عجب ما مثله عجب

فعلوا بي غير ما يجب

A wonder unmatched by any wonder!

They did to me what they should not have done.

قرقرت بطني فواحزني

ذقن من بالسلح يختضب

My belly rumbled—alas, my sorrow!

The chin of one who stains himself with excrement!

هرباً من شرها هرباً

فعسى أن ينفع الهرب

Flight from its evil—flight!

So perhaps flight may help.

ذهب الناس فما أحد

يشتهي أن تنفخ القرب

The people have gone, so no one

Wishes for the waterskins to be inflated.

حزني أني مذ زمن

ما لعبناه ولا لعبوا

My sorrow is that, for some time now,

We have not played it, nor have they.

ولكم بتنا على طرب

ورؤوس القوم تستلب

And how often we spent the night in merriment,

While the fellows' heads were snatched away,

وكؤوس الصفع دائرة

ملؤها اللذات والطرب

And cups of slapping went round,

Filled with pleasures and merriment.

وانتخبناها وهامهم

وأكف القوم تصطخب

And we chose them, while their heads

And the fellows' palms raised a din.

وكأن الصفع بينهم

شعل النيران تلتهب

And it was as though the slapping among them

Were flames of fire blazing.

والعمى منهم وإن شغلوا

عنه باللذات مقترب

And blindness, though they are distracted

From it by pleasures, is drawing near them.

سوف يدرون أيما رجل

ضيعوا مني إذا طربوا

They will know what a man

They lost in me when they revelled,

بسيوف شركها أدم

مرهفات للعمى سبب

With swords whose straps are leather,

Keen-edged, a cause of blindness.

وعجيب والحسين له

راحة بالجود تنسكب

And it is strange, though al-Husayn has

A palm that pours forth generosity,

أن شربي عنده رنق

ولديه مربعي جدب

That my drink with him is turbid,

And my springtime abode beside him is barren.

وله الورد المعاذ به

والجناب الممرع الخصب

And his is the watering place where refuge is sought,

And the lush, fertile domain.

وهو الغيث الملث إذا

أعوزتنا درها السحب

And he is the persistent rain, when

The clouds deny us their milk.

وإلى الرسي ملجؤنا

من صروف الدهر والهرب

And to al-Rassi we turn for refuge

And escape from time's vicissitudes.

سيد شادت علاه له

في العلا آباؤه النجب

A lord whose eminence was raised for him

In glory by his noble forefathers.

وله بيت تمد له

فوق مجرى الأنجم الطنب

And his is a house for which are stretched

The tent ropes above the course of the stars.

حسبه بالمصطفى شرفاً

وعلي حين ينتسب

Al-Mustafa is honor enough for him,

And Ali, when he traces his lineage.

رتبه في العز شامخة

قصرت عن نيلها الرتب

His ranks in glory tower high;

Other ranks have fallen short of reaching them.

ذاك فخر ليس تنكره

لكم عجم ولا عرب

That is a glory none deny

You—neither non-Arabs nor Arabs.

ولأنتم من بفضلهم

جاءت الأخبار والكتب

And truly you are those of whose excellence

The accounts and books have spoken.

وإليكم كل منقبة

في الورى تعزي وتنتسب

And to you every virtue

Among mankind is ascribed and traces its lineage.

وبكم في كل معركة

تفخر الهندية القضب

And through you, in every battle,

The keen Indian blades take pride.

وبكم في كل معركة

تفخر الهندية القضب

And through you, in every battle,

The keen Indian blades take pride.

وبكم في كل عارفة

ترفع الأستار والحجب

And through you, in every act of kindness,

The curtains and veils are lifted.

وإذا سمر القنا اشتجرت

فبكم تستكشف الكرب

And when the brown spear-shafts cross,

Then through you afflictions are dispelled.