Sol 6.1

  1. بكاؤكُما يشْفي وإن كان لا يُجْدي

    فجُودا فقد أوْدَى نَظيركُمُا عندي

    Your weeping soothes, though it avails nothing;

    so give freely: one as dear as you to me has perished—

  2. بُنَيَّ الذي أهْدَتْهُ كَفَّايَ للثَّرَى

    فَيَا عِزَّةَ المُهْدَى ويا حَسْرة المُهدِي

    my little son, whom my own hands offered to the earth.

    Ah, how precious the gift, how bitter the giver's grief!

  3. ألا قاتَل اللَّهُ المنايا ورَمْيَها

    من القَوْمِ حَبَّات القُلوب على عَمْدِ

    May God strike down the fates and their shooting

    deliberately at the very kernels of people's hearts!

  4. تَوَخَّى حِمَامُ الموتِ أوْسَطَ صبْيَتي

    فلله كيفَ اخْتار وَاسطَةَ العِقْدِ

    Death's doom singled out the middle one of my little children;

    by God, how it chose the necklace's central jewel!

  5. على حينََ شمْتُ الخيْرَ من لَمَحَاتِهِ

    وآنَسْتُ من أفْعاله آيةَ الرُّشدِ

    Just when I glimpsed promise in his glances

    and discerned in his deeds a sign of sound judgment,

  6. طَوَاهُ الرَّدَى عنِّي فأضحَى مَزَارُهُ

    بعيداً على قُرْب قريباً على بُعْدِ

    death folded him away from me, and his resting place became

    far despite its nearness, near despite its distance.

  7. لقد أنْجَزَتْ فيه المنايا وعيدَها

    وأخْلَفَتِ الآمالُ ما كان من وعْدِ

    The fates indeed fulfilled their threat against him,

    while hopes broke whatever promise they had made.

  8. لقَد قلَّ بين المهْد واللَّحْد لُبْثُهُ

    فلم ينْسَ عهْدَ المهْد إذ ضُمَّ في اللَّحْدِ

    Brief indeed was his stay between cradle and grave;

    he had not forgotten the cradle when the grave enfolded him.

  9. تَنَغَّصَ قَبْلَ الرِّيِّ ماءُ حَياتِهِ

    وفُجِّعَ منْه بالعُذُوبة والبَرْدِ

    His life's water was spoiled before his thirst was quenched,

    and he was robbed of its sweetness and coolness.

  10. ألَحَّ عليه النَّزْفُ حتَّى أحالَهُ

    إلى صُفْرَة الجاديِّ عن حُمْرَةِ الوَرْدِ

    The bleeding beset him until it changed him

    to saffron's yellow from the redness of the rose.

  11. وظلَّ على الأيْدي تَساقط نَفْسُه

    ويذوِي كما يذوي القَضِيبُ من الرَّنْدِ

    In our hands his soul kept falling away,

    and he withered as a laurel twig withers.

  12. فَيَالكِ من نَفْس تَسَاقَط أنْفُساً

    تساقط درٍّ من نِظَام بلا عقدِ

    Ah, what a soul, falling away soul by soul,

    as pearls tumble from a string without a knot!

  13. عجبتُ لقلبي كيف لم ينفَطِرْ لهُ

    ولوْ أنَّهُ أقْسى من الحجر الصَّلدِ

    I marvel that my heart did not break for him,

    even if it were harder than unyielding stone.

  14. بودِّي أني كنتُ قُدِّمْتُ قبْلَهُ

    وأن المنايا دُونَهُ صَمَدَتْ صَمْدِي

    I wish I had been sent ahead before him,

    and that the fates had aimed at me instead of him.

  15. ولكنَّ ربِّي شاءَ غيرَ مشيئتي

    وللرَّبِّ إمْضَاءُ المشيئةِ لا العَبْدِ

    But my Lord willed otherwise than I,

    and it is the Lord, not the servant, whose will prevails.

  16. وما سرني أن بعْتُهُ بثَوابِه

    ولو أنه التَّخْليدُ في جنَّةِ الخُلْدِ

    It would not please me to trade him for the reward of his loss,

    even were it eternal life in the Garden of Eternity.

  17. وَلا بِعْتُهُ طَوْعاً ولكنْ غُصِبْته

    وليس على ظُلْمِ الحوادِث من مُعْدِي

    I did not sell him willingly: I was robbed of him,

    and none can grant redress against calamity's injustice.

  18. وإنِّي وإن مُتِّعْتُ بابْنيَّ بَعْده

    لَذاكرُه ما حنَّتِ النِّيبُ في نَجْدِ

    Though I may enjoy my two sons after him,

    I shall remember him as long as aged she-camels moan in Najd.

  19. وأولادُنا مثْلُ الجَوارح أيُّها

    فقدْناه كان الفاجِعَ البَيِّنَ الفقدِ

    Our children are like our limbs: whichever one

    we lose brings grief, its absence all too plain.

  20. لكلٍّ مكانٌ لا يَسُدُّ اخْتلالَهُ

    مكانُ أخيه في جَزُوعٍ ولا جَلدِ

    Each has a place whose emptiness cannot be filled

    by his brother's place, in the anguished or the steadfast.

  21. هَلِ العَيْنُ بَعْدَ السَّمْع تكْفِي مكانهُ

    أم السَّمْعُ بَعْد العيْنِ يَهْدِي كما تَهْدي

    Can the eye, after hearing is lost, suffice in its place?

    Or can hearing, after the eye is lost, guide as the eye does?

  22. لَعَمْرِي لقد حالَتْ بيَ الحالُ بَعْدَهُ

    فَيَا لَيتَ شِعْرِي كيف حالَتْ به بَعْدِي

    By my life, my lot has changed since his departure;

    would that I knew how his has changed since parting from me.

  23. ثَكِلتُ سُرُوري كُلَّه إذْ ثَكلتُهُ

    وأصبحتُ في لذَّاتِ عيْشي أَخَا زُهْدِ

    I lost all my joy when I lost him,

    and turned away from the pleasures of my life.

  24. أرَيْحَانَةَ العَيْنَينِ والأَنْفِ والحَشا

    ألا لَيْتَ شعري هَلْ تغيَّرْتَ عن عهدي

    O sweet basil of my eyes, my nose, and my heart,

    ah, if only I knew: have you changed from what I remember?

  25. سأسْقِيكَ ماءَ العيْن ما أسْعَدَتْ به

    وإن كانت السُّقْيَا من الدَّمْعِ لا تُجْدِي

    I shall water you with tears as long as my eyes yield them,

    though watering with tears avails nothing.

  26. أعَيْنَيَّ جُودا لي فقد جُدْتُ للثَّرى

    بأنْفِس ممَّا تُسأَلانِ من الرِّفْدِ

    O my eyes, be generous to me: I have given the earth

    something more precious than the gift asked of you.

  27. أعَيْنيَّ إن لا تُسْعِداني أَلُمْكُمَا

    وإن تُسْعداني اليوم تَسْتَوْجبا حَمْدي

    O my eyes, if you do not aid me, I shall blame you;

    if you aid me today, you will earn my praise.

  28. عَذَرْتُكُما لو تُشْغَلانِ عن البُكا

    بِنَوْمٍ وما نَوْمُ الشَّجِيِّ أخي الجَهْدِ

    I would excuse you if you were kept from weeping

    by sleep—but what sleep has one worn out with grief?

  29. أقُرَّةَ عيني قدْ أطَلْت بُكاءها

    وغادرْتها أقْذَى من الأعينِ الرُّمدِ

    O delight of my eye, you have prolonged its weeping

    and left it fuller of grit than inflamed eyes.

  30. أقُرَّةَ عيني لو فَدَى الحَيُّ مَيِّتاً

    فَدَيْتُك بالحَوْبَاء أَوَّلَ من يَفْدِي

    O delight of my eye, if the living could ransom the dead,

    I would ransom you with my soul, the first of all to do so.

  31. كأني ما اسْتَمْتَعتُ منك بنظْرة

    ولا قُبْلةٍ أحْلَى مَذَاقاً من الشَّهْدِ

    As though I had never delighted in a glimpse of you,

    or a kiss sweeter to taste than honey;

  32. كأني ما استمتعتُ منك بِضَمَّةٍ

    ولا شمَّةٍ في مَلْعبٍ لك أو مَهْدِ

    as though I had never delighted in an embrace from you,

    or your scent where you played, or in your cradle.

  33. ألامُ لما أُبْدي عليك من الأسى

    وإني لأخفي منه أضعاف ما أُبْدي

    I am blamed for the sorrow I show for you,

    though I conceal many times more than I reveal.

  34. محمَّدُ ما شيْءٌ تُوُهِّمَ سَلْوةً

    لقلبيَ إلا زاد قلبي من الوجدِ

    Muhammad, nothing thought to bring solace

    to my heart has done anything but deepen its anguish.

  35. أرى أخَوَيْكَ الباقِيينِ فإنما

    يَكُونان للأَحْزَانِ أوْرَى من الزَّندِ

    I see your two surviving brothers, and they only

    kindle grief more readily than a fire-stick.

  36. إذا لَعِبا في ملْعَبٍ لك لذَّعا

    فؤادي بمثل النار عنْ غير ما قَصدِ

    When they play where you once played, they sear

    my heart as fire would, without intending it.

  37. فما فيهما لي سَلْوَةٌ بَلْ حَزَازَةٌ

    يَهِيجانِها دُونِي وأَشْقَى بها وحْدي

    In them I find no solace, only a heartache

    which they stir, not I, though I alone suffer it.

  38. وأنتَ وإن أُفْردْتَ في دار وَحْشَةٍ

    فإني بدار الأنْسِ في وحْشة الفَرْدِ

    Though you have been left alone in an abode of desolation,

    I, in the abode of fellowship, suffer a solitary's loneliness.

  39. أودُّ إذا ما الموتُ أوْفَدَ مَعْشَراً

    إلى عَسْكَر الأمْواتِ أنِّي من الوفْدِ

    I wish, whenever death sends forth a company

    to the army of the dead, that I were among those sent.

  40. ومن كانَ يَسْتهدِي حَبِيباً هَدِيَّةً

    فَطَيْفُ خيَال منك في النوم أسْتَهدي

    And if one asks a loved one for a gift,

    I ask for a phantom glimpse of you in sleep.

  41. عليك سلامُ الله مني تحيةً

    ومنْ كلِّ غيْثٍ صادِقِ البرْقِ والرَّعْدِ

    Upon you be God's peace, a greeting from me,

    and from every raincloud whose lightning and thunder prove true.