ثاب العزاءُ وحان الأخذُ بالثار

ثاب العزاءُ وحان الأخذُ بالثار

قد عاد في غابه الضّرغامةُ الضاري

قد عاد في غابه الضّرغامةُ الضاري

Consolation has returned, and the time for vengeance has come.

The time for consolation has passed, and the time for vengeance has come

The fierce lion has returned to his thicket.

The harmful darkness has returned to its forest

إن كان أوردهُ البأساءُ مورِدَه

إن كان أوردهُ البأساءُ مورِدَه

فقد تداركنا منه بإضرار

فقد تداركنا منه بإضرار

If adversity brought him to his watering-place,

If adversity brought him to his fate

then he has made amends to us for it by inflicting harm.

We have retaliated against him with harm

أتى ليمحو بالحسنى إساءته

أتى ليمحو بالحسنى إساءته

كما أتى مذنبٌ يدلي بأعذرِ

كما أتى مذنبٌ يدلي بأعذرِ

He came to erase his wrongdoing with kindness,

He came to erase his wrong with goodness

just as a guilty man comes offering excuses.

As a guilty man comes with an excuse

وما حلا مِنهُ صابٌّ كانَ جرعه

وما حلا مِنهُ صابٌّ كانَ جرعه

وإنما شابَ إحلاءً بإمرارِ

وإنما شابَ إحلاءً بإمرارِ

Nor did the bitter sap he had made him drink grow sweet;

Any sweetness from him was a draught whose bitterness he gulped down

he merely mingled sweetness with bitterness.

Though it was made pleasant with smoothness

لما رأيت انصرافَ القوم قلت لهم

لما رأيت انصرافَ القوم قلت لهم

يلقى الرزايا مَنِ استحيا منَ العارِ

يلقى الرزايا مَنِ استحيا منَ العارِ

When I saw the people withdraw, I said to them:

When I saw the people turn away, I said to them

Whoever feels shame at dishonor encounters calamities.

Disgrace is met by he who is ashamed of dishonor

ما مات مَن مات والإِقدامُ يُورِدُهُ

ما مات مَن مات والإِقدامُ يُورِدُهُ

وإنما ماتَ حيا كُلُّ فَرارِ

وإنما ماتَ حيا كُلُّ فَرارِ

He who died, led to death by courage, has not died;

No one who died while daring has truly died

rather, every coward who flees has died while still alive.

Rather, every coward died while still living

قالوا ردوا باقتحام البحرِ عن غُرَرٍ

قالوا ردوا باقتحام البحرِ عن غُرَرٍ

والموتُ يُدلي بأنيابٍ وأظفارِ

والموتُ يُدلي بأنيابٍ وأظفارِ

They said: They perished by recklessly plunging into the sea,

They said, repel the sea’s billows from deceit

while death brandished fangs and claws.

With death baring its fangs and claws

فقلتُ هيهاتِ مِقدارٌ جرى فَقضى

فقلتُ هيهاتِ مِقدارٌ جرى فَقضى

بما قَضَاهُ ولا رد لمقدارِ

بما قَضَاهُ ولا رد لمقدارِ

So I said: Far from it! Fate ran its course and decreed

So I said: Alas! A prescribed destiny has transpired

what it decreed; there is no turning fate back.

And fulfilled what it fulfilled, a destiny cannot be repelled

إن الحمامَ الذي في البحر غالَهُم

إن الحمامَ الذي في البحر غالَهُم

قد غال عثمانَ ذا النورينِ في الغارِ

قد غال عثمانَ ذا النورينِ في الغارِ

Indeed, the death that carried them off at sea

The pigeons in the sea have overwhelmed them

had carried off Uthman, possessor of the Two Lights, in the cave.

Just as they overwhelmed Othman in the cave

نيرانُ حربِ بموج البحر قد طفئت

نيرانُ حربِ بموج البحر قد طفئت

وَهيَ الموائدُ بينَ الماءِ والنارِ

وَهيَ الموائدُ بينَ الماءِ والنارِ

The fires of war have been quenched by the sea's waves,

The fires of battle amidst the sea’s waves are extinguished

and they are the banquet tables between water and fire.

Yet they are feasts between water and fire

كانت رزايا أثارَت طِيبَ ذكرُهُم

كانت رزايا أثارَت طِيبَ ذكرُهُم

كالنار تلفُحُ في الهندي والغارِ

كالنار تلفُحُ في الهندي والغارِ

They were calamities that stirred the fragrance of their remembrance,

Their virtues aroused the sweet scent of remembrance

like fire scorching Indian aloeswood and laurel.

As fire kindles aromas from aloeswood and ambergris

ما عز عند امرئ مقدارُ ذي كرمٍ

ما عز عند امرئ مقدارُ ذي كرمٍ

إلا رأى فيه قنطاراً كدينارِ

إلا رأى فيه قنطاراً كدينارِ

No one holds a noble man's worth in high esteem

No man’s honor increases, no matter his generosity

without counting a qintar, for his sake, as a dinar.

Except to seem to him like a heap of gold dinars