1. The elegists eulogized you while fate plotted,
And caution could not protect us or you.

2. The slaughter of bosoms slaughtered the bosom of the noble one,
It did not cease except to inscribe lessons.

3. So you came to be remembered among the departed,
Though few like you passed away into dust.

4. When the journeys of the eminent are mentioned,
My journey of patience is compelled to journey.

5. Indeed you were righteous in the shade of youth,
When it shrank, you were the most righteous.

6. You did not race ahead in the impetuosity of youth,
Nor did you allow yourself to slip in old age.

7. Should I congratulate the earth or console the beings?
For this one succeeded while that one failed.

8. Is it the first day of spring's reign
That meadows wither and flowers melt away?

9. The blossoms of prolific poetry wilt
And the garden of elegant prose is stripped bare.

10. That Oman may be still, for its diver
Was struck down and lies captive in a grave.

11. He was wont to visit it constantly
At dawn, prowling to seize its pearls.

12. He would speak and make the gems of necks lawful
And set simmering the stars of ideas.

13. He would lead the caravans, but misfortune refused,
And how many a lengthy, boring journey foundered.

14. Caravans whose number alone prohibits,
For they have miracles as short as Quranic chapters.

15. You were blessed, for you were sweet of tongue,
Clear of expression, truthful of narrative.

16. Little wondering, forbearing,
Wise of visit, wise of heart.

17. Your noble traits are the meadows that related
The morning breeze of their fragrance.

18. They possess the spirit of answered prayers -
Healed, sheltered, enriched, and delighted.

19. Whenever you came to them from a spring,
You came to a soft, slender waisted stream.

20. Your thoughts in their fertility are wealth
For the mind of the impoverished poet.

21. Your poetry is like pure water
Upon whose surface images appear.

22. The eyes of poems are like eyes
While your poetry in them is like houris.

23. How much did you complain of love or sorrow,
With breaths that melt rock?

24. Once you called out in passion,
So that the trees almost crept to you.

25. How often did you ignite the darkness of night
With the breaths of prolonged, sleepless ecstasy?

26. Oh, woe to your heart! What malady persisted
Upon it until it shattered?

27. Does it flutter alone at night
Remembering an intimate, whether parted or estranged?

28. Whenever Sabri is mentioned, I recall Al-Walid
And the days of Omar cross my soul.

29. His humility adorns his soul
As beauty adorned the sheath of a sword.

30. Pure of feelings, gentle of passion,
Captivating in discourse, sweet in night talk.

31. Truly, I would visit him in his house
And call him in it beauty and prosperity.

32. I would present my poetry to a delicate ear
That perceives the subtlety of a string.

33. To an ear that attends,
Distinguishing old from innovative.

34. It would refine my expression to the polish of pearls
And adorn it with the softness of city dwellers.

35. It would tremble through it the scent of gardens,
So the melodies and thoughts were purified.

36. Thus it was with him, peace be upon him,
A leader to every poet who composed verse.

37. We were brooks that quenched the thirst
Of thirsty minds while he was the river.

38. You turned away from fame that spread
And influence that shaded and favor that dazzled.

39. You took off youth but did not weep for it
Though it saddened you that you did not prosper in it.

40. You tasted the flavor of doom when
Your train was struck that day of travel.

41. You swore you found it upon dying
Sweet tasting as you bid farewell.

42. You wished you had not returned to life
But destiny refused you.

43. How many an hour between life’s hours
Made you drink bitterness from the cup of boredom?

44. You would then go complaining to its sister
Of your torment by it, but it only got worse.

45. So you searched through it, striving
With the eyes of an insightful seer.

46. But you did not see in all its length
A moment of clarity devoid of gloom.

47. You continued to complain until an hour came
As you wished, leaving nothing remaining.

48. No weakness to complain of after the union,
No barrier feared after attaining desire.

49. Your heart was rested from what distressed it
And your chest from what angered it.

50. You wished for it as a step towards death
To relieve you of others' sorrows.

51. And here you have taken that step and attained wishes
But is there in death the reaching of relief?

52. You spoke truthfully, for in death lies victory
For the resolute over fate if one day it betrays.

53. You were weary of dwelling in the abode of decay
So what did you see in the abode of rest?

54. Beneath the earth, the generous is persecuted
And the forbearing distressed, the moon obscured.

55. The right of the skilled poet is usurped
And the merit of the brilliant, chaste one erased.

56. Beneath the earth, nations are driven
With the whip of servitude, driven like cattle.

57. A conference for peace is convened
Then we exit it into another conference.

58. If what we have is what you have
Then we have no escape from misery.

59. The tumult of life is far from deliverance
So blessed is the one who crosses it.

60. Return safely, having triumphed over dust
As you opined of death - congratulations and settle.