1. The clouds' refusal astounds me, and how they then dissipate,
As does the wholesomeness of life, how it escapes and then returns.

2. Were it not for the absence of the departed, whose supererogations encompassed all,
The days would not have narrowed what they had expanded.

3. So it is a confusing blow of fate's caprice,
As if fate did not know its essence, it would not have acted thus.

4. Abu'l Qasim the Glorious left a people in anguish,
That if after him they attempt patience, it would be unbearable.

5. The news tomorrow in Marw al-Shahijan
Will raise clamor in the Orient, loud and high.

6. The paths of the valley lead to news
Of the Banu Suwayd, gathered together as one.

7. They hide what they find, though amongst themselves
When they quench their flaming thirst, it ignites again.

8. I will cry guests bewildered in you,
Their hopes in you cut off, desperately seeking union.

9. How could you forget? You were not spared from danger,
Nor forgot the prohibition, fearing or hoping.

10. Do not think I forgave the tragedy in you, or
Succumbed in it to the guiles of fate.

11. I made excuses for myself in persisting elegantly, had you
Praised its perfection, and grief, had it been of use.

12. A soul I took as my guide to departure
Saw no patience more profitable or safer refuge.

13. I tasked it with patience, but it resisted
And pardoned you when I tasked it with grief.

14. Tears are a torrent; when you unleash them they flow,
Refusing retreat, even when you curb them.

15. Life became unrecognizable until its bitterness
Came regularly, and its sweetness came to shine.

16. It perceived from the blows of fate their multitude,
So it is not alarmed by calamities when they appear.

17. Say to Abu Salih, when people happen upon me,
Praising me while listeners hear,

18. It is time the reward of patience be hoped for
And the tearful urged to abandon their weeping.

19. To lose a brother is a death nothing can replace, and in
Losing composure, a weakness follows the stumble.

20. Both are a burden when they meet,
So how heavy is their weight on the afflicted soul?

21. The misfortune is not in the ordained departure,
Rather, the misfortune is in the remaining one, distraught in grief.

22. Crying for the departed is an honored thing—
If only the departed returned when we cried!

23. The difficulty of tragedy lies in dreading its arrival
In the future, while enduring present tragedy.

24. In your father the consoler for your brother, consider,
And the procession that followed—

25. They and us are equal, save that they
Have gone before at dawn, and we will follow at dusk.

26. The bitterness of those days has passed;
They were not flooded nor torn asunder.

27. A resolve of yours sought to make firm
Would buttress accepting the divine decree.