كربلا لا زلت كربا وبلا — Alsharif Alradi

كَربَلا لا زِلتِ كَرباً وَبَلا

ما لَقي عِندَكِ آلُ المُصطَفى

Karbala, may you never cease to be anguish and affliction!

What the family of the Chosen One endured in you!

كَم عَلى تُربِكِ لَمّا صُرِّعوا

مِن دَمٍ سالَ وَمِن دَمعٍ جَرى

How much upon your soil, when they were struck down,

Blood flowed, and tears streamed!

كَم حَصانِ الذَيلِ يَروي دَمعُها

خَدَّها عِندَ قَتيلٍ بِالظَما

How many a chaste-skirted woman—her tears drench

Her cheek beside one slain by thirst.

تَمسَحُ التُربَ عَلى إِعجالِها

عَن طُلى نَحرٍ رَميلٍ بِالدِما

She wipes the dust in her haste

From the neck and throat, smeared with blood.

وَضُيوفٍ لِفَلاةٍ قَفرَةٍ

نَزَلوا فيها عَلى غَيرِ قِرى

And guests of a barren wilderness

Alighted there without hospitality.

لَم يَذوقوا الماءَ حَتّى اِجتَمَعوا

بِحِدى السَيفِ عَلى وِردِ الرَدى

They tasted no water until they gathered

At the sword's edges, at death's watering place.

تَكسِفُ الشَمسُ شُموساً مِنهُمُ

لا تُدانيها ضِياءً وَعُلى

The sun eclipses suns among them

Whose radiance and loftiness it cannot approach.

وَتَنوشُ الوَحشُ مِن أَجسادِهِم

أَرجُلَ السَبقِ وَأَيمانَ النَدى

And wild beasts snatch from their bodies

Feet of preeminence and right hands of bounty,

وَوُجوها كَالمَصابيحِ فَمِن

قَمَرٍ غابَ وَنَجمٍ قَد هَوى

And faces like lamps—among them

A moon that has set and a star that has fallen.

غَيَّرَتهُنَّ اللَيالي وَغَدا

جايِرَ الحُكمِ عَلَيهِنَّ البِلى

The nights have changed them, and now

Decay rules unjustly over them.

يا رَسولَ اللَهِ لَو عايَنتَهُم

وَهُمُ ما بَينَ قَتلى وَسِبا

O Messenger of God, had you seen them

As they were—some slain and some captive:

مِن رَميضٍ يُمنَعُ الذِلَّ وَمِن

عاطِشٍ يُسقى أَنابيبَ القَنا

Among them one scorched, kept from abasement, and another

Thirsting, given spear-shafts to drink;

وَمَسوقٍ عاثِرٍ يُسعى بِهِ

خَلفَ مَحمولٍ عَلى غَيرِ وَطا

And one driven stumbling, hurried along

Behind one carried without cushioning,

مُتعَبٍ يَشكو أَذى السَيرِ عَلى

نَقِبِ المَنسِمِ مَجزولِ المَطا

Weary, complaining of the journey's pain, upon

A beast with worn hoof-pads and a gashed back—

لَرَأَت عَيناكَ مِنهُم مَنظَراً

لِلحَشى شَجواً وَلِلعَينِ قَذى

Your eyes would surely have seen among them a sight

Of grief for the heart and grit for the eye.

لَيسَ هَذا لِرَسولِ اللَهِ يا

أُمَّةَ الطُغيانِ وَالبَغيِ جَزا

This is no repayment to God's Messenger, O

Nation of tyranny and oppression!

غارِسٌ لَم يَألُ في الغَرسِ لَهُم

فَأَذاقوا أَهلَهُ مُرُّ الجَنى

A planter who spared no effort in planting for them,

Yet they made his family taste the bitter fruit.

جَزَروا جَزرَ الأَضاحي نَسلَهُ

ثُمَّ ساقوا أَهلَهُ سَوقَ الإِما

They butchered his offspring like sacrificial animals,

Then drove his family as slave women are driven,

مُعجَلاتٍ لا يُوارينَ ضُحى

سُنَنَ الأَوجُهِ أَو بيضَ الطُلى

Hurried along, not concealing in daylight

The contours of their faces or their white necks,

هاتِفاتٍ بِرَسولِ اللَهِ في

بُهَرِ السَعيِ وَعَثراتِ الخُطى

Calling out to God's Messenger amid

The breathlessness of haste and stumbling steps,

يَومَ لا كِسرَ حِجابٍ مانِعٌ

بِذلَةَ العَينِ وَلا ظِلَّ خِبا

On a day when neither curtain-fold protected

Them from gazing eyes, nor the shade of a tent.

أَدرَكَ الكُفرُ بِهِم ثاراتِهِ

وَأُزيلَ الغَيِّ مِنهُم فَاِشتَفى

Unbelief exacted its revenges through them,

And error's companion slaked his vengeance upon them.

يا قَتيلاً قَوَّضَ الدَهرُ بِهِ

عُمُدَ الدينِ وَأَعلامَ الهُدى

O slain one, by whose fall Time toppled

The pillars of religion and the banners of guidance!

قَتَلوهُ بَعدَ عِلمٍ مِنهُمُ

أَنَّهُ خامِسُ أَصحابِ الكِسا

They killed him after knowing

That he was the fifth of the People of the Cloak.

وَصَريعاً عالَجَ المَوتَ بِلا

شَدَّ لَحيَينِ وَلا مَدَّ رِدا

And a fallen man who struggled with death without

His jaws bound or a cloak spread over him.

غَسَلوهُ بِدَمِ الطَعنِ وَما

كَفَّنوهُ غَيرَ بَوغاءِ الثَرى

They washed him in blood from spear-thrusts, and did not

Shroud him in anything but the fine dust of the earth.

مُرهَقاً يَدعو وَلا غَوثَ لَهُ

بِأَبٍ بَرٍّ وَجَدٍّ مُصطَفى

Beset, calling out, with no help for him,

To a righteous father and a grandfather, the Chosen One,

وَبِأُمٍّ رَفَعَ اللَهُ لَها

عَلَماً ما بَينَ نُسوانِ الوَرى

And to a mother for whom God raised

A banner among the women of humankind.

أَيُّ جَدٍّ وَأَبٍ يَدعوهُما

جَدَّ يا جَدَّ أَغِثني يا أَبا

What a grandfather and father he calls upon!

Grandfather! O Grandfather, help me! O Father!

يا رَسولَ اللَهِ يا فاطِمَةٌ

يا أَميرَ المُؤمِنينَ المُرتَضى

O Messenger of God! O Fatima!

O Commander of the Faithful, al-Murtada!

كَيفَ لَم يَستَعجِلِ اللَهُ لَهُم

بِاِنقِلابِ الأَرضِ أَو رَجمِ السَما

How did God not hasten upon them

The overturning of the earth or a stoning from heaven?

لَو بِسِبطَي قَيصَرٍ أَو هِرقِلٍ

فَعَلوا فِعلَ يَزيدٍ ما عَدا

Had they done to Caesar's or Heraclius's two grandsons

As Yazid did, they could have gone no further.

كَم رِقابٍ مِن بَني فاطِمَةٍ

عُرِقَت ما بَينَهُم عَرقَ المِدى

How many necks among the sons of Fatima

Were carved in their midst as knives carve!

وَاِختَلاها السَيفُ حَتّى خِلتَها

سَلَمَ الأَبرَقِ أَو طَلحَ العُرى

The sword mowed them down until you would have thought them

Salam trees of al-Abraq or talh trees of al-Ura.

حَمَلوا رَأساً يُصَلّونَ عَلى

جَدِّهِ الأَكرَمِ طَوعاً وَإِبا

They carried a head while invoking blessings upon

Its most noble grandfather, willingly and unwillingly.

يَتَهادى بَينَهُم لَم يَنقُضوا

عَمَمَ الهامِ وَلا حَلّوا الحُبا

It was passed among them as a gift; they did not unwind

The turbans on their heads, nor undo their knee-bands.

مَيِّتٌ تَبكي لَهُ فاطِمَةٌ

وَأَبوها وَعَليٌّ ذو العُلى

A dead man for whom Fatima weeps,

And her father, and Ali of lofty rank.

لَو رَسولُ اللَهِ يَحيا بَعدَهُ

قَعَدَ اليَومَ عَلَيهِ لِلعَزا

Had God's Messenger lived after him,

He would sit today in mourning for him.

مَعشَرٌ مِنهُم رَسولُ اللَهِ وَال

كاشِفُ الكَربِ إِذا الكَربُ عَرا

A company among whom are God's Messenger and the

Dispeller of distress whenever distress befalls:

صِهرُهُ الباذِلُ عَنهُ نَفسَهُ

وَحُسامُ اللَهِ في يَومِ الوَغى

His son-in-law, who offered his own life for him,

And God's sharp sword on the day of battle;

أَوَّلُ الناسِ إِلى الداعي الَّذي

لَم يُقَدِّم غَيرَهُ لَمّا دَعا

The first of men to answer the caller, who

Put no one else before him when he called.

ثُمَّ سِبطاهُ شَهيدانِ فَذا

بَحَسا السُمَّ وَهَذا بِالظُبى

Then his two grandsons, martyrs—the one

By a draught of poison, and the other by sword-edges;

وَعَلِيٌّ وَاِبنُهُ الباقِرُ وَال

صادِقُ القَولِ وَموسى وَالرِضا

And Ali, and his son al-Baqir, and the

Truthful of speech, and Musa, and al-Rida;

وَعَلِيٌّ وَأَبوهُ وَاِبنُهُ

وَالَّذي يَنتَظِرُ القَومُ غَدا

And Ali, and his father, and his son,

And the one the people await tomorrow.

يا جِبالَ المَجدِ عِزّاً وَعُلى

وَبُدورَ الأَرضِ نوراً وَسَنا

O mountains of glory in might and loftiness,

And full moons of the earth in light and radiance!

جَعَلَ اللَهُ الَّذي نابَكُمُ

سَبَبَ الوَجدِ طَويلاً وَالبُكا

God has made what befell you

A cause of lasting sorrow and weeping.

لا أَرى حُزنَكُمُ يُنسى وَلا

رُزءَكُم يُسلى وَإِن طالَ المَدى

I cannot see sorrow for you forgotten, nor

Grief at your loss eased, however long the span.

قَد مَضى الدَهرُ وَعَفّى بَعدَكُم

لا الجَوى باخَ وَلا الدَمعُ رَقا

Time has passed, effacing traces after you;

Anguish has not cooled, nor tears ceased.

أَنتُمُ الشافونَ مِن داءِ العَمى

وَغَداً ساقونَ مِن حَوضِ الرَوا

You are the healers of the disease of blindness,

And tomorrow you will give drink from the pool of refreshment.

نَزَلَ الدينُ عَلَيكُم بَيتَكُم

وَتَخَطّى الناسَ طُرّاً وَطَوى

Religion descended upon you, into your house,

And passed over all the people, folding them away.

أَينَ عَنكُم لِلَّذي يَبغي بِكُم

ظِلَّ عَدنٍ دونَها حَرُّ لَظى

Where else can one turn who seeks through you

Eden's shade, with blazing fire's heat before it?

أَينَ عَنكُم لَمُضِلٍّ طالِبٍ

وَضَحَ السُبلِ وَأَقمارَ الدُجى

Where else can one astray turn, seeking

The brightness of paths and the moons of darkness?

أَينَ عَنكُم لِلَّذي يَرجو بِكُم

مَع رَسولِ اللَهِ فَوزاً وَنَجا

Where else can one turn who hopes through you

For triumph and salvation with God's Messenger,

يَومَ يَغدو وَجهُهُ عَن مَعشَرٍ

مُعرِضاً مُمتَنِعاً عِندَ اللُقى

On the day his face turns away from a company,

Averted, refusing them when they meet,

شاكِياً مِنهُم إِلى اللَهِ وَهَل

يُفلِحُ الجيلُ الَّذي مِنهُ شَكا

Complaining of them to God—and can

The generation he complained of prosper?

رَبَّ ما حاموا وَلا آوَوا وَلا

نَصَروا أَهلي وَلا أَغنَوا غَنا

My Lord, they neither defended nor sheltered nor

Supported my family, nor provided any help.

بَدَّلوا ديني وَنالوا أُسرَتي

بِالعَظيماتِ وَلَم يَرعَوا أَلى

They changed my religion and assailed my family

With monstrous wrongs, showing no regard for favors.

لَو وَلي ما قَد وَلوا مِن عِترَتي

قائِمُ الشَركِ لَأَبقى وَرَعى

Had charge of my kindred, as they had, been held

By an upholder of idolatry, he would have spared and protected them.

نَقَضوا عَهدي وَقَد أَبرَمتُهُ

وَعُرى الدينِ فَما أَبقوا عُرى

They broke my covenant, though I had bound it fast,

And religion's bonds—they left no bonds intact.

حُرَمي مُستَردَفاتٌ وَبَنَو

بِنتِيَ الأَدنَونَ ذِبحٌ لِلعِدى

My womenfolk are made to ride behind others, and the sons

Of my daughter, my nearest kin, are slaughtered victims for foes.

أَتُرى لَستُ لَدَيهِم كَاِمرِئٍ

خَلَّفوهُ بِجَميلٍ إِذ مَضى

Do you think I am not, in their eyes, like a man

Whom they honored with kindness once he was gone?

رَبِّ إِنّي اليَومَ خَصمٌ لَهُمُ

جِئتُ مَظلوماً وَذا يَومُ القَضا

My Lord, today I am their adversary;

I have come wronged, and this is the day of judgment.