أحادي النوى رفقاً رويدك بالركب

فقد زدتني بالبعد كربا على كربي

O driver of separation, be gentle; take your time with the caravan.

For, through distance, you have added anguish to my anguish.

وفرقت ما بيني وبين احبتي

وروعتني بالبني من غير ما ذنبي

And you have broken the bond between me and my beloved ones.

And you have terrified me with parting, through no fault of mine.

لعل عسى الدهر المشت يلمنا

وهيهات دهري منه ان ينقضي عتبي

Perhaps—may it be so—time, the disperser, will reunite us.

But never will my reproach of my own time come to an end.

الا فابكها درا وان عز فليكن

عقيقا من الاجفان ينهل كالسحب

Ah, shed them as pearls; if pearls are scarce, let them be

carnelian, pouring from the eyelids like rainclouds.

ولا عجب ان صب دمعي لفقدهم

فاني رأيت الدمع اليق بالصب

And no wonder my tears poured forth at their loss,

for I have found tears most fitting for the lovelorn.

وما كنت قبل اليوم اذ سكنوا الثرى

اقول بان التبر يسكن في الترب

I had never, before today—when they settled in the earth—

said that raw gold could dwell in dust.

ولا قلت اذ كانوا نجوما طوالعا

وغابوا بان الارض تختص بالشهب

Nor had I said, when they were rising stars,

and vanished, that the earth alone holds the shining stars.

فيا ابها الاحباب بالانس لا خلت

ربوع بكم كانت منورة الحجب

So, O beloved companions, may they never be desolate—

the dwellings whose veils were illumined by you.

لئن غاب عن انسان عيني خيالكم

فشخصكم بالعين ما غاب عن قلبي

Though your image has vanished from the pupil of my eye,

yet your form, beheld by the eye, has not vanished from my heart.

وما مات من يحيى به طاب نشره

ويحيى ربيع الفضل في الخصب والجدب

Nor has he died whose renown grew sweet through Yahya;

and Yahya is bounty's springtime, in plenty and in drought.

هو الغيث الا انه طاب نائلا

هو البحر الا انه سائغ الشرب

He is the rain, yet sweet in his bounty;

he is the sea, except that he is pleasant to drink.

هو المورد الصافي ولا كل مورد

اذا صدر الوراد كالمنهل العذب

He is the clear water source; not every source,

when the drinkers depart, is like the sweet spring.

هو الندب قد صيرت فرضا مديحه

ليحسن نظم المدح بالفرض والندب

He is the gallant one; I have made his praise a duty,

so the verse of praise may be graced with duty and voluntary devotion.

فخذها اليك اليوم مني مدحة

لنحوك وافت بالتحية والرحب

So accept today from me this poem of praise,

which has come toward you with greeting and welcome.

فدم في سرور بالهناء ونعمة

مدى الدهر ما غنى الحمام على القضب

So remain in joy, with contentment and blessing,

through all time, as long as doves sing upon the boughs.