1. The East has lost its youth
Would that I had ransomed him

2. Would that I'd been deaf
When the mourner mourned him

3. The mourners have mourned Zaid
A crescent whose brilliance shone to the full moon

4. And to history and knowledge
His father and his brother

5. His passing brought tears to every stone
As if people's hearts were behind the rocks

6. And the birds in the gardens sang the dirges of a bereaved mother
And the water wept the tears of a lonesome traveler

7. The star, as it rose, paused
And the earth, as it was, stopped confused

8. What was hidden in it was still hidden
What was apparent in it was still apparent

9. Whoever didn't see the weeping in every house
His eyes didn't see the rending of veils

10. It was the lightning from what they carried but couldn't bear
Telling us about him with mere signs

11. Oh, the news that brought devastation amongst us
Today, you are the most inauspicious of omens

12. Oh, bearer of news, ignorant of their essence
We've come to hate you even bearing good news

13. Sorrow came between condoling and my mind
And distanced what was between my poem and my thoughts

14. So I don't know, was it the darkness covering the sun
Or did I lose sight of my dark eyes?

15. And my heart began to fear its outbursts
As a sparrow fears the grip of predators

16. It was as if there was a poet in my heart composing sorrow
As if my tears had taken over every sprinkler

17. Oh, if only my poetry knew, after the news of his passing flew
If there was anyone in Egypt awake besides him

18. And if the Nile's sky had any but stars
And if the Nile's waters had any but gamblers

19. And if on the banks of the Nile, between its palms
There was a singing bird or companion besides him

20. With whom will his brethren commune each night?
While their companion is in his grave without fellow

21. Let the Muslims bewail him, for they
Have lost the orbit of eras in him

22. And let the Christians weep; their pride and pillar is gone
After him, none can boast and vie

23. The world hasn't been so generous with the like of him
And it's rare that it would with another

24. Oh, mountain of knowledge that collapsed and fell
Dear, that you be seen in the pits

25. The West wishes it were the East just for you
And the living love the inhabitants of graves for you

26. The dust of the earth will cover your dust
And the water of tears will envy the flowing of mucus

27. It's not the custom of great men to bow their heads
But you were the treasure of gems in the earth

28. To take pride over pebbles and asteroids
For the crescent of knowledge and the sun of lectures were in you

29. You excelled in compiling and authoring
And you gained the merit of the final ones

30. The nights have chosen our elders
As if death pours its cups with the greatest

31. We laugh at hopes a mocking laugh
Then time laughs at us a deriding laugh

32. We were content that invaders conquered our lands
While the eyes of the watchful couldn't sleep

33. Every day amongst us there is tyrannical rule
Cowardly stance and defiant killing

34. For it seeks vengeance without a sinner
And grasps the strings without a composer

35. Oh woe to this East, how blissful it is
While its horizons are like the night of nails

36. There is glory in Egypt but its echo
Is in the two Iraqs when they heard it

37. Lebanon and Syria leaned
When they heard him, nearly failing every towering mountain

38. You who has left us
Sorrow has reached its utmost

39. The horizon wept you until
It laid you down and tended to you

40. Oh, beloved of my eyes
Whoever knew you was happy with him

41. The self betrayed its strength
Absence betrayed its strength

42. He who every eye wishes to see
Has passed away

43. Every grave wished, when it took him
If only it could contain him

44. Zaidan, father of history, died
So his youth may live