Claude 2

  1. يَا فَاقِدَ الوَلَدِ الوَحِيدِ عَجَبْتُ مِنْ

    دَاءٍ عَصَاكَ وَطَالَمَا أَخْضَعْتَهُ

    O you who lost your only son, I wondered at

    An illness that defied you, though you oft subdued it,

  2. لَوْ كَانَ طِبٌّ شَافِياً لَشَفَيْتَهُ

    أَوْ كَانَ حُبٌّ نَافِعاً لَنَفَعْتَهُ

    Had it been a healing medicine, you would have healed him,

    Or a beneficial love, you would have benefited him.

  3. أَوْشَكْتَ مِنْ عِلْمٍ وَمِنْ بِرٍّ بِهِ

    أَنْ تَمْطُلَ الأَقْدَارَ مَا اسْتَوْدَعْتَهُ

    You almost compelled fate with your knowledge and piety

    To prolong what it had entrusted.

  4. لَكِنْ أَطَلْتَ بِالاِبْتِدَاعِ بَقَاءهُ

    فَأَطَالَ فِيهِ السُّقْمَ مَا أَبْدَعْتَهُ

    But you petitioned fate to prolong his life,

    So sickness lingered in what you had created.

  5. وَلَقَدْ سَمَا خُلُقاً وَعَزَّ نَقِيبةً

    وَغَلا حُلىً فلأَجْلِ ذَاكَ أَضَعْتَهُ

    He had a noble character and was a lofty chief,

    He wore precious jewelry, and so you cherished him.

  6. وَفَرَتْ بِهِ غُرًُّ الخِلالِ فَقَصَّرَتْ

    كَلِمُ المُؤْبِّنِ أَنْ تُوَفِي نَعْتَهُ

    The best of traits were delighted with him, cutting short

    The words of the elegist to eulogize him.

  7. وَاليَوْمَ آمَالُ الفَضَائِلِ وَالعُلَى

    يَحْفُلْنَ فِي تَشْيِيعِ مَنْ شَيَّعْتَهُ

    Today hopes for virtues and loftiness

    Throng at the funeral of him you buried.

  8. يَا أَيُّهَا المُتَغَرِّبُ الفَطِنُ الَّذِي

    بِكَ ضَاقَ دَهْرُكَ ظَالِماً وَوَسِعْتَهُ

    O wise expatriate whom

    Hardship has straitened, though you have eased it.

  9. أَكْبَرْتُ مِنْكَ نُهىً وَعَاجِلَ خِبْرَةٍ

    أَنْ تُزْمِعَ السَّفَرَ الَّذِي أَزْمَعْتَهُ

    I forbid you to meditate upon the journey you contemplate,

    For I have great maturity and immediate experience.

  10. وَحَقِيقَةٌ فِي العُمْرِ أَنَّكَ مُخْسِرٌ

    بِشِرَائِهِ وَمُوَفَّقٌ إِنْ بِعْتَهُ

    It is true in life that you lose

    By buying it, and prosper if you sell it.

  11. لَكِنَّنِي أَبْكِي لأُمٍّ ثَاكِلٍ

    فَجَّعْتَهَا وَلِوَالِدٍ فَجَّعْنَهُ

    But I weep for a bereaved mother,

    You have aggrieved her, and a father you have aggrieved.

  12. وَلَسَوْفَ أَنْظُرُ كُلَّ غُصْنٍ زَاهِرٍ

    فَأَرَاكَ عُدْتَ بِهِ وَقَدْ نَوَّعْتَهُ

    I will look upon every flowering branch,

    And see you brought it, having diversified it.