يا مطلق العبرات وهي غزار

ومقيد الزفرات وهي حرار

O you who release your tears while they flow abundantly,

and restrain your sighs while they burn hot,

ما بال دمعك وهو ماء سافح

تذكى به من حر وجدك نار

why do your tears, though flowing water,

kindle a fire from the heat of your anguish?

لا تتخذني قدوة لك في الأسى

فلدي منه مشاعر وشعار

Do not take me as your example in sorrow,

for I have its inward stirrings and wear it next my skin.

خفض عليك فإن زند بليتي

وار وفي صدري وأوار

Be gentle with yourself: my affliction's fire-stick

is kindled, and in my breast there is a blaze.

إن كان في يدك الخيار فإنني

ولهان لم أترك وما أختار

If the choice lies in your hands, I

am distraught, not left free to choose.

في كل يوم لي حنين مضلة

يودي لها بعد الحوار حوار

Each day mine is the yearning of a camel bereft,

for whom calf after calf perishes.

عاهدت دمعي أن يقر فخانني

قلب لسائله الهموم قرار

I pledged my tears to stillness, but I was betrayed by

a heart where flowing sorrows find repose.

هل عند محتقر يسير بلية

أن الصغار من الهموم كبار

Does one who belittles a little affliction know

that even small sorrows are great?

قد أشرق من ثماد مدامعي

أسفاً فكيف وقد طمى التيار

Already I choke on the scant water of my tears,

in grief—how then when the torrent overflows?

عم الورى يوم الخميس وخصني

خطب بأنف الدهر منه صغار

On Thursday there befell all people, and me especially,

a calamity that humbled Time's proud nose.

ما أوحش الدنيا غدية فارقت

قطباً رجى الدنيا عليه تدار

How desolate the world that morning when it lost

a pivot around which the world's millstone turns!

خربت ربوع المكرمات لراحل

عمرت به الأجداث وهي قفار

The abodes of noble deeds lay ruined for one departed;

through him the graves were peopled, though desolate wastes.

نعش الجدود العاثرات مشيع

عميت برؤية نعشه الأبصار

He who revived faltering fortunes is borne in procession;

at the sight of his bier, eyes went blind.

شخص الأنام إليه تحت جنازة

خفضت برفعة قدرها الأقدار

Mankind gazed toward him beneath a bier

whose lofty rank brought other ranks low.

سار الإمام أمامها فعلمت أن

قد شيعتها الخمسة الأطهار

The Imam walked before it, so I knew that

the five pure ones had escorted it.

ومشى الملوك بها حفاة بعدما

حفت ملائكة بها أنوار

And kings walked barefoot beside it, after

radiant angels had gathered around it.

فكأنها تابوت موسى أودعت

في جانبيه سكينة ووقار

It was as though it were Moses' Ark, with

tranquillity and dignity deposited within its sides.

لكنه ما ضم غير بقية الإس

لام وهو الصالح المختار

Yet it held only the remnant of Is-

lam—al-Salih, the chosen one.

أوطنته دار الوزارة ريثما

بنيت لنقلته الكريمة دار

You lodged him in the vizieral residence until

a dwelling was built for his honored transfer.

حتى إذا شيدتها ونصبتها

علماً يحج فناؤه ويزار

Then, when you raised it high and erected it

as a landmark, its precinct sought in pilgrimage and visited,

وتغاير الهرمان والحرمان في

تابوته وعلى الكريم يغار

and the two pyramids and two sanctuaries vied over

his coffin—for the noble are jealously coveted—

آثرت مصراً منه بالشرف الذي

حسدت قرافتها له الأمصار

you favored Egypt with the honor of him,

for which the cities envied its Qarafa cemetery.

وجعلتها أمناً به ومثابة

يرجو مثوبة قصدها الزوار

You made it through him a sanctuary and a place of return,

whose visitors hope for reward by seeking it.

هذا الأثير غدا بها متعلقاً

فجرى له من عفوك الإيثار

This al-Athir came seeking refuge there,

and received special favor through your pardon.

أعلمتنا بجميل صفحك أنها

حرم وأنك صافح غفار

By your gracious forgiveness you taught us that it

is a sanctuary, and you are pardoning and forgiving.

وأبوك أولى من غدا لضريحه

والأمر أمرك ذمة وذمار

Your father, above all, deserves that his tomb receive—

yours is the command—a covenant of safety and protection,

ليقول من يرث الليالي بعدنا

يفنى الورى وتعمر الآثار

so whoever inherits the nights after us may say:

'Mankind perishes, but monuments live on.'

وأبوك أعظم أن يقاس بأعظم

أضحى بكاظمة لهن جوار

Your father is too great to be compared with bones

that came to rest as neighbors in Kazima.

أين الفرزدق من علاك وغالب

بل درام بل يعرب ونزار

What are al-Farazdaq and Ghalib beside your eminence—

or rather Daram, or Ya'rub and Nizar?

قد قلت إذ نقلوه نقلة ظاعن

نزحت به دار وشط مزار

I said, when they moved him like a departing traveler,

his dwelling far away, his place of visitation distant:

ما كان إلا السيف جدد غمده

بسواه وهو الصارم البتار

He was only a sword whose sheath was replaced

by another, still the keen, severing blade;

والبدر فارق برجه متبدلاً

برجاً به تتشعشع الأنوار

a full moon that left its mansion, exchanging it

for a mansion where lights gleam;

والغيث روى بلدة ثم انتحى

أخرى فنوء سحابه مدرار

and rain that watered one land, then turned toward

another: the rain of its clouds pours abundantly.

يا مسبل الأستار دون جلاله

ماذا الذي رفعت له الأستار

O you who draw curtains before his majesty,

what is this for which the curtains have been raised?

مالي أرى الزوار بعد مهابة

فوضى ولا إذن ولا استئمار

Why do I see the visitors, after such awe,

unrestrained, with neither permission nor request for leave?

أكفيل آل محمد ووليهم

من حيث عرف وليهم إنكار

O guardian of Muhammad's house and their protector,

is their protector's kindness met with ingratitude?

غضب الإله على رجال أقدموا

جهلاً عليك وآخرين أشاروا

May God be angry with men who advanced

against you in ignorance, and others who counseled it.

لا تعجبن لقدر ناقة صالح

فلكل عصر صالح وقدار

Do not marvel at the fate of Salih's she-camel:

every age has its Salih and its Qudar.

واخجلتا للبيض كيف تطاولت

سفهاً بأيدي السود وهي قصار

Alas, the shame of white blades! How they overreached,

foolishly, in black men's hands, though those hands were short!

واحسرتا كيف انفردت لأعبد

وعبيدك السادات والأحرار

Alas, how you were left alone against mere slaves,

when your own servants were lords and free men!

رصدوك في ضيق المجال بحيث لا

الخطي متسع ولا الخطار

They ambushed you in a narrow space, where neither

the Khatti spear nor the swaying lance had room.

ما كان أقصر باعهم عن مثلها

لو كنت متروكاً وما تختار

How short their reach would have been for such a deed,

had you been left free to do as you chose!

ولقد وفى لك من صنائعك أمرؤ

بثنائه يستمتع السمار

One of those you had favored kept faith with you,

whose praises delight companions at nighttime gatherings.

ولقد ثبت ثبات مقتدر على

خذلانهم لو ساعد المقدار

He stood firm, with the firmness of one capable of

defeating them, had fate lent its aid.

وتعثرت أقدامهم لك هيبة

لو لم يكن لك بالذيول عثار

Their feet would have stumbled in awe of you,

had your own hems not tripped you.

أوفى أبو حسن بعهدك عندما

خذلت يمين أختها ويسار

Abu Hasan kept your covenant when

a right hand failed its sister, and a left hand too.

غابت حماتك واثقين ولم يغب

فكأنهم بحضوره حضار

Your defenders were absent, confident, but he was not;

with him present, it was as though they all were there.

لا تسألا إلا مضارب سيفه

فلقد تزيد وتنقص الأخبار

Ask, you two, only the striking edges of his sword,

for reports may exaggerate or diminish.

لقي المنية دون وجهك سافراً

عن غرة لجبينها إسفار

He met death in your defense, unveiling

a bright face whose brow shone.

حتى إذا انقطع الحسام بكفه

وانفل منه مضرب وغرار

Until, when the sword broke in his hand,

and its striking part and edge were notched,

ألقى عليك وقاية لك نفسه

لما انتحتك صوارم وشفار

he cast himself over you as your shield,

when sharp swords and blades struck toward you.

إن لم يذق كأس الردى فبقلبه

من خمرها أسفاً عليك خمار

If he did not taste the cup of death, his heart bears

the hangover of its wine, in grief for you.

هي وقفة رزق المكرم حمدها

وعلى رجال لومها والعار

It was a stand whose praise the honored man was granted,

while other men bear its blame and shame.

أحللت دار كرامة لا تنقضي

أبداً وحل بقاتليك بوار

You were lodged in an abode of honor, unending

forever, while ruin befell your killers.

يا ليت عينيك شاهدت أحوالهم

من بعدها ورأت إلى ما صاروا

Would that your eyes had seen their condition

afterward, and seen what they became!

وقع القصاص بهم وليسوا مقنعاً

برضى وأين من السماء غبار

Retribution struck them, yet they are not enough

to bring contentment—what is dust beside the sky?

ضاقت بهم سعة الفجاج وربما

نام العدو ولا ينام الثار

The broad mountain passes grew narrow for them; sometimes

the enemy sleeps, but vengeance does not sleep.

وتوهموا أن الفرار مطية

تنجي وأين من القضاء فرار

They imagined flight a mount

that would save them—but where is escape from fate?

طاروا فمد أبو الشجاع لصيدهم

شرك الردى فكأنهم ما طاروا

They flew, but Abu al-Shuja spread to catch them

death's snare, as though they had not flown.

أما وأعمار البرية مدة

تجري إلى غاياتها الأعمار

Indeed, the lives of humankind are but a span;

lifetimes run toward their appointed ends.

فتهن بالأجر العظيم وميتة

درجت عليها قبلك الأخيار

So rejoice in the great reward and in a death

that the righteous before you met.

مات الوصي بها وحمزة عمه

وابن البتول وجعفر الطيار

The appointed heir died thus, and Hamza, his uncle,

the son of al-Batul, and Ja'far the Winged.

تلك السعادة والشهادة والعلى

حياً وميتاً إن ذا لفخار

That is blessedness, martyrdom, and eminence,

in life and death: this is indeed glory!

ولقد أقر العين بعدك أروع

لولاه لم يك للعلى استقرار

After you, a splendid man has brought joy to the eye;

without him, eminence would have no firm footing.

لولا جميل بلائه لتفجرت

خلج البلا وتداعت الأقطار

Without his admirable striving, there would have burst forth

the channels of affliction, and the regions would have collapsed.

لما استقام لحفظ أمة أحمد

عمرت به الأوطان والأوطار

When he arose to guard Ahmad's community,

through him homelands flourished and desires found fulfillment.

الناصر الهادي الذي حسناته

عن سيئات زماننا أعذار

Al-Nasir, the guide, whose good deeds

are excuses for the evils of our time.

ملك جناية سيفه وسنانه

في كل جبار عصاه جبار

A king whose sword's and spearhead's injuries

to every tyrant who defies him incur no blood-price.

جمعت له فرق القلوب على الرضى

والسيف جامعهن والدينار

The scattered hearts were gathered in contentment with him;

what gathers them is the sword and the dinar.

وهما اللذان إذا أقاما دولة

دانت وكان لأمرها استمرار

These are the two that, when they establish a state,

bring obedience and make its rule endure.

وإذا هما افترقا ولم يتناصرا

عز العدو وذلت الأنصار

But when they part and do not aid each other,

the enemy grows mighty and supporters are abased.

ياآمراً نقضت له عقد الحبى

وغدا إليه النقض و الإمرار

O commander, for whom the knots of knee-wraps are untied,

and to whom loosening and tightening now belong,

ومضت أوامره المطاعة حسبما

يقضي به الإيراد والإصدار

whose obeyed commands take effect as

the bringing in and sending forth require.

إن الكفالة والوزارة لم يزل

يومى إليك بفضلها ويشار

Indeed, for guardianship and the vizierate, men have always

gestured and pointed to you as their foremost choice.

كانت مسافر إليك وتبعد ال

أخطار ما لم تركب الأخطار

It journeyed toward you; distant are the

high honors, unless dangers are braved,

حتى إذا نزلت عليك وشاهدت

ملكاً لزند الملك منه أوار

until, when it alighted upon you and beheld

a king from whom kingship's fire-stick takes its blaze,

ألقت عصاها في ذراك وعريت

عنها السروج وحطت الأكوار

it cast down its staff in your shelter; stripped

from it were the saddles, and the camel-saddles were laid down.

لله سيرتك التي أطلقتها

وقيودها التأريخ والأشعار

How wondrous your life-story, which you set loose,

with history and poetry as its bonds!

جلت فصلى خاطري في مدحها

وكبت ورائي قرح ومهار

It rose so high that my thought ran second in its praise,

while mature steeds and foals stumbled behind me.

والخيل لايرضيك منها مخبر

إلا إذا مالزها المضمار

As for horses, no report about them satisfies you

unless the racecourse has pressed them hard.

ومدائحي ماقد علمت وطال ما

سبقت ولم يبلل لهن عذار

My panegyrics are as you know; many a time

they have won, without a cheek-strap growing wet!

إن أخرتني عن جنابك محنة

بأقل منها تبسط الأعذار

If an ordeal has kept me from your presence,

excuses are offered for less than that.

فلدي من حسن الولاء عقيدة

يرضيك منها الجهر والإسرار

For I hold a creed of sincere loyalty,

whose open and secret devotion alike will please you.