رجعي يا بلابل الأغصان

واستثيري بلابل الأشجان

Return, O nightingales, to the branches,

And rouse the nightingales of the trees,

رددي لي بكل لحن شجي

واستجيدي مهيج الأحزان

Echo back to me every melody of sorrow,

And excellently stir up the excitements of sorrows.

أنت مثلي في عالم الشجو إلا

أنني عالم بما قد شجاني

You are like me in the world of passion, except

That I know what has saddened me,

والشجي الجهول فيما شجاه

كالمعزي وجداً من الثكلان

While the ignorant passionate person, regarding what has saddened him,

Is like a consoler, sincerely weeping over the bereaved.

كم كتمت الهوى ألذ نعيم

وعذابي بما النعيم الثاني

How much I concealed the most delightful love,

And my torment with what is the second delight!

قد حباني بها الإله ولكن

قد رماني بهجرها وابتلاني

God has granted me her love, but then

He has afflicted me with her estrangement and trial.

ذكرتني بهجرها لي هجري

وادتوائي لمنهج الرضوان

Her estrangement from me reminded me to shun her,

And to pursue the path of contentment,

أغفلتني بزهوها وكأني

ما احتسبت المعاد في حسباني

Her arrogance made me forget her, as if

I never considered the Hereafter in my reckoning,

جرأتني على التمرد نفسي

في هواها وقادني شيطاني

My soul emboldened me to rebel

In her love, and my devil led me,

بالرقيبين قد علمت ولكن

سوء حظي عن الهدى أعماني

I learned of the two guardian angels, but

My misfortune blinded me from guidance.

لست أدري إذا استطار فؤادي

يوم بعثي بجسمي العريان

I know not what my heart will do

On the day I am resurrected naked,

ما اعتذاري لدى الحساب إذا ما

نشرا ما اقترفت طمول زماني

What will be my plea before Reckoning, when

My lifelong deeds are spread out?

ما اعتذاري وقد جنيت ذنوباً

أثقلتني وسودت ديواني

What will be my plea when I have reaped sins

That burdened me and blackened my record?

ما اعتذاري إذا دعيت وخفت

حسناتي بكفة الميزان

What will be my plea when I am called and fear

That my good deeds are light in the scale?

ما اعتذاري إذا سئلت بماذا

قد تقضي بك الزمان الفاني

What will be my plea when I am asked how

I spent my fleeting life?

ما اعتذاري إذا نشرت وعدت

ما جنته يداي والرجلان

What will be my plea when I am exposed and asked

About what my hands and feet have earned?

وأقيمت علي مني شهود

باجترامي جوارحي ولساني

And witnesses are brought against me

Of my body parts and tongue's disobedience?

لهف نفسي إذا أخذت كتابي

بشمالي وأبت بالخسران

How anxious I will be when my book is taken

In my left hand, and I lose!

واستتمت علي حجة حق

عن قضاء المهيمن المنان

And the proof of the Truth is established against me

By the decree of the Sublime Bestower of Bounties.

من مجيري من العذاب إذا ما

حكمتني حكومة الديان

Who will protect me from torment when

The Judgement of the Compensator judges me?

من مجيري من الشقاء إذا ما

قيدتني سلاسل الخذلان

Who will protect me from misery when

I am bound in chains of disgrace?

من مجيري على الصراط إذا ما

أرعشتني عواقب العصيان

Who will protect me on the Path when

The consequences of disobedience make me tremble?

من مجيري إذا دفعت بزجر

من زبان ملبياً لزبان

Who will protect me when I am driven away

With sternness by the Possessor of Might?

عقبات وربما كنت أدري

ما ألاقي بها وما يلقاني

Obstacles, though I may have known

What I will face and what will face me,

إن عدتني بها حسان فعال

وتخوفت ضيعتي وهواني

If You call me to account for them, O Doer of Good,

And fear for my loss and disgrace,

وأذيق العصاة جر عذاب

واستحقوا المصير للنيران

And make the disobedient taste the dragging punishment,

As they deserve the Fire's destiny,

فنجاتي بسيد الرسل طه

وبكائي أسبطه الظمان

Then my salvation is in the Master of Messengers, Taha,

And in my weeping which quenches thirst,

أظمأته عصابة الشرك ظلما

وسقته الردى يد العدوان

The allies of polytheism unjustly thirsted him,

And the hand of transgression made him drink harm,

منعوه من الورود لماء

وبكفيه يلتقي البحران

They prevented him from reaching the water,

While with his hands he joins the two oceans,

وأثاروا عليه حرباً عواناً

واستثاروا كوامن الأضغان

And they waged against him a war of helpers,

And provoked dormant grudges,

فاستدارت عليه سبعون ألفاً

وتنادت عليه بالخذلان

So seventy thousand turned against him

And called him to abandonment,

ألبوها عليه من كل فج

من شام تجري إلى كوفان

They rallied them against him from every valley,

From Syria to Kufa,

واستخفوا لحربه بثلاث

بين سهم وصار وسنان

And took lightly fighting him with three,

Among arrows, spears and swords.

جر قلبي له وروحي فداه

من وحيد يجول في الميدان

My heart is drawn to him and my soul is his ransom

From the lone one roaming the battlefield

بفؤاد مؤجج يتلظى

بين حر الظما وحر الطعان

With a fervent heart burning

Between the heat of thirst and heat of spears.

مستغيثاً بجده وأبيه

مفرداً بينهم بلا أعوان

Calling for help upon his grandfather and father,

Alone among them without supporters,

وينادي مذكراً وهو نور

اللَه أجلى مذكراً من بيان

And calling to mind – he being the Light of God –

More articulate in remembrance than eloquence,

قائلاً فيهم أنا ابن علي الـ

ـمرتضى وابن خيرة النسوان

Saying among them, “I am the son of Ali the Chosen,

And the son of the best of women,

وابن طه محمد خير خلق الـ

ـلَه طراً وآية الرحمن

And the son of Taha Muhammed, the best of God's creation,

By nature and sign of the Merciful.”

فلماذا دمي يحل ولحمي

من نبي الهدى نما بلبان

Why then is my blood violated and my flesh lawful

Though from the Prophet of guidance I grew up?

فأتاه من العدى سهم حتفٍ

ليته شق مهجتي وجناني

So a lethal arrow came to him from the enemy,

Would that it had cloven my brain and my entrails!

وانتحى قلبه فرن صداه

في حشى الدين صرة الآذان

And his heart leapt up so its echo resounded

In the breasts of religion, like the call to prayer.

فهوى للصعيد خير إمامٍ

ساطع النور طيب الأردان

So the best Imam fell down, radiant,

Pure, fragrant, to the ground.

ضارعاً للإله فيما ابتلاه

في سبيل التسليم والإذعان

Supplicating God for what He tested him with

In the path of submission and obedience.

ونحاه القضا بضربة سيفٍ

من خولي وطعنةٍ من سنان

And destiny struck him with the blow of a sword

From Khowli and a stab from a spear,

ورقى الشمر صدره بحسام

هد ركن الهدى وصرح الأماني

And Shimr mounted his chest with a sword

Which destroyed the pillar of guidance and palace of security.

ومضى يقطع الوريد بعضب

سله البغي في يدي شيطان

And he went on cutting the jugular with a blade

Whetted for him in the hands of a devil.

فاكتسى الكون بالظلام حداداً

لمصاب بكت له الثقلان

So the universe was clothed in darkness, grieving

Over an affliction that made the Two Weighty Ones weep.

ونعاه الوجود والعرش أن قد

فل عضب الهدى مع الإيمان

And existence and the Throne eulogized him when

The wrath of guidance was mixed with faith.

قتلوه وما رعوا فيه حق الـ

ـمصطفى لا ولا على الشان

They killed him without respecting the right

Of al-Mustafa, no, nor of glory.

تركوه مرملاً بدماء

فوق حر الثرى بلا أكفان

They left him prone in blood

On the hot earth without shrouds.

فابك شجواً له بحر الفؤاد

وزفير بأنة الثكلان

So the sea of my heart wept with passion for him

And the sigh of bereavement.

واجر حزناً عليه دمعك لكن

من نجيع بمدمع هتان

And let your tear flow in sorrow for him, but

Who will lament with a useful tear?