1. The draught of wishes, if only you knew it is a mirage
And the reproach of nights, if only you understood it is blame

2. If the hands of these nights are withdrawn
The ultimate end of these gifts is loss

3. Is not the life of a human but a hunted creature
On which hawks of death prey

4. On which every day and night
Riders to the land of ruin ride

5. How can tears run dry or sorrow grow cold
When companions are gone and youth is past

6. Neither has the intolerance of old age spared that of youth
Nor has the dye of youth concealed the rents of old age

7. Alas for a companion and a youth
Is there for them both return?

8. The turns of nights summoned them to decay
For all that is above dust is dust

9. So here am I, crying for every place of rest
Where friends smiled and companions kept company

10. I turn my eyes and see nothing but a night
On which the veil of dawn has been lifted

11. As if with the dawn flown away, I were a dove
On which a raven spreads its wings

12. While I have nothing with me but meditation
So be awake, and I have no reply but lament

13. And a tumultuous sea has welled up in my flanks
Having in my cheeks and hair a ferment

14. What a band of companions who succeeded each other
As separate branches, yet stacked with youth

15. The caller of destruction summoned them
As if steeds there encountered Arabs

16. So here they are, and the peace of time is war, as though
Stabs were struck amongst them and blows inflicted

17. Slain with nothing but dust as bedding
And nothing but graves as cover

18. So for how long will the nights loose their arrows?
And for how long will I be shot at and hit?

19. And for how long will I meet disasters head-on
As though spears between my ribs were struck?

20. Either like leopards attacking headlong
Or as affliction stalks like wolves

21. So every day there is a sudden calamity
Tearing a flank underneath which is a gown

22. And an empty quarter where once was a friend—and yet
Swords between them grew cold and distant

23. The neighbourhood where he dwelt reminds me of him
Afflicting me with hurt and sorrow

24. I am not of a people whose companion from Rabia
Forgets the code of loyalty, so I abandon him

25. I concealed my nature from him, so comfort became desolation
And bliss—torment—through the nights

26. And alas! A friend cannot avail with his consolation
Can a mirage replace the Euphrates' fresh water?

27. And of what saddened me: that he met his death
While neither spear nor insects fell short of him

28. That we raced together for thirty eras
Yet he finished first, while I was left behind

29. How did we stop seeing each other as old men
When fate bent us when we were still youths!

30. As if we never sprouted, for a night
In the garden of youth, responding to the caller of youth and consenting

31. If one of us made to leave, youth—
Which we kept sleepless with it and drinking—would shake his shoulder

32. We revelled in the battleground of youth, but then
We returned, and there was sedition and blame

33. And when the shine of old age appeared
And clouds of youth scattered away

34. We rose, with the heavy burdens of nights
And highlands sent us rolling in adversities

35. Oh, strange is time! How it was audacious with him!
When at times he was hoped for, at others feared!

36. And how the might of death softened its rod
When neither barrier nor shield held against it

37. And no wonder that we surrendered to events
Which even lions surrender to, though wrathful

38. And that we submitted to the blows of fate perforce
As necks under swords submitted

39. Had other than God ordained it for him
Souls would have surged that calamities cannot deter

40. So, oh missing companion from the land of decay
At a house from which there is no return

41. Grief is enough in that no messenger came to me
And that no letter reached you

42. That when I come to visit your grave
I stand with dust blocking me from the tomb

43. So the sun darkened while still luminous
And God’s vast land narrowed, though spacious

44. And I sobbed between sadness and patience,
With coming and going motions in my eyelids

45. If only the living conversed with the dead!
Long would our talk and address last

46. He would express what clarity he has
As clouds over there obscured a sun

47. Upon you the peace of God from a companion who passed away
After whom a group broke down and perished

48. He turned to a praiseworthy path and came to no disgrace
So that no blemish stuck on him and stained his clothes

49. Dazzling is the one free of sin, as though
Behind the grave’s soil, stars from him rise

50. Indeed a body turns to dust
And a life ends in ruins

51. So there is no use except for a purpose
And no hoarding but for a reward