وَبَسَطْتُمْ يَدِي فَكَفَفْتُهَا،
You drew out my hand towards you for allegiance but I held it back
وَمَدَدْتُمُوهَا فَقَبَضْتُهَا،
and you stretched it but I contracted it.
ثُمَّ تَدَاكَكْتُمْ عَلَيَّ تَدَاكَّ الاْبِلِ الْهِيمِ عَلَى حِيَاضِهَا يَوْمَ وِرْدِهَا،
Then you crowed over me as the thirsty camels crowd on the watering cisterns on their being taken there,
حَتَّى انْقَطَعَتِ النَّعْلُ،
so much so that shoes were torn,
وَسَقَطَ الرِّدَاءُ،
shoulder-cloths fell away
وَوُطِىءَ الضَّعِيفُ،
and the weak got trampled,
وَبَلَغَ مِنْ سُرُورِ النَّاسِ بِبَيْعَتِهِمْ إِيَّايَ أَنِ ابْتَهَجَ بِهَا الصَّغِيرُ،
and the happiness of people on their allegiance to me was so manifested that small children felt joyful,
وَهَدَجَ إِلَيْهَا الْكَبِيرُ،
the old staggered (up to me) for it,
وَتَحَامَلَ نَحْوَهَا الْعَلِيلُ،
the sick too reached for it helter skelter
وَحَسَرَتْ إِلَيْهَا الْكِعَابُ.
and young girls ran for it without veils.
Alternative Sources for Sermon 228: Al-Mufid, al-'Irshad, 142; al-Mufid, al-Jamal, 128, from al-Waqidi, al-Jamal; al-Thaqafi, al-Gharat, I, 310; Ibn Tawus, Kashf, 173; Ibn Qutaybah, al-'Imamah, I, 154; al-Tabari, Ta'rikh, V, 28; Ibn ‘Abd Rabbih, al-’Iqd, II, 165; al-Kulayni, al-Rasa'il; al-Tabari, al-Mustarshid, 95.
