1. Alas, O my people, for the calamities striking
And for the noble thrown into disgrace each day

2. And for the time stripping my kin from me
And severing what is between me and the faithful

3. It shows my heart a blazing passion
Whose light the nights show me when we part

4. And for the misfortunes targeting me with their arrows
Against a nobility that casts us into exile

5. And for the soul that has soared with fervor from passion
For the loss of integrity and the breaking of ties

6. Each day it has a stance with one bidding farewell
And another glancing back at one departed

7. Stars of brothers that fickleness casts away
Their rising barely glimpsed by keen eyes

8. As if, when I follow the tracks of one departed
My eye sees no light of one rising with the dawn

9. Every house but ruin will bare its interior
At the croaking of crows foretelling calamities

10. One of merit will leave it while villainy enters
Fate casting out the upright and admitting the wicked

11. As if we are motes the torrent hurls whenever
It clashes between rubies and glittering gems

12. I gnaw my fingers, one after another
At thriving branches of glorious palms

13. A necklace of pearls, though its order is weakened
By the turning of fates and the drawing of swords

14. I restrain my sigh before the groan, stoically
And hold back my tears before uncontrolled weeping

15. As if, after those gone, I am a gazelle
Pursued by the fastest of former days

16. No doubt, I share their climate
And was the first follower of those departed

17. Where are the ancient kings who supported
The trunk of a family of noble lineage?

18. With crescents they defended the oppressed, excelling
In trial when resolutely standing firm

19. Diadems above skulls
Gleaming councils and parted hair

20. When they perfumed with musk it filled their midst
With lions shedding blood through their wounds

21. Stalwarts who dared danger and peril with spears
Chargers inclined like budding flowers

22. They wore high boots before their sandals
And trod the garments of foes before their carpets

23. You see every free warrior as if he were
An elegant steed of purebred horses

24. If he stands, leveling his spear till it touches
The setting sun's outstretched glow behind him

25. Behind me is the darkness, living for the light of his face
As if its shining were the flash of lightning

26. And where are the firm fortresses safe from harm
When assailed by the darkness of one night?

27. Ferocious, they did not surrender their heads to any leader
Nor plead for life before the arrival of death

28. So relentless fate fell upon them suddenly
With no clash of spears nor cry for quarter

29. Thus it disabled the prey with spears
And made them kneel, powerfully compelling surrender

30. So that eyes weep for Abu al-Fath with their tears
And after him our tongues are stilled

31. When those tears flow, this passion rushes forth with words
O brother, when our brethren become hostile

32. And the people turn aside from my qualities
It is as if, when news of you reached me, my soul

33. Was a fleeing gazelle before mighty hunters
Who then will experience my passionate words, discerning their import,

34. And hurl them as spears are hurled unerringly?
When one cries out in their wake, they race away from him

35. Like moments, fleet as racers at full gallop
Their smoothing gave them the sheen as if they were

36. Choice pieces from an eloquent man of letters
Their markings penetrate those left behind

37. With a permanence beyond the brands on camels
So among the people are some who taste but do not consume

38. While others consumed without having tasted
And who can fathom the meanings in mysteries presented

39. To one gifted to plumb meanings and split hairs?
One staunch of will picks through them with his conscience

40. Traversing the bitter straits of those narrows
He climbs their highest peak without slipping

41. And passes their furthest edge without sliding
The earth folds up from him what it will not restore

42. Till doomsday, when the entrails of tombs are rent
He whose scent is fragrant myrrh has departed

43. His memory as fresh as the morning dew on buds
As if all the people gathered one evening

44. To eulogize one of spring's gentle rains
They extended kindness without condescension

45. And shrouded him in a new cloak with embroidery
He needed no other coolness than his chastity

46. Nor knew any scent but those qualities
Comrades of a people packed together like brushwood

47. Filling the interrupted wasteland with their presence
They clung to each other not because they were youthful

48. O Lord, what abstinence in that loving embrace!
The deceased is no nearer if shrouded in earth's veil

49. Than he is beneath the pebbles of lily blooms
He left me abruptly but with no disharmony

50. Held in the breast of one who tasted no discord
The water of affection between us was clear

51. And the motes fell away from the fine chain linking us
May drink nourish you, though only anguish

52. Can water you, with drops from concordant clouds
Constant rain, when it gathers heavily

53. Illuminates its sequence like lightning bolts
A precursor rain whose drizzle was stirred up

54. By the sighing of rain clouds trailing in procession
You left a garden flowering over your grave

55. Though it brims with clay from the garden plots
A brother who was devoted to you, his fervor

56. Filled the nights with the passions of youth
Ardent for you is the breeze of sighing with grief

57. Remaining, and the water of sorrows pouring forth
My wont is not to play with one who is steadfast

58. Nor show love to one who is sincere then forsake him