1. Ahmed was like a vast, flowing sea
Its waves atop a sandy peak

2. He preoccupied people since his youth with his poetry
Called miraculous by every literary figure

3. If Ahmed prophesied with his poetry
There is no blame upon him

4. For poetry used to inspire him
With walls for reform and refinement

5. His miracles are in his ideas
And in his diction and style

6. He has many meanings you see as near
Yet are not near in reality

7. And in his diction what gentleness
Flowing to the core of hearts

8. Ahmed was a poet and sage
Knowledgeable of the soul’s secrets

9. Ahmed does not perish though in a grave
Time has made his bones feeble

10. Ahmed led poetry into leadership
And life’s knowledge made him great

11. The envious wanted to destroy the free man
But the free man refused to be destroyed

12. He made poetry as radiant as daylight
After poetry had been a miserable night

13. His collection, it seems, of poems
Were like stars' nebulae

14. They assassinated the great poet treacherously
And his murder was a calamity

15. O great, refined poet
Your name, today, makes the crowds chant

16. The greatest favor appreciated by generations
After his people and the ages

17. Rather, you were struck for the sake of the nation
When what was destined struck you

18. Curse a deceitful world that is not without
Calamities and an evil fate

19. The sad events in the West and East
Revolve around the literary star

20. A poet, though stricken
His poetry does not perish

21. Blessed poetry coming from emotion
For it touches emotions with emotion

22. O martyr of literature, you remain
And will live within the lovers' souls

23. Every verse I composed to eulogize you
Came as a sigh from the depths

24. Your killers deprived your nation
Of a lifetime of comprehensive words

25. You battled misfortunes until
A shining star was extinguished

26. Poet of the mind, poet of glory and pride
Immortal poet of ethics

27. You who people believed in his message
Over generations of different tastes

28. The steeds came, exhausted
Behind the shooting star

29. You are to the new generation
As you are to the ancient and remote

30. You are not one who says all old is bad
Though I love everything new

31. In both nations you were a messenger
Calling to Monotheism with your scripture

32. They molded poetry before you from diction
And meter and forged it from steel

33. You are unique among the geniuses
Who walked the earth as legends

34. You are one who reaped poetry
When poetry was killed, it had many martyrs

35. You were like a roaring lion pouncing
And like a singing bird

36. With your poetry you shook nations
Pleasing prohibitions and hearts

37. You are peerless, Ahmed al-Mutanabbi
In the poetry you composed, by my Lord

38. I did not call rhymes but to respond
And they responded when called

39. The critics multiplied finding faults in your poetry
Concealing its truths with lies

40. O Lord, they buried the poetry you birthed
In the spring of youth wrongfully

41. But days have stricken them
After a war blazed, what a strike!

42. You are the poet of Arabism though
Besieged by haters in every era

43. They said Ahmed has no grave
They lied, Ahmed's grave is my heart

44. You have in poetry an aloof pride
Beyond what poets can reach

45. They lost themselves in the darkness of nights
While the Milky Way guided you

46. Many composed poetry
But few were brilliant

47. Among those who consented or composed poetry
Only the eminent name remains

48. The noble poetry of those who insulted
Him, by what they attributed to him, is innocent

49. It is not the fate of genius when
He emerges except enmity and grudges

50. There is no eloquence today
While you possess East and West

51. You did not compose poetry
Except when mature in mind or soul

52. After thousands of years you spent
Nations eulogized you in festivals

53. When your poetry is recited, it shakes
Souls and bodies of listeners

54. The delegations came to bow down
Kneeling and standing in your honor

55. They magnify you as a leader
Who sat poetry and stood it straight

56. They answered the people’s call when
They came in droves and were generous

57. You, Ahmed, have leadership in death
As you had in life at the forefront

58. Blessed are the verses you sang
Becoming proverbs adorning speech

59. The nightingale who sang each morn
Waking the sleepy, fell silent

60. An innovator, Ahmed, at the start
So who will do well finishing it?