عاتبتُ دهري في الجناية لو وعَى

ونشدتُه الحُرَمَ الوكيدةَ لو رعَى

I blamed fate for the calamity, had it been aware

And I appealed to it with the pacts of deceit, had it taken heed

وطلبتُ منه بسلمهِ وبحربهِ

نَصْفاً فأعيا حاسراً ومقنَّعا

And I asked of it with its peace and with its war

Half, but it wearied disappointed and veiled

في كلّ يومٍ عثرةٌ من صَرفه

لا تستقالُ بأن يقال لها لَعَا

In every day a stumbling from its change

That cannot settle to be told: Patience!

جنِّبْ هواك ملوِّناً ساعاتِه

بالعذرِ لا يعطيك حتى يمنعا

Keep your love safe from the fickleness of its hours

With excuses, it will not give you anything until it deprives

لولا التحاملُ بالمصائب لم يكن

بالمنفساتِ من الذخائر مولَعا

Had it not been for enduring misfortunes, delight

In respites would not have been sought

نزلت مثقِّلة كفافك إنني

من قبل حملك موشِك أن أظلَعا

Your burdens descended heavily, I am

On the verge of collapse from carrying your load

من ساءه صممُ المسامع إنني

يوم العَروبةِ ساءني أن أسمعا

Whose hearing was marred, I am on the day of deafness

Saddened to hear the news of Abu Bakr's passing

ونعى أبا بكرٍ إليَّ صباحُهَا

لسفاههِ لو كان يعلم مَن نعى

A day of joy for Islam before you

And after you sorrow and anguish

يومٌ على الإسلام قبلَك فرحةٌ

ويكون بعدك حسرةً وتفجُّعا

The proof of your status in the heights

Is that their congregational prayers gathered for you

ومن الدليل على مكانك في العلا

أن كان جمعُ صلاته لك مَجمعا

So it is as if the caller of the call to its ordinance

Guided them to you, and invited to your reward

فكأنما داعي الأَذان لفرضِهِ

لك ساقهم وإليك تثويباً دعَا

And I doubted when they carried you without resistance

With a hand they etched a grave for you in the soil

وشككت إذ حملوك غيرَ مدافعٍ

بيدٍ فخطُّوا في الثرى لك مضجَعا

Did they attack a man and redden his figure

Or demolish a fragment so it crumbled

أعَدَوا على رجُلٍ فواروا شخصَه

أم طوَّحوا بيلملمٍ فتضعضعا

O you whom I entrusted honor above his forehead

Of the sediment of your honor, so it receded

يا من عهدتُ العزَّ فوق جبينِهِ

من راب عزك فاقتضى أن يرجعا

He who bridled your intrepid horse and led it

Despite the length it pulled the ropes and tore them

من زمّ مَخطمَك الأبيَّ فقادَه

مع طول ما جذبَ الحبالَ فقطَّعا

And it longed for your whip, so it galloped

And called your cavalry, so it responded and followed

وحوى لرقيته لجاجك فارعوى

ودعا نفارَك فاستجاب وأتبعا

And I see the group whose throats had been tight

Racing exuberantly and expansively

وأرى معاشرَ كنت ضيقَ حلوقِهم

يتسابقون تفسُّحاً وتوسعا

You were not defeated, so how did I find them

Inflamed with that fever and weakened in that place

ما كنتَ مغلوباً فكيف أبحتهم

ذاك الحمى وأضعتَ ذاك الموضعا

And they entered your den in safety and perhaps

They passed by it, difficult to access and prohibited

ولَجُوا عرينَك آمنين وربما

مرّوا به صعبَ الولوج ممنَّعا

They gathered but did not plug your place, even a little

And they expanded but were not patches for your tear

جَمَعوا فما سدُّوا مكانَك ثُلمةً

وسَعَوا فما كانوا لخَرقك مَرقَعا

Al-Numan did not sheathe his sword of speech

Until you passed away, so your two days were together

ما أغمد النعمانُ سيفَ لسانه

حتى ثويتَ فكان يومُكما معا

And the ignorant speaking of immortality after you

Found gloating to be sweet, so he sipped it

ومحدِّثٍ بالخُلد بعدك جَهلُه

وجدَ الشماتةَ حلوةً فتجرَّعا

Life did not quench its thirst for you with effort

So your death quenched it, rendered helpless, so it bid farewell

لم تشفه منك الحياةُ بجهدهِ

فشفاهُ موتُك عاجزاً فتودَّعا

Let him not gloat, even if he lives on later

Inevitably he will follow your fate

لا يشمتنّ وإن أقام مؤخَّراً

لابدّ أن يقفوك ذاك المَصرعا

How many subjugations has he sold, and if he possessed wishes

It would suffice him as pride to elude your finger

كم فُتَّه باعاً ولو ملك المنى

لكفاه فخراً أن يفوتَك إصبعا

What is wrong with me? I felt comfort in a quarter of your house

I have become desolate and anxious from it

مالي وكنُت بربع دارك آنساً

أمسيتُ منه موحَشاً متفزِّعا

And I see it barren after I had cultivated it

Fertile through your friendship and your ease made it a pasture for me

وأراه جدباً بعد ما قد زرتُه

خِصباً بودّك لي ويُسرِك مرتَعا

Days whose sole possession against dispute is you

Whatever loyalty saturates and fulfills

أيامَ أملكُ منك غير منازَع

في كلّ ما أروَى الوفاءُ وأشبَعا

Deaf regarding who blamed him

And a mouth quick to what delighted me

سمعاً بطيئاً فيّ عمن لامه

وفماً إلى ما سرَّني متسرِّعا

So I will cry for you from a sincere heart

Even if an insincere eye cried

فلأبكينّك من فؤادٍ ناصح

في الحزن إن جفنٌ بكى متصنِّعا

And I will preserve you with my tongue, and you will not see

A right wasted by the eloquent and free

ولأحفظنّك باللسان ولن ترى

حقاً على الحرّ الفصيح مضيَّعا

Your burial site joined the ruins, and revolving fate

Is pleased by its meadow, the patched place

وصلتْ ثراك على البلى وكَّافةٌ

تُرضي بروضتها المكانَ البلقعا

Filled bosomed over the soil, grieving

Watering the life source if it was weaned of what it suckled

ملىء الثُّدِيِّ على الثرى حنَّانةٌ

تسقِي إذا فطمَ الحيا ما أرضعا

It took from the north wind a covenant for it

Of safety and a vow it will not breach

أخذتْ من الريح الشَّمالِ لها الصبا

عهدَ الأمان وذمةً لن تَقشعا

If fate betrayed my pact, it only

Broke it, though it sought to do good

إن خان منك الدهرُ عهدي إنما

في نقضه وعلى محاسنه سعى

Gently, o fate, for it is hardened, the staff

Not softened except a source of pain

رفقاً بقلبي يا زمانُ فإنه

صُلبُ العصا ما أنَّ إلا موجَعا

You shot me, so leave my palm support

To guide chance or my palm an escape

راميتني فاترك لكفّي ساعداً

يُصمي المريَّة أو لكفِّي منزَعا

If the one who took the friend from me had

Compensation, he would prolong deprivation until I despair

لو كان مَن أخَذَ الردى منّي له

عوضٌ أطال على الردى أن أجزعا

Or if I wept him and envisioned

His like, no tears would have come from me

أو كنتُ أبكيه وأكحَلُ ناظراً

بنظيره ما بلَّ مني مدمَعا