ما للحمائم ناحت فوق أغصان

لقد أهاجت بكاء الواجد الفاني

Why do the doves moan above the branches?

Indeed, the fleeting union has aroused their weeping.

قامت على الدوح ورقاء مؤرقة

تملي فنون الهوى من فوق أفنان

Restless she stood tall upon the sand dune,

Dictating to me the arts of love from above the dunes.

حسبي وحسبك ما هيجت من شجن

فليس شجوك من شجوي بسيان

It is enough what you have provoked of yearning,

For your longing is no match for mine.

لي مثل وجدك أضعافا مضاعفة

وضعف جسمي أقوى كل برهان

My passion for you is manifold and amplified,

And my frail body is stronger than any proof.

لا أنت للدوح لا للشوق لا لهوى

ما دمت لا تكتمين الوجد كتماني

You are neither for the sand dune, nor for yearning, nor for love,

As long as you do not confide the passion confidentially to me.

إن الحمائم في الأسحار هاجعة

وصاحب الشوق لم يهنأ بسلواني

The doves at dawn are restless,

While the lover has not enjoyed tranquility.

أملي الغرام بأنفاس مصعدة

وأنت تملين لي سجعاً بألحاني

I devour passion in accelerated breaths,

While you recite to me only rhythm with melodies.

أكاد أشرق في دمعي لفرط بكاً

كأن عيني في التذارف عينان

I almost shine in my tears due to excessive weeping,

As if my eyes in shedding tears are two eyes.

وما لعيني لا تبكي وقد نظرت

باب الحوائج موسى فخر عدنان

Why shouldn’t my eyes weep when they have seen

The door of needs, Musa the pride of Aden?

لهفي عليه سجينا طول مدته

ما زال ينقل من سجن إلى ثان

My anxiety for him a prisoner for so long

Who still moves from one prison to another.

جروه وهو يصلي طوع بارئه

فناصبوا الله في كفر وطغيان

They dragged him while he prayed willfully to his Creator,

So they harbored enmity against God in blasphemy and tyranny.

ساروا به في قيود كبلوه بها

وقد جنوا ما جنوه آل سفيان

They walked him in shackles, chaining him,

And they committed what the clan of Sufyan committed.

سل حبس عيسى ومالاقاه من محن

فيه وقاساه من جور وعدوان

Ask about Jesus' imprisonment and the tribulations he faced therein,

The injustice and hostility he endured.

ولا تسل عنه حبس ابن الربيع فكم

أعيى به الضر من آن إلى آن

And do not ask about the imprisonment of the son of Rabie for how much

Misery from one moment to the next exhausted him.

وخلّ عما جنى السندي ناحية

فذكره فت في قلبي وأشجاني

And leave what Sindi did in the region,

For the mention of it caused agony in my heart and made me grieve.

يلقي الإمام بوجه ملؤه غضب

وكان يسمعه من لفظه الشاني

The Imam looks with his anger-filled face,

And he heard him with his offensive tongue.

يمسى من السجن في ليل بلا شهب

ولا يرى الصبح في ضوء وتبيان

He spends the night in prison without stars,

And does not see the dawn in light and clarity.

روحي فداه بعيداً عن عشيرته

لا بل بعيد اللقا من أي إنسان

My soul is his ransom, far from his people,

In fact far from encountering any human.

حتى إذا جرعوه السم في رطب

فحال من وقعه المردي بألوان

Until when they made him drink poison in fresh dates,

The deadly deed made him change colors.

ناء عن الأهل لم يحضره من أحد

فداه أهلوه من شيب وشبان

No one of his family was present for him,

His family did not bid him farewell, neither elders nor youth.

لهفي له وهو في قعر السجون لفى

وليس يدنوه من أهل وجيران

My anxiety for him while he is in the depths of prisons, wound up,

With no family or neighbors drawing near him.

نعش ابن جعفر حمالون تحمله

فأين عنه سرايا آل عدنان

The bier of the son of Ja’far, they carry it

Where then are the battalions of the clan of Aden?

مثل ابن من دانت الدنيا له شرفا

لم يحتفل فيه من قاص ولادان

The like of the son of the one whom the world yielded honor,

Yet for him no storyteller or newborn attended.

لمن على الجسر نعش لا يشيعه

من الورى غير حراس وسجان

For whom on the bridge is a bier with no one to bid farewell

Among people except guards and jailers?

لمن على الجسر لا يطوف به

ذووه من رحمه الأدنى أولو الشان

For whom on the bridge with no one circling it

Of his kin, neither his closest nor highest in status?

لمن على الجسر نعش يستهان به

كميت غير ذي شأن وعنوان

For whom on the bridge is a bier degraded,

Like an unimportant corpse without repute or distinction?

لمن على الجسر نعش ما أعد له

ضريح قبر ولم يدرج بأكفان

For whom on the bridge is a bier with no grave prepared,

No burial shroud or crypt for him?

لمن على الجسر نعش لا يجهزه

أهل المودة من صحب وأعوان

For whom on the bridge is a bier with no one to prepare him,

Neither loyal friends nor supporters?

إن أنس لا أنس إذ مال الطبيب له

فحبس باطن كفيه بامعان

When the doctor refrained from approaching him,

He held back the insides of his two palms forcefully.

فمر يعبر لا يلوي على أحد

عرته دهشة واهي اللب حيران

So he passed by without turning to anyone,

Dumbfounded, faltering of mind, confused.

يقول ما للفتى مصر ولا فئة

أماله ثائر في بأس غير أن

He says why does the young man have no country or comrades?

Or does he have defenders against aggression?

إن الفتى مات مسموما فأين هم

فليثأروا فيه وليقضوا على الجاني

The young man died poisoned, so where are they

To avenge him and punish the perpetrator?

القيد في رجله والغل في يده

وللعباءة شأن أعظم الشان

Shackles on his leg and binds on his hand,

Yet the cloak is of the greatest stature.

ألقوه في الجسر مطروحا تقلبه

أيدي الأجانب في سر وإعلان

They threw him on the bridge discarded, tossed about

By foreign hands discreetly and openly.