لا جَلا أَحزاني الجَلدُ

لا خَلا مِن ذِكرِكَ الخَلدُ

My sorrows are not lightened, though long concealed,

Endurance has not polished away my griefs,

Nor is my mind ever free from thoughts of you.

Nor has my heart been emptied of your memory.

لا هَنى عَينَيَّ نَومُهُما

وَهناكَ الحُزنُ وَالخُلُدُ

My eyes know no rest in slumber,

Sleep has brought no pleasure to my eyes,

For sorrow and eternity abide there.

While sorrow and endless time remain.

باتَ صَحبي يَسهَرونَ وَلَم

يَجِدوا الوَجدَ الَّذي أَجِدُ

My companions stay up through the night, but find not

My companions spent the night keeping watch, yet did not

The solace that I find.

Suffer the agony that I endure.

وَأَنا أَسهَرتُ أَعيُنهُم

إِنّ دَمعي لَو رَقا رَقَدوا

My eyes kept them awake -

It was I who kept their eyes awake;

If my tears were to flow, they would slumber.

Had my tears dried up, they would have slept.

قُلتُ إِذ قالوا تَعَزَّ أَما

لِلبُكا مِن بَعدِهِ أَمَدُ

When they said, "Your strength has waned,"

I replied when they said "Take comfort": Is there

I said, "My tears for him will flow forever."

Any limit to weeping after he is gone?

مَدَّ دَمعي فيهِ بَحرُ دَمي

فَأَبى أَن يَنفَدَ الأَبَدُ

My tears for him are an ocean of blood,

The sea of my blood replenished my tears,

That refuses to dry up for eternity.

Refusing to let them run dry for all eternity.

أَنا أَبكي وَالغَليلُ كَما

كانَ في الأَحشاءِ وَالكَمَدُ

I weep while anguish remains

I weep, while the burning thirst remains

In my heart and bowels as before.

Within my vitals, alongside hidden grief.

كُلَّما رُمتُ الأَسى نَكَأ ال

قَرحَ دَهرٌ دَأبُهُ النَكَدُ

Whenever I try to forget sorrow,

Whenever I sought healing, Fate ripped open the wound—

Time reopens the wound - such is its nature.

A Fate whose constant habit is misery.

عُرّي اليَومَ العَرينُ مِنَ الش

شبلِ فَليُبدِ الأَسى الأَسَدُ

Today grief bared its claws,

Today the den is stripped of the cub,

So let sorrow's lion roar.

So let the lion openly display his grief.

مغتَوٍ بِالدَمعِ مُغتَرِبٌ

ما لَهُ مالٌ وَلا وَلَدُ

Drowned in tears, in exile -

Intoxicated by tears, a stranger in the world,

He has neither money nor child.

He possesses neither wealth nor child.

عَثَتِ الأَعرابُ في بَلَدٍ

فَاِكتَسى ثَوبَ البِلى البَلَدُ

The nomads came to a land

Destruction ravaged the land like Bedouin raiders,

Whose garment was worn by time.

Until the land donned the garment of decay.

اِحدُ يا بَرقَ السَحابِ لَهُ

مِن جُفوني ما رَسا أَحُدُ

Flash, O lightning of clouds, for it

Drive on, O lightning of the clouds, and take for him

Has what my eyelids lack.

From my eyelids a rain as heavy as Mount Uhud.

كانَ في عَبدِ الغِنيّ غِنىً

عَنهُ حَتّى حَسَّهُ الحَسَدُ

Abdul Ghani had riches

In Abd al-Ghani there was wealth enough to dispense with need,

Until envy took notice.

Until Envy took notice and struck him down.

طَرَقَتني العَينُ فيهِ وَقَد

عاصَ وَاِشتَدَّت بِهِ العَضُدُ

Eyes tempted me toward him

The Evil Eye afflicted me through him, just when

And arms grew strong against him.

He was unyielding and his arm was strong.

وَتَرَتنيهِ شَعوبُ وَما

لِغَوِيٍّ عِندَها قَوَدُ

The common folk left me;

Death snatched him away from me, and against Death

No rebel has power over them.

No transgressor can claim retaliation.

دارِعٌ لا المَوتَ يَدرَأُ عَن

نَفسِهِ أَزرى بِهِ الزَرَدُ

One who wards off not death

Armored he was, yet armor does not ward off Death

From himself - Time's claws prevail over him.

From the soul; his chainmail betrayed him.

بَعدَ أَن يحمى الفناءُ بِنا

لِفَناءٍ نَحنُ لا فَنَدُ

After annihilation protects us,

After the heat of battle consumes us,

We are for annihilation - we last not.

We head toward annihilation; we are not immortal.

رُبَّ بانٍ وَالحِمامُ لَهُ

في بِناءٍ رَصَّهُ رَصَدُ

A builder whose pigeons

Many a builder finds that Death lies in wait

Nested in a structure he designed.

Within the very structure he so firmly raised.

آه أَودى مَن أَوَدُّ وَمَن

قامَ في قَومي بِهِ الأَوَدُ

Alas! He who loved me, and he

Ah! He has perished, the one I love, the one

Whom my people loved in return.

Through whom the crookedness of my people was straightened.

شَبَّهُم حَرباً فَوا حَربا

ما لَهُم ناخوا وَقَد وَقَدوا

They likened him to war - what a war!

He was a flame of war for them—oh, the woe of war!—

They slept not, though they had ignited.

Why have they knelt in defeat when they were once ablaze?

وَجَدوهُ وَالسُعودُ تَقي

ثُمَّ خانَتهُم فَقَد فَقَدوا

They found him, and luck helped him,

They found him when good fortunes were his shield,

Then it betrayed them, and they lost him.

But then fortunes betrayed them, and they were lost.

دُرَّةً يُزهى بِرَونقِها

مُنتَقٍ لِلدُرِّ مُنتَقِدُ

A pearl adorned with splendor -

A pearl whose luster is the pride

A connoisseur of pearls appraising.

Of every critic who selects fine gems.

مَلَأَت عَينَ الزَمانِ سَنىً

وَصَفا مِنها لَهُ الصَفَدُ

He filled the eye of Time with rays

It filled the eye of Time with brilliance,

And purity - prisons were his fate.

And its gift to him was pure and unalloyed.

لَو تَمادَت مُدَّةُ اِبنِيَ لَم

يَتَجاوَز حَدَّهُ أَحَدُ

Had my son's life lasted longer

Had my son's time continued,

None would have surpassed his limit.

No one would have surpassed his standing.

كانَ طِفلاً لَو غَزا مائَةً

لَم يَهُلهُ لِلعِدا عَدَدُ

As a child, had he fought hundreds,

He was but a child, yet had he raided a hundred men,

Their number would not have wearied him.

The number of the enemy would not have daunted him.

طارَ لِلعَليا فَأَدرَكَها

بِجَناحٍ راشَهُ الرَشَدُ

He soared to the heights and attained them

He soared toward the heights and attained them

On wings of integrity when mature.

With a wing feathered by righteousness.

وَاِبتَنى المَجدَ المُؤَثَّلَ وَال

عَمَلَ الزاكي لَهُ العُمُدُ

He built glorious, righteous works -

He built a glory deep-rooted and ancient,

Pillars were his deeds.

With pure deeds serving as its pillars.

يا عُقاب المَوتِ حُمت عَلى

عَقِبي فَاِنحَلَّتِ العُقَدُ

O falcon of death, you descended on

O Eagle of Death, you hovered over my offspring,

My heels, undoing the knots.

And so the knots of life were undone.

اِختَطَفتِ اِبنَ اللَباةِ وَلَم

تَحمِهِ الأَظفارُ وَاللِبَدُ

You snatched the son of Labaah, though

You snatched away the son of the lioness,

Neither talons nor forelegs protected him.

Unprotected by claws or thick manes.

وَخَبا نَجمي فَها أَنا ذا

لا سَنىً يهدي وَلا سَنَدُ

My star faded - now here am I

My star has been extinguished, so here I am:

With no ray to guide me, no pillar for aid.

With no light to guide me and no support.

كَبِدُ المَرءِ اِبنُهُ فَإِذا

كُبَّ أَمسى ما لهُ كَبِدُ

A man's son is his liver - if

A man's son is his very heart; so if he is cast down,

He falls, the man is left with no liver.

The man is left without his vital core.

كُلُّ مَحبوبٍ يُمَلُّ سِوى

ما يَلي الإِنسانُ أَو يَلِدُ

One tires of all loved ones

One grows weary of every beloved, except

Except what a man sires or bears.

For one's own offspring and bloodline.

إِنَّما الأَبناءُ إِن نَجُبوا

عدد الآباءِ وَالعدَدُ

Sons are but the number

Truly, sons, if they are noble,

Of fathers and counts.

Are the strength and provision of their fathers.

وَإِذا كانَ الفَتى خَلفاً

فَحُلى أَجدادِهِ جُدُدُ

If a youth is a successor,

And if the youth is a worthy successor,

The jewels of his ancestors are renewed.

The glories of his ancestors are made new.

نَفَسَ الباكي عَلَيكَ تُرى

يا حَيا الصادي مَتى نَرِدُ

Does the soul that grieves for you

The breath of the one weeping for you—do you think it reaches you?

Return, O perished companion - when?

O rain for the thirsty, when shall we come to drink?

كُن غَداً نورَ الشَقِيِّ إِذا

ما سَعى نورُ الألى سَعِدوا

Be tomorrow the light of the wretched,

Be, on the morrow, a light for this wretched one,

When the lights of the lofty are successful.

When the light of the blessed strives forward.

وَحَديثٍ لِلنَبِيِّ يَعي

فيهِ بُشراهُ بِما يَعِدُ

There is a tradition of the Prophet

And by a hadith of the Prophet which he held dear,

Foretelling what he promises.

May he find the glad tidings promised therein.

وَعَسى المُختارُ يَذكُرهُ

فَيَقي المَحزونَ إِذ يَفِدُ

Perhaps the Chosen One will remember him -

Perhaps the Chosen One will remember him,

Visiting the bereaved when he comes.

And protect the grieving father when he arrives.

لا يَد لي كَيفَ عِشتُ وَقَد

حَكَمَت لِلمَوتِ فيكَ يَدُ

I have no means to live, now that

I have no power; how have I lived on,

Death's hand has ruled over you.

When the hand of Death has already ruled over you?

مَن بَكى الأَحبابَ إِذ بَعُدوا

فَليَمُت وَجداً إِذا بَعُدوا

Let one who cries for loved ones when distant

Whoever weeps for loved ones when they are far,

Die of love when they are distant.

Let him die of grief when they are gone forever.

كانَ مُذ قامَت نُعاتُكَ بي

صَمَم حَتّى هَدى الصَمدُ

Since news of your death reached me

Since the bearers of your death news stood before me,

Deafness persists until the Eternal guides.

I was deaf to the world, until the Eternal God granted guidance.