أَبو غازي السَلامُ عَلَيكَ مِنّا

وَعَفواً أَيُّها المَلِكُ الهُمامُ

Abu Ghazi, peace be upon you from us,

And grant us your pardon, O gallant King.

فَما ضاقَ الكَلامُ بِنا وَلَكِن

وَجَدنا الحُزنَ أَرخَصُهُ الكَلامُ

For words have not failed us, yet,

We found that the cheapest expression of grief is speech.

وَخَطبُكَ لا يَفيهِ دَمعُ باكٍ

وَلَو أَنَّ الَّذي يَبكي الغَمامُ

Your calamity cannot be sufficed by a weeper's tear,

Even if the one weeping were the rain-clouds themselves.

وَنَحنُ أَحَقُّ أَن نَبكي وَنُرثى

فَمَوتُكَ مِن بَني العُربِ اِنتِقامُ

We are more deserving to weep and to be mourned,

For your death is a vengeance exacted upon the Arabs.

خَبا نِبراسُنا وَاللَيلُ داجٍ

وَمَوجُ الحادِثاتِ لَهُ اِلتِطامُ

Our lantern has faded while the night is pitch dark,

And the waves of calamity crash against one another.

وَكُنتَ لَنا الدَليلَ فَغِبتَ عَنّا

وَكُنتَ حُسامَنا فَنِبنا الحُسامُ

You were our guide, but now you have departed from us;

You were our sword, but the blade has become dull.

كَأَنَّكَ قَد وَتَرتَ المَوتَ قِدماً

وَهابَكَ في كَنانَتِكَ السِهامُ

It is as though you had offended Death in times past,

And he feared the arrows within your quiver.

فَدَبَّ إِلَيكَ مِثلَ اللِصِّ لَيلاً

وَكانَ المَوتُ لَيسَ لَهُ ذَمامُ

So he crept towards you like a thief in the night,

For Death possesses no covenant of honor.

طَوى الدُنيا نَعِيُّكَ في ثَوانٍ

فَريعَ البَيتُ وَالبَلَدُ الحَرامُ

The news of your death folded the world in seconds,

Terrifying the Sacred House and the Holy City.

وَدِجلَةُ كَالطَعينِ لَهُ أَنينٌ

وَفي بَرَدى اِلتِاعٌ وَاِضطِرامُ

The Tigris moans like one stabbed with a spear,

While in the Barada there is anguish and burning fire.

وَرُحنا بَينَ مَصعوقٍ وَساهِ

كَمَن صَرَعَت عُقولُهُمُ المُدامُ

We were left between the thunderstruck and the dazed,

Like those whose minds have been felled by wine.

كَأَنَّ الأَرضَ قَد مادَت وَفُضَّت

عَنِ المَوتى الصَفائِحُ وَالرُجامُ

As if the earth swayed and split open,

Casting off the tombstones and cairns from the dead.

فَمَن لِلبيضِ وَالجُردِ المُذاكي

وَفَيصَلٌ باتَ يَحويهِ الرُغامُ

Who now remains for the white blades and the thoroughbred steeds,

Now that Faisal is embraced by the dust?

وَمَن لِلحَقِّ يَنشُرُهُ لِوءً

بِهِ لِلناسِ هَديٌ وَاِعتِصامُ

And who will now unfurl the banner of Truth,

In which lies guidance and refuge for the people?

توارى امَجدُ في كَفَنٍ وَلَحدٍ

وَغابَت في التُرابِ مُنىً عِظامُ

Glory has hidden itself within a shroud and a grave,

And great hopes have vanished into the soil.