بقبرك فلتسحب ذيول السحائب

بكل ملث الودق داني الهيادب

At your grave let the skirts of clouds be trailed,

With every cloud of ceaseless rain and low-hanging fringes.

يقهقه في أعطافه الرعد ضاحكاً

وتبكي جفون الغاديات السواكب

Thunder guffaws within its folds, laughing,

And the eyelids of the pouring morning clouds weep.

أمولاي سعد الدين دعوة من رأى

لمثواك صبح الملك مثل الغياهب

O my lord Sa'd al-Din—a call from one who has seen

The dawn of kingship, at your resting place, like deepest darkness.

لقد جل جنب الرزء فيك وأقبلت

إلينا صروف الدهر من كل جانب

Immense indeed is the calamity of losing you, and there have come

Upon us the turns of time from every side.

هو السهم أصمى من فؤادي صميمه

هو الخطب أعيى وصفة كل خاطب

It is the arrow that fatally struck the very core of my heart;

It is the calamity that has baffled every speaker's description.

هو الغاية القصوى فمن شاء فليمت

فكل مصاب دونه في المراتب

It is the utmost limit—so let whoever wishes die,

For every calamity ranks beneath it.

أصبحت محجوباً وقد كنت قبلها

يوافي نداك الوفد من غير حاجب

You have become veiled, though before this

Delegations reached your bounty without a chamberlain.

وأرجع عن جدوى بنانك خائباً

وما عدت يوماً عن نداك بخائب

And I return disappointed from the bounty of your fingers,

Though never before did I return disappointed from your generosity.

لوم زماناً ليس يحنو للائم

وأعتب دهراً لا يميل لعاتب

I blame an age that has no pity for its reproacher,

And reproach a time that will not yield to one who reproaches it.

فوا أسفي حتى إليك سمى الردى

فجب سنام المجد بعد الغوارب

Alas for my grief! Death has risen even to you,

And sheared off glory's hump after its withers.

وما كان إلا عبد سيفك موقداً

بماء الطلى والهام نار الحباحب

Yet it had been only your sword's servant, kindling

Al-Hubahib's fire with the blood of throats and heads.

هو لصاحب المأمون خانك غادراً

فمن واثق من بعد ذاك بصاحب

It is indeed the trusted companion that betrayed you treacherously;

So who, after that, can trust a companion?

لقد ذقت طعم الثكل فيك فهونت

مصائبنا يا ابن الملوك المصاعب

I have tasted bereavement's flavor through you, and you have made lighter

Our grievous afflictions, O son of kings.

أتيناك جمعاً بين شاد ومنشد

وعدنا فرادى بين باك ونادب

We came to you together, some singing, some reciting,

And returned one by one, some weeping, some lamenting.

عليك سلام الله يا خير هالك

ومن قبلها يا خير ماشٍ وراكب

God's peace be upon you, O best of those who have died,

And, before that, O best of all who walked and rode.

ولا زال جفن الغيث يسقيك باكياً

عليك بمخضل الشآبيب ساكب

May the eyelid of rain never cease to water you, weeping

Over you, pouring out drenching showers.

قما برقه في ساحتيك بخلب

ولا وعده يوماً لديك بكاذب

For its lightning in your two courtyards is no rainless flash,

Nor is its promise ever false in your presence.

ولو أن لي دمعاً هتوناً كجوده

لقمت بحق من أياديه واجب

And if I had tears pouring as freely as his bounty,

I would discharge a duty owed for his benefactions.

إذا نظرت عيني محط خيامه

حططت قناع الدمع بين المضارب

When my eye beholds the place where his tents stood,

I let fall the veil of tears among the tents.

واذكر منه هزة حاتمية

بصم العطايا والعتاق الشواذب

And I recall his Hatim-like ardor for giving,

With solid gifts and lean thoroughbred steeds,

وبهجة وجه ما بدا البدر طالعاً

وقابله ألا انثنى مثل غائب

And the radiance of a face: never did the full moon rise

And face it without turning away as though vanishing.

وعهدي لا إفضاله عن جلسيه

ولا فضله عن كل ناد بآئب

And I recall: neither his bounty from his companion,

Nor his excellence from any gathering ever withdrew.

ولا الجود مفقود ولا العلم ضائع

لديه ولا ماء الأماني بناضب

And generosity was not lacking, nor learning lost

With him, nor did the water of hopes run dry.

لئن ذهب البين المشت بشخصه

فما ذكره من كل شعب بذاهب

Even if scattering separation has carried off his person,

His remembrance will not depart from any valley.

فتى همه في كل كعب مثقف

وهم الورى في هيفاء كاعب

A youth whose mind was on each straightened spear-joint,

While people's minds were on a slender-waisted, budding-breasted maiden.

إذا حل حل الجود في كل منزل

وإن سار سار النصر بين المواكب

Whenever he settled, generosity settled in every dwelling,

And when he marched, victory marched among the cavalcades.

يلاقي الأعادي ظافر البشر باسماً

كأن هب يستدعي لقاء الحبائب

He meets his enemies with triumphant cheer, smiling,

As though he sprang up to seek a meeting with loved ones.

كسا الناس أثواب الغنى كاسب العلى

فيا ربحه ما بين كأس وكاسب

He clothed people in garments of wealth, winning high honor;

What profit was his, between a cup and an earner!

ستذكره الأحقاب في كل مشهد

بما طاب عنه من ثناء الحقائب

The ages will remember him at every gathering,

For the sweet praise of him borne in saddlebags.

وتبكيه سمر الخط في كل موقف

وبيض الظبي والخيل بين الكتائب

And al-Khatt's tawny spears will mourn him at every stand,

And gleaming sword-edges, and horses among the battalions.

من القوم أقمارُ الدجى أُسد الوغى

جبالُ النّهى والحلم شُهبُ المناقب

Of a people—moons of darkness, lions of battle,

Mountains of intellect and forbearance, meteors of noble deeds.

فلو تسأل الأعداءُ منهم نفوسَهم

لجادوا بها في منفسات المواهب

Were their enemies to ask them for their very lives,

They would bestow them among their most precious gifts.

فما مثلهُ في كلِّ مجدٍ وسؤودٍ

ولا مثلُ عادي يومهِ في المصائب

None is his equal in any glory or eminence,

Nor, among calamities, any like what assailed him that day.

وما هذه الدّهياءُ أختٌ لمثلها

ولكنّها معدودةٌ في العجائب

This dread calamity is no sister to another like it,

But is counted among wonders.

فما سمعتْ أذن الزّمان بمثلها

ولا نظرتْ من قبلُ عينُ النوائب

Time's ear has never heard its like,

Nor has the eye of calamities ever seen it before.

ولولاهُ لم أجزع وقد كنتُ آمناً

ولا ظلتُ يوماً للزّمان بهائب

But for him I would not have grieved; I had been secure,

Nor would I ever have stood in fear of time.

عدا لم يخفْ حدَّ القواضب والقنا

مصابٌ هفا بابن القنا والقواضب

It attacked, fearing neither the edge of cleaving swords nor spears—

A calamity that felled the son of spears and cleaving swords.

وما كان إلاّ البدرَ وافى خسوفهُ

فهلاّ عداهُ نحو بعض الكواكب

He was none but the full moon, whose eclipse had come;

Why did it not pass him by and turn toward some star?

مضى طاهرَ الأثواب من كلّ شبهةٍ

وأدلج في نهجٍ من الحقِّ لاحب

He passed away, his garments pure of every taint,

And journeyed by night along a broad path of truth.

أعد يا صلاح الدين نظرة عالمٍ

فهل غيرُ مسلوب الحياة وسالب

Look again, O Salah al-Din, with the gaze of one who knows:

Is there anyone but one robbed of life and one who robs it?

نؤمُّ المنايا طائعين وهل فتىً

عصاها فلم تبكر عليهِ بغاضب

We head willingly toward our deaths; and has any youth

Defied them without their coming upon him early in anger?

فلا دافعٌ سورٌ متينٌ وخندقٌ

ولا كلّ ممنوع الذّرى والنوائب

No strong wall or moat can ward it off,

Nor anything with protected heights and calamities [wording unclear].

وما الموت شخصٌ يُتّقى بطليعةٍ

معوّدة الأبطال شعثُ السبائب

Death is no person to be warded off with a vanguard

Used to facing champions, with disheveled forelocks.

ولكنُّ يغتال ختلاً نفوسنا

ويسري إلينا في خفيّ المذاهب

But it steals our lives by guile,

And comes to us by night along hidden paths.

يُسدّد عن قوس القضاء سهامهُ

فما أسهم الكُسعيِّ أو قوسُ حاجب

It aims its arrows from the bow of destiny;

What are al-Kusa'i's arrows, then, or Hajib's bow?

فقدناه فابيضّت عيونُ عُفاتهِ

من الحزن واسودت وجوه المطالب

We lost him, and the eyes of those seeking his gifts turned white

From grief, and the faces of aspirations turned black.

وما دُمتَ لم يُفقدْ من القوم فارسٌ

ولا علقتْ كفُّ المنون بذاهب

And as long as you remain, no horseman of the people is lost,

Nor has death's hand laid hold of anyone departed.