وقفت في الدار عنهم اسأل الطللا

وكيف يوما تجيب الدار من سألا

I stood in the dwelling, asking its ruins about them.

Yet how could a dwelling ever answer one who asked?

لا شك حادي المنايا قد حدا بهم

وجد في الير داعي البين وارتحلا

Surely death's camel-driver has driven them away;

And parting's herald hastened on his [journey] and departed.

وما عفا الدهر عنهم في تحكمه

وقد عفى ربعهم من بعدهم وخلا

And Time did not spare them in its tyranny;

Their dwelling after them has faded and lies empty.

وقد ابادهم صرف الزمان ولا

عار على الدهر يوما بالذي فعلا

Time's reversals have destroyed them, and no

Shame ever falls on Time for what it did.

وكم سقى قبلهم كأس الردى امما

حتى لقد راح كل منهم ثملا

How many nations before them it made drink the cup of death,

Until every one of them went away drunk.

وصار ذكرهم من بعدهم سيرا

تتلى وقد اصبحوا بين الورى مثلا

Their memory after them became tales

Recited, while they became a lesson among humankind.

وايقنوا بنزول الراس انهم

غرقى وطالعهم في الحوت قد نزلا

And at the head's descent they knew for certain they were

Drowning, their ascendant having descended into Pisces.

كأنهم لم يكونوا قبلها ركبوا

بحرا ولا قطعوا سهلا ولا جبلا

As though they had never before sailed

A sea, nor crossed a plain or a mountain.

وطالما لمضاف دورهم عمروا

وقد بنوها على فتح لمن دخلا

Long had they built up their homes for guests,

And built them open to whoever entered.

وبعد تلك القصور المشرفات بهم

غابوا وعنها اللحود استوطنوا بدلا

And after those palaces, lofty with their presence,

They vanished, making graves their home instead.

يا لهف قلبي على من كان شملهم

يزهو به وعلى اقرانه فضلا

Oh, my heart's grief for him in whom their company

Took pride, and who surpassed his peers:

الماجد الندب عبد القادر العلم الفر

د الذي فضله قدرا سما وعلا

The noble, gallant ʿAbd al-Qadir, the luminary, the peerless

one, whose excellence rose high in rank and soared.

من كان همته عود الصلات ولا

يزال في طلب العلياء مشتغلا

Whose ambition was to renew his gifts, and who never

Ceased to be engaged in pursuing the heights.

ومن اذا الدهر ولى عنك منحرفا

وجئت يوما حماه طاب واعتدلا

And he who, when Time turned coldly away from you,

Made it kind and fair if you came one day to his refuge.

ومن لسائله يوبي الندى كرما

ولم يزل بره بالجود متصلا

And he who generously [bestows] bounty on his petitioner,

Whose kindness never ceased to be joined with generosity.

لئن مضى فلقد ابقت مآثره

ذكرا له ليس يطوى في الحياة إلى

Though he has passed away, his noble deeds have left

A remembrance of him never folded away in life, until—

فاصبر وقم يا ولي الدين مجتنبا

فالصبر من شيم السادات والنبلا

So be patient and stand firm, O Wali al-Din, with restraint;

For patience is among the traits of lords and noblemen.

لا ذقت مولاي رزءاً بعدها أبدا

وأجزل الله في الدنيا لك العملا

May you never taste bereavement after this, my lord,

And may God make your deeds abundant in this world.

واصبر فما مات يوما من تكون له

من بعده خلفا يا اوحد الفضلا

And be patient: no one ever dies for whom you are

A successor after his passing, O peerless one among the worthy.

لا زال وصفك بالمعنى البديع اذا

ما قلت شعراً يزين المدح والغزلا

May your descriptions, with their wondrous meaning, whenever

You utter verse, ever adorn praise and love poetry.

ولم تزل في مرور كامل وهنا

وجمع شمل وسعد مشرق وعلا

And may you ever pass through life in fullness and happiness,

With companions united, radiant good fortune, and eminence,

ما قام في جامع الروض الخطيب وما

اجاد سجعاً على اعواده وتلا

As long as the preacher stands in al-Rawd Mosque, and as long as

He delivers fine rhymed prose from his wooden pulpit and recites.