أرى كل ما قد قدر الله يكتب

وليس على المولى مفر ومهرب

I see that all God has decreed is written.

And there is no escape or refuge from the Lord.

قضاء من الرحمن جل جلاله

وما قدر الرحنم لا شك أغلب

A decree from the Most Merciful—exalted is His majesty;

and what the Most Merciful decrees prevails, without doubt.

لعمري لقد أوفى الإمام بكلها

يؤمله مما يريد ويرغب

By my life, the imam has indeed fulfilled it all—

what he hopes for, what he wishes and desires.

سعى جهده في برئنا من عمائنا

وسبب أسباباً لذاك تقرب

He strove with all his strength to cure us of our blindness,

and provided the means for this, seeking nearness to God.

فجازاه مولاه الرضى وأثابه

بأحسن ما يجزي به المتقرب

So may his Lord reward him with His favor and recompense him

with the best reward He grants one who draws near.

فيا من سما مجدا ًوجوداً وسودداً

حنانيك ما سر عليك محجب

O you who have risen high in glory, generosity, and eminence,

Your mercy, I beg; no secret is veiled from you.

سنشرح من أخبارنا بعض ما جرى

سوى ما مضى مما رقمناه يكتب

We shall recount some of what befell us,

besides what came before, which we recorded in writing.

ولما انقضت تلك اليالي التي لها

يؤمل منه ما أراد ويطلب

And when those nights had passed, during which

one hoped to obtain from him what one wished and sought—

ثمان ليال حل منا عصائباً

تشد على العينين منا وتعصب

eight nights—he removed the bandages from us,

which had been tightened and wrapped around our eyes.

فلم أر مما كنت أبصرت أولاً

بحركها من كفه ويصوب

I no longer saw what I had seen at first,

by its movement from his palm as he lowered it.

وقد صار في عيني غواشٍ وحمرة

وأوساخ ما يطفو عليها ويحجب

And veils and redness had formed in my eye,

and impurities that floated upon it and veiled it,

من الغم للعينين والعصب والأسى

وإمرار ما قد كان يؤذي ويوصب

from the distress of both eyes, the bandaging, and the pain,

and the application of what had caused harm and suffering.

وأرجأني خمساً وفي كل ليلة

يحاول أوساخاً تزول وتذهب

He kept me waiting five nights, and every night

he tried to make the impurities clear away and vanish.

فلم يغن شياً ما يحاول كشفه

ولا كل ما يهوي وما يتطلب

But his attempts to clear it away availed nothing,

nor did all that he desired and sought.

فميلها أخرى وكانت مريضة

وقد صابني هم شديد عصبصب

So he probed it once more, though it was diseased,

and severe, crushing anxiety had afflicted me.

أدار عليها الميل من بعد ضربها

ثلاثاً يزيد الماء عنها وينضب

He moved the probe around it after striking it

three times; the fluid from it increased and subsided.

وهرة منها حمرة العين بالدوى

وكان شديداً حره يتلهب

And he scraped away the eye's redness with the medicine,

and its heat was fierce and blazing.

وقد سفحت بالدم من أجل ضربها

وتهريتها بالميل أيان يضرب

And it streamed with blood because it had been struck

and scraped with the probe whenever he struck.

ودامت على عيني الحرارة بالدوى

لعمر إلهي ساعة وهي توصب

And the heat from the medicine lingered over my eye

for an hour, by my God's life, causing pain.

وعثمان بعد الحل للعين قد رأى

وأبصر منها ما رأى حين يضرب

And Uthman, after his eye was unbound, could see,

and saw with it what he had seen when the blows were given,

سوى أنه قد كان أبصر حمرة

على عينيه تعلو عليها وتحجب

except that he had noticed redness

upon his eyes, rising over them and veiling them.

كذلك أوساخ عليها كثيرة

وورم بجفن العين يؤذي وينصب

Likewise, there was much debris upon them,

and swelling in the eyelid that hurt and wore him down.

فهرتها بالميل وهو مشرب

بذاك الدوى الموذي لها حين ينكب

So he scraped it with the probe, which was soaked

in that medicine, which hurt it when poured in.

وصرنا على ذا الحال كل عشية

يجيء إلينا بالقطور ويذهب

And we remained in this state; every evening

he would come to us with eye drops and leave—

دواء لذيذ بارد لم يكن به

إذاء سوى غم لها حين يعصب

a pleasant, cool medicine that caused no

harm except distress to the eye when he bandaged it,

إلى أن مضت من حين أيام ضربها

ثلاثة أسباع تعد وتحسب

until there had elapsed, since the days when it was struck,

three weeks, counted and reckoned.

فقال لعثمان ستبصر بعد ذا

بيومين ما قد كان في الصحف يكتب

Then he said to Uthman, 'After this, you will see,

in two days, what has been written on the pages.'

وأما أنا فالحال إن شكايتي

وما كان من أمري يرجا ويطلب

As for me, my condition—indeed, my affliction

and what was hoped for and sought in my case—

على حالها ما تم لي ما أريده

إلى أن مضت عشرين والعين تعصب

remained unchanged; what I wanted was not fulfilled for me,

until twenty days had passed, with the eye still bandaged.

أنام فلا ثم أحبس برهة

وأعراق رأسي من جوى العين تضرب

I try to sleep, but cannot; then I remain confined awhile,

and the veins of my head throb from the eye's burning pain.

وقد كنت فيما قبل أرجو سلامةً

وعافية والله بالخير أقرب

And before this I had hoped for recovery

and well-being; God is readier to grant good.

وها أنا في حال الرجا مترقب

من الله ما أرجو وما أتطلب

And here I am, in a state of hope, awaiting

from God what I hope for and seek.

ولكنه قد زادني ذاك علة

وداء سوى ما كنت أرجوه يذهب

But that has brought me added illness

and disease besides what I had hoped would go away.

فهذا الذي قد رابني وأمضني

على أني من فضله أترقب

So this is what has troubled and tormented me,

though I await His bounty,

وأطلب منه العفو مما جنيته

وعافية مما يمض وينصب

and ask Him to pardon what I have committed,

and for recovery from what pains and exhausts me.

وقد عيل مني الصبر من أجل أنني

رأيت مقامي أمره متعصب

And my patience has been exhausted because

I found the circumstances of my stay intractable.

فلا زاد إلا بلغة يتكلف

ولا نوم إلا ريثما أتقلب

So there is no food but bare subsistence, procured with difficulty,

and no sleep beyond the time it takes me to turn over.