1. Who is my judge, and my opponents are the vicissitudes of fate,
The enemies are many, and the supporters are few.

2. More intense than life is love for a fickle lover,
Whose loyalty is known for denial.

3. The supplicant's prayer, when he implores, is rejected,
The rancid sweat of anxiety oozes from him.

4. And if a day of death comes to take me,
Tomorrow's tomorrow betrays me and leads me away.

5. Am I a solid rock, O fate, or
Is my heart a shelter for sorrows?

6. Every day the misfortunes gather around me
From all sides, and worries besiege me.

7. And destined misfortunes dominate me; I have no
Choice with them in selling my soul.

8. They move me and I carry their burden unwillingly,
As if I had chosen to be patient.

9. Wound upon wound, yet a deep burning wound,
Whose wicks are lit, and the spear is red hot.

10. Its depths tore the veins, and it abandoned
The bones, weakening the solid bones.

11. So taste my blood, O fate, for it is delicious,
The coward's blood is tasty and delicious.

12. For your spears, the veils were uncovered,
And the curtains were lifted from my page.

13. I am inevitably devoured with no health to restore me,
Debased, with no neighbor's protection availing me.

14. Gone are those who used to flatter me,
And perils would avoid me.

15. And when they accompanied me in life after you, coldly,
And people changed in their attitude towards me.

16. They broke their covenants with you quickly
And shared the rope of treason, which is deceitful.

17. They thought by losing you, they could patch it up,
Oh, what a gross breach that mending brought about!

18. And they hoped that by your death their reign would be eternal,
While through that their safety was destroyed.

19. Why were you not enraged, when for their sake
Death gaped its doors? So the fearful fled away.

20. But burst forth with evil and harm after you,
Its edges collapsed and the countries fell apart.

21. Beware of fighting him who stirs its embers,
While the rope is weak and the well cracked.

22. They cast the Euphrates into the Euphrates, and none knows
Which current carried you when they dumped you.

23. They took pride in burying you, when anyone who sees
A lion digs the ground with a shovel for his grave!

24. By Allah, I did not know before it
That the seas were graves, and the oceans tombs!

25. How debased were the whites of India after you!
Great was their treachery, and the spears did not fail to deceive.

26. Your spears should have protected you,
As they were alert and ready for battle.

27. They killed you besieged, a stranger with no
Master to honor you, or neighbor to help you.

28. Behind the narrowness of the sky, like an animal,
Whose loud howling door flays your heart.

29. They dug the ground as your grave, yet you deserve no less than
A lion's resting place in the wilderness.

30. Why not don a robe of honor and stand tall
With a drawn sword in your hand and armed warriors by your side?

31. And your steps that cover long distances beneath the clouds,
No tether can stop them, no peg can restrain them.

32. Grant me the honor of being your war booty,
With my hands bound behind my back in captivity.

33. In the wilderness, where your sword is not satisfied with shedding blood,
A hanging sword, ever striking and stabbing.

34. And death befitting you, which you constantly sought,
Swords and blades ready in hands callused from strikes.

35. Horses fasting, sniffing the air for battle,
Behind them pearls shedding the brilliant light of swords.

36. Their flanks were not dyed with blood shed for them,
No headbands were soaked for you with perfume.

37. Or that after you life would be tranquil,
And the day clear of specks of dust.

38. Your women seek vengeance, taking up arms,
Preferring death to what the living attained.

39. Crowding upon death as if competing,
Yearning horses at the race track.

40. They fight for your rights, wearing as their banner
Abd al-Rahim, the obedient servant.

41. There your killers will know that among your sons
None failed or proved ignoble.

42. Your enemy will see that survival was not meant for him,
Though he may live long, all sweetness turns bitter.

43. The treacherous may be stung where he is not alert,
Then flee to a hideous fate he created himself.

44. There a vile soul will leave him,
While blame and shame remain.

45. Your noble morals have been obliterated,
The treasure of virtues destroyed, coming from you.

46. Is there anyone left to ask about you or speak of you?
Alas! No news or inquiries remain.

47. As if you never led a cheering group,
Pointed to, followed and guided.

48. As if you never offered a sanctum to the chaste,
An inviolable refuge and protected neighborhood,

49. Receiving the exiles and visitors in your courtyard,
As the couriers and settled ones would gather.

50. The she-camels of night visitors crouch around you,
Only the choicest portion for guests picked by the butcher.

51. Your palm never displayed to their backs
The good tidings of kings, as scars testify.

52. If it carried a burden, the control of swords was hidden in its grasp,
And dinars became weighty.

53. Reluctantly, you allowed the tithe collectors in homes,
The permitted tenth of the harvest taken grudgingly.

54. Then they turned back, faces bruised
By your blow, chastised and deprived.

55. And you forgot - not because you were neglectful -
To ask why your visitors diminished.

56. The saddles slipped off horses and camels toward you,
Along with the water skins and supplies.

57. And when the eulogists fell silent and the poems
Composed in your honor expired.

58. Or if I say you are abandoned and unattended,
While trials beset me, depriving me of your comforts.

59. You were my rear fortress, and in you
I had a front shield and armor.

60. My days in your shade are vitalized,
Energized, my nights in your company turned to day.

61. From your favors I reaped delicious fruits,
I walked with eyes following me longingly.

62. I thought your power an impregnable mountain,
Beyond the reach of the greed of others.

63. I said the pillars holding up your house on high
Were ropes of death, shortened and out of reach.

64. That the stream of your generosity never runs dry,
Barren, its mouth closed off by dams.

65. So valor and generosity have withered,
By which deeds and lives were purified.

66. A betrayal of fate, whose sun has set,
While trees put forth shoots in the earth.

67. And the clouds are disgraced, though they were your companions,
Sending down rain after you was withheld.

68. How often has fate played tricks on you!
One time security, another fear and caution.

69. The narrators differed over you, so enlighten me,
As reports of you varied and changed color.

70. I thought well of them from behind their wrappings,
But exposure revealed their ugliness.

71. If my eyes miss seeing you in the horizon,
Then your sons are traces of you against the horizon.

72. They took your place, and when the suns set,
Their moons fill the sphere with their light.

73. Rest in peace, you and every soul like you,
The cradle of your dreams and your preference.

74. They are souls that console your foes, and tongues
That took from your embers torches and sparks.

75. They were nobles, and when you were gone
Some cared for their father when need called.

76. Rushing to supremacy as if driven,
United in an arena that joins them.

77. A delegation representing you, circulating among their homes,
Bearing perfumes, gifts, and profits.

78. Your virtues are recited over them,
Remembrance and commemoration of the dead.

79. Hands stamped with generosity, faces
Bearing from your sun prints and impressions.

80. What they are comes from the glory of their father,
An adornment bringing glory bracelets and bands.

81. You did not neglect them, witnessing their affairs,
For you a protector and helper among them.

82. So may what the horizons have affirmed remain for them:
The sweetness of your lasting renown.

83. If condolences come, make them easy,
For the dear one has passed on to comfort.

84. I consoled them, yet my advice to them
Was fraught with sorrow, my words harsh.

85. I made them share the burden of grief, while we are all
Stoically carrying, patient and forbearing.

86. Do not distance the affliction, for the time of trials has passed
Without a chance for you of approach or visit.

87. Even if thirst choked my heart, its water
Is stagnant, and its resting place barren.

88. Languid in limbs, it touches the earth
To clean what its trailing robe accumulated.

89. The thunder of its clouds stirs within them
Drums for the storms, and chatter.

90. So it flowed, honouring the living with life
Until the streams beneath it became rivers.

91. It will water the place where your pieces were collected
With the sweetest it gave to drink,

92. Till you would think your burial place a meadow
With clouds above raining thickets around it.

93. The scent of what is inside it exudes,
As if its soil was perfumed with incense.

94. And you descended where possessions are relinquished,
Yearning for you, as burdens are removed.