ما لي أُوَدِّعُ كُلَّ يَومٍ ظاعِناً

لَو كُنتُ آمُلُ لِلوَضاعِ لِقاءَ

Why should I bid farewell each day to one in decline

If I hoped the lowly would meet, I'd stay

وَأَروحُ أَذكَرَ ما أَكونُ لِعَهدِهِ

فَكَأَنَّني اِستَودَعتُهُ الأَحشاءَ

And my soul remembers what it was in his time

As though I had entrusted it to his bosom

فَرَغَت يَدي مِنهُ وَقَد رَجَعَت بِهِ

أَيدي النَوائِبِ وَالخُطوبِ مِلاءَ

So it left my hands and came back filled

With misfortunes and calamities in abundance

تَشكو القَذى عَيني فَيَكثُرُ شَكوُها

حَتّى يَعودَ قَذىً بِها أَقذاءَ

My eyes complain of grit, and their complaints grow

Until the grit becomes a disease within them

شَرَقٌ مِنَ الحِدثانِ لَو يُرمى بِهِ

ذا الماءُ مِن أَلَمٍ أَغَصُّ الماءَ

A youth who, were he cast into this water,

Would from pain make the water bitter

أَحبابِيَ الأَدنَينَ كَم أَلقى بِكُم

داءً يَمُضُّ فَلا أُداوي الداءَ

My closest friends, how much illness I meet in you

That will not be cured, incurable

أَحيا إِخاءَكُمُ المَماتُ وَغَيرَكُم

جَرَّبتُهُم فَثَكِلتُهُم أَحياءَ

Your brotherhood was revived by death, and others

I tested, and they failed me while alive

إِلّا يَكُن جَسَدي أُصيبَ فَإِنَّني

فَرَّقتُهُ فَدَفَنتُهُ أَعضاءَ

Unless my body was struck, and so

I divided it and buried it limb by limb