بنوك فروع للعلى وأصول

بنوك فروع للعلى وأصول

وملكك ما للشمس عنه أفول

وملكك ما للشمس عنه أفول

Your sons are branches and roots of glory.

Banks have branches reaching high and deep roots

And the sun never sets upon your dominion.

Your kingdom, the sun does not set on it

وسعدك في الأمثال سار ولم يكن

وسعدك في الأمثال سار ولم يكن

له في سعود المالكين مثيل

له في سعود المالكين مثيل

And your good fortune has become proverbial; never has there been

Your prosperity in proverbs went far and was not

Its equal among the fortunes of sovereigns.

Matched in the fortune of kings

وما شهد الأقوام قبلك سيدا

وما شهد الأقوام قبلك سيدا

يطاع مطيعا قومه ويصول

يطاع مطيعا قومه ويصول

And never before you have nations seen a lord

No people before you witnessed a master

Who is obeyed while obeying his people, and wields might;

Obeyed by his obedient people raging

ولا آمرا يدعونه فهو سامع

ولا آمرا يدعونه فهو سامع

وتستمع الأقدار حين يقول

وتستمع الأقدار حين يقول

Nor a commander who listens when they call upon him,

No commander they call upon but he hears

And the fates listen when he speaks.

Fate itself listens when he speaks

فلما دهاك البين جل مصابهم

فلما دهاك البين جل مصابهم

فلا عين إلا بالحداد كحيل

فلا عين إلا بالحداد كحيل

So when parting struck you, great was their grief;

So when mourning overwhelmed them

So every eye was lined with mourning’s kohl.

No eye without kohl from crying

أيعجز هذا الأيد والمجد كله

أيعجز هذا الأيد والمجد كله

فيرجع دون البين وهو كليل

فيرجع دون البين وهو كليل

Can all this strength and glory fail,

Can these hands and all the glory fail

And fall back before parting, spent?

To return from mourning tired

وتفديك جند في الحروب أعزة

وتفديك جند في الحروب أعزة

وأنت بلا سهم أصاب قتيل

وأنت بلا سهم أصاب قتيل

And mighty troops give their lives for you in war,

And ransom you soldiers in wars proud

And you are slain, though no arrow struck you.

While you without an arrow piercing the slain

عجبت لها في قيد باع توسدت

عجبت لها في قيد باع توسدت

ودولتها في الخافقين تدول

ودولتها في الخافقين تدول

I marveled at her, resting her head within a fathom’s span,

I wondered that it was bound and pillowed

While her dominion circles through East and West.

Its rule in the two abodes circulates

وكانت كنجم ثابت فأزالها

وكانت كنجم ثابت فأزالها

قضاء أرانا النجم كيف يزول

قضاء أرانا النجم كيف يزول

And she was like a fixed star; then she was removed

It was like a fixed star which fate removed

By fate, which showed us how a star can vanish.

Fate that showed us how stars disappear

كأن جموع الخلق يوم ترحلت

كأن جموع الخلق يوم ترحلت

عيال عليها نادب وثكول

عيال عليها نادب وثكول

As though the multitudes of humanity, the day she departed,

As if all people the day you left

Were her dependents, lamenting and bereaved.

Were orphans mourning and weeping

كأن القصور الحافلات بحشدهم

كأن القصور الحافلات بحشدهم

رسوم خلت من نابت وطلول

رسوم خلت من نابت وطلول

As though the palaces, crowded with their throng,

As if the crowded palaces with their masses

Were vestiges bare of growth, and ruined remains.

Were ruins devoid of plants and hills

كأن نجوم الليل حراس نومها

كأن نجوم الليل حراس نومها

وأنوارها شبه الدموع تسيل

وأنوارها شبه الدموع تسيل

As though the stars of night were guardians of her sleep,

As if the stars of night were guards of her sleep

And their lights streamed like tears.

And her lights like pouring tears

كأن بزوغ الشمس بعد احتجابها

كأن بزوغ الشمس بعد احتجابها

لتنظر حال الحسن كيف تحول

لتنظر حال الحسن كيف تحول

As though the sun rose after being veiled,

As if the sun rising after its disappearance

To see how beauty’s state had changed.

Is to see the state of beauty transformed

كأن جنود البر سارت بنعشها

كأن جنود البر سارت بنعشها

جبال رمال تعتلي وتهيل

جبال رمال تعتلي وتهيل

As though the land forces marching with her bier

As if the armies of land walked in her funeral

Were mountains of sand, rising and cascading.

Mountains and sand dunes ascending and descending

كأن أساطيل البحار وقد مشت

كأن أساطيل البحار وقد مشت

به جزعات والخضم مهول

به جزعات والخضم مهول

As though the fleets of the seas, as they sailed

As if the navies of the seas walked

With it, were onyx beads—and the deep was fearsome.

Therein anxiously, the billows terrified

فيا لعظيم الجاه لم يك مغنيا

فيا لعظيم الجاه لم يك مغنيا

لدى الموت منه تالَد وأثيل

لدى الموت منه تالَد وأثيل

So alas for one of lofty rank! Of no avail

Oh how great the glory that was no refuge

Against death were his inherited and deep-rooted glories.

Against death, ancient and noble

ويا لطويل العمر تفنيه لحظة

ويا لطويل العمر تفنيه لحظة

وهل عمر رهن الفناء طويل

وهل عمر رهن الفناء طويل

And alas for the long-lived one, whom a moment destroys!

Oh how long the life an instant ends

And can a life held hostage to annihilation be long?

And is a life hostage to demise long?