1. أهلِّي بالبكاءِ وبالنحيب

    فقد نَزَحَ المحبُّ عن الحبيب

    Raise your voice in weeping and wailing,

    for the lover has gone far from the beloved.

  2. وقد وَسِعَ الحوادثَ يومُ رزء

    تضيقُ له الصدورُ عن القلوب

    And a day of bereavement has encompassed all calamities,

    at which breasts grow too narrow to hold their hearts.

  3. وآذَنَتِ المكارمُ والمعالي

    بِخَطْبٍ عاثَ حتى في الخطوب

    And noble virtues and lofty honors have proclaimed

    a calamity that wreaked havoc even among calamities.

  4. أيا لهفَ العَلاءِ على حَصَانٍ

    مُبَرَّأَةِ العيونِ من العيوب

    Oh, how eminence grieves for a chaste woman,

    whose eyes were free from blemishes.

  5. ربيبةُ عزةٍ قعساءَ نابَتْ

    منابَ الشمسِ إلا في الغُروب

    A fosterling of unassailable honor, she took

    the sun's place, except in its setting.

  6. ونشأةُ نِعْمَةٍ خضراءَ رَفّتْ

    رَفيفَ الغُصْنِ مالَ مع الجَنُوب

    And a child of verdant prosperity, she fluttered

    as a bough flutters, bending with the south wind.

  7. ولم أرَ مثلَ مَنْعَاها مُصَاباً

    هَفَا بقلوبِ شُبَّانٍ وشيب

    And I have never seen a calamity like the news of her death,

    which swept away the hearts of young men and the gray-haired.

  8. لئنْ نَفَضُوا الأناملَ مِنْ ثَرَاهَا

    لقد مَلَؤوهُ منْ حُسْنٍ وطيب

    Even if they shook her earth from their fingertips,

    they have indeed filled it with beauty and fragrance.

  9. وقد تركوا به إحدى الغَوَادي

    فحدِّثْ عن ضريحٍ أو قليب

    And they have left within it one of the morning rain clouds;

    so speak of a tomb—or a well.

  10. إذا هَبَّتْ به ريحٌ شَجَاها

    به ألاَّ سبيلَ إلى العبوب

    When a wind blows there, it is saddened

    that no path there leads to the rushing river.

  11. وما خَلَصَتْ إليه الريحُ إلا

    مغالطةً على أمَلٍ كذوب

    And the wind reaches it only

    in self-deception, on a deceitful hope.

  12. أقولُ وقد نعاها ناعياها

    وأشْبُلُها بمنهلٍ سكوب

    I say, now that her two heralds have announced her death

    and her cubs are at a gushing watering-place:

  13. ألم يرِبِ الرَّدى تضييعُ سرٍّ

    تَبَلدُ فيه أوهامُ الغيوب

    Did death feel no misgiving at squandering a secret

    before which imaginings of the unseen are baffled?

  14. وكيف سَمَا الزمانُ إلى مَحَلٍّ

    يَضِلُّ الطيفُ فيه عن الدَّبيب

    And how did time ascend to a place

    where a dream-phantom cannot find its way to creep?

  15. تخطى نحوه حُمْرَ المنايا

    يندبُّ إليه في سُوْدِ الحروب

    It crossed crimson deaths to reach it,

    creeping toward it through black wars,

  16. وكلَّ مُجَرَّبٍ ذَرِبٍ تَحلَّى

    بِوَسْمٍ لا يُضافُ إلى ضريب

    and every battle-tested, keen blade, adorned

    with a mark that no peer can share—

  17. ترى الموتَ الزؤام يَجُولُ فيه

    مجالَ السّحْرِ في اللحظ المُريب

    you see swift death roaming within it,

    as sorcery roams in a disquieting glance;

  18. تَحُشُّ به المنيةُ كلَّ قَرْمٍ

    نجيبٍ فوق مُنْجَرِدٍ نجيب

    with it, death mows down every champion,

    noble, upon a noble, sleek steed—

  19. وكلَّ أصمَّ أخرسَ عَلَّمَتْهُ

    صروفُ الدهر تشتيتَ الشُّعوب

    and every deaf, mute lance, taught

    by time's vicissitudes to scatter tribes:

  20. إذا ما اهتزَّ في يُمْنى كميٍّ

    رأيت الموتَ يخطرُ في قضيب

    when it quivers in an armored warrior's right hand,

    you see death swaying in a slender branch.

  21. لتبكِ المكرماتُ وإن عَدَتْها

    عوادٍ من عَذولٍ أو رقيب

    Let noble deeds weep, even if they are hindered

    by obstructions from a reproacher or a watcher,

  22. على أُمِّ اليتامَى والأيامَى

    إذا نَبَتِ المواضع بالجُنُوب

    for the mother of orphans and widows,

    when resting-places grow harsh against their sides.

  23. تَخَلَّصها الرَّدى مِن خِدْرِ ليثٍ

    تُدَاريه الأسودُ عنِ الوثوب

    Death wrested her from a lion's secluded chamber,

    whom the lions placate to keep him from springing.

  24. غدا منها بِوِجْدانٍ بعيدٍ

    على عهدٍ بلُقْيَاها قريب

    Now he is far from finding her,

    though his meeting with her was so recent.

  25. يُحَدِّثُ نَفْسَهُ بالغيبِ عنها

    بِظَنٍّ مخطىءٍ وضَنىً مصيب

    He speaks to himself of her unseen state,

    with a conjecture that misses and wasting pain that strikes home.

  26. تَهَّدى الخيرُ من كَثَبٍ إليها

    فكيف أضلها حَوْلُ الطبيب

    Goodness found its way to her from close at hand;

    so how did the physician's skill lose her?

  27. أبا عَبْدِ الألهِ وقد تسامَتْ

    لك الأيامُ بالعَجَبِ العجيب

    O Abu Abd al-Ilah, now that there have loomed

    before you days of astonishing wonder,

  28. أتَجْزَعُ للزمانِ وأنت منه

    مكانَ الحَزْم من صدر اللبيب

    do you lose heart before time, when you are to it

    as firm resolve is to the breast of the wise?

  29. عزاءَك إنما الإنسانُ نَهْبٌ

    على أَيدي الحوادث والخطوب

    Take solace: a human being is but plunder

    in the hands of calamities and disasters.

  30. وأنت نصيبُنَا منْ كلِّ شيءٍ

    فَدُمْتَ وَحَسْبُنَا أوْفَى نصيب

    And you are our share of everything;

    so may you live on—the fullest share suffices us.