1. My companion was like a phantom that haunted me
With a vision that intensified my agony and gloom

2. I saw in our house crowds that resembled
Waves oscillating between ebb and flow

3. So I stood up anxious and worried
Facing my life and all its concerns

4. No hour passed except that it heralded
A tragedy that realized my fears and terrors

5. Messages started rushing to me like lightning
Severing my wires and connections

6. Those condolences sent by friends
With copious tears from each mourner

7. I was certain then that I had lost my brother
And the one I hoped would alleviate my pains and sorrows

8. I was certain that after this day you are estranged
No longer responding when I call to you

9. I felt helpless, unable to rise
Crushed under the weight of my burdens

10. As if I were in a desolate wilderness
The whole earth became its empty quarter

11. My companion, after you left I was abandoned
To a life where my hopes turned into sorrows

12. You are now free from this world that is stamped
With misery while I have my grief and lamentations

13. I hoped to meet you someday on my quest
However long my departure and travels

14. Until news came and thwarted my dreams
Like a thirsty man's hope for mirages

15. After the news of your death no hope remained
Except shedding copious tears all night

16. I weep for you in my exile, weary and distressed
By distance and death - see what humiliation!

17. They know you - who you were to me
None can eulogize you except those who witnessed

18. You never transgressed or wronged anyone
Never altered dignity or wealth

19. Never mentioned anyone with diminishment
O farthest of all from gossip and rumors

20. You never knew arrogance in any endeavor
Never walked the walk of the pretentious

21. Humility in you was innate, unfeigned
And you wore the garb of reverence

22. You did not humble yourself to all people
Except with self-confidence and family dignity

23. You had the merits that people envy
Never arousing haters or slanderers

24. If people were in this world your equal
By my life, no rulers or governors would be needed

25. You never sought glory in your deeds
Indifferent to titles and veneration

26. Rather, it was the sentiment of a soul
Inclined to goodness, not status or wealth

27. In poetry I was brilliant, flawless
My fire burning bright and hot

28. You had rhymes that exhausted the likes
Of poetic geniuses, masters of art

29. How often did you, my life, compose verses
Dragging the train of rhymes beyond the capable

30. Possessing delicacy that captivated the cultured
Wanderers of the ruins and old abodes

31. I gained in the Arabic language a status
Above any pretender or boaster

32. Some people claim poetry - if weighed against them
They would sink an ocean and roam barren plains

33. People may lose their due right in modesty
And silence seem ignorance to fools

34. Yet how often did composure reveal
The rank of the dignified and the fool's defect

35. Time will grant you your right, nothing lost
For realities in it are not neglected

36. Whenever you were mentioned in gatherings
None failed to praise you, even the stingy

37. Your memory persists, circulating among people
Like the drifting fragrance of precious incense

38. Though sorrows may wane with time
My sorrow is ceaseless and ongoing

39. A wound struck as life reached sunset
Heading west, nearing its conclusion

40. The agony of separation persists, flaming
In my heart throughout my nights and mornings

41. Oh Lebanon's west, hear and weep
For a stranger weeping in the farthest west

42. With the wound's incurable pain no hope remains
No respite left to console the sufferer