يا أقرب الناس من أمين

وأفقد الناس للثمين

O closest of all people to Amin,

and, of all people, most bereft of the precious one.

خطبك هذا أجل خطب

فخذ له الصبر باليمين

This calamity of yours is the gravest of calamities;

so take up patience for it with your right hand.

أسليك فيه ولى فؤاد

يذوب للميت والحزين

I console you in this, though I have a heart

that melts for the dead and the grieving.

فقم بنا نندب المعالي

فجرحها اليوم في الوتين

So rise with us to mourn all that is noble;

for today its wound lies in the heart's main artery.

أمِثل فكري أبا حسين

يموت في نضرة السنين

Can one like Fikri, O Abu Husayn,

die in the bloom of his years,

والناس في حاجة إليه

والقطر يرجوه للشؤون

while people are in need of him

and the country looks to him for its affairs?

مؤمل الكل في شباب

ومرتجى الأهل والبنين

The hope of all in his youth,

and the hope of his family and sons.

كذلك الموت كل يوم

يبدى فنونا من الجنون

Such is death: every day

it displays forms of madness.

فلو علمت المنون شخصا

لقلت لا عقل للمنون

So, if I knew Death to be a person,

I would say: Death has no sense.