1. إليكِ فقد عرفتكِ أُمَّ دَفْرٍ

    فَلَنْ تَجِدِي إلى خَدْعِي سَبيلا

    Away with you, Umm Dafr, for I have come to know you.

    You will find no way to deceive me.

  2. نفضتُ يديَّ منكِ على يقينٍ

    صحيحٍ نَهْنَهَ الشكَّ العليلا

    I shook my hands free of you, with a certainty

    so sound that it checked ailing doubt.

  3. أتى دون الأَسَى المعتادِ صَبْري

    وجلّ فهوَّنَ الصبرَ الجليلا

    My patience stood between me and familiar sorrow,

    and grew great, making even mighty endurance easy.

  4. وقلَّبْتُ الورى ظهراً لِبَطنٍ

    فلم أَحْمَدْهُمُ إلاَّ قليلا

    I turned humankind over, back to belly,

    and praised only a few of them.

  5. تُرَاوِحُنَا المنيَّةُ أوْ تُغَادِي

    فإنْ تَسْطِعْ فَدَعْهَا أنْ تَصولا

    Death visits us at evening or at dawn;

    so, if you can, let her charge.

  6. وَنَحْنُ نَجِدُّ في حبِّ الأَماني

    لِنَجْنُبَهُنَّ صَعْباً أو ذَلُولا

    And we strive in our love of hopes,

    to lead beside them a restive mount or a tame one.

  7. هيَ الشَّهَوَاتُ لا تنفَكُّ تُصْغِي

    إليهنَّ السَّوَامِعَ والعقولا

    They are desires that never cease to turn

    listening ears and minds toward themselves.

  8. كأنا حيثُ لم نَسَعِ المنايا

    فَطَبَقَتِ الحُزُونَةَ والسُّهولا

    As though, since we could not contain death,

    it covered rugged ground and level plains.

  9. لِنَبْكِ على بَقيَّةِ آلِ حَزْمٍ

    عُيُونْهُمُ شَبَاباً أو كُهُولا

    Let us weep for the remaining scion of the house of Hazm,

    their finest, whether young or mature;

  10. على حاميهمُ أنْ يسْتَضَامُوا

    وَمَانِعِ دَهْرِهِمْ أن يَسْتَطيلا

    for the one who shielded them from oppression,

    and kept their age from growing tyrannous;

  11. أَعزُّهُمُ على الأَيَّامِ جَاراً

    وَأهدَاهُمْ إلى العَلْيَا دليلا

    their mightiest protector against the days,

    and their surest guide to the heights.

  12. مضى وكأنَّهُ الدنيا تَوَلَّتْ

    ولكن لا نَظيرَ ولا بَديلا

    He departed, as though the world itself had departed,

    yet with no equal and no replacement.

  13. مُصَابٌ كفَّ دونكَ كلَّ صَبْرٍ

    فلا تكففُ دموعَكَ أنْ تسيلا

    A calamity that barred all patience from reaching you:

    so do not restrain your tears from flowing.

  14. ألمْ يكُ حُبُّهُ كَهْفاً منيعاً

    ألم يكُ قُرْبُهُ ظِلاً ظليلا

    Was not his love an impregnable refuge?

    Was not his nearness a deeply sheltering shade?

  15. ألم يكُ لليتامَى والأَيامَى

    وليّاً حانياً وَلهاً وَصُولا

    Was he not, for orphans and widows,

    a tender guardian, ardent in love and unfailing in care?

  16. ألم يكُ حينَ يَدْجُو الخطبُ بَدْراً

    ولكنْ لا سَرَارَ ولا أُفُولا

    Was he not a full moon when calamity grew dark,

    yet with neither a moonless phase nor a setting?

  17. ألَمْ يُحْرِزْ نهايةَ كلِّ مَجْدٍ

    يقولُ الفَصْلَ أو يُعْطِي الجزيلا

    Did he not attain the utmost of every glory,

    speaking the decisive word or giving in abundance?

  18. ولما لم يقمْ للعلمِ وَزْنٌ

    فأَصْبَحَ جاهُ حامِله خُمُولا

    And when learning was no longer held in esteem,

    and its bearer's standing had sunk into obscurity,

  19. تَجَرَّدَ دونَه سَيْفاً حُسَاماً

    وَهَبَّ لأَهله ريحاً بَليلا

    he stood forth in its defense, a keen-cutting sword,

    and rose for its people as a cool, moist breeze.

  20. وكان لكلِّ مَكْرُمَةٍ إماماً

    وكانَ بكلِّ صالحةٍ كفيلا

    He was an exemplar in every noble deed,

    and a guarantor of every worthy deed.

  21. أقولُ وقد نعاهُ ناعياهُ

    أحُمَّ لركنِ رَضْوَى أنْ يَزُولا

    I say, when his two bearers of death-news announced him dead:

    Was it decreed that a pillar of Radwa should fall?

  22. وما شمطاءُ ضامتها الليالي

    على أنْ لا قريبَ ولا دَخيلا

    Nor a gray-haired woman whom the nights oppressed,

    with neither kinsman nor intimate,

  23. وشبَّ لها على شَمَط وَشَيْبٍ

    وَيَأسٍ من زمانٍ أنْ يُقيلا

    and there grew for her, amid graying hair and white locks,

    and despair that time would grant respite,

  24. سليلاً ماجدِ الآباءِ قرمٍ

    وطالا واستحقَّا أنْ يَطُولا

    two sons of a chief of noble ancestry;

    they grew tall and deserved to grow still taller.

  25. فأصبحَ في المقانبِ لا سُلَيْكاً

    وأصْبَحَ في التنسُّكِ لا أبِيلا

    One became, among cavalry bands, no Sulayk,

    and the other, in ascetic devotion, no monk.

  26. إلى الحظَيْنِ من دنيا وَأُخْرَى

    أقرَّ العينَ منه حين نيلا

    With the two shares of this world and the next,

    her eyes found joy through him when both were won.

  27. أصابَ كليهما سًهْمُ المنايا

    فلم تَمْلِكْ له إلا العَويلا

    The arrow of death struck them both,

    and she could do nothing for him but wail.

  28. أقَبْرَ محمدٍ ولو اسْتَطَعْنَا

    لقاءَ محمد لَشَفَى الغليلا

    O grave of Muhammad! If we could

    meet Muhammad, it would soothe our burning longing.

  29. أظَلَّكَ كلُّ أوْطَفَ مُسْتَهِلِّ

    يُسَقّيك الرحيقَ السَّلْسبيلا

    May every heavy-fringed, rain-pouring cloud shade you,

    watering you with Salsabil's pure nectar.

  30. وكيف نجدُّ في استسقاءِ غَيْثِ

    لقبرٍ ضُمّنَ الغيثَ الهَطُولا

    And how can we strive to pray for rain

    for a grave that holds the pouring rain itself?

  31. غزاءً يا بني حزمٍ عزاءً

    فإنَّ لكلِّ نائبةٍ بديلا

    Consolation, sons of Hazm, consolation!

    For every calamity has its compensation.

  32. وما عَزَّيْتُ قبلكمُ قبيلاً

    أُصِيْبَ بواحدٍ يُدْعَى قبيلا

    Never before you have I consoled a clan

    bereaved of one man who was himself called a clan.

  33. إلى من تَضْرَعونَ بكلِّ همٍّ

    يَؤودُ أخَفُّهُ الجَلْدَ الحَمُولا

    To whom will you plead with every care,

    the lightest of which weighs down the hardy, much-enduring?

  34. إلى من تُسْنِدُونَ بكلِّ خطبٍ

    يكون جِلاؤُهُ الرأيَ الصَّقيلا

    To whom will you turn for support in every crisis

    whose remedy is keen, polished judgment?

  35. بمنْ تَسْتَظهِرونَ على الليالي

    إذا حكمتْ فخفتمْ أنْ تَميلا

    Whose aid will you enlist against the nights

    when they judge, and you fear they may incline unjustly?

  36. ومَنْ تَسْتَصْرِخونَ على الأَعادي

    إذا استنكرتمُ منهمْ حَويلا

    And whom will you call to your aid against enemies

    when a crafty foe among them alarms you?

  37. بني حزم وَطُوْلُكُمُ فُرُوعاً

    يُبَيّنُ أنكُمْ طِبْتُمْ أُصُولا

    Sons of Hazm, the height of your branches

    reveals the goodness of your roots.

  38. أُعَزِّيكُمْ وليس معي عَزَاءٌ

    ولكن لستُ أتْرُكُ أنْ أقولا

    I console you, yet have no consolation myself,

    but I will not forgo speaking.

  39. إليكَ أبَا الوليدِ هَوَايَ مَحْضَاً

    بَعَثْتُ من القريضِ به رسولا

    To you, Abu al-Walid, my love, unalloyed:

    I have sent a messenger of verse to bear it.

  40. على أنّي أُنَادي منْ بعيدٍ

    ولم أُحْمَ اللقاءَ ولا الوُصُولا

    Though I call from afar,

    I was barred neither from meeting you nor from reaching you.

  41. ولكن الزَّمَانَةَ قَصّرتْ بي

    وَأجْلَى العُذْرِ ما رُزْقَ القَبُولا

    But infirmity has held me back,

    and the clearest excuse is one that wins acceptance.

  42. وقد زارتْكَ خَيْلُ بناتِ فكري

    ولكنْ لم تَزُرْكَ لِنَسْتَنيلا

    The steeds of my thought's daughters have visited you,

    but they did not visit so that we might seek gifts.

  43. وعندي من مكارمِ آلِ حَزْمٍ

    طَوَائِلُ منه زِدْنَ رَجَايَ طولا

    I have, from the noble deeds of the house of Hazm,

    great favors from him that have lengthened my hopes.

  44. جمَالَكَ كلُّ حيٍّ سوفَ يَبْرِي

    له صَرْفُ الرَّدَى سَهْماً قَتُولا

    Bear it nobly: every living being will have

    a deadly arrow whittled for him by death's vicissitudes.

  45. تصرَّفتِ الليالي كيفَ شاءَتْ

    فَقَصْراً ليسَ يُجْدي أن تطولا

    The nights have taken their course as they pleased;

    so, cut it short: prolonging it is of no use.