1. ما لهم يا قبرُ قد جدُّوا انصرافا

    بعدما قد دفنوا فيك العفافا

    What ails them, O grave, that they have hastened away,

    after they have buried chastity in you,

  2. وحثوا منكَ على عين العُلى

    تربةً تستافها الحورُ استيافا

    and cast, from you, upon glory's eye

    earth whose scent the houris deeply inhale?

  3. نفضوا تربك والصبرَ معاً

    عن يدٍ تمسكُ أكباداً لهافا

    They shook off your dust and patience together

    from a hand clutching grief-stricken hearts.

  4. وردوا أمس ثقالاً بالجوى

    فبماذا صدروا اليوم خفافا

    Yesterday they arrived, heavy with anguish;

    so how did they depart today so lightly laden?

  5. هل أعادوا معهم ما أخذوا

    من حشاشات تبقُّوها لهافا

    Did they bring back with them what they had taken

    of the remnants of life they had kept in anguish?

  6. لا ومَن قد طهَّرَ الماءَ بها

    مذ لها مطلقه كانَ مضافا

    No—by Him who purified water through her,

    since its unqualified form became attributed to her;

  7. والتي راحَ الحيا ملتحفاً

    معها طاهرَ برديها التحافا

    and by her—modesty went forth enwrapped

    beside her, chastely cloaked in her two mantles.

  8. بل أعادوا جمرة الوجدِ إلى

    أضلعٍ باتت عليها تتجافى

    Rather, they brought back grief's ember to

    ribs that lay restless above it all night.

  9. حجب القبرُ ابنة الوحي التي

    شرفُ الذكر بعلياها أنافا

    The grave veiled the daughter of revelation,

    through whose lofty rank the glory of the Reminder rose high.

  10. من كريماتٍ على الله لها

    ضرب العصمة خدراً وسجافا

    One of the noble women dear to God, for whom

    He made infallibility a secluded chamber and curtain.

  11. لم تلد إلاَّ الذي يسقي كلا

    ماتحي سجليه شهداً وذعافا

    She bore only him who gives both

    drawers from his two buckets honey and deadly poison.

  12. والتي ما مدَّت العليا على

    مثلها يوماً لتخدير طرافا

    And she—never has glory spread over

    her like, on any day, a canopy of seclusion.

  13. صاحَ هل تعلمُ لمَّا أفردت

    وامتلى القبرُ ضجيجاً وهتافا

    Friend, do you know, when she was left alone

    and the grave filled with clamor and cries,

  14. أبذاك الترب واروا فاطماً

    أم إليها العالمُ القدسيُّ وافى

    did they bury Fatima beneath that soil,

    or did the sacred world come to her?

  15. ونعم فيه توراث شعبةٌ

    من حشاها اختطفت منها اختطافا

    And yes, within it a branch lay hidden,

    from her womb, forcibly snatched away from her.

  16. ساقها الحتفُ ولكن بعدما

    شقَّ من صدر الهُدى عنها الشغافا

    Death carried her away, but only after

    it tore from guidance's breast the heart's sheath around her.

  17. وعليها مسحَ الوجدُ ضحًى

    مقلةً عمياء لا تدري الجفافا

    And for her, grief wiped, in the forenoon,

    a sightless eye that never knew dryness.

  18. أوحشت من أمِّ شبلٍ غابةً

    لو بها مرَّ أبو شبلٍ لخافا

    She left a thicket desolate, bereft of a lion-cub's mother,

    where, had the cub's father passed, he would have feared.

  19. كعبة التخدير إلاَّ أنَّها

    خلقت للملأ الأعلى مطافا

    The Kaaba of seclusion—except that she

    was created as a place of circumambulation for the highest assembly.

  20. دارُ قدسٍ أودعَ اللهُ بها

    خيرَ أهل الأرض نسكاً وعفافا

    A dwelling of holiness, where God placed

    the best of earth's people in devotion and chastity.

  21. قل لمن رامَ انحرافاً عنهم

    ضلَّ من يبغي عن الحقِّ انحرافا

    Tell whoever sought to turn away from them:

    Whoever seeks to turn away from truth has gone astray.

  22. سادةٌ للرشد في مهديِّهم

    جعلَ اللهُ من الغيِّ انتصافا

    Masters of right guidance—in their Mahdi

    God established redress against error.

  23. كلُّهم أبحرُ علمٍ طفحت

    فاغترف من أيّهم شئتَ اغترافا

    They are all overflowing seas of knowledge;

    so draw a draught from whichever of them you wish.

  24. فضلوا الخلقَ أكفًّا سحباً

    رفعَ المحلَ وأخلاقاً سلافا

    They surpassed creation, with hands like rain clouds

    that dispelled drought, and with character like choice wine,

  25. أسكرتْ في حبِّهم حتَّى العدى

    فهي الصهباء لطفاً وارتشافا

    which intoxicated even their foes with love for them.

    Thus it is tawny wine, in delicacy and in the sipping.

  26. كرماءٌ لقِرى أضيافهم

    ينحرون البدرَ لا البدنَ العجافا

    Generous men, who, to feast their guests,

    slaughter the full moon, not lean sacrificial camels.

  27. آمنوا في الله مَن آمنه

    وأخافوا من له اللهُ أخافا

    They gave safety, for God's sake, to those He made safe,

    and frightened those whom God frightened for His sake.

  28. يا ذوي الحلم وفيكم رقَّةٌ

    فقتم فيها حنوًّا وانعطافا

    O men of forbearance, within you is a tenderness

    in which you excelled in compassion and affection.

  29. إنَّما هزَّت قنا صبركمُ

    نكبةُ الدهر فزادتها ثقافا

    The spears of your patience were shaken only by

    time's calamity, which made them straighter still.

  30. وعلى زحف الليالي لا شكت

    أبداً أبيات علياكم زحافا

    And despite the nights' advance, never did

    the verses of your glory ever complain of metrical contraction.