1. O my two weeping eyes, is this how we agreed to preserve moral integrity?
If all your darkness turned to flint upon seeing this righteous friend, you still would not have done him justice.

2. For long you yearned to see him, counting him the soul's bliss and comfort.
But now the purpose for which I had hope has flown away;

3. So weep long after him in darkness.
What can I say in my heart's defense when the judge of love establishes a ruling between us?

4. And it leaves a regret in the heart that will remain under the earth, dragging remorse along.
If I had a bird of good omen I would not have waited for it,

5. Nor bartered its eggs that had turned rotten.
It would not have led me away from loved ones,

6. Nor made me uphold improper customs instead of noble traditions.
I would not have lagged behind Egypt and its leader, after its home became a shelter for ours.

7. I take refuge in tears to extinguish the flames—only to make them blaze even more, like a bellows blowing on embers.
Now it is right that I weep profusely, for scalding tears are followed by youth.

8. My crying is not for misfortunes that made me lose a confidante whose absence pains me.
Rather, I cry for the lamented one who died in Egypt—

9. Nay, he was a pillar for all of the East, not just them.
Had the pages of virtue raced ahead of me, his sword and pen would have kept up with them.

10. Glory donned attire from his hands, excellence mounted high in his shadow.
Poetry attained what had eluded Zuhair and what the generous one in his prime had missed.

11. Desire courted the furtive abode of merit until its pegs were smashed, its platitudes turned to patches.
It heralded the praiseworthy sword—had it struck the epochs with the hand of auspiciousness, it would have left no nick.

12. A catastrophe that shook even the deaf rocks! So say: Did it split the firmament, or did the towering edifice crumble?
Had time's outcome made a man its peak, charging him with being this age's nonpareil, it would not have sinned.

13. Had the nights been fair to him in their allotments, they would have set their mark high above suspicion.
Had his excellence not replaced his fortune, time would not have worn him down or deprived him.

14. If truth had a hand in those matters, virtue's case would have prevailed, not subject to reproach.
He wished only the best for his nation and wanted nothing for it but the guardianship of mighty protectors.

15. So if an arrow went astray from its target, how many others who shot are to blame, not just him?
How oft have the ignorant's assumptions marred a matter, and how often has one knotted a skein in verse undone it!

16. None knows governance except one schooled in it; not every rider of horses keeps to the reins.
A young man's success does not suffice to credit him, nor does his failure prove that he erred.

17. Merit and flaw are predestined companions, as if related by birth.
The essence of sublime wisdom gained no more than a brilliance, its value undimmed by what was picked apart.

18. Time has rarely birthed a lion like him, grazing the pastures of glory and dignity.
He is refined, no crookedness visible in his character. A companion whose affection knew no boredom.

19. His noble lineage did not suffice, so he joined to it a origin and branch—by my life, nothing could equal or surpass it!
The early ones seemed intolerable to behold until he came and outshone those who walked before him.

20. No literature has sprouted in our time, cultured or refined, but by a rain from his meanings, thriving and growing.
Neither the age of ignorance, nor the old-timer, nor the modern with him can claim a share.

21. Every prominent poet seeks a draft of his cup, that he may glean full flavor.
Had he come in some past time and been contemporary with wise Kindah, the latter would not have claimed what he claimed.

22. Or had he reached an age before love-struck Habib turned from singing, inhibited.
He hunts down every fleeting notion in his poems—no verse of his but catches his prey.

23. Or his elocution overwhelms even the choicest words, almost esteeming dumbness above them.
He curbs the steeds of rhetoric when they bolt, until the ignorant and wise are equal.

24. Relinquish poetry and letters altogether along with him, and tell Shauqi: "He is peerless!"
Who rivals him in innovations, crafts, events—whether overwhelming, overwhelming, or devastating?

25. Who in valiant deeds, noble deeds, perilous deeds whose examples have come undone?
O day of Mahmoud, you left no glory unchanged and condemned it to nothingness!

26. Were those virtues—does one come to renew them? Or do you see high hopes dreaming of the like?
Nay, no valor will bring good fortune as long as time remains more bitter than this draught.

27. After Mahmoud no guide will find the path again, and this wound you will not see mended.
By God, it is not his loss that amazes me—how did the likes of him survive until now, unharmed?

28. Oft have I said, when time was generous with him: who taught time this munificence and bounty?
O jewel of the East! After you it lies useless, and time's egg is barren of your equals.

29. If the world's tribes did not manage to destroy you, still you are not the first free man to meet misfortune!
No affliction touched you but your intention was pure, and he who blamed you for injustice was unjust.

30. How many with a purpose—their failure did not fatigue their endeavor,
A leader whose shame did not yield, though he retreated.

31. How often does one who lends a hand meet calamity thereby, yet how often does a criminal prosper in his crime!
If the decrees are justly executed, they will match those drowned with those who took precautions.

32. You will not be scorned or diminished, so you were unwilling to bear wrongs and poisoned spears.
By God, if you knew what we have endured since you left, you would be the one weeping for us and showing mercy!

33. He who dwells in perpetual gloom is not like one who is exposed to sorrows and ills.
If a man's lifeline contains all his afflictions in one bundle, the best rope is the one that frays and snaps.

34. Go to your final rest with my overwhelming condolences—my tears will harmonize with your grave's soil.
Your death has rendered all cedars worthless; no towering giant dismays like fallen timber.

35. If you were not the first free man to encounter misfortune, neither were you the last to meet calamity!
What shrouded you was destiny's will, so do not be far removed or underestimated.

36. You refused only to bear injustice and poisoned spears.
Had you known what torrents of adversity we have known since you passed,

37. You would have been the one weeping and showing pity.
Not all who dwell in perpetual gloom can compare

38. To those who have sorrows and sickness foisted upon them.
If the cord of a man's life gathers his afflictions into one bundle,

39. The best cord is the one that frays and then snaps.
Go to your final rest, with my condolences blanketing your grave—

40. Let my tears blend into the soil sheltering you.
With your death, all the mighty cedars were rendered worthless.

41. No towering giant dismays like the fallen timber.