1. Our house has been afflicted by the vicissitudes of time,
So we appeal to copious tears, however unavailing,

2. For they are the most faithful in disasters, though they cannot
Relieve the anguish of grief and sorrow.

3. After your death, my tears flow scantily,
Though poured from the clouds of my eyes.

4. By my life! Weeping cannot make good
What is lost and gone in dreams.

5. Rather, that is the law of dire events
Ordained for helpless men in great calamities.

6. One fate is worse than another, yet O man –
Patience and despair are the utmost of efforts.

7. For Time in events has a way
Other than weeping or smiling.

8. Misery in it and happiness are matters
Of the disposition of souls and bodies.

9. And decrepitude, like existence, is not for man
To choose, and was not according to his wishes.

10. Man is born into life by compulsion
And by compulsion tastes the cup of death.

11. O you who hurry away! Go gently
And give us some words of company.

12. Grant my eyes a farewell glance -
Alas! After it how far from greetings!

13. Woe for him who laments you, what a terrible lament,
How wildly his tongue raves!

14. News that darkened the morn with gloom
And banished the sweet dreams into the gloom.

15. Neither East nor West was aware, with the least
Sorrow in the hearts of Syria’s people,

16. Of an earthquake shock whereby everything shook and trembled.
Universal mourning! Virtues weeping

17. With smiles’ tears,
And elegy among pulpits, horses and pens!

18. Blessed are you who have left among us someone
To manage grave events with resolution and contract.

19. You were a pillar for us, so when it collapsed,
Glory and sublimity proclaimed its fall.

20. You opposed misfortunes with a zeal
That was like fire, and a resolve that nothing could cleave.

21. Misfortunes attacked you for ages but you did not
Give way save to overwhelm them in ruin.

22. This disaster is the first of calamities
In which you have surrendered us to the days.

23. We shun patience lest it turn the scalding
Tears into cool life-giving water.

24. And we refuse solace for you, for it makes
A thousand memories rise up with a thousand stabs.

25. I wonder what man hopes for in his life
Between morn and dark!

26. Death has mixed with his blood
And dwelt between his flesh and bones.

27. We live in a castle that has no permanence
And endures not.

28. People of the desert whom the winds of calamity
Have succeeded each other under a tent of decay.

29. Rather, it is a road we pass along, so choose
From it provision for the abode of eternity.

30. It is, if you wish, the road of desolation.
And if you wish, it is the road of peace.