Sol 6.1

  1. هُوَ المَوتُ الّا انَّ خَطَبك اعظُم

    ورزؤُك في الارزآءِ اشجى واجسمُ

    It is death, yet your calamity is greater;

    and the loss of you, among all losses, is more grievous and weightier.

  2. ومن فَلَتات الدهر امرُك إِنَّهُ

    لأَشفَقُ في أَمثالِ هَذا وارحمُ

    Your fate is one of Time's lapses; for Time

    is surely more compassionate and merciful in cases like this.

  3. لك اللَهُ مَيتاً كالقَتيل ولَم يَسل

    لَهُ من دمٍ لكن مدامعُنا الدمُ

    God be with you, dead as though slain, though there flowed no

    blood from him; yet our tears are blood.

  4. وان نحن طالبنا المَنايا بثأرِهِ

    رمتنا وَقالت مَن يطالِبُ عنكمُ

    And if we demand of Death vengeance for him,

    it shoots at us and says, 'Who will demand it on your behalf?'

  5. وان نحن عاتبنا الزَمان بفعلِهِ

    قَرعنا سَماعاً ما لَهُ من يترجِمُ

    And if we reproach Time for its deed,

    a sound strikes us that no one can interpret.

  6. فعُدنا وقد خبنا من الدهر مأمَلاً

    نَنوحُ على ما كان منهُ ونَلطِمُ

    So we return, disappointed in our hopes of Time,

    lamenting what it has done and slapping our cheeks.

  7. كَذا الدَهرُ الّا أَنَّ مَن زاد همُّهُ

    وقصَّر عن تَفريحهِ يَتَظَلَّمُ

    Such is Time; yet one whose sorrow grows

    and whom it fails to cheer complains of injustice.

  8. فقدنا بَني الاوطان عُضواً مكرَّماً

    كَجِسمٍ مضَت مِنهُ يَدٌ فهو أَجذَمُ

    We, sons of the homelands, have lost an honored member,

    like a body that has lost a hand and is maimed.

  9. أَلا إِنَّنا في فقدِهِ اليوم أُسرةٌ

    واوطانُنا في نوحهِ اليوم مأتمُ

    Behold, in losing him today, we are one family,

    and our homelands, lamenting him today, are one mourning assembly.

  10. على مِثلِهِ يُبكى وَهَيهات مِثلُهُ

    فَتىً طابَ منهُ القَلبُ وَاليَدُ وَالفَمُ

    One like him is mourned—yet his equal is far beyond reach:

    a young man pure in heart, hand, and mouth.

  11. فَتىً مِثلُ حدّ السيف رأَياً وهمَّةً

    وَكالصَفح منهُ وجهُهُ المتبسِّمُ

    A young man like a sword's edge in judgment and resolve,

    and his smiling face like the flat of that blade.

  12. رَبا في تَليد العلمِ والجاهِ واِغتَذى

    بأَثدى الحجى والفضل من قبلُ يفطَمُ

    He grew up amid inherited learning and rank, and was nourished

    at the breasts of wisdom and virtue before he was weaned.

  13. وَربى طريفَ العلم والجاهِ فاِغتَدى

    لهُ من كلا الامرين حظٌّ ومغنَمُ

    And he cultivated fresh learning and rank, so there came to be

    for him, from both, a share and a gain.

  14. وَخاض أَفانين السياسة مُطلِقاً

    بِها سيفَ فكرٍ لم يكن يتثلَّمُ

    And he plunged into the many branches of politics, unleashing

    there a sword of thought that was never nicked.

  15. وسرَّح في الآداب فكرةَ حاذِقٍ

    يهذِّب اخلاقاً بها وَيقوّمُ

    And in literature he let an expert's thought roam,

    refining morals through it and setting them right.

  16. وكان مِثالاً للرجال وقُدوةً

    بما تَقتَضي العَليا وَيَبغي التكرُّمُ

    He was a model for men and an example

    in what eminence requires and magnanimity seeks.

  17. بعيد المُنى شهمُ الفؤاد محنَّكٌ

    بديع الثنا بين العباد مكرمُ

    Far-reaching in aspiration, gallant of heart, seasoned,

    splendidly praised among people, held in honor.

  18. نبدَّت عليهِ للجرائد وحشةٌ

    على عدد الاجزآءِ منها تُقَسَّمُ

    Desolation at his loss appeared in the newspapers,

    divided according to the number of their issues.

  19. فكم خطَّ فيها من فصولٍ يراعُهُ

    فَكانَت طِرازاً منهُ بالوَشي يُعلَمُ

    How many articles his reed pen inscribed in them!

    They were his embroidered finery, known by its ornament.

  20. وَدائرةٍ قد كان مركزَها غدت

    لحزنٍ عليهِ بالمدامع تُرسَمُ

    And a circle whose center he had been is now

    drawn with tears in grief for him.

  21. رمتهُ المنايا بالسهامِ وحولهُ

    رماحٌ من الاقلام سمرٌ واسهُمُ

    Death shot him with arrows, while around him

    stood brown lances and arrows made of pens.

  22. وعبَّت عليهِ للقتال كتائباً

    ومن حولِهِ للكُتب جيشٌ عَرمَرمُ

    And it mustered battalions for battle against him,

    while around him stood a vast army of books.

  23. تحدّى اباهُ في الحياة وفي الردى

    فكانَ لَهُ في الحالَتين بيَمِّمُ

    He rivaled his father in life and in death,

    and in both states he turned toward him.

  24. وابقى لنا من بعدِهِ خَلفاً لَهُ

    نَجيباً كما ابقى الأَبُ المتقدِّمُ

    And he left behind for us a successor to him,

    a noble one, as his father before him had done.

  25. لئن غابَ عنّا النيرانِ لَقَد بقي

    شِهابٌ يُعيد الصبحَ وَالليلُ مُظلِمُ

    Though the two luminaries have vanished from us, there remains

    a meteor that restores dawn while the night is dark.

  26. وَقَد طَلَعا في قبة الافق مثلما

    باوج العُلى تَبدو شُموسٌ وانجُمُ

    And both have risen in the vault of the horizon, just as

    suns and stars appear at the zenith of glory,

  27. لدى منزلٍ كُلٌّ اليهِ مسافرٌ

    وَلَيسَ الينا راحِلٌ منهُ يَقدَمُ

    at a dwelling toward which everyone travels,

    and no traveler from it ever comes back to us.