Now my day has come… And I have no-one
Is there anyone… To come and help me?
* * *
I’m Hussain, of the five I’m the last of the fifth
Today I have lost so much towards Yazid’s wrath
From the grief that races in me I’m out of breath
But I know I can’t give up till I embrace death
I look right and left… There is no-one left
And no more have left… To come and help me
* * *
I stand as one, stands before me thirty-thousand
By the size of their army my daughters frightened
I am with the truth and yet I’m left abandoned
It’s as if to be killed lonely I am destined
I look at the tents… My sister laments
Crying, where are they… To come and help me?
* * *
I stand as a mountain, as lonely as its peak
I call out “Zuhair and Burayr” wishing they’d speak
Seeking to support me, my tears like rivers leak
Wishing for warmth, I place my cheek against John’s cheek
Habib where are you… Wahab has gone too
Why don’t you return… To come and help me?
* * *
I wish that the sun of today had not risen
By how many things today have I been shaken?
Just as earth shakes when on it something has fallen
The fall of my brother has left my back broken
No-one understands… Except these stained sands
I’d give him my hands… To come and help me
* * *
My eyes yearn to see my grandfather Muhammad
I knew one that looked like him, to swords he was fed
Yearning to see my son again, I look ahead
But I can’t recognise him from the blood he’s bled
That is not Ali… Where is his beauty
His wounds prevent him… To come and help me
* * *
I look up at the sun that perches in the sky
You’ve made me so thirsty that tears I cannot cry
Why does the river not rise up and quench us, why?
I am strangled by the air that itself is dry
All I see is heat… as with death I meet
Is there no water… To come and help me
* * *
I have a pain and I swear that this pain stops time
I have a six-month in my arms, what was his crime?
His eyes so lifeless that in them I can see mine
O’ my Lord I have lost too much for one lifetime
My heart in two rips… Blood from his lips drips
Where’s the gravedigger… To come and help me?
* * *
The House of God held captive here in Karbala
My daughters run around me, strangled by their fear
When the limbs of this house from its body they tear
They will find the head of Hussain raised on a spear
The Ka’ba shall fall… as its woman call
Where are the angels… To come and help me
* * *
(London – 26/11/14)