1. Fate has exhausted you and destiny has cast you,
And you traveled without appointment, waiting,

2. And you journeyed with provisions of loneliness,
With no return after this journey.

3. And you reached the farthest travelers’ end,
Though numerous were their paths and travels.

4. And in a moment in the orbit of time,
It fell and disappeared from heights and renown.

5. And he who was the filled the eyes in his people,
Became among them a trace or news.

6. So did the approach of death lay out its reasons,
And you chose the shortest of them?

7. And are you after intention, leaving
And am I remaining behind the companions

8. To bid farewell to their throngs and groups?
And every day the zeal is roused

9. By the loss of a zealous lion or moon.
So whoever turned from my side or kept away

10. Will be followed by one who came near or attended.
They turned away, and around me their statues

11. Speak to me about them and the images.
I worship the glorious one, so what of

12. The hidden one beyond the palaces and the tomb?
For you my tears flowed from my blood,

13. In them lessons, in them admonishments.
I was angry for the freedom of writers,

14. And there is no one more forbearing than the angry.
The burden of iron on the free

15. Is lighter than its narrowness and boredom.
The conflict of forces in life

16. Is greater than the conflict of ideas.
A father's devotion to his opinion

17. Is like the rich man's devotion to his hoard.
A person's argument for his doctrine

18. Is only his armament in altercation.
The victor is none but he who insisted

19. On his covenant and persevered.
You met when the comrade turned away his breast

20. Even if it were of stone, it would have shattered.
Your silence amidst the clamor

21. Spoke better than spontaneous, ingenious words.
If the martyr's words descended

22. On a defiant mountain, it would have settled.
If fate had a tongue and a heart for what transpired,

23. It would have apologized to you.
Perhaps the tear of the wounded will wash the wound,

24. But the wound is not washed by a torrential rain.
Today it grieves the Arabs that

25. The forum and the conference are empty of you.
And you are to them among the nearest kin,

26. As if you were of Hashim or Mudar.
Your sermons addressed their gray hair and the youth,

27. The nomads among them and the settled.
Your father, father of the finest first ones,

28. So you are brother of the other finest ones.
The young sheikh in his tribe, and the kindly elder,

29. Each a pillar in his clan and an upright leader.
And you had in both our hearts

30. The station of consent, which fills the sight.
True bonds they did not weaken

31. For the turning of fates and the passage of others.
I recalled you among the remembering assembly,

32. And the night of sorrow is not the night of chatting.
And I announced the loss of the dearest comrades,

33. And consoled in you the noblest families.
I wearied of the life which did not meet me

34. Except with bitterness and gloom.
And I was content with its thorns

35. When I missed its flowers and fruits.
What I carried in youth,

36. Could I carry it in old age?
When what one cannot endure threatens,

37. Surrender and caution are the same.
It suffices me in my tribulation that

38. I discerned loyalty from the betrayer.
This resurrection in its horror,

39. So where is the deliverance and the escape?
Will war lay down its burdens,

40. And will the dawn erase the darkness?
Will he who plunged into it and flung himself,

41. Attain mercy from the one who plunged and conquered?
And will humanity receive the new world

42. With peace for the best of humanity?