1. Part of me was folded when the soil folded you from me,
And here is its other part overflowing my eyelids,

2. Fate has betrayed me in you, so the shelters of my dreams collapsed,
Huts of hay and mud.

3. My gardens were empty laughters,
So they grew weak and the blossoms wilted in deep grief,

4. My vines were full of joy,
Then a blind hand spilled the wine and vine.

5. So I have nothing but the taste of death in my mouth,
And only the sound of mourning women in my ears,

6. No more beauty in my eyes, and rarely before
Did I open them except to your beauty,

7. The image of things is not what it was after you,
But grief has marred it by its touch.

8. On my shoulders dawn sheds its perfume and agate beads,
While my heart burns and my eyes stay in gloom.

9. I let flow my tears openly and drew my blood secretly,
I used to count grief itself as a kind of cowardice.

10. So I wonder how my cheer changed,
Like one wondering at the trembling of a branch in a storm.

11. The comforter says: Crying does not suit the man,
But the comforter's words do not help or avail.

12. I wandered in spirit, lost and searching
Beyond the sea, coming nearer and leaning over.

13. Like a winged creature on whom the flood fell, destroying her nest,
So she flew about distraught, hovering over the brink.

14. Alas, would that I had been among the people when
You looked at the visitors asking about me!

15. Would that the earth folded its expanse around me
So I were among the weepers at the time of burial,

16. Perhaps to give due measure to my grief -
Although no measure or weight suffices.

17. My greatest glory was that you were a father to me,
And my greatest pride was your saying to me, "This is my son."

18. I keep saying: would that I could cool my pain -
Then my lament grows when I say "would that".

19. Even farewells of loved ones are denied to the youth -
O Time, this is the utmost injustice and tyranny!

20. When I say "Father", it is as if I am calling, appealing:
"O my refuge and pillar!"

21. When the distressed seeks refuge after you, who will he turn to,
To return happy and laughing?

22. You doffed youth in the ardour of glory, shining,
And old age in you was cleansed of the stain of senility,

23. A mind like the star of summer in the first part of night,
And a judgement like the edge of the sword - or that mind.

24. You saw the world without cheerfulness,
Like a waterless land, a voice without melody.

25. You had no harm for yourself alone,
Your laughter and sociability were for neighbour and comrade.

26. Bold toward the oppressor, gentle toward the meek,
Quick to answer the caller, generous without reproach,

27. When you talked you were like an eloquent poet,
Subtle of mind, taste and art.

28. No listener felt boredom with you,
And you said nothing without the listener saying "Give me more!"

29. Despite you, you left the meadows, while we,
Despite ourselves, will join the worms.

30. A road travelled before us by millions
From the humblest subject to the king.

31. You fancy the world and what is in its expanse is for us,
While it is for us only as the sea is for ships:

32. They move about freely in its waves
Like the prisoner pacing about in prison.

33. I weighed the secret of death against the world's philosophies
And they failed, mere prattling without substance.

34. So the truest of mankind in his knowledge of it
Is most ignorant, conjecturing blindly,

35. One like this is confused by it,
Another like that has no safety from it.

36. O you whose journey remains an obscure riddle
Despite ample detail in explanation and favour!

37. O glory of Lebanon, in majesty and awe!
O fortress of pure loyalty in that beauty!

38. Wherever your tomb lies hidden, and whatever town
You built up confers glory however it be built.

39. Of all the towers rising high I love most
The loveliest in my eyes of all cities

40. Is that grave on which I invoke peace - so the memory of it
Suffices me for perfume, I need no perfume.