أبنت الرعد كيف اسطعت رعدا

وكيف أصبت إذ أخطأت رُشدا

O daughter of thunder, how could you thunder?

And how did you strike true when you missed right guidance?

تركت صحاح وفر المال مرضى

عليه وأعين الآمال رُمدا

You left wealth’s sound abundance ailing

over him, and the eyes of hope inflamed.

طحنت جحافلاً ونسفتُ هضباً

وَجُبتِ قساطلا ولففتِ جُندا

You ground down armies, and I blasted mountains apart.

And you traversed battle-dust clouds and engulfed troops.

وقدتِ مصاعبا وقددتِ زُغفا

ورعتِ أساوداً وردعتِ أسدا

And you led headstrong mounts and rent fine-linked armor.

And you frightened black serpents and checked lions.

وسمتِ مقلدا وفصمتِ طوقا

لسالفة العلى ونثرتِ عِقدا

And you branded a neck and snapped a collar

from glory’s throat, and scattered a necklace.

رويدك قد عركتِ جران كهل

يدُّ كواهلَ الحدثان شدا

Easy now! You have battered the throat of a mature man

who forcefully pounds the shoulders of Time’s vicissitudes.

فيا لكؤود داهية أطلّت

تهدُّ لها الجبال القود هدا

Ah, what a formidable calamity has loomed,

before which towering mountains are utterly shattered!

فكم حطَمَت لواءً من لوي ال

على عدوا وكم نطحت مُعدا

How many a banner has it shattered of Lu’ayy of the

heights, in hostility; how often has it gored Ma‘add!

أخا النجدات كيف تركتَ عدوا

وذا العدوات كيف اخترت قِدا

Brother of gallant deeds, how could you leave an enemy?

And master of onslaughts, how could you choose a rawhide bond?

ولو لم تُلفَ حلفَ ثرىً مُرمّاً

رهين جنادل ممسىً ومغدا

And had you not been found, earth’s mouldering ally,

held hostage by rocks at evening and at dawn,

إذاً لسمعت صارختي وإنّي

تصيخ لها وقد بوئت لحدا

then you would have heard my cry—and indeed I [ask]:

can you heed it, now that you are lodged in a grave?

فكيف العفر ترّب منك وجها

وكيف الترب عفر منك خدا

How could dust have soiled a face of yours?

And how could soil have dusted your cheek?

فكم دمع يمر عليك دمعا

وكم وجد يثير عليك وجدا

How many a tear sets further tears flowing over you!

And how much grief arouses further grief for you!

أعد فينا شمائلك اللواتي

أرقّ من الشمال إذا تعدى

Bring back among us those traits of yours

more delicate than the north wind as it passes.

بعيشك هل تشوق النفس نجد

لقد ودَّعتُ بعد هواك نجدا

By your life, does Najd stir the soul’s longing?

After loving you, I have indeed bidden Najd farewell.

وهل للعين فيك أنيق مرعى

فتقطف منه حودانا ورندا

And is there in you a lovely pasture for the eye,

to pluck from it ḥawdān blossoms and bay?

ليقض الرفد والمعروف لولا

فتى الفتيان عارفةً ورفدا

Bounty and kindness would surely perish, were it not for

the finest of young men in beneficence and bounty.

فحسبي عن هلاك دجى توارى

عن الأبصار بدرُ هدىً تبدى

Enough for me, in place of a dispeller of darkness who vanished

from sight, is a full moon of guidance newly appeared.

هُو العلم المنادي الفرد أكرم

به علماً منادي الأسم فردا

He is the beacon hailed as peerless—how noble

a beacon he is, called by name the peerless one!

وبحرٌ جائشٌ بالغمر طامٍ

إذا جزرت بحار الفضل مدّا

And an overflowing sea, surging with deep waters,

flooding when the seas of bounty ebb.

فتى ما أنفك يرعى الشرع حتى

أجدَّ من الشريعة ما أجدّا

A young man who never ceased to uphold the Law, until

he renewed all that he renewed of the Sacred Law.

فتىً تولي النوال بغير منٍ

يداه وتشتري شكرا وحمدا

A young man—bounty is bestowed without reproach

by his hands, which purchase gratitude and praise.

كذاك يجدُّ في طلب المعالي

فتى قد عدَّ خير الرسل جدا

Thus does he strive in pursuit of high honors,

a young man who counts the best of messengers as his forefather.

أخو حسب تسلسل منه عدٍّ

روى حسبا تسلسل منه عدا

A man of ancient nobility, descending from him in an unbroken chain,

transmitting ancient nobility in an unbroken chain from him.

وغيثِ عوافٍ لم يكدُ يَوما

إذا ما الغيث بالمعروف أكدى

And rain for seekers of bounty, never once failing,

when rain itself fails to grant its bounty.

فيا ابن الغلب من أبناء فهر

وعلق ثمينها الحبر المفدى

O son of the mighty among Fihr’s descendants,

and its precious treasure, the cherished scholar!

هل الزمن اللجوج الشكس إلا

غريم النفس أقرض واستردا

Is obstinate, ill-tempered Time anything but

the soul’s creditor, who lent and then reclaimed?

رد الصبر الجميل فما لحي

ترى غير الردى المحتوم وردا

Drink of noble patience; for no living soul

do you see any watering-place but inevitable death.

فحسبك من ضريب على ومجد

ضرائب تقتفيه على ومجدا

In place of one paragon of eminence and glory, enough for you

are paragons who follow him in eminence and glory.

وطب بمحمد المحمود نفسا

ودم ما عشت للحسنين سعدا

And take heart in Muhammad, the praised one,

and remain, throughout your life, a blessing to Hasan and Husayn.