1. Why are you leaving so soon, my friend?
I wish I could ransom you before your time!

2. Go slowly, O swift one - you know not
How I suffer at your grave when you are gone.

3. I implore you - how can you meet the dead before me?
Who called you to him, leaving me behind?

4. For I was a part of your being
As you were a part of mine.

5. I used to think tears a sign of weakness,
So I held back the floodgates of my pain.

6. But how can I restrain my tears without you
When I have a feeling heart and weeping eyes?

7. They say that weeping brings relief,
Yet what relief have my tears brought me?

8. For life is but a road
And we are fellow travelers.

9. So how could you leave me to walk alone,
With no friend or guide by my side?

10. Refinement drew us close as brothers -
People thought we were twins.

11. When I was happy, you were joyful too
When worries saddened me, they saddened you.

12. When misfortune befell you, I was there to console,
When you succeeded, I received congratulations too.

13. Is it right that Mahmoud is gone,
Never again will I see him or he me?!

14. How, when his voice still rings
In my ears like a sweet melody?

15. I see his radiant smile
And his youth in its prime.

16. World, you are but a mirage!
Woe to your treachery! You grant no safety!

17. My departed friend appears to me
In every horizon, every moment.

18. In sleep he comes to me as an apparition,
Awake, he seems visible to the eye.

19. When I sip my water or drink from a cup
I see his luminous face in the liquid.

20. I wonder, how can it reflect light?!
I wonder that the stars continue their course

21. While nothing can stir the stars' pity for me!
I am like one abandoned in empty space

22. With no companion in the firmament.
We used to sit conversing

23. As he entertained me with subtle ideas.
His conversation made me forget myself

24. And the hardships of time.
The eloquence of Mahmoud is sweet to my ear

25. And Mahmoud savored my own speech.
He was delighted when Ghanim praised him in verse

26. And I was overjoyed when he versified in praise of me.
Each of us a poet versifying his brother

27. Without malice or jealousy between us.
His lyrics were more delicious than the purest wine

28. And gladdened drunkards more than the clearest grape.
His verses circulated among critics

29. Reminding them of their long-lost youth.
His poetry was perfumed with loyalty

30. And clothed in sincerity.
While the insincere flatter with their speech

31. Like the deadly fangs of snakes.
His talent flourished and never leaned

32. On the crutch of titles and status.
Medicine says it was a fatal heart attack -

33. But I say his passion consumed him!
His life spanned fifty years

34. Vanishing in a mere instant.
Yet his work has become immortal

35. Repeated like the call to prayer.
Death takes Mahmoud but cannot take

36. The legacy Mahmoud left behind.
Help me, my friend, to compose elegies -

37. For after you, poetry deserted me.
How you helped me praise a friend

38. And aided me in skewering a foe!
Why did your poetry not translate my grief

39. And interpret my sorrow?
I knew your speech to be as fine as pearls -

40. As if it was imported from Oman.
You perfected the art other writers aspire to

41. And attained such mastery of form!
Calligraphy wept over your loss

42. As did the legacies of Ibn Muqlah and Ibn Hani.
Take comfort that your death was in a land

43. As pure as the verses you wrote.
A scholar's death is braver than one

44. Who falls in battle by sword or spear.
The halls of knowledge are an open battlefield

45. Where the martyr falls though no blood was spilled.
Each lesson is a ritual and divine inspiration

46. And verses from the Book Supreme.
When you fell upon its soil

47. Like a brave knight thrown off his steed,
Its ceiling cracked in fright, its pages shrieked,

48. Its walls began to wail and weep.
Clouds of tears rained down

49. Upon your pure crimson blood.
Two bloods mingled there -

50. The blood of martyrdom from you
And the blood of tears shed by my eyes for you.

51. Eyes were fixed upon you
As smoke filled the horizon.

52. The courage of every gallant youth
Was dissolved in grief.

53. Your children's eyes rained tears on you -
Tears of sorrow, purity, and affection.

54. Each youth wished to ransom you
As if you were made of gold.

55. They lost in you but fleeting dreams
While you gained paradise and its angels.

56. You challenged the heavens with your abode
And refused to live in disgrace.

57. The star does not linger in its orbit
Nor does the bird remain in one place.

58. I swear you never bowed your head
To flatter anyone high or low.

59. You never debased yourself
Or compromised the dignity of your art.

60. You sought no one, yet all sought you
Running to meet you, both far and near.

61. Your only aid was the Almighty
Most Gracious, Most Munificent!

62. Flattery is but a veil covering
Barren talent and inert ambition.

63. Your brilliance guaranteed your dreams
For nothing can replace brilliance.

64. You left no heirs but the finest verses
The most beautiful thoughts and feelings.

65. When they come of age, dowries will be paid
Not for orphans or destitute girls.

66. Were it not for art, you would have been
A father in the fullest sense.

67. But an artist cannot be self-absorbed -
Art alone will suffice as his progeny.

68. Your noble mission made you abstain
From children, though not from creativity.

69. You raised for the nation a generation
Whose tongues are eloquent and sharp.

70. Every father sees you as his role model -
He is second, while you are first!

71. The youth asks, who is my father?
And points to your grave in reply!