كَأَنّا وَإِن كُنّا نِياماً عَنِ الرَدى

غَداً تَحتَ أَحجارِ الصَفيحِ المُنَضَّدِ

As though—although we sleep heedless of death—

tomorrow we shall lie beneath stones of close-laid slabs.

نُرَجّي خُلودَ العَيشِ حيناً وَضِلَّةً

وَلَم نَرَ مِن آبائِنا مِن مُخَلَّدِ

For a time, deluded, we hope that life will last forever,

though among our forefathers we have seen no one made immortal.

لَنا فِكرَةٌ في أَوَّلينا وَعِبرَةٌ

بِها يَقتَدي ذو العَقلِ فيها وَيَهتَدي

In those before us lie matter for reflection and a lesson

by which the rational may take example and find guidance.

وَلَكِنَّنا نَأتي العَمى وَعُيونُنا

إِلَيهِ رَوانٍ هاكَذا عَن تَعَمُّدِ

Yet we approach blindness while our eyes

are fixed upon it—thus, deliberately.

كَأَنّا سَفاهاً لَم نُصَب بِمُصيبَةٍ

وَلَم نَرَ مِنّا مَيِّتاً جَوفَ مُلحَدِ

As though, in our folly, no calamity had ever struck us,

and we had never seen one of our dead within a grave niche.

بَلى كَم أَخٍ لي ذي صَفاءٍ حَثَوتُهُ

عَلى الرَغمِ مِنّي مُلحَدَ الرَمسِ بِاليَدِ

Yes—how many a pure-hearted brother of mine have I buried,

against my will, in the grave’s niche with my own hand.

أُهيلُ عَلَيهِ التُربَ مِن كُلِّ جانِبٍ

أَرى ذاكَ مِنّي حَقَّ زادِ المُزَوَّد

I pour the earth upon him from every side,

seeing this as the fitting provision I can give one sent on his way.

وَقَد كُنتُ أَفديهِ وَأَحذَرُ نَأيَهُ

وَأَفزَعُ إِمّا باتَ غَيرَ مُمَهَّدِ

Yet once I would have ransomed him, and dreaded his going far away,

and panicked lest he spend the night with no bed made ready.

لِكُلِّ أَخي ثُكلٍ عَزاءٌ وَأُسوَةٌ

إِذا كانَ مِن أَهلِ التُقى في مُحَمَّدِ

For every brother in bereavement there are solace and an exemplar—

in Muhammad, if he is among the people of piety.