على والميت والنعى

سيطبق النيل ضفتيه

Over the dead man and the tidings of death,

the Nile will close its two banks.

طوى الردى شاعر الندى

فالشرق في مأتم عليه

Death has folded away the poet of bounty;

so the East is in mourning for him.

ودمع أهل العراق يهمي

كأنه فيض رافديه

And the tears of Iraq's people pour down,

as though they were the flood of its two rivers.

بالشام والغرب بات يصمى

كليهما قول رائييه

In Syria and the West, a mortal wound is dealt

to both by the words of his two witnesses.

بين الحياتين كل حي

دنياه ما بين شهقتيه

Every living being stands between two lives;

his earthly life lies between his two gasps.

ستنتهي رغم كل شيء

يحبه حب ناظريه

It will end, despite everything

he loves as dearly as his two eyes.

شوقي قضى والزمان باق

يشير في صمته إليه

Shawqi has died, while time remains,

pointing toward him in its silence.

وليس مما يحم واق

فليشهد المرء عالميه

There is no protection against what is decreed;

so let each person behold his two worlds.

ولتزحم الأدمع المآقي

وليفرغ الصب محجريه

Let tears throng the corners of the eyes,

and let the lovesick lover drain his two eye sockets

على الذي حن للفراق

يمد للحق ساعديه

for him who yearned for parting,

stretching both his forearms toward the Truth.

يا مرقص الطيران تغنى

حتى انتهى شوطها لديه

O you who made the birds dance as you sang,

until their course ended beside him.

فبات شحرورها المعنى

مؤلفاً فوق راحتيه

Their love-tormented blackbird came to rest,

tamed upon his two palms.

لغى سليمان صغت فصحى

تتيه في لفظ سيبويه

Solomon's tongues you fashioned into eloquent Arabic,

glorying in the diction of Sibawayh.

سحرته بالرقى فأضحى

يعاف عودا لدوحتيه

You enchanted him with incantations, so he came

to disdain returning to his two spreading trees.

فشعرك العذب ليس يمحى

ما كرر الدهر آيتيه

For your sweet poetry will not be effaced

so long as time repeats its two signs.

يا ساكب الخمر في المعاني

ومودع السحر أصغريه

O pourer of wine into meanings,

and lodger of enchantment in heart and tongue,

تركت سكراك والأغاني

فنكس الشعر رايتيه

you left those intoxicated by you, and the songs;

so Poetry lowered its two banners.

قديمه والجديد عانى

على المولى بدولتيه

Its ancient and its new have suffered

for their master in both his realms.

يا منشد البدر في الليالي

ومطرب النجم جانبيه

O singer to the full moon in the nights,

and enchanter of the stars on either side of it,

يا هاجر الشمس والعلالي

ومسلم الموت مقلتيه

O you who forsook the sun and lofty heights,

and surrendered both your eyes to Death,

هلا ترفقت بالموالي

وليس من ينتمى إليه

why did you not treat the devoted gently,

when there is none to whom they may turn?

يا منشئ المسرح المعلى

ومنزلاً قيس دمعتيه

O founder of the exalted theater,

who made Qays shed his two tears,

ومشهد العصر ظل ليلي

ومعطى الحب مهجتيه

who showed the age the shade of Layla,

and gave love its two hearts,

من فته والقلوب تبلى

يلف في الحب صاحبيه

from his shattering—while hearts wear away—

he enfolds his two companions in love.

يا عاشق النيل من صباه

ملأت بالدر شاطئيه

O lover of the Nile since his boyhood,

you filled its two banks with pearls.

يا ملبس الجيل من هواه

وحكمة الرأي بُردتيه

O you who dressed the generation in its passion

and wisdom of judgment—its two mantles.

يا موحشا كرمة وقصرا

بكى عزاءً لوارثيه

O you who left a vine desolate, and a palace

weeping to console his two heirs.

يا نسمة لن تهب عصرا

قد ودع الغصن وردتيه

O breeze that will blow no more through time,

the bough has bidden farewell to its two roses.

حضنت قيثارتي وكأسي

كالطفل في حضن والديه

I cradled my lyre and my cup,

like a child in the embrace of its parents.

فضيع الحزن كل حسى

ورحت مستسلماً إليه

Sorrow laid waste to all my senses,

and I gave myself up to it.

يخيل الخل عند بابي

مسلماً بين دفتيه

My friend seems to appear at my door,

offering greetings between its two panels.

وما سوى الروح في إهابي

تطل من سجنها عليه

Yet nothing but the soul is within my skin,

looking out from its prison upon him.

روحي لمن فاتني جليس

ويجمع الشعر توأميه

My soul is a companion to him I have lost,

and poetry brings its two twins together.

كأن بالجسم مغنطيس

موصل نفثتي لديه

As though a magnet were within the body,

conveying my breath to him.

يا راوي الروض بعد شوقي

شتان ما بين ربتيه

O you who water the garden after Shawqi,

how far apart are its two mistresses!

شوقي ببحر القريض يسقى

يعذوذب الملح في يديه

Shawqi is given drink from the sea of verse;

salt water grows sweet in his two hands.

ملأت بالخالدات سفرا

خلدت ما بين جلدتيه

You filled a volume with immortal works;

you live forever between its two covers.

سيملأ الكون عنك شعرا

يضوع ما بين أشطريه

It will fill the universe with verse on your behalf,

wafting fragrance between its hemistichs.

وشيت للضاد ثوب فن

كسابه البيت رقمتيه

You embroidered a robe of art for Arabic;

with it, the verse clothed its two patterned panels.

وفت في مصر خير لحن

يشجي من الدهر مسمعيه

In Egypt, the finest melody came to fulfillment,

moving Time's two ears to sorrow.

خيالك النور وهو سار

ينسى به الكون نيريه

Your imagination is light in motion;

through it, the universe forgets its two luminaries.

ولفظك الماء وهو جار

يروى به البر جنتيه

And your diction is flowing water;

with it, the land waters its two gardens.

لك المعاني لها دبيب

من رأس صاغ لأخمصيه

Yours are meanings whose movement creeps

from a listener's head to the soles of his feet.

وفي الحياة أمحى أديب

سها فلم يرج زينتيه

And in life a man of letters effaced himself,

heedless, seeking neither of his two adornments.

لو صور الشعر آدميا

يثير في الكون مشرقيه

If poetry were given human form,

stirring the universe with its two sunrises,

فأحمد الرأس عبقريا

يهز في الشرق مسجديه

then Ahmad would be its head, a genius

making the East's two mosques tremble;

وحافظٌ قلبه نجيا

لذا بكى النيل شاعريه

and Hafiz its heart, an intimate confidant.

Thus the Nile wept for its two poets.

يا قبر بالشاعرين رحب

سلبت ذا الشرق بلبليه

O grave, welcome the two poets;

you robbed this East of its two nightingales.

عوضهما حبنا وحبب

في مرقد الحق زائريه

Repay them with our love, and make beloved,

in truth's resting-place, your two visitors.

واجمع من الروح حفل مغنى

سيزدهى حول شادييه

And gather from the spirits a gathering of song

that will shine proudly around its two singers.

آمنت بالله مطمئنا

للدين أتلو شهادتيه

I have believed in God, reassured,

reciting the two testimonies of faith.

وإن نبا بي الخيال حينا

فالمرء في أسر حالتيه

And if imagination sometimes leads me astray,

man is captive to his two states.

حياتنا الحلم للنفاد

فليحذر الحي صفحتيه

Our life is a dream, destined to end;

so let the living beware its two pages.

ويخلق الخلق للمعاد

فليذكر المرء سائليه

And creatures are created for resurrection;

so let each person remember his two questioners.