برغميَ أن غاض الندى بكماله

فلم يبق إلا زورة من خياله

Despite the dew having disappeared in its entirety,

Nothing remains but an illusion of its imagination,

وإلا دموع من جفون كأنها

تردّ على مثواه فيض نواله

And tears from eyelids as if

They bid farewell to his resting place with an outpouring of generosity.

أسفت لبدرٍ بانَ عنه محمد

فبان بمعني حسنه وجماله

I grieved for a full moon that set beyond Muhammad,

For "set" means the loss of its beauty and grace.

وولى كما ولى السحاب مودّعاً

وفي كلّ روضٍ نفحة من سجاله

It departed as the clouds bid farewell

And a breeze blew through every garden from its trail.

وزال وقد أبقى جواهر بحره

ومات وقد أحيى مناقبَ آله

Yet it left gems from its sea,

And though it died, it immortalized the virtues of its family.

ألا في سبيل الله مصرع ماجد

تزيلت العلياء مثل زواله

Indeed, in the cause of God the death place of the noble

Is where the high are brought down like his own downfall.

فقدناه فيّاض المكارم واللهى

يشفّ ضياء المجد بين خلاله

We lost the overflowing of generosity, and by God,

The light of glory dimmed during its course.

لئن قصرت أيدي المطالب بعده

لعهدي بها موصولة بحباله

If after him the hands of seekers fall short,

I vow they grasp to its ropes.

لئن بسطت أيدي الحوادث بعده

لعهدي بها مغلولة بنكاله

If after him the hands of events spread wide,

I vow they are chained in its shackles.

بروحيَ وضاح الصفات كأنما

طبعن دراري الحسن بعد خصاله

By my soul! Traits of clarity imprinted

The cheeks of beauty with its attributes.

أما والذي أنشا أياديه والحيا

لقد فقد الظمآن صفو زلاله

Oh He who created his hands and gave him life!

The thirsty have lost the purest nectar.

وقد زال من أفق الأثير عن الورَى

سنا كوكبٍ تسهو السها لمناله

And he who shone from the horizon disappeared from all people,

Like a star veiled by its decline.

فمن للعلى يهدي سبيل رشادها

ومن للرجا يمحو ظلام ضلاله

So who will guide the path of righteousness?

Who will erase the darkness of its misguidance?

ومن ليراعٍ قد أفاض مداده

وجرّ من الأطراس ذيل خياله

Who will tend to a pen that overflowed with its ink

And dragged behind it the tail of imagination?

ومن لخطوطٍ غاب بدر كمالها

فهلاّ فداه الخط بابن هلاله

Who tended lines whose full moon set,

So letters sacrificed Ibn Hilal for it?

ومن لمعانٍ في المهارق تجتلى

بحلي وجوه الخود بين حجاله

Who showed glimpses of meaning in battlefields

Adorned in the cheeks of beauty in its armor?

إلى الله أشكو يوم فقدك أنه

رمى كلّ عقل ناشطٍ بعقاله

To God I complain on the day I lost you, for He

Cast aside every sharp mind with its intellect.

وقوّس من ثقل الرزية أظهراً

فلا غَرْوَ أن أصمى الحشا بنباله

The burden of sadness bent backs

So do not wonder that I deafened al-Hisha with its arrows

بكاك فقير رافع لك قصة

نصبت على التمييز كسرة حاله

You weep, o destitute poet raising elegy to him

Which established excellence at its crux.

وممتدح لهفان يسألك الغنى

أجزت معاني مدحه بسؤاله

And you, o longing one full of praise asking him for fulfillment -

His meanings of praise answered your request.

ومطّلب كانَ ارتحالك قبله

فعطلت الأيام شدّ رحاله

And you, o yearner whose travel was cut short by his death -

So days slackened the packing of your saddlebags.

وعصر حلا جملت مرآه برهةً

وخلّفته ينعي أتمّ رجاله

An era donned its mirror for a time

Then left it lamenting its most perfect of all men.

كأنك لم تنهض بأعباء دولة

تكلف سعي الدهر فوق احتماله

It is as if you never took on the burdens of leadership

Tasking the effort of lifetimes beyond endurance.

كأنك لم تحمل يراعاً تمرها

وتعضدها في سلمه وصياله

It is as if you never carried a pen, feeding it

And propping it up in its peace and skirmishes.

ومن عجب مقدار فرع يراعة

وقد وسع الدنيا بفيء نواله

How wondrous the scale of leadership

That expanded the world with its gains.

كأنك لم تبسط بنان مؤملٍ

يمين غوادي المزن دون شماله

It is as if you never laid down the pillars of expectancy

With a right hand spreading the depths without the left.

وما هي إلا همة لك أنفذت

وصاة رسول الله عند بلاله

Rather it was a resolve you carried out

As executor of the Messenger of God's will to Bilal.

فأنفقت ما أحرزت بالبذل ذخره

وما ذخر مال المرء غير ابتذاله

You spent what you gained by giving it away,

And the wealth of man is none but its expenditure.

عزاء العلى عن راحل بيد الردى

وكلّ مقيم مؤذن بارتحاله

Condolences to the Most High for one carried off by fate

And each resident foretells its departure.

وما الدهر إلا خيط فجر وليله

يجران من شخص الفتى بانتقاله

Time is but a thread of dawn and its night

Dragging the self of man in its transition

وإني وإن أحسنت سلوة فاقدٍ

لمضمر شجوٍ مثخن بنصاله

Even if my consolation appeased a bereft one,

Sorrow lays hidden, gored by its blades.

أينفد عني الحزن بعد محمد

وما استنفذت كفي نوافل ماله

Can anguish over Muhammad cease in me

When my palms have not yet fulfilled its bounties?

أانسى له في كلّ جدب غمائماً

تحثّ على رغم الحيا ومطاله

Can I forget for him in every barren patch, clouds

That stir against the current of lifetimes?

أأنسى له في كلّ درج قلائداً

منظمة من رفده ومقاله

Can I forget for him in every slope, necklaces

Strung with his care and words?

سأبكيه ما لاح الظلام بظلمه

وأبكيه ما ناح الحمام بضاله

I will weep for him as long as darkness spreads its darkness,

And I will weep for him as long as the dove wails for its young.

وما أنا إلا بالجميل مطوق

أولى أسى لا كنت إن لم أواله

I am completely devoted to repayment of kindness -

Would that I were not if I did not repay it.

صدحت له بالمدح عند لقائه

وهذا أوان النوح عند زواله

I lavished praise on him when we would meet,

And now is the time for weeping upon his loss.