أيدوم من دار الفناء بقاء

أم هل يرام من الزمان وفاء

Can permanence endure in the abode of passing away?

Or can fidelity be sought from time?

أم كيف يؤمن مكر دنياً لم يزل

تعنو بها السادات والشرفاء

Or how can one be safe from a world's guile, when always

lords and nobles are brought low within it?

تباً لها من دار سوءٍ صفوها

كدر ولذتها لعمري داء

A curse upon it, that evil abode, whose clarity

is murk, and whose pleasure, by my life, is sickness!

ضحكت بوجهك فاغتررت وإنه

لا شك ضحك منه واستهزاء

It smiled in your face and you were deceived; yet it is

doubtless laughter at his expense, and mockery.

أين الأكابر والجبابرة الأكا

سر والملوك الصيد والأمراء

Where are the great ones, the mighty, the Persian

kings, the noble kings, and the princes?

أين الصدوق الصادق الصدي

ق من في كنهه تتحير الآراء

Where is the ever-truthful, the sincere, the true

friend, whose very essence bewilders all opinions?

علم الهدى الحقر الرضي المرتضي

من ليس ينكر فضله الأعداء

The banner of guidance, the humble [reading uncertain], the well-pleasing, the chosen,

whose merit even his enemies do not deny?

علامة العلماء شيخ الكل في

الكل الذي انقادت له الفضلاء

The scholars' great scholar, master of all in

all things, whom the men of excellence obeyed;

الكاظم الغيظ الذي من شأنه

في حالتيه الحلم والأغضاء

the restrainer of wrath, whose way was,

in both his states, forbearance and overlooking faults;

من علم الناس الوفاء وكم وكم

أولاهم الإحسان حيث أساءوا

who taught people fidelity, and how often, how often

he bestowed kindness on them when they did wrong!

لم يبد منه لنا على علاته

إلا وداد صادقٍ ووفاء

Nothing appeared from him to us, despite his ailments,

but sincere affection and fidelity.

هو فخر أرباب المفاخر والذي

افتخرت به آباؤه النجباء

He is the glory of those who possess glorious deeds, and he

in whom his noble forefathers took pride.

الفخر زيد بفخره فخر كما

زيدت علاً بعلائه العلياء

Glory gained glory through his glory, just as

the heights gained height through his high rank.

أكرم به من سيدٍ ساد الورى

عظماً فدان لعزه العظماء

How noble a master, who ruled mankind

in greatness, so the great bowed to his might!

ندب حباه اللَه علماً زانه

ورع وحسن شمائل وحياء

A noble man whom God endowed with learning, adorned by

piety, fine character, and modesty,

وسجيةٌ نبويةٌ ومزيةٌ

علويةٌ وحميةٌ وإناء

and a prophetic disposition, and a distinction

of Ali, protective zeal, and deliberation [reading uncertain].

وفصاحة قسٍّ لديها باقل

سحبان وائل عندها فأفاه

And an eloquence beside which Quss is Baqil,

and Sahban Wa'il a stammerer.

وبلاغة تقف المصاقع دونها

حسرى وتخرس عندها البلغاء

And rhetoric before which master orators stand

exhausted, and eloquent speakers fall silent.

أمعاشر العلماء مالكم سدى

كسوام شاء ما لهن رعاء

O company of scholars, why are you left untended,

like grazing sheep that have no shepherds?

أترون حين مضى عميدكم وهل

تدري بفقد رئيسها الفضلاء

Do you see, now that your chief has passed? And do

the men of excellence know their leader is lost?

أو ما علمتم أنه بطشت به

كف المنون وليتها شلاء

Or did you not know that he was seized by

the hand of Death—would that it were palsied!

أودى فأندية الندى مغبرةٌ

أبداً وربع المكرمات خلاء

He has perished: the halls of generosity are dust-covered

forever, and the dwelling of noble deeds lies empty.

أودى الذي كانت بطلعة وجهه

تجلى الخطوب وتكشف الغماء

He has perished, he at the sight of whose face

calamities were dispelled and anguish was lifted.

أودى الذي قد كان يحذره الردى

وتذوب إن ذكر إسمه الأعداء

He has perished, whom death itself once feared,

and enemies melt away when his name is spoken.

قد أيتم العلماء إذ أودى كما

قد أويتمت من بعده الفقراء

He orphaned the scholars when he perished, just as

the poor, too, were orphaned after him.

فليندب المجد الأثيل شقيقه

وليبكين قرينها العلياء

Let ancient glory mourn its brother,

and let exaltedness weep for its companion.

لم أنس إذ حمل الأعاظم نعشه

ولهم هنالك رنةٌ وبكاء

I have not forgotten when the mighty bore his bier,

and there arose from them lamentation and weeping.

وترجل الكبراء إجلالاً له

ولمثله بترجل الكبراء

And the dignitaries dismounted in reverence for him;

and his like merits the dignitaries' dismounting.

لولم يكن تاجاً لرأس الفخر ما

حملته فوق رؤوسها الرؤساء

Had he not been a crown upon the head of glory,

the leaders would not have borne him above their heads.

ومن العجيبة حمل طودٍ شامخ

كادت تموج بفقده الغبراء

And wondrous it was to bear a towering mountain,

whose loss nearly made the dusty earth surge.

لكنه لما ثوى في بطنها

سكنت فقرت فوقها الأشياء

Yet when he settled in its belly,

it grew still, and all things upon it settled.

أيحل هابطة الثرى بدر به

قدر رفيع دونه الجوزاء

Can a full moon lie in the depths of earth, one whose

rank is exalted, with al-Jawza below it?

يا راحلاً لم يرتحل عنا وإن

خلت المحافل منه والأنداء

O departed one, who has not departed from us, though

the assemblies and gathering places are empty of him.

لا كان يومك إنه يوم له

في كل صدرٍ غصةٌ وشجاء

Would that your day had never dawned! It is a day that leaves

in every breast a choking grief and anguish.

لا خير بعدك في الحياة وإنها

لذميمةٌ فعلى الحياة عفاء

There is no good in life after you, and it is

truly contemptible: may life be effaced!

لو كانت الأموات مثلك لم تكن

فضلت على أمواتها الأحياء

Had the dead been like you, never would

the living have surpassed their dead.

قد كنت نوراً فاختفى فبكى له

بدر الدجى وغدت تنوح ذكاء

You were a light; it vanished, and for it wept

the full moon of darkness, while Dhuka, the sun, began to wail.

قد أظلمت تلك المدارس بعده

ولكم علاها من سناه ضياء

Those schools have darkened after him,

though so much radiance once rose over them from his light.

قد أظلمت سبل الرشاد وطالما

كشفت بغرة وجهك الظلماء

The paths of right guidance have darkened, though often

the darkness was dispelled by the radiance of your face.

واسودت الدنيا علينا بعده

واغبرت الغبراء والخضراء

And the world has blackened for us after him,

and earth and sky have become dust-covered.

وبكت لفربته المدارس وحشةً

والعلم والأسفار والعلياء

The schools wept in loneliness at his parting [reading uncertain],

and so did learning, books, and exaltedness.

وبكاء محراب الصلاة وكم علا

المحراب في الأسحار منه بكاء

And the prayer niche wept; how often

his weeping rose in the niche before dawn!

وأقل شيءٍ أن يفيض لمثله

دمع العيون وأن يشق رداء

The least one can do for his like is to let flow

the tears of eyes, and to rend a garment,

ما لم تفض منا النفوس كآبةً

وتشقق الأكباد والأحشاء

so long as our souls do not pour out from sorrow

and our livers and entrails do not split apart.

ما مات ندب لم تمت آثاره

وبذكره تتعطر الأرجاء

No noble man has died whose traces have not died,

and whose remembrance perfumes the regions.

كلا ولا أدري أمراً أبقى له

خلفاً نمته إلى العلى نجباء

No indeed; I know nothing more lasting for him than

a successor whom noble forebears raised to the heights.

ولنا رجاء أن يشاء به الذي

قد أسست آباؤه الكرماء

And we hope that through him may be willed what

his noble forefathers established.

أيضام من هو جار حامي الجا

ر أو يخشى امرؤٌ آباؤه الشفعاء

Is he wronged who is a neighbor of the protector of

the neighbor? Or does a man fear whose forefathers are intercessors?

أو يختشي سوء الحساب فها له

بحمى أمير المؤمنين ثواء

Or does he dread an evil reckoning? Behold, for him

is a dwelling in the sanctuary of the Commander of the Faithful.

وله مقام في أعالي جنة

الفردوس يغبطه به الأعداء

And he has a station in the heights of the Garden

of Firdaws, for which his enemies envy him.

أكرم بذلك منزلاً ما بعده

بعد وليس وراء ذاك وراء

How noble that dwelling! Beyond it there is no

beyond, nor any further beyond that.

لو تشهد الزهراء يوم وفاته

لبست عليه حدادها الزهراء

Were al-Zahra to witness the day of his death,

al-Zahra would don her mourning for him.

قد ألوعت برخائه ولطالما

قد أولعت بمديحه الشعراء

They were anguished at his ease [unclear in context], and how often

the poets had been enamored of praising him!

وتفاخر الأموات فيه وكم

كانت به تتفاخر الأحياء

The dead boast of him, and how often

the living used to boast of him!

وغداة عم مصابه أرخت قد

فدحت برزء الصادق العلماء

And on the morning his loss struck all, I marked the date: "Indeed,

the scholars have been crushed by the loss of al-Sadiq."