جزعتُ وأين سبيلُ الجلَدْ

وهذا الفراقُ ونقصُ العددْ

I despaired, where is the way of patience?

This separation and decrease in number!

تلومُ على سقمي والبكاءِ

حنانيكَ فالدمعُ ذوبُ الجسدِ

You blame my sickness and crying,

While your affection melts my body.

لحى الله دهراً بغى ظالماً

وبالغَ حادثهُ واجتهد

May God prolong the life of an unjust time,

And accomplish its events and struggle.

فلم يصفُ من كدرٍ وردُهُ

ولم تخلُ أوقاته من نكد

It did not describe any distress that pleased me,

Nor were its moments free of misery.

رزُئتُكَ عيسى وأنت الجوادُ

عُوجلَ قبلَ بلوغِ الأمد

I wished you well, O Generous one,

Though hastened before reaching the time.

لقد بُهرجَ الناسَ إلا القليلَ

وإنك للخالصُ المعتقد

You have certainly amazed most people,

You are truly the Savior they believe in.

أتاك الحمامُ كأنَّ الحمام

أتاك وقد حكهم وانتقد

The doves came to you as if the doves

Came to you having scratched and picked them.

فللهِ أيُّ هلالٍ هوى

وللهِ أيَّ حسامٍ غَمد

By God! Which crescent has vanished?

By God! Which sword went back in its sheath?

فقدتُكَ عند وجود المشيبِ

فليتَ الفتى واجدٌ ما فقد

I lost you when grey hair appeared,

If only the youth found what was lost!

فسقياً لشخصكَ من راحلٍ

وأهلاً وسهلاً بضيفٍ وفد

Welcome, welcome to the rider from his she-camel,

Welcome, welcome to the guest that visited!

وقد كنتُ أبكي لأدنى أذى

ينالك من قلقٍ أو سَهَد

I used to cry for the slightest harm,

That bothered you from anxiety or sleepiness.

وأشفقُ من ساعةٍ لا أراك

بها فمنيتُ ببين الأبد

And I fear an hour in which I do not see you,

So I wished between eternity and perdition.

فلا الماءُ في ظهر شماء ساغَ ولا

الظلُّ في بطنِ وادٍ برد

Neither the water in the back of a desolate land quenched my thirst,

Nor did the shade in the belly of a cold valley cool me.

وإن جزتَ قبلي طريق المدى

فإني على نهجِ ذاك الجدْ

If you preceded me on the path of eternity,

Then I am on the course of that aim.

وإن كنتُ بعدُ طليقَ الردى

فإني قبلُ أسير الكسَد

And if after you I freely raved,

Before you I was a captive of gloom.

حنى صعدتي يومُ فقدي أخاك

وأعقبه فأقمت الأأوَدْ

You leaned when on the day you lost your brother,

And it was followed by you establishing the poles.

وأمَّلتُ ما فاتني منهُ فيك

مماتَ العدى وحياةَ الحسد

And I hoped for what was lost from you in you,

The death of enemies and life of envy.

خُطفتَ ولم يملأ الصدرَ منك

إباءُ أبٍ فيك أو جدُّ جد

You were taken and a father's refusal did not fill my chest with you,

Nor an ancestor's refusal of an ancestor.

ومن قبلِ خوضِ حشا غارةٍ

وشقِكَ ملمومةً من زرد

And before entering the dreadful fray,

And your tearing [death] painfully by fate.

أهيمُ بقبريكما حنَّةَ

ولم لا وقلبي بهِ والكبد

I wander between your two graves sadly,

Why not when my heart and liver are with it?

فثانيةٌ مرُّها ما حلا

وأولةٌ حرُّها ما خمد

A second the bitterness of which does not subside,

And a first the heat of which does not diminish.

ويا لكما فرطاً نافعاً

وإن ساءني في جوار الصمد

Woe to you two, a beneficial loss,

Though it was disliked being near the Worshipped Lord.

فصبراً عل قضاهُ الإ

لهُ صبراً فأحكامه لا تُرد

So patience upon His destiny,

To Him patience, His rules cannot be rejected.

فآخرةُ الخلق ما نالهُ

ووردُ جميع الورى ما ورد

The end of creation is what it attained,

And the fate of all creation is what came to pass.

وقد كنتُ منرداً بالمُصابِ

ولو كان خصَّ بهِ وانفرد

I used to display anguish over calamities,

Even if it was specific to me and lonely.

وإن كنتَ آنستَ بعدي أخاك

فقد أوحشَ اللهُ منكَ البلد

And if you thought me lonely after you, O brother,

God made the country desolate without you.

وما كنتُ أحيا على مثلها

ولكنَّه أجلٌ أو أمد

I wouldn't live the likes of it,

But it is a term or time.

وأنكَ من معشرٍ همهم

بغير ذوات اللمى والغيد

You are of a group whose concern

Is not for the possessed of injuries and wounds.

لها ميمَ كم أرمدوا مقلةً

بفضلهم وشفوا من رمد

For them the letter meem, how many have become teary-eyed,

By their merits, and were cured from blindness.

وإن سكنوا لم يُخفْ عاصفٌ

وأن نهضوا نحو خطبٍ قعد

If they resided, no storms frightened them,

And if they set out towards grave affairs, they sat.

وإما تلا سابقاً لاحقٌ

فحسبكَ من والدٍ ما ولد

Either a preceding leader or a succeeding follower,

Your father who begot you suffices you.

وإن طاعنوا برماحِ اليراع رأ

يت مديدَ العوالي قِصَد

And if they stab with the spears of censure, I saw

The outstretched elevated positions aim.

بفصل القضاء وإيضاحِه

وعقدِ الأمور وحلِّ العُقد

By the decision of fate and its clarification,

And the tying of matters and untying of knots.

فوارحمتا لكَ من ناحلٍ

فؤادي لبلواه جمُّ الضَّمَد

Have mercy on someone whose heart,

For your afflictions has worn all bandages.

يُدير كليلةَ ألحاظِهِ

ون رام إسراعها لم يكد

It turns the gaze of its eyes,

And if it intends to hasten it, it cannot.

فيعرفني دونَ تلك الجموع ويقصد

ني دون تلك الحفَد

So it knows me apart from those groups, and heads

Towards me apart from those grandchildren.

ويشكو وإن لم يكن ناطقاً

بإرساله اللحظَ أو مدٍِ يد

And it complains even if it is not speaking

By sending a glance or extending a hand.

ومن لي لو أستطيعُ الشفاءِ بما

حُزُ من ثروةٍ أو صفَد

And who do I have, if I could heal

What was retained of wealth or locked up?

وإني كنتُ وعاشَ الفقيدُ

فخلدَ لو أنَّ حياً خلَد

I wished if the departed had lived,

His life would be eternal if alive everlasting.

سلوتُ الحسانَ فغيري سباهُ ما

شاقَ من عينٍ أو جيَد

I asked for beauty so others insulted it

Nothing of an eye or cheek turned away.

ولم تُطف ناري الثنايا العذابُ

وإن كنَّ منظومةً من برد

The fires did not subside within my folds,

Even if it was woven with ice.

وكيف أخفُّ إلى صبوةٍ

ولحمي بين نيوب الأسد

How can I incline towards a beloved,

While my flesh is between the fangs of a lion?

فيا موتُ ما لكَ من غايةٍ

تُرجى ولا رشوةٍ تعتمد

Oh death! What purpose is hoped from you?

What bribery relied upon?

ولا أنت عن أحدِ صارفٌ

أذاةً ولا واقفٌ عند حدّ

You turn not away harm from anyone,

Nor stop at a limit.

أخذتَ الشجاع كأخذ الجبانِ

وصائلةَ الأسد مثلَ النقَد

You seize the brave and the coward equally,

The claws of a lion like a baaing goat.

فيا مفرداً من أحبائهِ

وعزَّ على المجد كيف انفرد

Oh sole consolation of his loved ones,

Honor is difficult without you now you're singled out.

سقى الله قبرَك من هالكٍ

وأنجزَ من برهِ ما وعَد

May God water your grave from a vanished cloud,

And fulfill the good He promised you.

وألحفُه كلَّ فينانةٍ

نباتاً نظيماً ونوراً بدد

May it be covered by every soft foliage,

Orderly greenery and scattered light.

وهزَّ مطاردَ أغصانِه

وجعَّد من مائه ما اطرَّد

May it shake off anyone chasing its branches,

And lump together its water that flows.

إذا نثلَ الغيثُ منه السها

مَ ضاعفَ أدراعهُ أو سرد

When the downpour strips off its garments,

It doubles its meadows or flows down.

وإن عارضٌ سحَّ ماءَ الجفون

فشحَّ سخا غيرهُ أو نهَد

And if an opponent wipes the water of the eyes,

Its own generous gift flows or streams.

فأثوابه جددٌ لا تزالُ تـ

ـرفُ على سهلهِ والجدَد

Its clothes are always renewed, flowing

Over its plains and mounds.

لأدركَ بيتي خفيُّ السنادِ وقد

كنتَ علياءهُ والسنَد

You would reach my fallen house that you were

Its pillar and support.

فما زرعُ حزنك عندي ذوي

وكيفَ وما ماءُ عيني ثمَد

What you sowed of grief in me, is it surprising?

How not when the water of my eyes does not dry?

ولما أطافَ بي اللائمونَ أطعـ

ـتُ الأسى وعصيتُ الفَنَد

When the blamers circled me I obeyed anguish

And disobeyed violent undoing.

وإنَّ من اللؤم لومَ الحزينِ

إذا ما بكى ذاكراً من فقد

It is reprehensible to blame the grieving one,

When he cries remembering who he lost.