قطعت لسانكم نفثةٌ من أرقمِ

أعلمت من تنعاه أم لم تعلم

A breath from Arqam has silenced your tongues

Do you know who you are mourning or are you unaware?

كيف استطعت تدير في فمك اسمه

ولقد يضيق به فمُ المتكلّم

How could you bear to turn his name around in your mouth

When even the eloquent's mouth is too narrow for it

يا ناعياً للخلق روح حياتهم

املك لساناً لا أبا لك واكظم

O you who lament the spirit of life for all creation

Hold your tongue, you have no father, so choke it down

رفِّه على موتى نبلت قلوبهم

فتنبَّهوا بسهام نعيٍ مؤلم

Curb it from lamenting the noble whose hearts have withered

So they are roused by the pain of a grievous lament

فجميعهم تحت الثرى في ملحدٍ

وجميعهم فوق الثرى في مأتم

They are all together in the same grave in a cemetery

And together above the grave in mourning

دعهم فقد غصُّوا بجرعة ثكلهم

وإلى الأئمَّة في نعائك يمّم

Leave them be, for they have been satiated by the bitterness of their loss

And turn your lamentation towards the Imams

وقل السلامُ عليكم دُرِس التقى

وعفتْ معالمه عفوَّ الأرسم

And say peace be upon you, exemplars of piety

Whose features virtue's pardon has effaced

والدين هدَّ اليوم دين محمدٍ

ووهت دعائمه بفقد المحكم

Today religion is the religion of Muhammad

Its pillars weakened by the loss of the Decisive

كانَ الدليل أقمتموه على الهُدى

علماً يدلُّ على الطريق الأقوم

You had appointed him as evidence of guidance

A sign pointing to the rightest path

والآن لمَّا طوَّحته يدُ الردى

غدت الأنام بمجملٍ مستبهم

But now that the hand of evil has demolished him

People are left in wholesale confusion

حميت عليهم للرشاد مطالعٌ

لا تستبين اليوم للمتوسّم

I protected guidance for them like the rising of stars

That today cannot be clearly made out by the hopeful

غشيتهم سوداءُ أطبق ليلها

للحشر تلحفهم بليلٍ مظلم

A pitch black darkness has descended on them

Enshrouding them for the Gathering in a gloomy night

يا خيرَ آباءٍ فقدنا برَّهم

فجعت يتاماكم بأرفق قيّم

O best of fathers, we have lost their blessedness

Your orphans mourn the loss of the gentlest caregiver

فطموا فمن لهم بدرَّة فيئكم

أن يرضعوها بعد أكرم منعم

Wean their mouths, for who else but you

Can nurture them after the Most Generous Sustainer?

حسِّن مقالك ما الأئمَّة أهملوا

أبناءكم فيسوء ظنُّ المعدم

Speak well, for the Imams did not neglect

Your children, so the needy's assumption would be spoiled

بل كانَ شاقهم الإِمام المرتضى

ولذاك قيل له على الرحب أقدم

Indeed, the Imam al-Murtada busied himself with their affairs

And that is why he was called the First to Give

ورأوا محمد صالحاً من بعده

لبنيهمُ يبقى فقيلَ لهُ اسلم

And they saw Muhammad as righteous after him

So he was named Submit (to God)

دمْ للصلاح وللهداية والتقى

ولعيلة العافي وحمل المغرم

Proceed with righteousness, guidance, piety and virtue

And for the virtuous family and bearer of burdens

قسماً بهديكَ بل بنسكك بل بمن

بالفضل خصَّك وهو جهدُ المقسم

I swear by your guidance, your devotion, and by Him

Who preferred you with merit, which fully binds me

ما فوقَ ظهر الأرض فوقك مقتفٍ

أثرَ الأئمَّة في تقًى وتكرّم

None above the earth's face emulates you

In following the Imams in piety and nobility

أنتَ الذي تنميك من سلف العُلى

زهرُ الوجوه لها المكارم تنتمي

You are the one the bloom of the high ancestry raises

The feats of glory belong to it and stem from it

ومعذَّبٍ بعُلاك قلت وقد سما

لينالها فانحطَّ موطئ منسم

And one debased by your loftiness, I said when he attained them:

He has reached them, so his foothold has slipped

أتعبت نفسكَ ليس تعلو شأوه

ولو ارتقيتَ إلى السماء بسلَّم

You exhausted yourself though your repute cannot rise higher

Even if you climbed to the heavens with a ladder

فاسلم على الأيام ربعك آهلٌ

وعُلاك سامٍ فوقَ هام المرزم

So greet the days, for your brilliance has declined

And your loftiness has reached its zenith and climax