درى لا درى دهرٌ ذممنا طباعَه

لأيِّ حمًى يا راعه اللهُ راعَه

The ages knew not, nor did their natures realize

To which protector of faith their Lord would entrust their care?

وأيّ عليٍّ ساقَ للنزع نفسَه

لقد كابدت نفسُ المعاني نزاعه

And which Ali stormed forth to meet his inevitable fate?

My very soul has endured the suffering of such ordeals

وأُدرجت التقوى بأثناء بردِه

وأزمعَ خيرُ الأرض عنها زماعه

And piety crept amid the expanse of its chilling solitude

While the best on earth turned away from it in hordes

مضت ليلةُ الاثنين عنه بواحدٍ

له في النهى مرأًى يفوق سماعه

The night of Monday slipped away with its fleeting hours

To its warnings he lent an ear, listening intently

تفرق شملُ الصبر ساعة بينه

وأقبلَ شملُ الهمِّ يبدي اجتماعه

Patience scattered its collected shards in a moment’s time

While sorrow marshalled its determined ranks in a show of solidarity

طوى يومهُ بشرَ الزمان بهاءه

بشاشته إبهاجه والتماعه

The day whose morning was heralded by the light of dawn

With joy and merriment spreading their wings in celebration

وغادره ما عاشَ ينشرُ رزءه

جديداً فيبكي ثكله وانتجاعه

And left behind all that it lived for, now spreading its misery

Anew it weeps for its own bereavement and wailing distress

أصاح بماذا يملك الجلدُ جفنه

على الدمع أو ينهي الحليمُ التياعه

It cries, what strength of will does the eyelid possess

To hold back tears, or how far can the forbearing restrain their effusion?

ويطرد في أيِّ الرقى ماردَ الجوى

ويحوي لديغ الهمِّ فيها شجاعه

And which amulet might cage the fierce winds of fate

And contain the sting of sorrow deep within its resistant exterior?

وكيف وأنِّي والتماسَك والذي

به يشتكي كلٌّ أجدّ وداعه

And how could I restrain myself, when even those

Who bemoan their lot cannot adequately convey their woe?

سل الحلة الفيحاء عن عقد نحرها

أتعلم منها الدهرُ أين أضاعه

Ask the faded necklace about the pearls torn from its thread

Does fate even know anymore where it has cast them aside?

نعم سامه فابتاعه الموتُ بالجوى

ويا ربحها لو تستطيعُ ارتجاعه

Yes, it poisoned them, and death has bought them for a pittance

If only you could retrieve and reclaim them!

مغمّضه مهلاً أتحفظ للتقى

بكفّيك جفناً ما أعفَّ ارتفاعه

Keep them shut awhile gently if you would preserve piety

In your hands, a lid not lifted lightly in some time

وغاسله رفقاً فمن جسد العُلى

تقلبُ جسماً ما أشقَّ انتزاعه

And wash it carefully, for it is the body of a noble soul

You turn over, none too gently wrested away

ورادعَه طيباً ألست بناشقٍ

على جسمه طيبَ التقى ورداعه

And curb it softly! Are you not infinitely more merciful

Than fate in its caprice, which robbed it of its sanctity?

وحامله في النعشِ دونك فاحتمل

به النسكَ إنَّ النسكَ كانَ متاعه

Bear it forth in the bier, for only you now shoulder

The burden of its legacy, once its sole possession

ومضجعَه في لحده أضجع التقى

به فهو يهوى مع أخيه اضطجاعه

And lay it to rest in its grave, for piety desires

To sleep alongside its brother, drawing close in intimacy

وباكيَه لا تبكي بالدمع وحده

بلى بدم الأحشاء مدّ اندفاعه

And mourn it sincerely, not just with tears alone

But with blood of your innermost being surging forth unrestrained

وراثيَه إنَّ الكلام لضائقٌ

بعظم الجوى بل لا يضيق استماعه

And console its kin, though words scarcely suffice,

So profound the sorrow, but does aching hearts ease?

نعم إن غدت منه خلاءً فهذه

بقيته في المجدِ تعلو يفاعه

Yes, though it leaves you hollow and wanting, such

Was the height of its glory, towering to the skies

بهمَّته تسمو إلى شرف العُلى

وتبسط في كسب المعالي ذراعه

With its ambition, rising to the honor of highest place

And stretching to attain the most splendid goals

مضى وهو البدرُ المنيرُ وأنجموا

بأبراجه شهباً كساها شعاعه

It has gone, that brilliant moon, and they are stars

Whose orbits it illumined with its radiant beams

أطايبُ قد حلُّوا من العزِّ ربعه

فعطَّر طيبُ الفخر منهم بقاعه

The sweetest perfumes of honor have dissipated from its abode

And the scent of pride is diffused throughout its domains

فصبراً بني التقوى وإن كانَ رزؤكم

عرى الدهرُ منه ما أراعَ ذراعه

So patience, O people of piety, though your grief

Has stripped bare what little solace the age afforded you

لنا ولكم حسنُ العزا عن أبيكم

بخيرِ أبٍ سرَّ الندى قد أذاعه

For you and for us, the seemly mourning of a father

Who brought happiness to the dew, spreading its moisture

هو الحلف المهديُّ من في جبينه

بدا للهدى نوراً يزين التماعه

He is the rightly-guided Proof, on whose brow

A light appeared, adorning the throngs in their vigil

ولم يتبعْ الإقتداء به الهُدى

بلى أوجب اللهُ العظيم اتِّباعه

And the guidance did not follow in his footsteps

Rather God ordained his great example be followed

أبو سادةٍ لو حلَّق النسرُ طائراً

لنيلِ ذرى عليائهم ما استطاعه

O Father of Sa'ada! If the eagles circling high

Could attain the lofty reaches of their nobility, they could not

فجعفرُ فضلٌ صالحٌ ومحمدٌ

حسينٌ حبا المهديَّ كلٌّ طباعه

For Ja'far is virtuous and good, and Muhammad

Is Hussein. Each bears his nature and character.

فروعُ فخارٍ رشحتها أصولها

لمجدٍ تمنَّى المجدُ منه ارتفاعه

Branches of a noble tree, watered at the root

To feed its glory, reaching upward for the sky

لهم حسبٌ لو كايلوه بنو العُلى

بأحسابهم فخراً لما كِلنَ صاعه

In them is honor enough, even if the nobles

Measured it in their valuations, to find it beyond measure

أبا صالحٍ كم مبهماتٍ جلوتها

وملتبسٍ منها كشفتَ قناعه

O Father of Salih! How many perplexities you have resolved

And ambiguities obscured beneath their masks brought to light

سنا البدر قد أطفا سناك شعاعه

ونوركَ ذا فيه رأينا انطباعه

The full moon of your countenance has darkened our stars

And in it we see the imprint of your radiance reflected

هل المجدُ إلاَّ ما رفعتَ عماده

أو الجودُ إلاَّ ما تجيد اصطناعه

What is glory if not the pillars you erected to prop it up

And what is generosity without the skill you perfected in its practice?

وأعجبُ شيءٍ أن يطاول فاضلٌ

علاكَ ومنكَ الفترُ يفضلُ باعه

Most wondrous is that any man of merit would presume

To surpass you, when the least of your gifts exceeds any other's sum

وكيف الفضا في عظم فخرك لم يطقْ

أفخرُك قد أعطى الفضاءَ اتَّساعه

And how could your lofty eminence be constrained

When the proudest of your feats has broadened the horizons of possibility?

تُراجعُ أعطاء الكثير ولا كمن

إذا هو أعطى النزرَ ودَّ ارتجاعه

You return the excessive grants of the wasteful, unlike those

Who give but the smallest of gifts, only to demand them back

سلمتَ لدين الله ترأبُ صدعه

وتحفظ ما منه سواكَ أضاعه

You have devoted yourself to restoring the rift in the faith, preserving

What none other than you could from ruin and devastation

ولا زلتَ غيث اللطف يمنح ضرعُه

ضريح عليٍّ درَّه ورضاعه

Ever the raincloud of kindness, its udders give milk

To the shrine of Ali, flowing and nursing in abundance