عَبدُ العَزيزِ أنَا فِدَاكَ

مِن كُلِّ مَكرُوهٍ دَهَاك

I offer myself for sacrifice, Abd al-Aziz

To protect you from every hated thing

إِني دَعَوتُكَ فَلتُجِب

فَلَقد تُجيبُ لِمَن دَعاك

Indeed I called upon you, so answer me

You answer those who call upon you

أم عن إجَابةِ دَعوَتِي

يَا لَيتَ شِعرِي من نَهَاك

Or is it that answering my prayer

Is something, I wish I knew, you forbid yourself

عَوَّدتَ عَينِي أن تَرَا

كَ فَما لِعَيني لاَ تَرَاك

My eyes grew accustomed to seeing you

So why can they not see you now?

أنسِيتَنِي فَتَرَكتَنِي

حَاشاكَ أن تَنسَى أخَاك

Did you forget me and abandon me?

Never could you forget your brother!

خَلَّفتَ جَمرا فِي الحَشا

لاَ يَنطَفِي بِسِوَى لِقَاك

You left a coal ablaze in my inner being

That only meeting you again can extinguish

فِي القَلبِ مَا فيهِ منَ ال

ألَمِ المُمِضِّ عَلَى صِبَاك

In my heart is the searing pain

Of grief that consumes my youth

لَو كُنتَ تُبصُر كُلَّمَا

رُمتُ الكتَابةَ فِي رِثَاك

If only you could see whenever

I try to write poetry mourning you

ورَأيتَ دَمعِي وَالمشدَا

دَ عَلى الصَّحِيفَةِ فِي عِرَاك

And see my tears and the ink smudged

Across the page by my struggle

لَعَلِمتَ كَيفَ تَرَكتَنِي

أُصلَى سَعِيراً مِن نَوَاك

You would know how you left me

To suffer infernal fires of your loss

يَا وَاضِعِيه بِحُفرَةٍ

وَمُخلِّفِيه هَا هُنَاك

O you who laid him in a grave

And left him there now

لاَ تَعجَلُوا فِي دَفنِهِ

فَعَسَآ يُعَاوِدُه حَرَاك

Do not hasten to bury him

Perhaps he will come alive again

وَيحِي ومَا هَذَا أرَى

عَبد العَزِيزِ أَأنتَ ذاك

And I see this, can this be

Abd al-Aziz, is it really you?

فِي القَبرِ أنتَ مُمَدَّدٌ

وعلَى تُرَابٍ وَجنتَاك

There in the grave you lie

Covered with earth, your cheeks too

قَلبِي تَوسَّد يَا حَبِي

بُ فَما لَه عَنكَ انفِكَاك

My heart, O my beloved, pillows itself

So how can it ever be torn from you?

أمُحَلِّلا أكفانَه

رِفقاً بِه شَلَّت يَدَاك

Gently freeing his shroud

Your hands have unbound

دَفَنُوكَ بل دَفَنُوا الفَضِي

لَةَ فَهىَ بعضٌ مِن حُلاَك

They buried you - but truly buried

Just a part of your magnificence

مَا صَاحَ مِن مُستَنجِدٍ

إلاَّ ولَبَّتهُ خَطَاك

No beseecher cried out but your sandals

Raced to answer his summons

ولقد نَعَى الناعِي المَحا

مِدَ والمَحَاسنَ إذ نعَاك

Many a eulogizer has mourned the praiseworthy

Virtues lost when you passed

أمَّا الوفَا يَا رَبَّهُ

فَعلَيك تَفرِضُه نُهَاك

But loyalty, by its nature

Is a duty we owe the departed

وَأخُوكَ أحمدُ لَم يَزل

لِوَفَائِهِ يَبكِي وَفَاك

And your brother Ahmad still weeps

For the loyalty you showed in life

مُتَمَلمِلٌ وفُؤادُه

مُتَألمٌ وَالجَفنُ بَاك

Distraught, his heart afflicted, his eyelids flowing

He found a father in you when in tender youth

ألفيتَ فِيه أبَاك مُذ

فَارقَتَ فِي صغَرٍ أبَاك

His own father left him