بقبرك فلتسحب ذيول السحائب

بكل ملث الودق داني الهيادب

In your grave, let the trailing edges of the clouds be drawn,

With every flexing branch, closer to you, O you who is mourned,

يقهقه في أعطافه الرعد ضاحكاً

وتبكي جفون الغاديات السواكب

Thunder laughs in its folds,

And the orbiting planets weep their eyelids.

أمولاي سعد الدين دعوة من رأى

لمثواك صبح الملك مثل الغياهب

O Ayyubid Sa'd al-Din, the prayer of one who saw,

For your tomb the dawn of the king is like the disappearing,

لقد جل جنب الرزء فيك وأقبلت

إلينا صروف الدهر من كل جانب

Indeed, the calamity has been great with you and the turns of fate,

Have come to us from every side.

هو السهم أصمى من فؤادي صميمه

هو الخطب أعيى وصفة كل خاطب

It is the arrow that pierced my heart to its core,

It is the ultimate aim, so whoever wants, let him die,

هو الغاية القصوى فمن شاء فليمت

فكل مصاب دونه في المراتب

For every lesser calamity in ranks,

You have become veiled though you were before it,

أصبحت محجوباً وقد كنت قبلها

يوافي نداك الوفد من غير حاجب

The delegation would meet you without inhibition.

And I return fruitless from your doors,

وأرجع عن جدوى بنانك خائباً

وما عدت يوماً عن نداك بخائب

And never have I returned unsuccessful from you.

I blame a time that does not pity the blamer,

لوم زماناً ليس يحنو للائم

وأعتب دهراً لا يميل لعاتب

And censure a fate that does not incline to the censor.

Oh my sorrow until you reached the lowest state,

فوا أسفي حتى إليك سمى الردى

فجب سنام المجد بعد الغوارب

Then pride's banner was folded after glory.

And he was none other than the unsheathed sword of your sword,

وما كان إلا عبد سيفك موقداً

بماء الطلى والهام نار الحباحب

With the water of sharp blades and the soul’s fire of wars.

He betrayed the companion al-Mu`min treacherously,

هو لصاحب المأمون خانك غادراً

فمن واثق من بعد ذاك بصاحب

So who can trust a companion after that?

I have tasted the bitterness of bereavement in you, so our troubles have become easier,

لقد ذقت طعم الثكل فيك فهونت

مصائبنا يا ابن الملوك المصاعب

O son of mighty kings.

We came to you together, happy and singing praise,

أتيناك جمعاً بين شاد ومنشد

وعدنا فرادى بين باك ونادب

And we returned individuals, weeping and eulogizing.

Peace be upon you, O best destroyed,

عليك سلام الله يا خير هالك

ومن قبلها يا خير ماشٍ وراكب

And before that, O best walker and rider.

The rain cloud's eyelid still waters you crying,

ولا زال جفن الغيث يسقيك باكياً

عليك بمخضل الشآبيب ساكب

Pouring on you with youthful downpours.

It promised at your plains a flood with heavy rainfall,

قما برقه في ساحتيك بخلب

ولا وعده يوماً لديك بكاذب

And it never promised you a day of drought.

If I had tears as plentiful as his generosity,

ولو أن لي دمعاً هتوناً كجوده

لقمت بحق من أياديه واجب

I would have fulfilled the duty of those from his hands.

Whenever my eyes look upon the place of his encampment,

إذا نظرت عيني محط خيامه

حططت قناع الدمع بين المضارب

I remove the mask of tears amongst the tent pegs.

And I remember in him a generosity like Hatem’s,

واذكر منه هزة حاتمية

بصم العطايا والعتاق الشواذب

Signing gifts and emancipations with fingers.

And the splendor of a face the full moon never rose,

وبهجة وجه ما بدا البدر طالعاً

وقابله ألا انثنى مثل غائب

And if it rose to meet it, it inclined like one vanishing.

I vow his favors never receded from his council,

وعهدي لا إفضاله عن جلسيه

ولا فضله عن كل ناد بآئب

Nor did his superiority recede from any miserable suppliant.

Neither has generosity disappeared nor knowledge been lost,

ولا الجود مفقود ولا العلم ضائع

لديه ولا ماء الأماني بناضب

With him, nor the water of hopes drained.

If distance took him bodily,

لئن ذهب البين المشت بشخصه

فما ذكره من كل شعب بذاهب

His memory has not departed from any people.

A young man whose worry in every situation is cultured,

فتى همه في كل كعب مثقف

وهم الورى في هيفاء كاعب

And the worry of creation is in its most tumultuous state.

If settlement settles, generosity settles in every house,

إذا حل حل الجود في كل منزل

وإن سار سار النصر بين المواكب

And if he traveled, victory traveled amongst processions.

He meets enemies triumphant, blessed of good fortune, with a name

يلاقي الأعادي ظافر البشر باسماً

كأن هب يستدعي لقاء الحبائب

As if wild game calls for meeting loved ones.

People wore the garments of wealth while the exalted wore

كسا الناس أثواب الغنى كاسب العلى

فيا ربحه ما بين كأس وكاسب

So what a profitable trade between a cup and its filler!

Eras will remember him in every scene

ستذكره الأحقاب في كل مشهد

بما طاب عنه من ثناء الحقائب

With the sweetness of praise spoken by messengers.

And the thick of script will weep over him in every position,

وتبكيه سمر الخط في كل موقف

وبيض الظبي والخيل بين الكتائب

And the antelope and horses amongst regiments.

Among the people were moons of nightfall, lions of valor,

من القوم أقمارُ الدجى أُسد الوغى

جبالُ النّهى والحلم شُهبُ المناقب

Mountains of prohibition and forbearance, comets of glory.

If you ask their souls from enemies,

فلو تسأل الأعداءُ منهم نفوسَهم

لجادوا بها في منفسات المواهب

They would give them readily in outpourings of gifts.

There is none like him in any glory and felicity,

فما مثلهُ في كلِّ مجدٍ وسؤودٍ

ولا مثلُ عادي يومهِ في المصائب

Nor any like his time in calamities.

This world is no sister to one like it,

وما هذه الدّهياءُ أختٌ لمثلها

ولكنّها معدودةٌ في العجائب

But it is counted amongst wonders.

Never has the ear of time heard of its like,

فما سمعتْ أذن الزّمان بمثلها

ولا نظرتْ من قبلُ عينُ النوائب

Nor has the eye of tribulation seen before it.

Were it not for him I would not have panicked though I felt safe,

ولولاهُ لم أجزع وقد كنتُ آمناً

ولا ظلتُ يوماً للزّمان بهائب

Nor been for a day. apprehensive of fate.

An enemy whose sharpness and cunning did not diminish,

عدا لم يخفْ حدَّ القواضب والقنا

مصابٌ هفا بابن القنا والقواضب

Stricken, so by the son of cunning and clever contrivance.

And he was only the full moon that met its eclipse,

وما كان إلاّ البدرَ وافى خسوفهُ

فهلاّ عداهُ نحو بعض الكواكب

Why not someone among the planets?

He who was pure of garb has passed from every suspicion,

مضى طاهرَ الأثواب من كلّ شبهةٍ

وأدلج في نهجٍ من الحقِّ لاحب

And was shrouded in a path of truth without crookedness.

Prepare O Salah al-Din an understanding look,

أعد يا صلاح الدين نظرة عالمٍ

فهل غيرُ مسلوب الحياة وسالب

Has any but the dispossessed of life and power died?

We accept the doom willingly, and has any youth,

نؤمُّ المنايا طائعين وهل فتىً

عصاها فلم تبكر عليهِ بغاضب

Disobeyed it without it hastily punishing in wrath?

Neither high fortress nor sturdy moat,

فلا دافعٌ سورٌ متينٌ وخندقٌ

ولا كلّ ممنوع الذّرى والنوائب

Nor all forbidden from fate and afflictions.

Death is no person to be avoided with a familiar vanguard,

وما الموت شخصٌ يُتّقى بطليعةٍ

معوّدة الأبطال شعثُ السبائب

Known to valiant heroes, disheveled of garments.

But it ambushes our souls stealthily,

ولكنُّ يغتال ختلاً نفوسنا

ويسري إلينا في خفيّ المذاهب

And comes to us in the most secret paths.

It aims from the bow of destiny its arrows,

يُسدّد عن قوس القضاء سهامهُ

فما أسهم الكُسعيِّ أو قوسُ حاجب

So not the archer’s arrows or eyebrows’ aim.

We lost him so the eyes of his chastity have whitened,

فقدناه فابيضّت عيونُ عُفاتهِ

من الحزن واسودت وجوه المطالب

From sorrow and the faces of seekers have blackened.

As long as you have not lost a horseman of the people,

وما دُمتَ لم يُفقدْ من القوم فارسٌ

ولا علقتْ كفُّ المنون بذاهب

Or the hand of death seized a loved one.