كان الهدى بابي المهدي يعتضد

فأين ساعد دين الله والعضد

Guidance drew strength from Abu al-Mahdi.

So where are the forearm and upper arm of God's religion?

فل الحمام حساماً في مضاربه

كانت جراثيم أهل الظلم تنحصد

Death blunted a sword beneath whose strokes

the roots of the unjust were mown down.

حلت بحامية الإسلام نائبة

والهفتاه فمال الركن والعمد

A calamity befell Islam's defenders.

Alas! The mainstay and the pillars gave way.

فكل عين غدير من مدامعها

وكل قلب سعير بالاسى يقد

So every eye is a pool of its tears,

and every heart a blaze kindled by grief.

لا تبعدن أبا المهدي آونة

وان منيت بقوم عنك قد بعدوا

Do not be distant, Abu al-Mahdi, even for a moment,

though you were afflicted with people who kept their distance from you.

وانهض بعزمك وهو السيف منفرداً

ان العظيم بسيف العزم ينفرد

And rise alone with your resolve, which is the sword;

indeed, the great man stands apart through the sword of resolve.

قد كان يومك معروفاً مآثره

فلا عليك إذا هم فضله جحدوا

Your day was renowned for its noble deeds;

so never mind if they denied its merit.

ان سر نعيك قوماً لاخلاق لهم

فهز القذاة لعين الشرع والسهد

If news of your death delighted people with no share of virtue,

yet it stirred grit and sleeplessness in the eye of sacred law.

اليوم قد رزء الإسلام مرزئة

كبرى تبيت لها الاحشاء تنقد

Today Islam has suffered a calamity

so great that the entrails spend the night torn apart by it.

من للدروس التي آلت معالمها

إلى الدروس إذا طلابها حشدوا

Who will tend the lessons whose landmarks have passed

into oblivion, when their students gather?

من للمنابر يرقاها فيرسلها

فوائداً من فيوض العلم تطرد

Who will ascend the pulpits and send forth

benefits from the outpourings of knowledge, flowing without cease?

يطوف خمس مئين حول منبره

وكلهم بارع بالفضل مجتهد

Five hundred circle around his pulpit,

and each is accomplished in learning, an independent jurist.

فآية الله تدعى تارة وإذا

تفاقم الخطب تدعى أيها الاسد

So you are called 'Ayatollah' at times, and when

the crisis deepens, you are called, 'O lion!'

جاهدت في الله تيجاناً قد انعقدت

على المظالم حتى انحل ما عقدوا

For God's sake you battled crowns that had united

in oppression, until what they had bound came undone.

فما تمثلت للمخلوع في حلم

الا رأى بك جيش الموت يحتشد

Never did you appear in the dethroned ruler's dream

but he saw in you death's army massing.

كم باليراعة قد قومت ذا أود

فهي الثقاف لمن أضحى به أود

How often with your reed pen you straightened one grown crooked;

for it is the shaft-straightener for whoever has grown crooked.

تصلى العدى لهباً منها إذا برقوا

يوماً وتمطرهم حتفاً إذا رعدوا

You scorch the foes with flame from it whenever they flash lightning

on any day, and rain death upon them when they thunder.

جهدت بالحق ان تعلو اشعته

كما أولئك في اطفائه جهدوا

You strove for truth, that its rays might rise,

just as those men strove to extinguish it.

بثثت في جسد الإسلام روح علا

وكان رهن خمول ذلك الجسد

You breathed a spirit of loftiness into Islam's body,

while that body lay captive to lethargy.

فقد جذبت بضبع المسلمين إلى

أوج الرقي ولكن أعوز الأمد

You took the Muslims by the upper arm and drew them toward

the summit of advancement, but time proved too short.

سعيت سعي حريص باتحادهم

حتى استجابوا لداعي الحق واتحدوا

You strove with a zealous man's striving for their unity,

until they answered the caller to truth and united.

وكان طوع مساعيك التي سلفت

لو كنت تبقى لنا المستقبل الرغد

And subject to your endeavors of old—

had you remained with us—would have been the prosperous future.

ان انكرت يدك البيضاء طائفة

فالله خير شهيد انها ليد

If some faction denies your white, beneficent hand,

then God is the best witness that it is indeed a hand of bounty.

أغثت إيران حيث المستغيث بها

حشاشة ما لها صبر ولا جلد

You came to Iran's aid, where the one crying for help

was a remnant of life, with neither patience nor endurance.

للمستبدين فيها كل واقعة

منها فرائص أهل العدل ترتعد

Every calamity there was the despots' doing,

at which the flanks of the just trembled.

فالمال منهبة والعرض معرضة

للهتك والخصم في استعمارها حرد

Wealth lay open to plunder, and honor lay exposed

to violation, while the enemy was fiercely intent on colonizing her.

فقمت بالحق اشفاقاً على فئة

رأيتها رهن أيدي الجور تضطهد

So you stood for truth, out of compassion for a people

you saw oppressed, captive in tyranny's hands.

وقد تأسيت بالماضين في محن

حتى وردت بها الورد الذي وردوا

You followed the example of those who came before in ordeals,

until, through them, you reached the watering place they had reached.

فالشرق بعدك يا شمس السعود غدا

مآتماً لك بالأحزان تنعقد

So the East, after you, O sun of good fortune, became

mourning gatherings for you, convened in sorrow.

كانت حياتكم في الرزء سلوتنا

واليوم كل نعيم بعدكم نكد

Your life was our consolation amid calamity;

and today, every joy after you is misery.

يا بدر داجية تجلى الخطوب به

إذا اكفهر ظلام سوف تفتقد

O full moon of a dark night, through whom calamities are dispelled,

when darkness scowls, you will be missed.

لو ان شمس الضحى من نورك اقتبست

لم يخل من نورها أرض ولا بلد

Had the morning sun borrowed from your light,

no land or country would have lacked its radiance.

لو استعار نداك الغيث في كرم

عم الرواء وفاض الجود والرفد

Had rain borrowed your generous bounty,

refreshment would have spread to all, and bounty and gifts overflowed.

لو ان بيض الضبا من عزمك انطبعت

لم يغن عن دارع ان يحكم الزرد

Had the gleaming sword-blades been forged from your resolve,

it would not help an armored man to make his mail secure.

كنت الغريب غريب الوصف نادره

فمثل أيامك الأيام لا تلد

You were exceptional, unique and rare in your qualities;

for time does not give birth to days like yours.

ان الوجود تحلى منك جوهرة

قدسية لا يداني فضلها احد

Indeed, existence adorned itself with a jewel in you,

a sacred one whose excellence no one can approach.

ما حط فضلك نقد الجاهلين به

بل كنت تزداد فضلا كلما نقدوا

Criticism by those ignorant of your merit never diminished it;

rather, you grew in merit whenever they criticized.

تثني عليك رجال الفضل كلهم

وما يعيبك الا الجهل والحسد

All men of excellence praise you;

and only ignorance and envy find fault with you.

حيى صنيع اياديك السحاب ثرى

اقام فيه التقى والعلم والرشد

May the clouds salute, with bounty like your hands', the soil

where piety, learning, and right guidance dwelt;

وقدست تربة ضمت صفايحها

روحاً إلى الله في رضوانه تفد

and sanctified be the soil whose slabs embraced

a spirit that comes to God in His good pleasure.