خلني يا خلي وفرط بلائي

أمزج الدمع بعدهم بالدماء

Leave me, my friend, with my overwhelming affliction,

To mingle tears, after their departure, with blood.

خلفوني في حبهم يوم ساروا

ناحل الجسم ميت الاحياء

When they departed, they left me loving them,

Wasted in body, dead among the living.

كلما قلت شاب دمعي مني

شب نار الغرام في احشائي

Whenever I said, 'The tears I shed have turned gray,'

The fire of passion flared within my entrails.

فعلى من يعيرني اليوم دمعا

فدموعي تزحن يوم الشتاء

Who, then, will lend me tears today?

For my tears push back a winter's day [unclear reading].

فابكها يا اخا الشؤون دموعا

من نضار ان عز در البكاء

Then weep for her, O brother of tear ducts, with tears

Of pure gold, if the pearls of weeping are scarce.

لا تلمني على البكا فدموعي

لبكاها بكت عيون السماء

Do not blame me for weeping, for my tears—

The eyes of heaven wept at their weeping.

يا لحى الله هذه الدار كم قد

اوقعت من بها اعتنى في العناء

Ah, may God curse this abode! How often

It has cast those who cared for it into suffering!

ولعمري كم غادرت من فصيح

ثاويا تحت هذه الخرساء

And by my life, how many eloquent men it has left

Lying beneath this mute earth!

لم يكن مذهب من الموت ينجي

بعد ما قد جرى بحكم القضاء

No path could deliver one from death,

After what had come to pass by fate's decree.

لا يغرنك ان حبتك بود

فمحال مودة الاعداء

Do not let it deceive you if it favors you with affection:

For the affection of enemies is impossible.

ليس تحذيرها من النصح يوما

ان تحذيرها من الاغراء

Its warning never comes from sincere counsel;

Indeed, its warning comes from enticement.

ما ترى بالجدود كيف تولت

ولها ما رعت حقوق الاخاء

Do you not see how it turned away with good fortune,

And, for its part, neglected the rights of brotherhood?

وبأفعالها تعدّت الى ان

تركت حبها بلا أسماء

And through its deeds it went so far

As to leave its love without names.

ورمت بالفراق كل حبيب

كان يطوي بها حديث الطاء

And it struck every beloved one with separation,

Who, within it, had eclipsed the tale of al-Ṭāʾī:

ذو نوال يروي به كل صاد

وجمال يشوق عين الراء

A man of bounty that quenches every thirsty soul,

And beauty that stirs longing in the beholder's eye.

فهو في الثرى وقد كان بدرا

واحد الحسن في السنا والسناء

Now he is in the dust, though once he was a full moon,

Peerless in beauty, in radiance and eminence.

فلا بكي مدى الزمان عليه

حرة بالدما ليوم اللقاء

So I shall weep for him throughout time,

In burning grief, with blood, until the day of reunion.

فسقى الله تربه كل يوم

وابل الغيث مغدق الانواء

So may God water his grave's soil each day

With torrential rain, lavish in its seasonal showers.

وعلى روحه اجل سلام

في صباح وغدوة ومساء

And may the noblest peace be upon his soul,

In the morning, at daybreak, and in the evening.

سيدي بعده فلا ذقت رزا

ولك الله زاد في الابناء

My lord, after him, may you taste no calamity,

And may God increase your sons.

وحماك الرفيع ربي حماه

ومحا عن فتاك كل فناء

And may my Lord protect your lofty sanctuary,

And sweep all destruction away from your young man.

فابق واسلم يا بحر دهر ا طويلا

وافراً بالعطا سريع الوفاء

So live on in safety, O sea, for a long age,

Abundant in giving, swift in keeping faith.