لو كنت أملك للأقدار واقيةً

دفعتُ عنك أبا الخطّاب ما طرقا

If I had a shield against fate,

I would have protected you, O Abul Khattab, from its blows,

إنّ الزّمانَ ولا عَدْوَى على زمنٍ

سقانِيَ المُرَّ مِن فقدِيك حين سقى

Verily time and no affliction upon a time

Gave me the bitter drink after losing you when it gave water.

كم ذا كسيتَ غصوناً وهي ذاويةٌ

الماءَ من جاهك المبسوط والورقا

How much you clothed the boughs when they withered

With water from your outstretched, bountiful hand and leaves.

وكم أجَرْتَ بلا مَنٍّ ولا كدرٍ

مستمسكاً بك في خوفٍ ومُعْتَلِقا

And how much you made flow without trouble or sorrow

Clinging to you in fear and holding fast.

قد نال قومٌ وحلّوا كلَّ عاليةٍ

ومثلَ ما نلته في النّاسِ ما اِتّفقا

Some people attained and settled every high place,

Yet what you attained among people never coincided.

وما ذخرتَ سوى حَمْدٍ ومَكرُمةٍ

وإنّما يذخرون العين والوَرَقا

You hoarded nothing but praise and magnanimity,

While they only hoard the fountain and the leaves.

حكمتَ في الدّهرِ لا رزقاً أصبتَ به

والأمرُ بعدك في الدنيا لمن رُزقا

You ruled time, gaining no provision from it,

And affairs after you belong to those provisioned.

فلم تعرِّجْ على لهوٍ ولا لَعِبٍ

ولا بعثتَ إلى حاجاتك المَلَقا

So you turned not to vanity or play,

Nor sent for your needs insistently.

سُستَ الملوكَ وودّ القومُ أنّهُمُ

ساسوا وما بلغوا تلك المُنى السُّوَقا

You counseled kings, and the people wished

They had counseled, but never attained those heights.

وإنّما كنتَ باباً للملوك ومذْ

ذُقتَ الرّدى سُدّ ذاك الباب واِنغلقا

You were the gate to kings, but since

You tasted misfortune, that gate has shut and locked.

وما تركتَ من الدّنيا وزينتها

مِن بعدِ فقدك إلّا رَثَّها الخَلَقا

And you left nothing of the world and its adornments

After losing you except its ruins taken by creation.

وحالكٍ شَحِبِ القُطرين مُلتبسٍ

أَطلعتَ فيه برأيٍ واضحٍ فَلَقا

Your state was the reddening of the two sides coming together,

You shone in it with clear, penetrating insight.

وموقفٍ حَرِجِ الأرجاءِ قمتَ به

والبَيْضُ تنثرها ما بينهما فِلَقا

And in a position perilous in its dimensions you stood

While the sword blades were strewn between them cleaving.

طَعنتَ بالرّأي فيه والقنا قَصِدٌ

والطَّعنُ يفتقُ بالأجساد ما اِرتَتقا

You stabbed with your view there, and the spear was straight,

And stabbing cleaves bodies whether high or low.

فقد رأوا منك ماذا كنتَ تعملهُ

في ضالعٍ شذّ أو في مارقٍ مَرَقا

So they saw what you used to do

In one insolent or apostate straying away.

ناموا عن الملك إِهمالاً لنصرتِهِ

وأنت تكرع فيه وحدَك الأَرَقا

They slept, neglecting to support the king,

While you alone were wakeful supporting him.

صدقتَ في نصره حتَّى أقمتَ له

دِعامَه والفتى في الأمر مَن صدقا

You were sincere in supporting him until you established for him

A pillar, and the noble one in the matter is the sincere one.

يا حِلْفَ قصرٍ مشيدٍ فوق نُمْرُقةٍ

على الأريكة قد أصبحتَ حِلْفَ نَقا

O, treaty of a palace built upon a rubbish heap,

You have become the treaty of a ruin upon the throne.

ويا مبيناً على الأطواد من عِظَمٍ

كَيفَ اِرتَضيت بوَهدٍ هَبْطَةٍ نَفَقا

O, edifice, atop sand dunes of great height,

How could you accept a collapse to become lowly?

راموا لِحاقك في علياءَ شاهقةٍ

وهل ترى لمحلّ النَّجمِ مَن لحقا

They wanted you to join the most towering heights,

Can you see anyone reaching the abode of a star?

وثِقتُ فيك بما لم أخشَ نَبْوَتَه

وطالما عاد بالإخفاقِ مَن وثقا

I trusted you with what I did not fear failing,

And many a time those who trusted failed.

وطالما كنتَ لي في كلّ مُعضلةٍ

حصناً حصيناً وماءً بارداً غَدَقا

And you were my fortress, strong, in every quandary,

A cool, flowing water in the heat of afflictions.

فأىُّ عينٍ عليك الدّمعَ ما قَطرتْ

وأيُّ قلبٍ بنار الهمِّ ما اِحترقا

So which eye, that did not shed tears for you,

And which heart has not burned from the fire of anxiety?

ولو نظرتَ إلينا بعد فُرقتنا

رَأيتَ منّا الّذي رتّقتَ مُنفتِقا

Had you looked upon us after we were parted,

You would have seen those whom you nurtured split open.

أَعزِزْ عليَّ بِأن تُضحِي على شَحَطٍ

منّا ورهنُك في كفِّ الرّدى غُلِقا

Honor me by sacrificing for some wretches among us

While your pledge is locked in the grip of misery.

وأنْ يراك فريداً وسْطَ مُقفرةٍ

مَن لو خطرتَ له لاقى الرَّدى فرَقا

And that the peerless one see you amid desolation,

He who, had you occurred to him, would meet misery cleft.

إنْ تُمسِ مرتفقاً بالتّربِ جَنْدَلَةً

فطالما كنت بالعَيّوقِ مرتفقا

If you touch the dust with a gown,

You have long been touching the noblest dress.

وإنْ لمستَ الثَّرى مَيْتاً فما رضيت

منك التَّرائبُ ديباجاً ولا سَرَقا

And if you touched the earth dead, you never accepted

From it brocades or silk.

وإنْ سكنتَ مُصيخاً للرّدى فبِما

أصبحتَ من قبل أعلا ناطقٍ نطقا

And if you dwelled silent to fate, with what

You had become the most eloquent speaker speaking.

وإنْ أقمتَ مقاماً واحداً فبما

شَنَنْتَ نحو المعالي النَّصَّ والعَنقا

And if you kept one position, with what

You attacked the heights, the text, and the neck.

وإنْ مضيتَ فماضٍ خلَّفَتْ يدُه

فينا الجميلَ الّذي لَم يمضِ واِنطلقا

And if you passed away, your hand left

Among us the beauty that did not pass but set out.

فَما لَنا صِحّةٌ من بعد مصرعهِ

ولا دواءٌ لشاكٍ يمسِكُ الرَّمَقا

So we have no health after his death,

Nor a cure for one whose life is fading.

ولم يكن غيرَ نجمٍ غاب من أفقٍ

وغيرَ سَجْلٍ جلالٍ للورى دَفَقا

He was nothing but a star who disappeared from the horizon,

And nothing but a glorious record for mankind that flowed.

وقد مضى مالكُ الرِّبْقاتِ قاطبةً

فاِنسوا بمصرعه مَن يملك الرِّبَقا

The owner of lightning bolts in their entirety is gone,

So forget, at his death, the one who owns the lightning.

فلا لقيتَ من الضَّرّاءِ لاقيةً

ولا سقاك البِلى طَرْقاً ولا رَنِقا

You never met an affliction,

Nor did decrepitude give you to drink mouthfuls or sips.

اِذهبْ فزادك إنعامٌ ملكتَ به

رِقَّ الرّجال وقد زوّدتني حُرَقا

Go, your bounty has enabled you to possess

The souls of men, and you have provided me burning thirst.

ولا يزلْ جَدَثٌ أُسكِنْتَ ساحتَه

ملآنَ ريّانَ مِن وَكْفِ الحَيَا عَبِقا

A grave you dwelt in shall remain

Filled with the scent of life diffusing fragrance.

وإنْ مررتُ على قبرٍ حللتَ به

لَوَيتُ بعد اِجتِيازي نحوك العُنُقا

And if I pass by a tomb you resided in

I will crane my neck toward you after passing it.