على الشهيد الشريف اللوذعي علي

أبي الحسين نزحت الدمع من مقلي

For the noble, keen-witted martyr Ali,

Abu al-Husayn, I have drained the tears from my eyes.

إن عشت عشت لفي غم به وأسى

أو مت مت من الأحزان والوجل

If I live, I live indeed in anguish and grief for him;

or if I die, I die of sorrows and dread.

عمت رزيته الدنيا وساكنها

من جملة الثقلين الأنس والخبل

The calamity of his loss has engulfed the world and its inhabitants,

all of the two orders of beings—humankind and jinn.

هذا هو الجبل المنهد من مضر

ها أصبحت مضر الحمرا بلا جبل

This is the mountain of Mudar that has collapsed;

behold, Mudar the Red now stands without a mountain.

وغاص بحر معد عن بنيه وعن

قحطان والخلق من وعر ومن سهل

And Ma'add's sea has sunk away from his sons and from

Qahtan and all people, from rugged lands and plains.

أحيا المكارم حتى مات فهي به

خضراء كالروضة الميعاش في الجفل

He gave life to noble virtues until he died; through him they remain

green, like a lush meadow amid torrential rain.

لاقى المنايا وما لاقت عوارضه

بياض شيب ومن حلم نفى كهل

He met death before the sides of his beard had met

the whiteness of gray hair; yet in forbearance he outdid mature men.

أبا الحسين علي مذ قربت إلى

باريك زلفى بوقع البيض والأسل

Abu al-Husayn, Ali, since you drew near to

your Creator, seeking nearness through the blows of bright swords and spears,

قتلت فيها بأسنى هجرة طويت

وتلك سابقة محمودة العمل

you were slain there, on the noblest migration ever undertaken;

and that is a distinction, praiseworthy in its deed.

أنت الشهيد سعيداً قد قتلت على

خير العقائد في حل ومرتحل

You are the martyr, blessed, slain while holding to

the best of beliefs, at rest and on the road.

أزمعت حجاً لبيت اللَه معتمرا

وزائراً قبر هاد سيد الرسل

You resolved on Hajj to God's House, as an umrah pilgrim,

and visiting the tomb of the Guide, the master of the messengers.

صلى الإله عليه ما طوت قلص

لوصل ليلى مجاهيلاً من الجهل

May God bless him as long as young she-camels cross,

seeking union with Layla, unknown stretches of trackless wilderness.

قاتلت في اللَه من عاداه متكلا

عليه فاسعد بجد منه متكل

You fought for God against those who opposed Him, relying

on Him; rejoice in good fortune from Him, worthy of your trust.

ضربت بالسيف لو وفقت لا دهشا

حتى غدا السيف مفلولاً من القلل

You struck with the sword—if only you had prevailed—without panic,

until the sword was chipped against the crowns of heads.

إن حان عمر الفتى ما احتال عن قدر

لا يعصم العمر مقدور من الحيل

When a young man's lifetime ends, he cannot contrive to escape fate;

no possible stratagem can preserve life's span.

وكان يومك باقي العمر من عدد

لا ينقص العمر تعداد من الأجل

And your day was the remainder of your life's numbered span;

no reckoning of the appointed term diminishes that span.

أبا الحسين لقد كلفتني شططا

حُزناً يمرر حلو الشرب والأكل

Abu al-Husayn, you have burdened me beyond measure:

a grief that embitters the sweetness of drink and food.

رحلت عنا إلى دار السرور وقد

أبقيت لي الحزن حتى الموت مكتفل

You departed from us to the abode of joy, and have

left me grief to bear until death.

إني أعزي العلا والمجد فيك ولا

نفسي أعزي وعبء الحلم والنفل

I console nobility and glory for your loss—not

myself—and the burden of forbearance and bounty.

لا حادث جللا عقباك في أحد

إلا عليك وقوع الحادث الجلل

No calamity that strikes anyone after you is grievous;

the grievous calamity is only the one that befell you.

فأنت عين التقى والمجد نجدته

بل أكرم الكرما الباقين والأول

For you are the essence of piety and the champion of glory,

indeed, the most generous of the generous, those living and those of old.

إن كنت مت فأحياك الجميل لنا

تضوع النشر منشوراً على الخمل

If you have died, your noble deeds have kept you alive for us.

The fragrance wafts, spread abroad over obscurity.

أودعتك اللَه مذ أودعتني حُزناً

عليك يعدل صبري يا علي بلي

I entrusted you to God when you entrusted me with grief

for you; my affliction matches my patience, O Ali.

مت بالهنا فحسين والفتى حسن

والندب مسعود حسبي مذ بقوا نجلي

Rest in bliss, for Husayn and the young Hasan,

and the valiant Mas'ud suffice me, since they remain my sons.

لا شتت اللَه شملاً جامعا لهمو

في ظل عيش ببرد منه مشتمل

May God never scatter the unity that gathers them,

in the shade of life, wrapped in its refreshing coolness.

جرح الليالي بهم قد صار مندملا

لولاهمو كان جرحاً غير مندمل

Through them, the wound inflicted by the nights has healed;

without them, it would have remained an unhealed wound.

قاموا بشرع حقوق كنت ملتزماً

أداءها واحتفاظ الوارث الوكل

They undertook the prescribed duties you had pledged

to fulfill, and the safeguarding of the dependent heir.

وحددوا مشرع القربى وقد قصدوا

بالأصدقاء مناديحاً من السبل

They marked out kinship's watering-place and sought

ample avenues among the paths for their friends.

كلاهم اللَه من أحداث دهرهمو

وكلكمو من وقوع المهلكات كلي

May God protect them from the mishaps of their time,

and may all of you be guarded against deadly calamities.

هذا العزاء وذا تأبين والدكم

عني أتاكم وقلبي بالأساء صلي

This consolation and this eulogy for your father

have come to you from me, my heart scorched with grief.

لازلت أكرع في دمع الأسى عللا

وكلكم حاد عن نهلي وعن عللي

I keep drinking from the tears of grief, draught after draught,

while you all turn aside from my first draught and my repeated draughts.

من بعده القلب مقلي على لهب

من الأسى ودموعي أقرحت مقلي

Since his departure, my heart is seared over a flame

of grief, and my tears have made my eyes sore.

كأنني ابن غريب خاطر سلبت

عيناه حتى عليها خيف من سبل

I am like daring Ibn Gharib: deprived of sight were

his eyes, until a film was feared upon them.

أمسى عليه حزيناً مثل والده

بحيث أمسى قتيل الموج والدقل

He grew sorrowful over him, like his father,

where he became a victim of the waves and the mast.

اللَه نسأله نلقاه في غرف

من الجنان بها ظل من الظلل

We beseech God that we may meet him in chambers

of Paradise, where canopies provide shade.

والحمد للّه من أبقى سعيد لنا

من بعد وقع الرماح الخط والقصل

And praise be to God, who has spared Sa'id for us

after the blows of the Khatt spears and the cleaving swords.

وذاك من حظنا الباقي البقاء له

لو كان غير دون الظن بالأمل

And his survival is part of our remaining good fortune,

if only it were not short of the expectations born of hope.

تقوى الإله نوصيكم وحفظكمو

بمن بقي بعده أهلاً ومن خول

We counsel you to revere God and take care

of those remaining after him—family and dependents.

وبالصديق صلوا صدقاً حبائله

ولا تسيء بكم خلق على ملل

And sincerely keep your friend's bonds joined,

and let no one treat you badly out of weariness.

أحلى الحياة وأهناها الصديق إذا

ما كان منك على الأحزان والجذل

The sweetest and most pleasant part of life is a friend, when

he is one with you in sorrow and joy.

وهي المكارم مرقاها به وعث

إلا بجد رقاها الحر مقتتل

And these are noble virtues: their ascent is beset with roughness;

only through earnest striving does the noble man climb them, battling.

كل يقول أنا إني وتكشفه

إلا مقارعة الأيام والدول

Everyone says, 'I! Indeed, I!'—but he is revealed

only by grappling with the days and fortune's reversals.

أبا حسين سقاك اللَه في جدث

من وابل مرجحن واكف هطل

O Abu Husayn, may God water you in the grave

with a heavy downpour, dripping and pouring abundantly.

وأحرستك من الباري لطائفه

حتى لمن هول يوم الحشر لم تهل

And may the Creator's gentle mercies guard you,

so that you fear not even the terror of the Day of Gathering.

يا رب صل على المختار سيدنا

وآله وعلى العبد المطيع علي

O Lord, bless the Chosen One, our master,

and his family, and the obedient servant Ali.