وأبيك لا حي يدوم — Haidar Alheli

وأبيك لا حيٌّ يدومُ

فعلام ترمضك الهمومُ

By your father, no living being endures.

So why do sorrows scorch you?

لا تجزعنَّ لضاعنٍ

وانظر هديت مَن المقيم

Do not grieve for one departing;

consider—may you be guided—who remains.

إنَّا بنو الدنيا تطيبُ

لنا ومربعُها وخيم

We are children of this world; it is sweet

to us, though its dwelling is unwholesome.

نرجو الشفا لسقيمنا

وصحيحنا فيها سقيم

We hope for healing for our sick,

yet our healthy are sick within it.

ونرومُ أن نبقى بها

والموتُ غايةُ ما نروم

We seek to remain in it,

yet death is the end of all we seek.

هذا الحسينُ وكانَ يس

تسقي بطلعته الغيوم

Here is Husayn, through whose countenance

the clouds were once entreated for rain.

سائل به محرابهُ

إن شئتَ فهو به عليم

Ask his prayer niche about him,

if you wish, for it knows him well.

يخبرك كم بسناه أم

سى يزهر الليل البهيم

It will tell you how often, through his radiance,

the pitch-black night came to shine at evening.

متهجداً لله ودَّت

لثمَ مسجده النجوم

As he kept night vigil before God, the stars longed

to kiss his place of prostration.

هو واحد التقوى الذي

هي بعد مولده عقيم

He is piety's peerless son;

after his birth, she is barren.

رحل الحمام به فتلك

معالم التقوى رسوم

Death bore him away, and now those

landmarks of piety are mere traces.

رُفعتْ برفعِ سريره ال

بركات وافتُقِدَ النعيم

As his bier was lifted, so were the

blessings, and bliss was lost.

حملوه والتقوى تنا

شده ومدمعُها سجوم

They bore him away, while piety

implored him, her tears streaming.

يا ذاهباً لا يُرتجى

أبد الزمان له قدوم

O departing one, whose return is not hoped for

through all eternity,

فاللحد هل يدري أأن

تَ أم الصلاحُ به مقيم

does the grave know whether it is you

or righteousness that dwells within it?

قمرُ السماء به توارى

أم محيَّاك الكريم

Has the moon of heaven hidden there,

or is it your noble face?

إن يوصِ غيرك مَن بإر

ثِ يتيمه ورعاً يقوم

If another appoints someone to guard

his orphan's inheritance with piety,

فالنسك إرثٌ والوصيُّ

تقاك والزهدُ اليتيم

your legacy is devotion, its appointed guardian

your piety, and asceticism the orphan.

ومقيم مأتمك التقى

إن التقى نعمَ المقيم

Piety presides over your mourning rites;

indeed, piety is an excellent presider.

وبك المعزِّي من أتى

في مدحه الذكر الحكيم

He who gives consolation for your loss is the one

praised in the Wise Remembrance:

القائمُ المهديُّ مَن

تُجلى بطلعته الهموم

the Qa'im, the Mahdi, he

whose countenance dispels sorrows.

ورثَ النبوَّة علمها

فهو الخبيرُ بها العليم

He inherited prophethood's knowledge;

so he is versed in it and deeply learned.

مولًى بنادي عزِّه

تتضاءل الصيدُ القروم

A lord in whose assembly of glory

the proud, mighty chieftains dwindle.

نادٍ ملائكةُ السماء

على سرادقه تحوم

An assembly where the angels of heaven

hover above its canopy.

وبشمِّ آناف الملوك

ترابُ عتبته شميم

To the haughty noses of kings,

the dust of his threshold is perfume.

في صدره المهديُّ تص

در للورى منه العلوم

At its head is the Mahdi; knowledge

flows from him to humankind.

ملأتْ نتائجه الزمان

وغيره الشكل العقيم

His conclusions have filled the age;

others are but barren syllogisms.

فله الزعامة في الهُدى

وسواه في الدعوى أثيم

So his is the leadership in guidance,

and others are sinful in their claim.

يا مَن لهُ النسبُ الصريح ال

محض والحسبُ الكريم

O you whose lineage is clear

and pure, whose inherited honor is noble,

عجباً يرومُ عُلاك من

لك فوقه الشرفُ القديم

how strange that one should aspire to your heights

when your ancient honor rises above him!

فوقَ الرغام وتحتَ نعلك

أنف همَّته رغيم

Above the dust and beneath your sandal

lies his ambition's nose, humbled in dust.

هبه يرومُ فأين مِن

يد مَن على الأرض النجوم

Grant that he aspires—but how far

are the stars from the hand of one on earth!

مثلان خلقُك والنسيمُ

ونداكَ والغيثُ العميم

Your character and the breeze are twins,

as are your bounty and the all-encompassing rain.

ولأنت واسطةُ العلاء

وولدُك العقدُ النظيم

Surely you are the central jewel of eminence,

and your children its well-strung necklace.

قومٌ بهم أمِنَ المروعُ

وفيهم أثرى العديم

A people through whom the frightened find safety,

and among whom the destitute grow rich.

كلاً تراه جعفراً

في الجودِ وهو لهم زعيم

In each you see a Ja'far

in generosity, and he is their leader.

أرجُ السيادة فيهم

كالمسك ينشره النسيم

The fragrance of lordship among them

is like musk spread by the breeze.

رضعوا الإِمامة فالجميعُ

بنور عصمتها فطيم

They suckled the imamate, and all

were weaned upon the light of its infallibility.

فولاؤهم فرضٌ وهد

يُهم الصراطُ المستقيم

So loyalty to them is a duty, and their

guidance is the straight path.

لبس الزمان بهاءهم

فبهم محيَّاه وسيم

Time has clothed itself in their splendor;

through them its face is fair.

وبهم لنا الأيامُ يقطر

من غضارتها النعيم

Through them, our days drip

with bliss from their flourishing abundance.

تهوى السماءُ بأنها

لصعيد أرضهم أديم

Heaven longs to be

a covering for the soil of their land.

وإذا مشوا فوقَ الثرى

حسدت نعالهم النجوم

When they walk upon the soil,

the stars envy their sandals.

يا سادة العلما ومَن

تزن الجبال لهم حلوم

O masters of the learned, whose

wisdom matches mountains in weight,

بكم العزاءُ وحسبُنا

من كلِّ ماضٍ أن تدوموا

in you is consolation; it is enough for us,

for every departed one, that you endure.

أمحمدٌ في ظلّهم

ستنال أقصى ما تروم

O Muhammad, beneath their shade

you will attain the utmost you desire.

فأبوك إنْ يفقدْ فكلّ

هم أبٌ برٌّ رحيم

For if your father is lost, all

of them are fathers, kind and merciful.

سيقرّ عيناً في الثرى

إذ فيك جودُهم يقوم

His eye will find comfort beneath the earth,

since their bounty toward you endures.

حيَّا الملائك قبره

من حيث فيه هو المقيم

May the angels greet his grave,

for he is the one dwelling there;

وسقته من أنواء عفو

الله واكفةٌ سجوم

and may it be watered, from the rain-stars of

God's pardon, by a cloud pouring and streaming.