1. لا بدّ من سكنى القبور فريدا

    يَا مَنْ يُؤَمِّلُ أن يعيش مديدا

    There is no escape from dwelling alone in graves,

    O you who hope to live long.

  2. هل هذه الأرواح إلاّ جوهرٌ

    أبَداً يُرَى بِيَدِ الحِمَامِ نضيدا

    Are these souls anything but jewels,

    Ever seen arrayed in the hand of Death?

  3. لَوْ أنَّ ذَا شَرَفٍ وعِزّ مكانةٍ

    ينجو نَجَا هذا الوزير محيدا

    If a man of honor and exalted rank

    Could escape, this minister would have escaped to safety—

  4. هذا الهُمَامُ محمّدُ العربي الذي

    جَمَعَ السّيادة طارفاً وتليدا

    This noble hero, Muhammad al-Arabi, who

    United newly won and inherited eminence.

  5. قد كان للتّدبير قُطْبَ مدارة

    وبرأيه دار الزّمان سعيدا

    He was the pivot around which governance revolved,

    And by his counsel, time turned happily.

  6. ملأ البسيطةَ صِيتُهُ ولَكَمْ له

    خضع الأفاضِلُ رُكَّعاً وسُجُودا

    His renown filled the earth, and how often before him

    The eminent submitted, bowing and prostrating themselves!

  7. ما قال كان وكلّ ما لم يَرْضَهُ

    هيهات كان مِنَ الوُجود بعيدا

    Whatever he said came to pass, and all he did not approve

    Was far—far indeed—from coming into being.

  8. كَمْ قد أحاط به سُرَادِقُ عِزّه

    وعليه كان من الورى محسودا

    How often his glory's pavilion surrounded him,

    And for it he was envied by mankind.

  9. ثمّ انْطَوَى في قَبْرِه فكأنّه

    سيفٌ غدا في جفنه مغمودا

    Then he was folded away in his grave, as though he were

    A sword now sheathed within its scabbard.

  10. فارْحَمْهُ يا أَهْلَ المراحم فهو في

    تاريخه وافى عُلاك شهيدا

    So have mercy on him, O Lord of mercies; for he, in

    his chronogram, “came to Your exalted presence a martyr.”