1. بكى الشعر أيام المنى والمنائح

    ففي كل بيت للثنا صوت نائح

    Poetry wept for the days of hopes and gifts;

    so in every verse of praise there is a mourner's voice.

  2. وغاضت بحور المكرمات وطوحت

    بأهل الرجا والقصد أيدي الطوائح

    And the seas of generosity ebbed, and swept away

    were those who hoped and sought, by the hands of calamity.

  3. ولما ادلهمَّت صفحة الأفق بالأسى

    علمنا بأنَّ الشهب تحت الصفائح

    And when the face of the horizon darkened with sorrow,

    we knew that the stars lay beneath the stone slabs.

  4. حيا المزن أسعدني على فقد سادة

    بدمع كجدواهم على الناس طافح

    O rain of the clouds, join me in mourning the loss of lords,

    with tears overflowing upon people, like their bounty.

  5. أبعد بني شادٍ وقد سكنوا الثرى

    قريض لشادٍ أو سرور لفارح

    After the sons of Shādī, now dwelling in the earth,

    is there verse for a singer, or joy for one rejoicing?

  6. أبعد ملوك العلم والبأس والندى

    تشب العلى نار القرى والقرائح

    After the kings of learning, valor, and bounty,

    can glory still kindle the fire of hospitality and poetic inspiration?

  7. أما والذي أخلى حمى الملك منهمُ

    وعمّر بالعليا رسوم الضرائح

    Indeed, by Him who emptied kingship's sanctuary of them,

    and filled the outlines of the tombs with lofty glory:

  8. لئن أوحشوا منهم بيوت مقامهم

    لقد أوحشت منهم بيوت المدائح

    if their dwelling houses have become desolate without them,

    the verses of praise have surely become desolate without them.

  9. يجرّح قلبي بعدهم صوت ساجعٍ

    يذكرني عهدَ الأيادي السوافح

    A cooing bird's voice wounds my heart now they are gone,

    recalling to me the days of hands that showered bounty.

  10. فيا فرخ ضعفي حيث صرت فريسة

    وصار حمامُ الأيك في الطير جارحي

    Alas for my fledgling weakness, now that I have become prey,

    and the thicket's doves, among birds, have become my predators.

  11. تلا فقد إسماعيل فقد محمد

    فيا للأسى من فادح بعد فادح

    The loss of Muḥammad followed the loss of Ismāʿīl;

    ah, what sorrow—a crushing blow after a crushing blow!

  12. وزالا فما إنسان عيني بممسكٍ

    بكاءَ ولا إنسان قولٍ بكادح

    And both are gone: the pupil of my eye does not hold back

    weeping, nor does any man of words toil.

  13. كأن زناد الفضل لم يورِ منهما

    سنا شيمٍ ما فيه قولٌ لقادح

    As though the firesticks of bounty had never kindled from them

    the radiance of virtues against which no detractor has a word.

  14. كأن لم يقم بالمكرمات مطوَّق

    لدى الباب يشدوا بالثنا شدو صادح

    As though no dove, collared with favors, had ever stood

    at the gate, singing praise with a songbird's song.

  15. خذ الزاد يا ضيف المكارم وارتحلْ

    بنوح فقد أقوت ربوع المنائح

    Take provisions, O guest of noble bounty, and depart

    with lamentation, for the abodes of gifts stand deserted.

  16. نزحت دموعاً أو نزحت ركائباً

    فلله في الحالين حسرة نازح

    Whether you drain away tears or journey away with camel-mounts,

    God, what anguish in either case for one who departs!

  17. بروحي ديار الفضل صوَّح روضها

    كأن لم يجب فيها المنى صوت صائح

    My soul be ransom for the abodes of bounty, whose garden has withered,

    as though hopes had never answered a caller's cry within them.

  18. بروحي غريب الدار والنعشُ عائدٌ

    إلى أرضه الثكلى غريب النوائح

    My soul be ransom for the stranger far from home, whose bier returns

    to his bereaved land, a stranger to the mourning women.

  19. بروحي نظير الغصن في دوحة العلى

    رماه فأوداه الزمان ببارح

    My soul be ransom for one like a branch in glory's spreading tree;

    Time struck him and destroyed him with a scorching wind.

  20. رمى فروعه من بعد ما مدَّ ظله

    على كل غادٍ م العفاة ورائح

    Time struck his branches after he had spread his shade

    over every morning and evening wayfarer among the supplicants.

  21. وجمَّل دنيانا ببثّ جميلةٍ

    وغطى على مكروهها والقبائح

    And he beautified our world by spreading kindness,

    and veiled its hateful things and ugliness.

  22. وساس رعايا أرضه وأطاعه

    على جانب العاصي هوى كل جامح

    And he governed his land's subjects, and was obeyed

    beside the ʿĀṣī by the will of every headstrong soul.

  23. وأعطى عطاء السحب في حال عسرة

    تقوم بأعذار النفوس الشحائح

    And he gave the bounty of clouds in a time of hardship

    that offered excuses to miserly souls.

  24. وزاوج بين الحلم والبأس ملكه

    فمن أعزل مثل السماك ورامح

    And his reign united forbearance and valor:

    some unarmed, some spear-bearing, like Simāk.

  25. ورتل من أسلافه سوَرَ العلى

    خواتمها موصولة بالفواتح

    And from his forebears he intoned the chapters of glory,

    their endings joined to their beginnings.

  26. وقام إلى جمع المحامد طامحاً

    فوالله لم يعدل به عزم طامح

    And he rose, aspiring to gather praiseworthy deeds;

    so, by God, no aspirant's resolve could match him.

  27. ووالله ما نقضي حقوق محمد

    إذا نحن أثنينا عليه بصالح

    And by God, we do not repay what is owed to Muḥammad

    when we praise him with worthy words.

  28. ولو أمكن الغيث الفدى بوليّه

    فدى صالحاً من آل شادٍ بطالح

    And if the rain could offer ransom for its friend,

    it would redeem a worthy man of Shādī's house with an unworthy one,

  29. ورد الرّدى عن فائض البرّ عنده

    أعزّ مكان في الدنى سرح سائح

    and turn death away from one overflowing with kindness, for whom

    the dearest place in all the worlds was a wanderer's pasture.

  30. هو الموت لو يثنيه بأسٌ ونائل

    ثنتهُ سجايا كفه في الجوانح

    It is death: if valor and bounty could turn it back,

    the virtues of his hand would have repelled it within his breast.

  31. هو الموت ما يعييهِ ثاوٍ بمغفل

    ولا واصل في النبذ من خطو سابح

    It is death: no dweller in an unnoticed place can thwart it,

    nor one pressing on in the bounding strides of a swift steed,

  32. ولا أسدٌ يرنو بأحمر أجزرٍ

    تكاد به تشوى لحوم الذبائح

    nor a lion staring with a blood-red, murderous gaze,

    that could almost roast the flesh of slaughtered beasts,

  33. ولا أسد الأبراج في الشهب كاسراً

    بتكرارها سرت نفوس الصحائح

    nor the Lion of the zodiac, ravening among the stars,

    through whose recurring courses the souls of the healthy have passed on.

  34. كفى ببني أيوب للناس واعظاً

    وإن صمتت أفواههم في الضرائح

    The sons of Ayyūb suffice as an admonition to mankind,

    though their mouths have fallen silent in the tombs,

  35. ومرقى المنايا نحو آفاق عرشهم

    وما كان يرقى نحوها طرف طامح

    and death's ascent toward the horizons of their throne,

    toward which no aspiring gaze had ever risen.

  36. سلام على جنات أجداثهم ولا

    سلام لنار الحزن بين الجوانح

    Peace upon the gardens of their graves, and no

    peace for sorrow's fire between the ribs.