1. بكى النارَ سَتْراً على المَوْقِدِ

    وغار يغالطُ في المُنجِدِ

    He wept for the fire, shielding the hearth,

    and went to the lowlands, misleading others about the uplander.

  2. أحبَّ وصان فَورَّى هوىً

    أضلَّ وخاف فلم يَنشُد

    He loved and guarded his secret, concealing a passion

    he had lost; afraid, he did not seek it.

  3. بعيد الإصاخة عن عاذلٍ

    غنيُّ التفرّدِ عن مُسعدِ

    Far from lending an ear to a reprover,

    self-sufficient in solitude, needing no sympathizer.

  4. حمولٌ على القلب وهو الضعيفُ

    صبورٌ عن الماء وهو الصَّدِي

    He burdens his heart, frail though it is,

    and endures without water, though parched with thirst.

  5. وقورٌ وما الخُرقُ من حازمٍ

    متى ما يَرُحْ شيبُه يغتدي

    Dignified—for recklessness is no resolute man's way—

    whenever his gray hair departs at dusk, it returns at dawn.

  6. ويا قلبُ إن قادك الغانياتُ

    فكم رسَنٍ فيك لم ينقدِ

    And O heart, if beautiful women lead you,

    how many a halter upon you has never snapped!

  7. أفقْ فكأني بها قد أُمِرَّ

    بأفواهها العذْبُ من مَوْردي

    Awake! I seem to see it already made bitter

    in their mouths—the sweet water of my spring,

  8. وسُوِّدَ ما ابيضَّ من ودّها

    بما بيّض الدهرُ من أَسودي

    and the whiteness of their affection blackened

    by what time has whitened of my black hair.

  9. وما الشيبُ أولُ غدرِ الزمان

    بَلَى من عوائده العوَّدِ

    Gray hair is not time's first betrayal;

    rather, it is one of its recurrent habits.

  10. لَحَا اللّهُ حظِّيَ كم لا يجودُ

    بما أَستحقّ وكم أَجتدى

    God curse my fortune! How often it withholds

    what I deserve, and how often I beg!

  11. وكم أتعلَّلُ عيشَ السقيم

    أذمِّمُ يومي وأرجُو غدي

    How often I console myself, living an invalid's life,

    condemning my today and hoping for my tomorrow.

  12. لئن نام دهرِيَ دون المُنَى

    وأصبح عن نَيلها مُقعِدي

    Though my time has slept, falling short of my hopes,

    and has kept me from attaining them,

  13. ولم أك أحمَدُ أفعالَه

    فلي أُسوةٌ ببني أحمدِ

    and I have not praised its deeds,

    I have an example in the sons of Ahmad:

  14. بخير الورى وبني خيرِهم

    إذا وَلَدُ الخيرِ لم يُولَدِ

    in the best of humankind, and the sons of their best,

    when the offspring of the best had not yet been born;

  15. وأكرمِ حيٍّ على الأرض قام

    ومَيْتٍ توسّد في مَلحَدِ

    and the noblest living man to stand upon the earth,

    and the noblest dead man pillowed in a burial niche;

  16. وبيتٍ تَقاصَرُ عنه البيوتُ

    وطال عَليّاً على الفرقَدِ

    and a house before which all houses fall short,

    and which towered loftily above the star Farqad.

  17. تحومُ الملائكُ من حولِهِ

    ويُصبحُ للوَحْيِ دارَ النَّدِي

    Around it the angels hover,

    and each morning it is revelation's assembly hall.

  18. ألا سَلْ قريشاً ولُمْ منهُمُ

    من استوجبَ اللومَ أو فنِّدِ

    Come, ask Quraysh, and blame among them

    whoever deserves blame, or denounce his folly.

  19. وقل ما لكم بعد طول الضلا

    ل لم تشكروا نعمة المرشدِ

    And say: Why, after such long error,

    have you not given thanks for the guide's blessing?

  20. أتاكم على فَترةٍ فاستقام

    بكم جائرين عن المَقصدِ

    He came to you after a hiatus and set straight

    you who were straying from the right course.

  21. وولَّى حميداً إلى ربّه

    ومَن سَنَّ ما سنَّهُ يُحمَدِ

    He departed, praised, to his Lord;

    and whoever instituted what he did deserves praise.

  22. وقد جعلَ الأمرَ من بعده

    لحيدَرَ بالخبر المُسنَدِ

    He had assigned the authority after him

    to Haydar, according to the chain-transmitted report,

  23. وسمَّاه مولىً بإقرارِ مَنْ

    لو اتَّبعَ الحقَّ لم يَجْحَدِ

    and named him master, as acknowledged by one

    who, had he followed the truth, would not have denied it.

  24. فملتم بها حسدَ الفضل عنه

    ومن يكُ خيرَ الورى يُحسَدِ

    Yet you diverted it from him, envying his excellence;

    and whoever is the best of humankind is envied.

  25. وقلتم بذاك قضى الاجتماعُ

    ألا إنما الحقُّ للمفرَدِ

    You said: Consensus decreed it so.

    Yet the right belongs only to the one singled out.

  26. يعزُّ على هاشمٍ والنبيِّ

    تلاعُبُ تَيْمٍ بها أو عَدِي

    Grievous to Hashim and the Prophet

    is Taym's or Adi's toying with it.

  27. وإرثُ عليٍّ لأولاده

    إذا آيةُ الإرثِ لم تُفسَد

    Ali's inheritance belongs to his children,

    if the verse of inheritance is not distorted.

  28. فمن قاعدٍ منهُمُ خائف

    ومِن ثائرٍ قامَ لم يُسعَدِ

    Some among them sit still in fear,

    and some rise in revolt, only to go unaided.

  29. تَسلَّطُ بغياً أكفُّ النفا

    ق منهم على سيِّدٍ سيِّدِ

    The hands of hypocrisy tyrannize unjustly

    over master after master among them.

  30. وما صُرِفوا عن مقام الصلاةِ

    ولا عُنِّفوا في بُنَى المسجِدِ

    They were never turned away from the station of prayer,

    nor rebuked within the mosque's structures.

  31. أبوهم وأمهُمُ مَن علم

    تَ فانقُصْ مَفاخِرَهم أو زِدِ

    Their father and mother are those you know;

    so diminish their glories, or add to them.

  32. أرى الدِّينَ من بعدِ يومِ الحسين

    عليلاً له الموتُ بالمَرصدِ

    I see religion, since Husayn's day,

    ailing, with death lying in wait for it.

  33. وما الشِّرك للّه من قبله

    إذا أنت قستَ بمستبعَدِ

    Nor is the earlier worship of partners beside God,

    if you compare, at all far removed.

  34. وما آل حربٍ جَنَوا إنما

    أعادوا الضلال على من بُدِي

    Nor did Harb's house commit a crime; they merely

    restored error to those with whom it began.

  35. سيعلم مَن فاطمٌ خصمُهُ

    بأيّ نكالٍ غداً يرتدي

    He whose adversary is Fatim will learn

    what punishment he will wear tomorrow.

  36. ومَنْ ساءَ أحمدَ يا سِبطَهُ

    فباءَ بقتلك ماذا يدي

    And he who grieved Ahmad, O his grandson,

    and bore the guilt of killing you—what blood-price can he pay?

  37. فداؤك نفسي ومَنْ لي بذا

    ك لو أن مولىً بعبدٍ فُدِي

    My soul be your ransom! But who could grant me that,

    if a master could be ransomed with a slave?

  38. ولَيتَ دمي ما سَقَى الأرضَ منك

    يقوتُ الرَّدَى وأكون الرَّدِي

    Would that my blood, instead of yours that watered the earth,

    might nourish death, and I be the slain!

  39. وليتَ سَبقتُ فكنتُ الشهيدَ

    أمامَك يا صاحبَ المَشهَدِ

    Would that I had gone first, becoming the martyr

    before you, O master of the shrine!

  40. عسى الدهرُ يَشفِي غداً من عدا

    ك قلبَ مَغيظٍ بهم مُكمَدِ

    May time tomorrow soothe, at your foes' expense,

    a heart enraged and grief-stricken by them.

  41. عسى سطوةُ الحقّ تعلو المُحالَ

    عسى يُغلَبُ النقصُ بالسؤدُدِ

    May truth's might rise above falsehood;

    may imperfection be overcome by nobility.

  42. وقد فعَلَ اللّهُ لكنني

    أرى كبِدي بعدُ لم تبرُدِ

    God has indeed done so, yet I

    find my liver still uncooled.

  43. بسمعي لقائمكم دعوةٌ

    يُلبِّي لها كلُّ مستنجَدِ

    In my ears rings a summons for your Qa'im,

    answered by everyone summoned to help.

  44. أنا العبدُ وَالاَكُمُ عَقدُهُ

    إذا القولُ بالقلبِ لم يُعقَدِ

    I am the slave whose conviction is loyal to you,

    when words are not bound to the heart.

  45. وفيكم ودادي ودِيني معاً

    وإن كان في فارسٍ مولدي

    In you my love and my faith are joined,

    though my birthplace was in Persia.

  46. خَصَمْتُ ضلالي بكم فاهتديتُ

    ولولاكُمُ لم أكن أهتدي

    Through you I vanquished my error and found guidance;

    without you I would never have found the way.

  47. وجردتموني وقد كنتُ في

    يد الشِّرك كالصارم المغمَدِ

    You unsheathed me, when I had been

    in idolatry's hand like a sheathed sword.

  48. ولا زال شعرِيَ من نائحٍ

    يُنَقَّل فيكم إلى مُنشِدِ

    May my poetry forever, from a mourner,

    be passed to a reciter, with you as its theme.

  49. وما فاتني نصرُكم باللسان

    إذا فاتني نصرُكم باليدِ

    Nor have I failed to aid you with my tongue,

    when I could not aid you with my hand.