سَبَق الفناءُ فما يدومُ بقاءُ

تفنى النجومُ وتسقطُ البيضاءُ

Death's advance preceded; nothing lasts forever

The stars perish and the shining moons collapse

نفسي وحسّي إن وصفتهما معاً

آلٌ يذوبُ وصخرةٌ خلقاءُ

My soul and senses - were I to describe them together

A structure dissolves and a rugged mountain crumbles

لو تعلمُ الأجبالُ كيف مآلها

علمي لما امتسكت لها أرجاء

If the mountains knew their fate in the end

With knowledge, they would not have stood firm

إنا لنعلمُ ما يراد بنا فلم

تعيا القلوبُ وتُغلَب الأهواء

We know what is intended for us, so why

Did not hearts awaken and passions overcome?

طيفُ المنايا في أساليب المنى

وعلى طريق الصّحة الأدواء

The specter of death in the ways of wishes

And diseases on the path of health

بتعاقبِ الأضداد مما قد ترى

جُلِبَت عليك الحكمةُ الشنعاء

Through alternating opposites, as you can see

Wretched wisdom came over you

ماذا على ابنِ الموت من إبصاره

ولقائِهِ هل عَقَّتِ الأبناء

What can the son of death perceive from his sight

And his encounter - did it make the sons wiser?

أيغرُّني أن يستطيل بيَ المدى

وأبي بحيثُ تواصتِ الغبراء

Does it make me proud that life's span prolonged for me

While my father passed where dust gathers?

لم ينكرُ الإنسانُ ما هو ثابتٌ

في طَبعِهِ لو صحَّتِ الآراء

Man would not have denied what is fixed

In his nature had opinions been sound

ونظيرُ موتِ المرء بعد حياته

أن تستوي مِن جنسه الأعضاء

And akin to a man's death after his life

Is that his body parts become equal

دنِفٌ يبكِّي للصحيح وإنما

أمواتُنا لو تشعرُ الأحياء

A lowlife who weeps for the healthy while

Our dead - if only the living were aware!

وسواءٌ أن تجلى اللحاظُ من القذى

أو تنتضَى من شَخصها الحَوباء

It is the same whether radiance fades from vision

Or features are wiped where first down sprouted

ما النفسُ إلا شعلةٌ سقطت إلى

حيثُ استقلَّ بها الثرى والماء

The soul is but a flame fallen to

Where dust and water took full control

حتى إذا خلصت تعودُ كما بدت

ومن الخلاصِ مشقَّةٌ وعناء

Until when free, it returns as it began

And freedom is hardship and suffering

كذبت حياةُ المرءِ عند وجودها

وُجِدَ الحمامُ ومنه كان الداءُ

The life of man lied at its existence

There was a dove, and from it came the illness

لله أيُّ غنيمةٍ غَنِمَ الردى

ومن الفجائع غارةٌ شعواء

What spoils did death plunder!

And calamities a sweeping raid!

من كان غُرَّةَ جنسه حتى امحت

فإذا البريّة كلُّها دهماء

Who was foolish enough of his kind that

The wilderness in its entirety darkened?

جبلٌ تقوَّضَ لو تشخَّصَ عظمه

لتواصتِ الغبراءُ والخضراء

A mountain crumbled - had its bone stood tall

The dust clouds would have reached the greenery

ومَغيضُ ما قد غاض منه شاهدٌ

أن لا يدومَ بحالهِ الدأماء

And the ugliest thing that disgusted a witness

Is that his structure does not last forever

أكبرتُ نَعيَ جلالِهِ فنفيتُهُ

وهو الجليّةُ ما عليه خفاء

I exaggerated news of His Majesty's death, then denied it

And it is the clarity - nothing can conceal it

مات ابنُ عيسى مَن يقول به عسى

شفقاً وليس مع الحمام رجاء

The son of Jesus died - who dares say

He hopes for him along with the dove?

أفلا حَمَتهُ فضائلٌ موفورةٌ

وجلالةٌ تعنو لها العظماء

Were there no abundant virtues that

The prominent vouch for?

وأذمَّةٌ في سرِّ لخمٍ طالما

خَدَمَت رعايةَ حقّها الأمراء

And households in the core of Lakhm long

Served the protection of their rightful lords

شهروا سلاحَ الدّمعِ خَلفَ سريرِه

إذ لم يكن للباترات غناء

They paraded the weapon of tears behind his coffin

Since dirges did not appease

رُحنا به بل بالسيادةِ والعلا

والشمسُ نجمٌ والنهارُ مساء

We were refreshed through him, by soveriegnty and ascension

The sun is a star and daylight is evening

نطأ القلوبَ على سواءِ سبيله

فالسيرُ مَهلٌ والعثارُ ولاء

He trod upon hearts equally in his path

So the journey is slow and stumbling is loyalty

أخذَ الأسى فيه البرود بثاره

مما جناهُ الزَّهوُ والخيلاء

Sorrow took its cold revenge on him

From what he harvested of vanity and arrogance

حتى إذا بلغوا به ملحودَهُ

قمنا به لو أنَّه الجوزاء

Until when they took him to his burial ground

We stood over him as though he were a planet

ضرب الهدى في لحدِهِ بيمينه

فتناولَتهُ عَرصَةٌ فيحاء

Righteousness struck his grave with its right hand

So a spacious valley in Faiha received him

وأظلَّه التنزيلُ يتلو نفسه

بتلاوةٍ لم يؤتها القرّاء

And the Recitation shaded him, reciting itself

With a recitation unmatched by reciters

مستصحباً أعمالَهُ متأنّساً

بزواهرٍ هيَ والنجومُ سواء

Bearing his deeds, growing familiar

With blossoms, they and the stars equal

ولربما استخلصتَ منا أنفساً

ملأت ضريحَك والصدورُ جلاء

Perhaps you extracted from us souls

That filled your tomb while chests were empty

وهناك لو كُشِفَ الغطاءُ لناظرٍ

حول القليبِ حديقةٌ غنَّاء

And there, if the cover was lifted for one who sees

Around the heart is a singing garden

في الجبّ إذ يحوي سميَّكَ أسوةٌ

لو حُمَّ منك وقد حُجِبتَ لقاء

In the pit, as it contains your likeness

If it was filled from you while you were concealed from sight

يا تُربَةُ استبقي سناه ويا فلا

لا تَلحَقَنكَ جريمةٌ شنعاء

O soil, preserve his brilliance, and O tilth

Let no heinous crime reach you

الله فيَّ وفي جوانحَ رطبةٍ

لم تخلُ من شفقاتها الأعداء

God in me, and in still moist wings

Enemies did not lack affection

أبنيه نحن وأنتمُ شرعٌ به

وعلى المصابِ بفقدِهِ شركاء

We are his sons, and you are the law through him

And over this loss, we are partners

هزُّوا قوادمكم إلى عليائه

قد رَشَّحَت أبناءها الفتخاء

Spur your steeds to his heights

For his sons have adorned them with finery

أمَّا وقد شبهتُ ماثلَ رَسمِهِ

سطرا فثمَّ الحكمة الغرّاء

As for me, I have depicted his visible trace

So therein lies wisdom most precious

واعجب لذاك الخطِّ في صفح الثرى

أن حاز علماً ما له إحصاء

And amazing is that line in the expanse of dust

That it contained knowledge beyond enumeration

أنَّى وسعتَ وأنت مضجعُ واحدٍ

مَن هذه الآفاق مِنهُ ملاء

How could you contain, while you lie in one grave

These horizons - with them you are filled?

يا زائريه تكحلوا بصعيدِهِ

كُحلُ البصائرِ تلكمُ البوغاء

O visitors, line your eyes with his soil

The lining of sights - purified and healing

فَغَرَت له فاها الجدالةُ فانطوى

في طيّها الإسهابُ والإيماء

So for him its mouth gaped, and the polemic folded

Into its folds - verbosity and gesturing ended

قَسَمَ الأنامُ تراثَ علمك فاستوى

في نَيلِهِ البُعَداءُ والقرباء

The people divided your legacy of knowledge equally

So strangers and kin attained it alike

كنَّا عبيدَكَ في اعتقادِ نفوسنا

إذ في اعتقادك أنَّنا أبناء

We were your servants in our souls' belief

For in your belief, we are sons

يا مُلبَسَ النُّعمى يجرُّ ذيولها

لبست ثراكَ غمامةٌ وطفاء

O wearer of bounty, its trails drag

Your burial was cloaked in a clouded veil

وبكت عليك الشمسُ حقَّ بكائها

أن كان قد تتفاقد النظراء

And the sun cried for you, its crying rightful

For were peers to exchange glances

خُذها عُلالَةَ خاطرٍ دلّهتَهُ

من حيثُ ينشطُ جاءَهُ الأعياء

Take it as the notion of a heart you guided

From where fatigue comes, invigoration reached

قامت تناوِحُ فيك كلَّ قصيدة

ثَقَّفتُها وقناتُها زَورَاءُ

Every poem I cultured stood to elegy you

Those I trained, though their meters fraudulent