قدرا

Angelic in attributes, but you see him

Human in limbs, his worth most high

لك نفسٌ قدسيَّةٌ قد تمحَّض

ت بها للإله سرًّا وجهرا

You have a holy soul that has been purified

By it, secretly and openly, for God

هي تلكَ النفسُ التي بين جنبي

ذي المعالي أخيك ليست بأُخرى

It is that soul between the sides

Of the one of exalted qualities, your brother - it is no other

شرعاً قد سموتما للمعالي

وإليها ركبتما النجمَ ظهرا

By law, you two have risen to the heights

And mounted the star on its back

تمَّ فيه ما كانَ ساءَ وسرَّا

فهو ملء الزمان نفعاً وضرَّا

What was evil has ended, and what was hidden is revealed

So he is the time's fullness, in good and evil

ذو يسارٍ يزري بيمنى سواه

ويمينٍ كانت لراجيه يسرا

With ease he pours with his right over others

And a hand that was facile for its seeker

هي أجرى من البحار نوالاً

ومن الغاديات أغزرُ دَرَّا

It flows more generously than seas in bestowal

And is more abundant in pearls than clouds drifting

تخصب الأرض في نداه إذا الجد

بُ أديمُ الصعيد فيه اقشعرَّا

It makes the land fertile through its clouds, so that when the generous

Moves, the surface of the barren plain shivers through him

وعلى الأرضِ إن مشتْ ودَّت

الشهبُ عليها أذيالَ علياه جرَّا

And on the earth - if he walks, the meteors

Drag their hems for him in procession

كيف لا تحسد النجومُ ثراه

وبه قد سما على الشهبِ فخرا

How can the stars not envy his wealth

By which he has risen above the meteors in pride?

قد جرى سابقاً وصلَّى أمينُ ال

فضل يتلوه لاحقاً واستمرَّا

He raced ahead, and the trustee of grace prayed behind him

Then they both settled in the highest glory

ثمَّ حلاَّ معاً بأرفع مجدٍ

طلعا في سماه شمساً وبدرا

Rising in its heaven as sun and moon

So every light became guided by them

فغدا كلُّ نيِّرٍ بهما هادٍ

لمن رامَ للمكارمِ مسرى

For one aspiring to glorious deeds

O sons of the Prophet, you have established mildness

يا بني المصطفى رسختم حلوماً

فغدوتم على النوائبِ صبرا

And so you became patient through tribulations

The recompense belongs to you, but patience

ذا الجزا أنتُم حريُّون فيه

لكن الصبرُ أنتم فيه أحرى

Is more befitting of you, even if worth is high

And the sorrow of the past is lessened when

ومصاب الماضي يهون إذا ما

كنتَ أنتَ الباقي وإن عزَّ قدرا

You remain, even if the loss was grave