1. I had hoped you would return and be rewarded,
And forget the past hardship and become dignified,

2. And the days would apologize for what they put you through,
And today would erase what yesterday established.

3. But I was not preoccupied except by your tragedy, leaving
My nights as days, and my days gloomy,

4. And my heart was struck by an arrow, and it
Was painful unlike any arrows and spears.

5. Indeed, you did not stop until you were struck by adversity,
So much so that even death recalls adversity.

6. A tragedy we shared, so all of us
Cry over your loss, with tears and blood.

7. We saw you great before the incident of An-Nawā,
By my life, then separation came, more painful and greater.

8. And we were hoping for joy in his wedding,
But alas, instead of a wedding we were struck by bereavement.

9. And with it those congratulations became elegies,
And he wept who had wanted to chant.

10. A young man not but in his years,
Yet he was a man in reason and forbearance.

11. He faced his affliction with beautiful patience,
And sweetened what was bitter with his good nature.

12. He endured his tribulation while still a teenager,
By my life, were it to befall a mountain it would crumble.

13. It is as if the reason in him had come
Only to increase our anguish and pain.

14. So which heart would not melt for one like him?
And which joy would not become prohibited?

15. O Tawfiq, trust that you are peerless in calamity,
Yet it is a sadness upon us all.

16. And if your heart is wounded, then all of us
Tomorrow will be wounded in heart, together.

17. My tears scattered above the soil of his grave,
So my scattering and composing became twins.

18. I imagine your crying when bidding him farewell
Like a vision from afar fully embodied.

19. He left, and I remain remembering his loss,
So I wish I knew which one of you found relief.

20. He left, and if only the departed could be swayed from demise,
I would say to him, “Smile with a smiling face.”

21. For by my life, this dear house is not one
With people, if you want it honored and cherished.

22. When people examine matters, realities appear to them
That leave no heart desolate.

23. How much joy in it from good that befell him
Returns as regret and remorse.

24. And how much blessing appears then returns a curse,
And gains like Aad’s that became losses.

25. Is there a way, O nephew, to repel
That decreed fate?

26. And one like you who reason and wisdom
Have overcome feeling in calamity and empowered.

27. I hoped, my God, that your excellent children remain
To be safe in Your care and prosper,

28. And their mirrors fill with joy in Your eyes,
And they become full moons in the land and stars.