مرت عليك الأربعون حدادا

ولقد قضينا الأربعين شدادا

Forty days have passed over you in mourning,

and we have endured those forty grievous days.

يممت حلواناً لياليَ تبتغي

فيها النجاة فكانت المِرصادا

You made for Helwan, seeking through the nights

deliverance there, but it became a place of ambush.

ولقد لحقتُ بزائريك فلم أصل

وجهلت أنَّهم أتوا عوّادا

And I joined your visitors, yet never reached you;

and I did not know they had come as sickbed visitors.

وأتيت أهديك السلام فلم أجد

إلا وداعك حيث شئت ودادا

And I came to offer you greetings, but found

only farewell to you where I had wished for affection.

أشكو ثرى حلوان شكوى جازع

ألف الأسى في جوها واعتادا

I complain of Helwan's soil like one distraught,

who came to know sorrow in its air and grew used to it.

قد كنت تطلب من زمانك راحة

فهل اكتفيت من الزمان جهادا

You had sought respite from your times;

so have you had your fill of struggling with time?

أولى بمثلك أن تطول حياته

ليتمَّ فينا ما نوى وأرادا

One such as you deserved a longer life,

to fulfill among us what he intended and desired.

ولقد أقمت وأنت أكرم سيرةً

وقد ارتحلت وأنت أطهر زادا

And you lived with the noblest conduct,

and you departed with the purest provisions.

ولئن قضيت فإن في الذكرى التي

لك بيننا قبل المعاد معادا

Though you have died, in the remembrance that

is yours among us lies a return before the Resurrection.

يا ساكناً أكبادنا وقلوبنا

أترى القلوب اليوم والأكبادا

O you who dwell in our livers and our hearts,

do you see our hearts and livers today?

أوحشت أهلاً لم يذوقوا مرة

في ظل جاهك فرقة وبعادا

You left desolate a family who had never once tasted,

in the shade of your prestige, division or separation.

يا قائماً بالمال تقسمه ندىً

يحيي بلاداً تارة وعبادا

O steward of wealth, dispensing it as bounty,

giving life now to lands, now to people.

إن الذي ولاك واسع رفده

أمن الصروف عليه والآبادا

Indeed, he who entrusted his ample bounty to you

felt it safe from fortune's turns and the ages.

لولا تصرفك المنزه لم تسع

حسناته الروّادَ والورّادا

Without your blameless stewardship, there would not have been enough

of his bounty for seekers and those coming to drink.

أرضيته جمعاً وصرفاً والرضى

إحسانك الإصدار والإيرادا

You pleased him in collecting and spending; his satisfaction

lay in your skill in disbursement and collection.

وكأنما هو باختيارك واحد

ملكاً بأمته أبر جوادا

And it is as though, by choosing you, he stands unrivaled

as a generous king, most benevolent toward his people.

ما مات من ترك الثراء مباركاً

للطيبات وأنجب الأمجادا

He has not died who left his wealth blessed

for good works, and fathered illustrious offspring.

هذي سجاياك الكريمة خير ما

أورثته الأبناء والأحفاد

These noble qualities of yours are the best of what

you bequeathed to children and grandchildren.

نعم التراث تركته لمحمد

في ظل إخوته فطال وزادا

What a fine legacy you left to Muhammad,

in his brothers' shade; so it grew in stature and abundance.

أولى بشمل القوم وهو كفيله

أن يستمر لهم وأن يتمادى

The family's unity, with him its guardian, deserves

to endure for them and continue ever onward.