ما أَكرَمَ اللَهَ عَزَّ مِن مَلِكٍ
وَرِزقُنا مِن دَلائِلِ الكَرَمِ
How generously has God, Almighty, honored the king,
And provided for us proofs of His generosity.
كَم عالَ مِن كافِرٍ وَكافِرَةٍ
مِن اِبتِداءِ الصِبا إِلى الهَرَمِ
How many an infidel man and woman has risen
From the beginning of youth to old age.
ثُمَّ اِستَقَلّا إِلى قُبورِهِما
وَالقَبرُ لِلنازِلينَ كَالحَرَمِ
Then they descended to their graves,
And the grave is like a sanctuary to the interred.
إِذا عِظامُ الفَتى بِهِ أَرَمَّت
حَسِبتَهُ مِن ثَمودَ أَو إِرَمِ
When the youth’s bones have settled in it,
You would think him to be from Thamud or Aram.
قَد وَطِئَ الأَخمَصانِ وَيحَهُما
عَلى جُسومِ الرِجالِ وَالحُرُمِ
The two shattered ones have trodden and scattered them,
Over the corpses of men and women.
يا جَسَدَ المَيتِ كَم أُضيفَ إِلى
تُربِكَ مِن ياسِرٍ وَمِن بَرَمِ
Oh corpse, how much has been added
To your soil, of potent spell and sterile sand!
وَأَوقَدَ الناسُ فَوقَ أَرضِهِمُ
أَمثالَها مِن مُجَمَّعِ الضَرَمِ
And people have kindled over their own land
The like of it from the gathered fuel.
لَو أَنصَفوا نَزَّهوا سَوامَهُمُ
مِن غَلَيانِ الكُسورِ في البُرَمِ
Had they been just, they would have purified their dark souls
From the seething of hatred in the dunes.
قَرمٌ هَوى مُقرِمٌ بِصارِمِهِ
يَدعو بِهِ لا شُفيتَ مِن قَرَمِ
A mangy camel fell, mangy due to his sharpness;
You will not be healed from manginess.
حَرَمتَني الكَونَ في الرِياضِ وَأَن
أَنشَقَ رَيّا العَرارِ وَالبَرَمِ
You have forbidden me the meadows and that
The winds of the lush meadows and knolls should burst open.
أَو أَرِدَ الماءَ بَعدَ خامِسَةٍ
في هَجَماتِ الحِلالِ وَالصِرَمِ
Or that water should flow after the fifth time
In the attacking waves of the lawful and unlawful.
قَضَّيتَ بي حَقَّ رِفقَةٍ وَفَدَت
حَسبُك مِن مَأثَمٍ وَمُجتَرَمِ
You have decreed for me the right of a departed company and it sufficed
You from sin and criminality.
رُبَّ مَهاةٍ نَفَت بِمِروَدِها ال
أَعداءَ عَن طِفلِها فَلَم يَرِمِ
How many a roaring she-camel has driven away with her bellowing
Enemies from her calf, and did not throw.
حُمَّ لَها نابِلٌ فَغادَرَها
مَخضوبَةً بِالنَجيعِ وَهيَ رَمي
A howdah was put on her, so she left it
Bloodstained with bellowing while she was throwing.
