1. The age of great men has passed,
And their company seemed more desolate than those ruins.

2. The institutes of science in Beirut were suspended,
Whatever season it was, they were like seasons.

3. Writer after writer hastily turned away,
And scholar after scholar disappeared.

4. Alas, what burning in my heart! Where are my refined friends?
And where is my companion of youth and intimates?

5. Pillars of glory they stood up and so were demolished,
As the last pillar falls today.

6. The unique banner of knowledge that was after them
Fell, consoling the people of resolve and determination.

7. I turn my eyes where they were but I see
Nothing but the remnants of homes and pillars.

8. And in the face of survival I see moroseness
That hides the features of those smiling faces.

9. Realities passed swiftly through life,
As fantasies passed through the mind of a dreamer.

10. Nothing remains except what memory has retained
Of their ancient times.

11. And a painting in which the beholders see
Signs of the painter's precise portrayal.

12. When embodied, his majesty was naught
But a resemblance to a gloomy, dark figure.

13. He appears from afar, humbled, as though
The specter in the imagination of a dreamer.

14. Oh what a loss, what the deserter sold his life for
To a giver among his people or a bargainer.

15. As if he borrows life to thank it
While none but it can be thanked.

16. Your death, O Abdullah, in all the East
Brought about calamities with pouring tears,

17. And the lightning was saddled with grief, so it crackled
As the journals crackled with speech.

18. So it spread its flames; every group wailed
And it was nothing but a funeral, equal to those funeral gatherings.

19. And sorrow spread in Egypt, so it is grieving,
Its plains wailing the wailing of doves.

20. No face in its neighborhoods but frowning
No heart in its corners but anguished.

21. May God provide you men who protect
A protected realm where ignorance ran rampant with destruction,

22. To science and teaching he devoted his time
So he gained spoils, every victor.

23. His students in every emerging star
Spread the abundance of knowledge between the worlds,

24. And in every research, his books provide guidance,
Clearer than the drizzle of clouds,

25. And they carry to it from the mines of his thoughts
Rarities more precious than the treasures of mines,

26. With the utmost elegance of a prose writer
And the greatest artistry of a poet.

27. The Arabic language it perfected, so with his lexicon,
Precision was attained between lexicons.

28. And the recent transmissions, their manumission
By his elocution in them, the ways of foreigners.

29. As for his traits, say about their perfection
And fear no blame for praise from critic.

30. Forbearing without weakness, resolute without bending,
Firm principles in combatting injustices.

31. What his patron could not address in the morning,
Helping to repel harm and sins,

32. He only disposed in the worldly affairs
The repulsions of a heart enamored with greatness,

33. And in poverty he was satisfied with his abundant glory
And if prosperity was missed, he was not fault finding.

34. He spent a praiseworthy life; the purity
Of his integrity was not tainted with a blemish.

35. He never wearied of observing his covenant
Or forgot the rights of the exalted and benevolent.

36. The adornments of his world engulfed him, so he recoiled
And he was not tempted by its adornments to prohibition.

37. So for him were the best openings with piety
And for him with God were the best endings.