أَرى الدَهرَ أَفنى مَعشَري وَبَني أَبي

فَأَمسَيتُ عَبرى لا يَجِفَّ بُكائِيا

I see that Time has brought my people and my father’s sons to an end;

I have come to evening tearful, and my weeping never dries.

أَيا صَخرُ هَل يُغني البُكاءُ أَوِ الأَسى

عَلى مَيِّتٍ بِالقَبرِ أَصبَحَ ثاوِيا

O Ṣakhr, can weeping or sorrow avail

one dead, now abiding in the grave?

فَلا يُبعِدَنَّ اللَهُ صَخراً وَعَهدَهُ

وَلا يُبعِدَنَّ اللَهُ رَبّي مُعاوِيا

May God never make Ṣakhr, or the remembrance of him, distant;

nor may my Lord God ever make Muʿāwiya distant.

وَلا يُبعِدَنَّ اللَهُ صَخراً فَإِنَّهُ

أَخو الجودِ يَبني لِلفَعالِ العَوالِيا

Nor may God ever make Ṣakhr distant, for he is

the brother of generosity, building lofty heights for noble deeds.

سَأَبكِيهِما وَاللَهِ ما حَنَّ والِهٌ

وَما أَثبَتَ اللَهُ الجِبالَ الرَواسِيا

I shall weep for them both, by God, as long as one distraught with longing yearns,

and as long as God keeps the firmly rooted mountains fixed.

سَقى اللَهُ أَرضاً أَصبَحَت قَد حَوَتهُما

مِنَ المُستَهِلّاتِ السَحابَ الغَوادِيا

May God water an earth that has come to hold them both

with clouds bursting into rain, journeying forth at dawn.