إلى متى اللّهوُ والأحبابُ قد رحلوا

يا من بفانية اللّذّات يشتغل

How long will there be frivolity and dear friends who have departed,

O you who is busy with the fleeting pleasures of life?

كم جرّعَتْك كؤوسُ البَيْنِ من غُصَصٍ

فالعين باكية والقلب مشتعِل

How many cups of separation have made you drink bitterness,

So the eye weeps while the heart blazes?

وكم نحبتَ على صبٍّ علِقْتَ به

وأصدقاءَ سُوَيدا القلب قد نزلوا

And how you have yearned for a beloved you were attached to,

And bosom friends whose hearts were intimate.

قد سافروا سَفَراً جَدَّ المَسِيرُ بهم

فيه فليس إلى رُجْعَاهُمُ أمل

They have travelled a journey from which there is no return,

In it - so there is no hope of their coming back.

وبدّلونا بسكنى حفرةٍ قبُحت

وخلّفونا وَدَمْعُ العين منهطل

And they have replaced us with the dwelling of an ugly grave,

Leaving us while the tears of the eye are pouring down.

وعاد حُسْنُهُمُ قُبْحاً وأُنْسُهُمُ

وَحْشاً وحزنُهم نَامٍ ومُتَّصِلُ

And their beauty has become ugliness, their company solitude,

Their joy slumbering, continuous sorrow.

فالنّطق منطبِق والجفنُ منغلِق

واللّونُ منمحقُ والوصل منفصل

So speech is sealed, the eyelid closed,

The color effaced, the union severed.

والأذن في صَمَمٍ والسّاقُ في سكن

واليدُّ في سدل فالكلّ منخذل

The ear is deaf, the leg still,

The hand limp, all are defeated.

يا من تُرَى ما لذاك الحسن منخسفاً

وما دهاه وحارت عنده الحِيَلُ

O you whose perfect beauty has waned,

And its splendor confounded all stratagems.

دهاه أمرٌ عظيم لا مَرَدَّ له

قضى به اللّهُ والإنسان يحتمل

Something mighty has confounded it, inexorable,

Decreed by Allah, and man must endure.

يحقّ للعين أن تبكي لفُرقتها

أَحِبَّةً ليس في دَهْرِي لهم بَدَل

It is fitting for the eye to weep at parting with

Dear ones for whom I have no substitute.

خلَّوْا فؤادي كئيبا بالفراق وقد

توطّنوا حفرةً سوداءَ تُبتذل

They left my heart depressed with separation, and

Took up residence in a gloomy, contemptible grave.

فَكّرْ فإِنّ نعيمَ الأمر منتقلُ

واعْمَلْ لمُلْكٍ عظيمٍ ليس ينتقل

Consider, for the boon of life passes,

And work for an everlasting kingdom that does not pass.

فما يَسُرُّ امْرَءًا أهلٌ ولا وَلدٌ

وليس ينفعُ إلاّ العلمُ والعملُ

For man takes no pleasure in family or wealth,

Nothing avails but knowledge and righteous deeds.

الأهل تلقى بديلاً بَعدَ مِيتِتها

والمالُ للغير قهراً عنك ينتقل

After her death, a wife finds a replacement,

And wealth perforce passes from you to another.

والبنت تمشي لِبَعْلٍ عنك ذاهبةً

والابنُ يبقى زمانا ثم يشتغل

A daughter walks to her husband, leaving you,

And a son remains for a time, then is busy.

باللّه يا راحلاً نحو الأحبّة سَلْ

عنهمْ وسَلِّمْ عليهم بعد إِذ تَصِلُ

By Allah, O traveller to the beloved, ask

News of them, and convey greetings when you arrive.

وقل لهم إنّنا عنك أُسَارى أَسىً

وعن قريب إليكم نحن نرتحِلُ

And say to them: We are captives of sorrow without you,

And soon we will be journeying to join you.