لم يَدْرِ ناعيكَ مَنْ إليَّ نَعَى
ولا مُواليكَ ما الّذي سَمِعا
Your bereaver knew not who it was that brought me the mournful news,
Nor who heard your mourners what it was they'd come to recite.
نعَى إليّ الربيعَ مُنْصرِماً
نعَى إليّ الرَّبيعَ مُرتَجعا
Spring itself seemed to mourn as it bade the year farewell,
And return in mourning once the year had ended its span.
نعَى إليّ الوزيرَ في مَلأ
فما عدا النّاظرانِ أنْ دَمَعا
Before gathered nobles the Vizier was mourned publicly, though none
Wept but two who gazed on, their eyes filled with tears.
ولا جُفونُ الرّجاءِ أن قَرِحَتْ
ولا فُؤادُ العُلا أنِ انصَدعا
No longer didExpectation's eyes gleam with hope,
Nor did High Ambition's heart beat with life.
للهِ عَينٌ رأتْ بمَصرَعِه
كيف غمامُ المكارمِ انقَشعا
Allah gave me an eye that at his deathbed witnessed
How the clouds of munificence were torn and dispersed.
والبيضُ تَجلو بُروقُها لُمَعاً
والضّربُ يَمْري دِماءه دُفَعا
How the lightning flashed and flickered through the darkness
How the strokes succeeded, his blood flowing free.
عَدِمْتُ قلبي إذا تذكّرَه
إن لم يكُنْ مثْلَ جسمه انقَطَعا
My heart expires whene’er I remember him -
Would that, when his body fell, my soul had shattered!
ما كنتُ أخشَى في الدَّهر حادثةً
إذا تَوقَّعْتُ دون ما وقَعا
Never had I feared what disasters time might unfurl
Were it not for this, the most dreadful of all.
حَبْلُ رجاءٍ للخَلْقِ مُتَّصلٍ
مَدَّتْه أيدي الغُواةِ فانقَطعا
A lifeline of hope for mankind had been severed
By the hands of the wicked, and cut short its thread.
تاجٌ أرادَ الحُسّادُ أن يضَعوا
منه وقد كان جَلَّ وارتفعا
A crown coveted by jealous foes for removal
Had sat high above them, grand and sublime.
فعَفَّرَتْهُ العِدا وصاحبُه
يَنظرُ ما بينَهم ولا دَفَعا
Yet Hatred soiled it, its wearer looking on
At what came between them, unable to stop it.
أما درَى أنّهم إذا وضَعوا
تاجَ مليكٍ فاللاّبسُ اتّضعا
Do they not know that when a monarch's crown is seized,
He who wore it will suddenly be humbled?
أَقسمتُ لا نالَ بعدَه فَرَحاً
مُلْكٌ غدا التّاجُ عنه قد وَقَعا
I swear no kingdom will ever again know gladness
Once the crown has been wrested from one such as he.
قَرْمٌ تَولَّى فعاد مُفتَرِقاً
شَمْلُ مُلوكٍ برأْيه اجتَمعا
A herd that abandoned him will scatter in fragments
A realm united in concord under his reign.
وكان والمُلْكَ صاحبَيْنِ معاً
فهاهُما اليومَ ذاهبانِ مَعا
Two were made one under his rule, but today
Behold them both lost and wandering separate ways.
