مصيبة أمة وأنا المصاب

شهدت لقد مضى الأدب اللباب

A nation's calamity—and I am the stricken one.

I bear witness: the purest essence of literature has passed away.

أيفزع من صليل السيف قوم

بغير نفوسهم فتك الضراب

Do people fear the sword's clang

when its blows have slain lives other than their own?

سلوا البطل الصريع بأي جرح

رمى كبدي ففي فمه الجواب

Ask the fallen hero with what wound

he struck my liver; the answer is in his mouth.

وبين جوانحي حران هاف

تمور على جوانبه الثياب

Within my ribs is a burning, fluttering heart,

the clothes heaving over its sides.

دعوا ذكر الفجيعة واستفيقوا

أنا المفجوع لو وضح الصواب

Leave off speaking of the tragedy, and regain your senses:

I am the bereaved one, if right judgment were clear.

ومن جهل الوغى اشتبهت عليه

ذئاب القفر والأسد الغضاب

Whoever knows nothing of battle confuses

the wilderness's wolves with the furious lions.

أقام مع الخوالف ما يبالي

أطاح السيف أم هلك القراب

He stayed among those left behind, not caring

whether the sword had fallen or the scabbard had perished.

تراث العرب عاث الدهر فيه

وملك الضاد عاجله التباب

Time has wreaked havoc on the Arabs' heritage,

and ruin has swiftly overtaken the realm of ḍād.

تهول النائبات ولا كملك

يهال على حضارته التراب

Calamities appall, but none like a realm

whose civilization has dust heaped upon it.

أناة أيها الحادي فإنا

وجدنا منك ما تجد الركاب

Gently, camel-driver, for we

have felt from you what the riding camels feel:

غليل جوانح وجوى قلوب

تسيل بها المسالك والشعاب

burning thirst within our ribs and anguish in our hearts,

with which the paths and ravines flow.

نرجي أن تعوج ولا معاج

ونطمع أن تؤوب ولا مآب

We hope you will turn back, though there is no turning back,

and yearn for your return, though there is no return.

وما تبقى القلوب ولا المآقي

إذا ذهب الأحبة والصحاب

Neither hearts nor tear ducts survive

when loved ones and companions depart.

عباب العبقرية جن حتى

تداركه من الموت العباب

The surge of genius raged until

the surge of death overtook it.

ترشف موجه قدر مهول

كأن اليم في فمه لعاب

A dreadful fate sipped its waves,

as though the sea were saliva in its mouth.

تدافعت الخضارم تتقيه

وأجفل من مخافته السحاب

The vast seas jostled, seeking to evade it,

and the clouds fled in fear of it.

تموت على جوانبه الضواري

وتهلك في غواربه الذئاب

Beasts of prey die along its shores,

and wolves perish in its wave-crests.

ترى الأجيال تسقط فيه غرقى

كأن شخوصها القصوى ذباب

You see generations fall into it, drowning,

their far-off figures seeming like flies.

ألا ليت المنون تجاوزته

إماما ما تجاوزه النصاب

Oh, would that death had passed him by,

a leader whom no lineage surpassed.

بفيه من البيان العذب ورد

تطيب نطافه والعيش صاب

In his mouth is a draught of sweet eloquence,

whose drops are sweet, though life is bitter sap.

وفي يده من الريحان عود

كأن مداده الذهب المذاب

And in his hand is a sprig of sweet basil,

its ink as though it were molten gold.

أمير الشعر هل لي منك صوت

يريح النفس أم طوي الكتاب

Prince of Poetry, may I hear your voice

to soothe the soul—or has the book been folded shut?

رأيتك والمنية ملء عيني

وفي لحظات عينيك اضطراب

I saw you, with death filling my eyes,

and a tremor in the glances of your eyes.

رجعت وكل غادية نذير

يضج وكل رائحة غراب

I returned, and every morning arrival was a warning herald

crying out, and every evening arrival a raven.

أرى الدنيا مقابر والمنايا

على أمم البيان لها انصباب

I see the world as graveyards, with deaths

pouring down upon the nations of eloquence.

لقيتك شيقا وأرى شفائي

غداة يتاح لي منك اقتراب

I met you full of longing, and I see my cure

on the morning when I am allowed to draw near you.

إذا لم يغترب لأخيك ود

فليس بضائر منه اغتراب

If your affection for your brother does not grow estranged,

then separation from him does no harm.

شباب الفن كنت له جمالا

فزال جماله ومضى الشباب

Art's youth—you were its beauty;

its beauty has vanished, and its youth has passed.

رأيت القول يكره منه بعض

وبعض يستحب ويستطاب

I have seen speech: some of it is disliked,

and some is cherished and relished.

وقولك كله لا عيب فيه

وهل في الوحي من شيء يعاب

But all your words are without fault—

is there anything in revelation to be faulted?

برعت فكنت ملء الدهر خلدا

وكل براعة للخلد باب

You excelled, filling all time with your immortality;

and every excellence is a gate to immortality.

ولم أر محسنا لم يال جهدا

فأخطأه الجزاء أو الثواب

I never saw one who did good and spared no effort

yet was passed over by recompense or reward.

شربت العيش كاسا بعد كاس

فلم تدم الكؤوس ولا الشراب

You drank life, cup after cup,

but neither the cups nor the drink endured.

شراب الموت ماذا ذقت منه

وكيف يكون إن رفع الحجاب

The drink of death—what have you tasted of it?

And what is it like if the veil is lifted?

نعمت به فصفه لنا وحدث

أتصفو الكاس أم يحلو الحباب

You have found bliss in it; describe it to us and tell us:

does the cup grow clear, or does its froth grow sweet?

عهدتك أبلغ الشعراء وصفا

وأصدقهم إذا كره الكذاب

I knew you as the most eloquent poet in description,

and the most truthful when falsehood is loathed.

ستذكرك السواجع في رباها

وتذكرك الأماليد الرطاب

The cooing birds will remember you on their hills,

and the supple, tender boughs will remember you.

وتهتف باسمك الدنيا فتبقى

ومثلك ليس يدركه الذهاب

The world will cry your name, and you will endure;

and passing away cannot overtake one like you.

لكل من بيانك مستراد

ومنتجع جوانبه رحاب

In your eloquence, everyone has a foraging ground,

and a pasture with spacious reaches:

فمعترك به عين وجيد

ومعترك به ظفر وناب

one arena holds an eye and a neck,

and another holds claw and fang;

وتبصرة الحكيم إذا تناهى

وأسلمه التلمس والطلاب

and insight for the sage when he reaches his limit

and searching and seeking fail him.

وما أمر الشعوب بمستقيم

إذا لم يستقم خلق وداب

The affairs of peoples cannot be set right

unless character and conduct are upright.

حللت الكرمة الكبرى فحيت

ورحبت المنازل والقباب

You alighted at the great vine, and it greeted you;

and the dwellings and domes welcomed you.

إذا غردت ماج بها رفيف

وصفق حولك الصحب الطراب

When you sing, a fluttering surges through it,

and your enraptured companions clap around you.

تضوع في مغاني الخلد طيبا

وحي بها الألى نعموا وطابوا

Waft your fragrance through the abodes of eternity,

and greet there those who have found bliss and delight.

صفاء العيش في الدنيا مشوب

وما في الخلد من صفو يشاب

The purity of life in this world is tainted,

but no purity in eternity is tainted.

تتبابع إخوتي وبقيت وحدي

أسائل أية ذهبوا فغابوا

My brothers went one after another, and I remained alone;

I ask where they went and vanished.

همو نفضوا الهموم عليّ حتى

تظاهرت الفوادح والصعاب

They shook their cares off onto me, until

crushing burdens and hardships joined forces.

وهم وضعوا الأمانة فاستراحوا

ورحت تميل بي وبها العياب

They laid down the trust and found rest,

and I went on, the packs swaying with me and with it.

سأحفظها على نعرات قوم

هم الهدام لو كشف النقاب

I shall preserve it despite the clamors of a people

who are the destroyers, if the veil were lifted.

لنا في قومنا الأدب المصفى

وللقوم النفاية والجباب

Among our people, ours is refined literature;

theirs are the refuse and the scum.

قوام الشعر أفئدة حداد

مثقفة وألسنة عذاب

Poetry's foundation is keen hearts,

cultivated, and tongues that are sweet.

أبي أن يترك الأحياء رام

يصيب العالمين ولا يصاب

An archer has refused to spare the living,

striking all mankind, yet never struck.

قذوف بالمنازل ما يبالي

تناهى الوجد أم بلغ العذاب

Ever hurling at homes, he cares not

whether grief reaches its utmost or torment its height.

نجيب النازحين إذا دعينا

وندعو الأقربين فلا نجاب

We answer those far away when we are called,

and call those nearest, but receive no answer.

قضاء الله فيك أبا علي

وللدنيا بأهليها انقلاب

It is God's decree for you, Abu Ali,

and the world, with its people, turns and changes.

أما ورفاقنا النائين عنا

لقد بعثوا الديار بمن أنابوا

Ah, by our companions far from us,

they have sent their homelands through those they deputized.

لئن وفدت غياط دمشق عجلى

لقد خفت بلبنان الهضاب

If Damascus's groves came swiftly as a delegation,

the hills of Lebanon surely hastened too.

هم الأهلون أحداثا ودنيا

وفي الأحداث والدنيا انتساب

They are our kin in events and in worldly life,

and in events and worldly life lies kinship.

نسر إذا همو فرحوا ونبكي

إذا ما كان هم واكتئاب

We rejoice when they rejoice, and we weep

when there is sorrow and dejection.

علينا الشكر مطردا يؤدى

اداء الدين ضاق به الحساب

We owe unceasing thanks, to be paid

like a debt too vast to reckon.