طالعت نعشك والقرين الفرقد

لا تعجبوا فالنعش فيه محمد

I beheld your bier, with Farqad as its companion.

Do not marvel, for Muhammad lies within the bier.

رفعته أملاك السماء مظنةً

إن السماء لها إمام يلحد

The angels of heaven raised it, believing

that heaven had an imam to be interred.

وهبطت في وادي الغري لتربةٍ

لك في صفايحها مزار يعبد

And you descended into the valley of al-Ghari, to a grave

among whose slabs you have a shrine that is worshipped.

في مشهد ضجت مآتم أهله

أسفاً عليك فكل دارٍ مشهد

At a shrine, its people's mourning gatherings cried out

in grief for you, so every house became a scene of mourning.

للَه تربتك الزكية كم بها

عكفت ملائك ركع أوسجد

How wondrous your pure grave! How many there

are the angels who have kept vigil, bowing or prostrate!

وتضمنت علماً وحلماً راسخاً

ونداً وبدر هدىً وفيها السؤدد

And it enfolded knowledge and steadfast forbearance,

and generosity and a full moon of guidance; within it lies nobility.

واستنزلت فلك المكارم وانطوى

فيها خضم بالفضائل مزبد

It drew down the sphere of noble virtues, and there was enclosed

within it a vast ocean foaming with virtues.

عجباً لها ضمت مآثرك التي

من دون عدتها الرمال يعدد

How wondrous that it holds your glorious deeds,

beside whose tally even the sands can be counted.

يا ظاعناً عنا وخلف جذورةً

في قلب كل موحدٍ تتوقد

O you who departed from us and left an ember

blazing in the heart of every monotheist,

أبداً فلا نار تبوخ ولا حشاً

منا تقر ولا عيون تجمد

forever: no flame subsides, nor does any heart

among us find rest, nor do eyes cease their weeping.

وأضالع مقرحةً وطرف أرمد

وحشاً مؤججة وعيش أنكد

And wounded ribs, and an inflamed eye,

and hearts set aflame, and a bitter life;

وأضالع مسجورةً بلظى جوىً

وحشاشة طاحت ووجد سرمد

and ribs ablaze with the flames of anguish,

and life's last remnant perished, and everlasting grief.

من للأمائل في شواكل دينها

من للأرامل بعد يومك يرفد

Who is there for the communities in the ways of their faith?

Who will support the widows after your day of death?

من للسداد وقد تعتفي نهجه

فأغار أقوام وقم أنجدوا

Who will uphold rectitude, now that its path is effaced,

so some have gone to the lowlands and others to the highlands?

من للعباد وقد أضاعت رشدها

في الدين والدنيا وأنت المرشد

Who is there for God's servants, now that they have lost their guidance

in religion and worldly life, when you were the guide?

من للياتامى كاليء أو كافل

من للأيامي مسعف أو مسعد

Who will be a guardian or provider for the orphans?

Who will assist or gladden those without spouses?

من للأنام من المهالك منقذ

من للمروع من الحوادث منجد

Who will rescue humankind from deadly perils?

Who will aid the terror-stricken against calamities?

من للممالك ساعد ومساعد

ولأنت طالعها السعيد الأسعد

Who will be a strong arm and helper to the realms?

And you were their fortunate, most auspicious rising star.

من في ثغور المسلمين مرابط

رصد وأنت لها الرصيد المرصد

Who will stand guard on the Muslims' frontiers,

a sentinel, when you were their watchman, ever on guard?

من للشريعة جامع لشتاتها

فالشمل منها إذ نعتك مبدد

Who will gather the scattered parts of the sacred law?

For its unity was shattered when it announced your death.

من للمحاريب التي أحييتها

متبتلاً في ليلها تتهجد

Who will tend the prayer niches you brought to life,

in solitary devotion, keeping vigil through their nights?

أقرت بعد مفاخر بك قد زهت

والسيف من بعد الضريبة يغمد

Have they fallen still after the glories in which they shone through you?

And the sword is sheathed after the blow.

ومرحت في سعة الجنان وكظنا

سجن بحافته الصواعق ترعد

And you rejoiced in paradise's wide expanse, while we were oppressed by

a prison along whose edge thunderbolts rumble.

ماذا أقول معزياً إخوانه

ولهم حجى راس علاه ومحتد

What shall I say in condolence to his brothers,

when theirs is steadfast wisdom, lofty stature, and noble lineage?

قل يا أبا المهدي لا تجزع فما

حي وإن طال البقاء يخلد

Say: 'O Abu al-Mahdi, do not despair; no

living being is immortal, however long life may last.'

وهو العليم بأن عاقبة الأسى

في النشأتين على العواقب تحمد

And he well knows that the outcome of sorrow

in both lives is praised above other outcomes.

وبعزه سلوان آل محمدٍ

وبغير شرعته الورى لم يقتدوا

And in his glory is the consolation of Muhammad's family,

and humankind has followed no law but his.

رمز الكتاب بأنه النجم الذي

لولا سناه عليهم لم يهتدوا

The Book alludes to him as the star

without whose radiance upon them they would not find their way.

ضرب الجلال عليه رائق روقه

وعلى شمائله الخناصر تعقد

Majesty spread over him its radiant canopy,

and little fingers are folded in praise of his qualities.

يا آل جعفر أنت البحر الذي

هو للعوالم في العلوم المورد

O house of Ja'far, you are the sea

that is the worlds' watering place for knowledge.

ولأنتم البيت الحرام لنا به

أمن وينجح في فناه المقصد

And you are indeed the Sacred House, in which we have

safety, and in whose courtyard one's purpose is fulfilled.

لكم المساعي الغر والمدح التي

فيهن ألسنة الثناء تغرد

Yours are the radiant endeavors and the praises

in which the tongues of acclaim sing.

لكم الأيادي المالكات رقابنا

طراً فنحن لكم جميعاً أعبد

Yours are the favors that hold our necks in bondage,

every one; so we are all your slaves.

شيدتم الإسلام وانتقضت بكم

ملل الضلال تنصر وتهود

You built up Islam, and through you were undone

the errant creeds of Christianity and Judaism.

وإذا ادعيت لكم مقاماً دونه

زحل فأقلام الفضا لي تشهد

And if I claim for you a station beneath which lies

Saturn, the pens of the heavens bear me witness.

لا يستهل وليدكم إلا بما

فيه شعار الدين ساعة يولد

Your newborn cries out only with that

which bears the emblem of faith, the moment he is born.

أثر المفاخر في سواكم مرسل

وحديث فخركم صحيح مسند

Reports of others' glories have an incomplete chain,

but the report of your glory is sound and fully attested.

إن غاب منكم سيد عنا يقم

فينا بأعباء الأمامة سيد

If a lord from among you departs from us, there arises

among us another lord to bear the burdens of the imamate.

أصل لكل فضيلة فصل بكل

قضية ملك مطاع أصيد

A root of every virtue, an arbiter in every

case, an obeyed king of lofty bearing;

فرع قويم باب علم جنة

مستحقب نقل الشريعة سيد

an upright branch, a gate of knowledge, a shield,

a lord bearing the transmitted sacred law upon his shoulders;

بالرأي في فصل الخطاب مؤيد

بالوحي في علم الكتاب مسدد

strengthened by judgment in decisive speech,

guided aright by revelation in knowledge of the Book.

يا مفرداً في حضرة أنست به

وكذاك من سكن المقابر مفرد

O solitary one in a precinct that found companionship in you,

and likewise, whoever dwells in graveyards is alone.

كم لي على مثواك وقفة ناشدٍ

لو كان يسمع ميت من يشند

How often I have stood at your resting place, reciting,

if only the dead could hear the one who recites!

أرثيك يا من لم أحط بثنائه

ومن المحيط بعد مالا ينفد

I mourn you in verse, O one whose praises I could not encompass—

and who, after all, can encompass what is inexhaustible?

في زفرة حنت الضلوع على حشاً

ذابت فهاهي لي قذاً تتصعد

With a sigh, my ribs curve over a heart

that has melted; now it rises, a mote to trouble me.

أو حسرة تزجي سواجم عبرةً

في أجرعيه فمبرق أو مرعد

Or with an anguish that drives pouring showers of tears

over its two sandy tracts—then flashing lightning or thundering.

مني إليك تحية موصولة

ما إن تزال بها الملائك تصعد

From me to you, an unbroken greeting,

with which the angels never cease to ascend.