Sol 6.1

  1. سيان في الموت ذو العيلات والترف

    وذو الأَداجي من الدكداك والسعف

    Equal in death are the man with dependants and luxury

    and the owner of huts of packed sand and palm fronds.

  2. كأس المنية منها شارب ملك

    وسوقة وأولو الاعدام والضعف

    From the cup of death a king drinks,

    as do commoners and those in poverty and weakness.

  3. موت الأسود الضواري موت عكرسة

    موت المساكين إلا موت ذي الشرف

    The death of ravening lions is the death of an ant;

    the death of the poor is but the death of the noble.

  4. للمرء يوم ولا يخطى إِلى أمد

    ولا عن الموت من ملجا ولا جنف

    Each man has his day; he cannot outlast his appointed span,

    and from death there is neither refuge nor escape.

  5. فنحن كالسرب والدُنيا فروضتنا

    والموت كالقانص الحبّال في الشهف

    We are like a flock, and the world is our meadow,

    while death is like the snare-setting hunter in the heights.

  6. منا السعيد الذي ما غره أمل

    ولا صبته ذوات الدل والهيف

    Blessed among us is he whom hope has not deceived,

    nor have coquettish, slender-waisted women beguiled him.

  7. يعتد زاداً كثيفاً للمعاد غدا

    مثل الفتى عامر الزاكي فتى خلف

    He prepares abundant provisions for tomorrow's resurrection,

    like the virtuous young man ʿAmir, Khalaf's son.

  8. زاكي المساعي ولا في قومه قرف

    وللخنا والخطايا غير مقترف

    Pure in his deeds, with no blemish among his people,

    and no perpetrator of obscenity or sin.

  9. على أبيك فلا تحزن أيا خلف

    حسن العزا لك فيه أحسن الخلف

    Do not grieve for your father, O Khalaf;

    graceful patience over him is your finest recompense.

  10. إِن كان مات فقد أوفى بذمته

    حسن الرجا فيك بالذمات أنت وفي

    If he has died, he has fulfilled his pledge;

    hope in you is well placed: you are faithful to covenants.

  11. فقم مقام أبيك الذمر يا خلف

    وكن كما كان واف غير مختلف

    So take your valiant father's place, O Khalaf,

    and be as he was: faithful and unchanging.

  12. فلا تكن حافز المهر العتيق به

    من عقب أطرافه وقع من الصدف

    Do not be one who spurs a thoroughbred colt in which

    crookedness has appeared at the heels of its limbs.

  13. فأنتمُ الدر في فنجا وتلك بكم

    قد يتعب الأمل الغواص كالصدف

    For you are the pearls in Fanja, and through you that town is

    like an oyster shell—hope may exhaust the diver.

  14. حُسنُ العزاء إِلى من لم يذق أَسفي

    والريح خص به من خص من لهفي

    Graceful consolation is for one who has not tasted my sorrow;

    and the breeze—grant it to whoever has been given a share of my anguish.

  15. كأنما الحزن أَلقاني من شرف

    إلى حضيض الأَسى فقدا على شرف

    It is as though sorrow has cast me from a height

    to the depths of grief through the loss of Sharaf.

  16. كأنني بعده من ضيق فرقته

    إلا على تلف أَو في شفا جرف

    It is as though, after him, from the anguish of parting,

    I were only on the brink of ruin, or at a cliff's edge.

  17. ليلي يمرضني فيه وهاجرتي

    ميم ولام أمام الخط للألف

    My night sickens me; in it and my noonday heat are

    mim and lam, with alif first in the writing.

  18. وجدي أنيني حنيني لوعتي ولهي

    حزني سقامي عذابي ديدني كلفي

    My passionate grief, my groaning, my yearning, my anguish, my distraction;

    my sorrow, my sickness, my torment, my constant habit, my consuming love.

  19. نام الخلي وطرفي بات مرتقبا

    سواريَ الشهب في داج من السجف

    The carefree one slept, while my eye spent the night watching

    the night-roaming stars within a darkness of veils.

  20. وإِن بدا الصبح موشيا أكارعه

    أبكي فأسقي الربا بالأدمع الذرف

    And if dawn appears, embroidering its shanks,

    I weep, watering the hills with streaming tears.

  21. وإِن ظمئت تذكرت الحمام به

    بلوعة قذف للنية القذف

    And if I thirst, I remember death through it,

    with the anguish of being cast toward a far-off destination.

  22. أخي سنادي معيني قوتي جدتي

    ذخري ملاذي جدتي عدتي شرفي

    My brother, my support, my helper, my strength, my wealth;

    my treasure, my refuge, my wealth, my resource, my honor.

  23. أخي تركت فؤادي وهو منتصف

    من الولوع إِلى ربع عفى وعُفي

    Brother, you have left my heart split in two

    from yearning toward a dwelling faded and effaced.

  24. يا موتة منها موت الشهيد بها

    بالرمل عُوِّضت عن سام من الغرف

    O, what a death—in it one meets a martyr's death!

    You were given sand in exchange for a lofty chamber.

  25. أنت الخطيب الذي طاع الخطيب له

    هيهات مثلك من باق من السلف

    You are the orator to whom other orators yielded;

    none like you remains from the generations before.

  26. إِن المنادي وأشراف المنابر قد

    حنت حنيناً وقد أَنَّت على شرف

    Indeed, the assembly places and the tops of pulpits have

    ached with longing and groaned for Sharaf.

  27. لولا العزاء وأن الموت مفترس ال

    آساد في الأجم والأَوعال في الشعف

    But for consolation, and the fact that death devours the

    lions in the thickets and the ibex on the peaks,

  28. لَمت موتة فرهود بحكمته

    ثم احترقت بنار الحزن والأَسف

    I would have died Farhud's death, by his wisdom,

    then burned in the fire of sorrow and grief.

  29. لكنما الموت باب والورى أبدا

    هم داخلوه دخول الدق في الصدف

    But death is a door, and humankind forever

    enter it as tiny pearls enter oyster shells.

  30. والفائزون بعفو اللَه من درجت

    أَرواحهم لمنال اللطف واللطف

    And those who win God's pardon are those whose

    souls have ascended to attain kindness and grace.

  31. واللَه يا شرف لقاك رحمته

    وألتقيك على العالي من الغرف

    And may God, O Sharaf, grant you His mercy,

    and may I meet you in the loftiest of chambers.