1. بكتْ بدمٍ من بعد عيسى وبندر

    عيونُ ذوي الحاجات من كلِّ معشر

    They wept blood after Isa and Bandar—

    the eyes of the needy in every community.

  2. وأهرقت الدمع الغزير عليهما

    لواعج حزن في الجوانح مضمر

    And poured abundant tears over them both—

    the burning pangs of grief concealed within the breast.

  3. فلم تبق منه زفرة ما تأجَّجت

    ولا عبرة من مقلة لم تحدّر

    No sigh of that grief remained that did not blaze,

    nor a tear in any eye that did not flow down.

  4. أقول لركب راح يرتاد منزلاً

    لربع على نهر المجرّة مقفر

    I say to a caravan that set out seeking a stopping place

    for a deserted dwelling beside the River al-Majarrah,

  5. سرى ضارباً في الأرض ما بين منجد

    يخدّ أخاديد الفلاة ومغور

    traveling by night across the land, some bound for the uplands,

    cutting furrows through the wilderness, others for the lowlands:

  6. أقيموا على قبر ثوى فيه بندر

    صدور المطايا ما ثوى قبر بندر

    Keep beside the grave where Bandar lies

    the breasts of your mounts, as long as Bandar's grave remains.

  7. ولا تسأموا من واكف الدمع وافرجوا

    من الحزن مبيض الدموع بأحمر

    Do not tire of streaming tears; and relieve

    the white tears of sorrow with red.

  8. ولا تندبوا غير المكارم والعلى

    لعالٍ كما صدر القناة مشهر

    Mourn nothing but noble deeds and loftiness

    for an exalted man, prominent as a brandished spearhead.

  9. بكيت فأكثرت البكاء وحقّ لي

    بكائي على وفد من العز مكثر

    I wept and wept profusely, and justified were

    my tears for a delegation abounding in glory.

  10. وإنِّي لمعذور إذا ما بكيته

    بأكثر من قطر الغمام وأغزر

    And surely I am excused if I weep for him

    more abundantly and copiously than the rain of clouds.

  11. ولي عَبرة لم ترقا عند ادّكاره

    كما لي فيه عبرة المتفكر

    I have a tear that never ceases when I remember him,

    as in him I find a lesson for the reflective.

  12. وهيهات أنْ أسلو يوماُ وإنّني

    خلا منه يوماً خاطري وتذكري

    Far be it that I should ever find solace—or that

    my mind and memory should be empty of him for a day.

  13. حسامٌ صقيل المتن أُغمِدَ في الثرى

    ووارى ترابُ الأرض طلعة نيّر

    A sword of polished blade was sheathed in the earth,

    and the earth's soil concealed the visage of a luminary.

  14. وقد كانَ لم يحجب سناه بحاجب

    ولم تستتر أضواؤه بمستّر

    His brilliance had never been veiled by any veil,

    nor had his lights been hidden by any screen.

  15. فوا أسفي إنْ كانَ يغني تأسُّفي

    وما حَذَري إنْ كانَ يجدي تحذري

    Oh, my sorrow, if my sorrowing could avail!

    And what of my caution, if my vigilance could help?

  16. وكنت أراني في النوائب صابراً

    فأعدَمني صبري فأنى تصبّري

    I had thought myself patient in misfortunes,

    but he robbed me of patience—how can I endure?

  17. وإنِّي لمقبول المعاذير في الأسى

    ومن يعتذر مثلي إلى الصبر يُعذر

    Surely my excuses in grief are accepted,

    and whoever pleads with patience as I do will be excused.

  18. لقد ضقت ذرعاً بعد فقدان باسل

    من الصيد مفتول الذراع غضنفر

    My endurance failed after the loss of a valiant man,

    one of the proud nobles, a lion of sinewy arm.

  19. وما سرّ نفسي بعده ما يسرّها

    ولا راق ما قد راق شيء لمنظري

    Since his loss, what pleased my soul no longer pleased it,

    nor did anything once pleasing charm my sight.

  20. فيا عبراتي كلّ آن تحدّري

    ويا نار أحشائي عليه تسعّري

    O my tears, pour down at every moment,

    and O fire in my entrails, blaze for him!

  21. فقد غاض بحر كلَّما مدّ راحة

    إلى الوفد فاضت منه خمسة أبحر

    A sea has dried up: whenever he extended a palm

    toward visitors, five seas overflowed from him.

  22. فتسخر من وبل السحاب أكُفُّه

    بأبرعَ من وبل السحاب المسخّر

    His hands would mock the clouds' downpour

    with bounty finer than the rain of clouds made to serve.

  23. إلى الله خطب كل يوم يعاد لي

    برزءٍ من الأرزاء يقطع إبهري

    To God I bring a calamity renewed for me each day,

    with a bereavement among bereavements that severs my aorta.

  24. مصابٌ أُصيبَتْ فيه آل محمد

    برغم العوالي من وشيج وسمهري

    A disaster in which Muhammad's house was stricken,

    despite the lofty lances of spear-wood and stout shafts.

  25. أصيبَتْ بقوم ما أُصيبَتْ ولم تصب

    به مُضَرُ الحمرا ولا آل حميرَ

    It was stricken through men as never before; nor were

    Mudar the Red or Himyar's house struck by such a loss.

  26. أرتنا المنايا كيف تُصمي سهامها

    وكيف تصول النائبات وتجتري

    Death showed us how its arrows strike dead,

    and how calamities charge and dare.

  27. ولو أنَّه يُفدى فَدَتْهُ أماجدٌ

    ترى الموت إلاَّ فيه أربحَ متجر

    If he could have been ransomed, noble men would have ransomed him,

    who deem death—except his—the most profitable trade.

  28. ولو أنَّه يدعو الكمأة لنصره

    عليها أجابته بنصرٍ مؤزر

    If he had called the warriors to his aid

    against them, they would have answered with overwhelming support.

  29. ولكنه اغتالته إذ ذاك غيلةً

    ولم تمتنع عنه بجند وعسكر

    But then death slew him treacherously, by stealth,

    and was not kept from him by troops and armies.

  30. خذي من تشائي بعد أخذك بندراً

    من الناس من قد شئته وتخيّري

    Take whom you will, now that you have taken Bandar,

    whoever among mankind you desire; choose at will.

  31. فما كانَ مفقود تشق جيوبها

    عليه المعالي يوم مجد ومفخر

    For no other departed man ever had collars torn

    over him by lofty honors, on a day of glory and pride.

  32. سقاك الحيا المنهلُّ يا قبر بندر

    وحيّاك مُهراقُ الغمام الممّطر

    May the pouring rain water you, O Bandar's grave,

    and may the outpouring of rain-bearing clouds greet you.

  33. سألتك والأجفان يرفضّ ماؤها

    عن الضيغم العادي فهل أنت مخبري

    I asked you while water streamed from my eyelids

    about the charging lion: will you tell me?

  34. تدلّى عقيراً فيك والحتف صارم

    لعمري متى يُعقَرْ به الليث يُعقر

    He was lowered into you, slain, while death was a cutting sword;

    by my life, when a lion is felled by it, he is felled indeed.

  35. محاسنُ ذاك الوجه كيف تغيّرت

    وكان على الأيام لم تَتَغيَّر

    How have the beauties of that face changed,

    when it had remained unchanged through all the days!

  36. وكان يلاقي ضيفه متهلّلاً

    بوجه صباحٍ بالمحاسن مسفر

    He would meet his guest with radiant joy,

    with a morning-bright face, shining with beauty.

  37. وقد نُكّرت من بعد علمي بأنها

    معارف للمعروف لم تتنكر

    Yet they are now unrecognizable, though I knew them as

    familiar signs of kindness that never grew strange.

  38. مضى لا مضى إلاَّ على عفور ربه

    ومسرح جنات ومورد كوثر

    He has gone—may he go only into his Lord's pardon,

    the gardens' meadows and Kawthar's watering place.

  39. فهل وَدَّعَتْه المشرفيّة والقنا

    وناحت عليه البيض في كل محضر

    Did the Mashrafi swords and the lances bid him farewell,

    and did the white blades lament him at every gathering?

  40. لِمَن ترك الخيل الجياد كأنها

    عرائس ما زُفَّت لغير مظفر

    To whom did he leave the noble horses, as though they were

    brides escorted only to a victorious man—

  41. صواهل يعشقن الطراد بموقف

    تبيع الردى فيه الكماة وتشتري

    neighing steeds that love pursuit, on a field

    where warriors sell death and buy it?

  42. دعوناه للجدوى مراراً فلم يجب

    دعاءً لنا عن عزّة وتكبّر

    We called him for bounty time and again, but he did not answer

    our plea, out of pride and haughtiness.

  43. وكان من الداعي بمرآى ومسمعٍ

    وفي منظر مما يروق ومخبر

    He had been within sight and hearing of anyone who called,

    pleasing in outward appearance and inward character,

  44. قريب من الحسنى مجيب لمن دعا

    زعيم بأخذ الفارس المتجبر

    close to goodness, responsive to whoever called,

    sure to capture the overbearing horseman.

  45. تراه سلانا بعد هذا بغيرنا

    بأرغد عيشٍ أم بأكرم معشر

    Do you think he has forgotten us now, with others,

    in a more comfortable life, among a nobler company?

  46. ألم يَدْر أنَّ المُلك أُهمل بعده

    ليس سوى فهد له من مدبر

    Did he not know that the realm was neglected after him,

    with none but Fahd to govern it?

  47. وأنَّ بني العلياء ضاقت صدورها

    لفقدان ذاك السيّد المتصدر

    And that the sons of high honor felt their breasts constrict

    at the loss of that lord who stood foremost?

  48. ومن نَظَرَ الأيام معتبراً بها

    رآها بعين الذاهل المتحير

    Whoever regards the days and learns from them

    sees them with the eyes of one stunned and bewildered.

  49. تحذّرنا صرف المنون نزولها

    وتنذرنا في كلّ يوم بمنذر

    They warn us of death's vicissitudes, of its descent,

    and admonish us each day through a warning.

  50. ونغتر بالآمال لا في سرابها

    شراب ولا منها ورود لمصدر

    Yet we are deceived by hopes: in their mirage there is no

    drink, nor through them any reaching of a water source.

  51. ونبكي على الدنيا على غير طائل

    وما أحدٌ من أهلها بمعمَّر

    We weep over the world to no avail,

    and none of its people is granted lasting life.

  52. نؤمّل فيها أنْ يدومَ لنا بها

    حياة وما دامت لكسرى وقيصر

    In it we hope there may endure for us

    a life that did not endure for Kisra or Caesar.

  53. ونطمع منها بالمحال ولم تكن

    أمانيُّنا إلاَّ أحاديث مفتري

    We crave the impossible from it, while

    our wishes are nothing but a liar's tales.

  54. وهذي هي الآجال قد قُدّرت لنا

    ولم يَنَل الإنسان ما لم يُقدَّر

    These are the lifespans allotted to us,

    and no human attains what has not been decreed.

  55. ولا بد أن يُمشى بنا فوق أرْبَعٍ

    إلى حفرة لا مشيةَ المتبختر

    Inevitably, we must be borne aloft upon four,

    to a pit, not with a swaggerer's gait,

  56. ولو أننا كنّا بقصرٍ مشيّدٍ

    وحصنٍ حصينٍ بالحديد مسوّر

    even if we dwelt in a lofty palace

    and an impregnable fortress walled with iron.

  57. وإنَّ المنايا كائناتٌ لوقتها

    إذا قُدّمت للمرء لم تتأخر

    Deaths surely come at their appointed time;

    once brought to a person, they do not delay.

  58. ولا وَزَرٌ مما قضى الله عاصم

    ولا يتّقى منه بدرع ومغفر

    No refuge protects against what God has decreed,

    nor can it be warded off with armor and a helmet.

  59. على أنها الدنيا إذا ما صفا لنا

    بها العيش شابت صفوَه بمكدّر

    Yet such is the world: whenever there grows clear for us

    life within it, it clouds its clarity with trouble.

  60. ومن ترك الدنيا رآها بعينه

    قصاصة ثوب أو قلامة أظفُر

    Whoever leaves the world sees it with his own eyes as

    a scrap of cloth or a nail clipping.