لَنَدبِكَ أَحزانٌ وَسابِقُ عَبرَةٍ

أَثَرنَ دَماً مِن داخِلِ الجَوفِ مُنقَعا

Your sorrows invoke lamentations, and precede weeping,

They have left blood prints inside my heart soaked through,

تَجَرَّعتُها مِن بِعدِ مَعنٍ بِمَوتِهِ

لَأَعظَم مِنها ما اِحتَسى وَتَجَرَّعا

I endured them after Ma'n died, though greater than them

Is what I held back and endured stoically.

وَمِن عَجَبٍ أَن بِتَّ بِالرُزءِ ثاوِياً

وَبِتُّ بِما خَوَّلتَني متَمَتِّعا

And how odd that I spend the night suffering

While you left me to live in comfort.

وَلَو أَنَّني أَنصَفتُكَ الوُدَّ لَم أَبِت

خِلافَكَ حَتّى نَنطَوي في الرَدى مَعا

Had I been equitable in my love for you, I would not

Have opposed you until we were laid together in the grave.

أَلِمّا بِمَعنٍ ثُمَّ قولا لِقَبرِهِ

سَقَتكَ الغَوادي مَربَعاً بعدَ مَربَعا

Go to Ma'n, then say at his grave:

The valleys have given you to drink, courtyard after courtyard.

فَيا قَبرَ مَعنٍ أَنتَ أَوَّلُ حُفرَةٍ

مِنَ الأَرضِ خُطَّت لِلسَّماحَةِ مَضجَعا

So O Ma'n's grave, you were the first dug hole

In the earth, made into a resting place for the magnanimous.

وَيا قَبرَ مَعنٍ كَيفَ وارَيتَ جودُهُ

وَقَد كانَ مِنهُ البَرُّ وَالبَحرُ مُترَعا

And O Ma'n's tomb, how could you contain his munificence

When the land and sea were nourished by it?

بَلى قَد وَسِعتَ الجودَ وَالجودُ مَيِّتٌ

وَلَو كانَ حَيّاً ضِقتَ حَتّى تَصَدَّعا

Yes, you contained the munificence, but the munificent is dead,

Had he been alive, you would have been too narrow and cracked.

وَلَمّا مَضى مَعنٌ مَضى الجودُ وَاِنقَضى

وَأَصبَحَ عِرنينُ المَكارِمِ أَجدَعا

When Ma'n died, generosity died and ended,

And the burrows of virtues became barren.

وَما كانَ إِلّا الجودَ صورَةُ وَجهِهِ

فَعاشَ رَبيعاً ثُمَّ وَلّى وَوَدَّعا

Generosity was only the image of his face,

So it lived a springtime then turned and left.

وَكُنتَ لِدارِ الجودِ يا مَعنُ عامِراً

وَقَد أَصبَحَت قَفراً مِنَ الجودِ بَلقَعا

You were flourishing, O Ma'n, through your generosity

But it has now become a barren spot devoid of giving.

فَتىً عيشَ في مَعروفِهِ بَعدَ مَوتِهِ

كَما كانَ بَعدَ السَيلِ مَجراهُ مَرتَعا

A youth whose virtues lived on after his death,

As did his valley stream remain fertile after the floods.

تَمَنّى أُناس شَأوَهُ مِن ضَلالِهِم

فَأَضحَوا عَلى الأَذقانِ صَرعى وَظُلَّعا

Some people wished for his stature out of their misguidance

And fell defeated, battered on the hillsides.

تَعَزَّ أَبا العَبّاسِ عَنهُ وَلا يَكُن

عَزاؤُكَ مِن مَعنٍ بِأَن تَتَضَعضَعا

May your consolation for the loss of Ma'n never lapse,

And do not be consoled by listless wavering.

أَبى ذِكرُ مَعنٍ أَن تَموتَ فعالُهُ

وَإِن كانَ قَد لاقى حِماماً وَمَصرَعا

The mention of Ma'n refuses to die though his deeds have ceased,

Even if he met his doom and destruction.

فَما ماتَ مَن كُنتَ اِبنَهُ لا وَلا الَّذي

لَهُ مِثلُ ما أَبقى أَبوكَ وَما سَعى

So he who you were a son to did not die, nor did he

Whose deeds survive just as your father strove.