Count (part II)

Will you count the brave sons, who on that day were felled;

Or those who stood witness as the sisters were unveiled?

How many times did the empty cradle swing before it went mute;

And the scavenging animals, disguised as men, carried it for loot?

For how long did the children's cries of 'Uncle!' 'Uncle' go

Before they realised uncle was not coming back from the shore?

'Abbaas kneels at the shore, weakened by war and thirst,

Then empties his cupped hand at the thought of being quenched first.

Sukayna asked the way to Najaf, the burial place of Allah's friend,

To tell him of her pain and grief, which no one else could mend.

The birds fell out of the skies in their blinding sorrow,

Oh the calamity, the atrocities to be done on the morrow!

Ali Akbar, the comfort of the mothers has been slain,

Now the vandals clamor and call for the blood of Husain.

Hurr, the faithful slave from his debt has been freed,

As the last breaths of life from his gaping wounds bleed.

As-Sajjaad can barely walk, yet no one takes pity,

And he is dragged in chains, all the way to yazid's city.

O Believer! The true men of God on this earth are numbered,

At the call of Husain, did you awake or remain those who slumbered?

'Husain was martyred and his blood spelt it out for all times: Allah is One!

Thus we hold to the path, and wait for him at whose hand justice will be done.

~S~