صبراً جميلاً فلعل وعسى
يورق عود الوصل بعد ما عسا
Patience, beautiful patience, perhaps and maybe
The bond of love will leaf out after it withered
والدهر قاس قلبه وربما
يلين قلب الدهر بعدما قسا
And time is harsh, its heart is hard
Perhaps time's heart will soften after it hardened
أساءني من بعد ما أحسن بي
يا ليته أحسن بعدما أسا
He wronged me after treating me well
If only he would treat me well after wronging me
أطلق دمعي بعد ما قيده
وقال خذ منه طريقاً يبسا
He unleashed my tears after binding them
And said, take from it a arid road
أنهلني من الدنو راحة
أكرع منها للبعاد أكؤسا
He let me drink from sorrow's cup
I hastened to distance myself, having drunk my fill
يا دهر كم مارستني في موطن
شاهدت مني فيه قرماً اشوسا
O time, how much you have rubbed me raw in my homeland
You saw in it a lame old camel
لا ينثني عن غاية يطلبها
أو يبلغ الغاية طبعاً أشرسا
Not turning away from the goal it seeks
Or attaining the goal by nature most unyielding
أبوه قد أسس بيتاً للهدى
وهو بنى فشاد ما قد أسسا
His father built a house of guidance
While he erected what his father had founded
من فتية أبوهم عليها
وأمهم فاطمة خير النساء
Of youths whose father was Ali
And their mother Fatima, best of all women
رووا حديث الفضل عن جدهم
وجدهم رواه عن أهل الكسا
They related the hadith of merit from their grandfather
And their grandfather related it from the people of endurance
ما أصبح الصبح على أمثالهم
أطواد حلم لا ولا أمسى المسا
No dawn has broken over likes of them
Pillars of forbearance, no, nor has evening fallen
من كل وضاح الجبين نوره
استعار نور الشمس منه قبسا
From each bright-browed light
The light of sun borrowed a flint
ما عسعس الليل على آملهم
إلا وصبح جودهم تنفسا
No night has gloomed over their hopes
Except their generosity dawned breathing
وعيلم إن أعضلت معضلة
كان لبرء دائها نعم الأسا
And should a complex issue be knotted
The loosing of its knot was a fine healer
يا دهر جد بالقرب منهم نفسا
وعد كل العمر ذاك النفسا
O fate, keep close to them a soul
Count the whole of life as that soul
أسلمتني إلى الأسى من بعدهم
من بعدهم اسلمتني إلى الأسى
After them you delivered me over to grief
After them you delivered me over to grief