هَلْ مَنْ يعينُ عَلَى التجلدِ ساعةً

فمع الدموعِ تجلُّدي قد سالا

Is there one who can help me show endurance for an hour?

With tears, my endurance has flowed away.

طفلٌ بجوفِ الليلِ يبكي عارياً

نال الضنى من جسمه ما نالا

A naked child cries in the belly of the night.

Affliction has seized his body, seizing without cease.

ما راعه إلاّ دنوّي نحوه

كالفرْخِ ريع لكاسرٍ قَدْ صالا

I approached him compassionately like

A feeble chick to a vicious fowler fully armed.

ساءَلته ما خطبُه فتدفَّقتْ

منه الدموعُ فما استطاع مقالا

I asked him what was his problem, whereupon

Tears streamed from him, he was unable to speak.

فمسحتُها حتى اطمأْنَّ فؤادُهُ

وأَعدتُ بعدئذ عليه سؤالا

I wiped them until his heart was calmed,

And after that I asked him some more questions.

ماذا أقول وقد رميت بكلِّ فا

دحةٍ تدكُّ بهولِها الأَجبالا

What can I say? I was struck down

By every horrible misfortune that can move mountains.

ذهب الزمانُ بوالديَّ ولم يدعْ

حتى طوى عماً وأَودى خالا

Time has taken my parents and left me no

Uncles or aunts that it did not destroy.

وشقيقة كالغصنِ في غلْوائه

عصفتْ به ريحُ المنونِ فمالا

And a sister, like a bough in her flourishing,

Was swept away by the wind of death and leaned over.

وأَعضَّ نابُ الجوعِ طاويَ مهجتي

وأَثابني داءً عليه عضالا

And the fangs of hunger tore my entrails

And rewarded my body with an incurable disease.

فسعيتُ نحو الموتِ أَعلم أَنه

من ضنْكِ هذا العيش أحسن حالا

So I sought death, knowing that it

Was a better state than the woe of this life.

وإلى هنا انقطعَ الحديثُ لعارضٍ

بين الكلام وبينه قد حالا

And here, speech was cut off by some obstacle

That came between speech and him.

لله إِذْ أَلقى عليَّ بنفسه

والموتُ جدَّ بجسمه إِيغالا

By God, when he threw himself upon me,

And death earnestly penetrated his body,

لَفَظَ الحياةَ عَلَى يديَّ فشمتها

نوراً إِلى الملإِ العليِّ تعالى

He breathed his last in my hands, so I smelled

A light rising to the Most High God.

وسمعتُ هينمةَ الملائِكِ حوله

ورأيتُ رحمةَ رَبِّنا تتوالى

And I heard the humming of angels around him

And saw the mercy of our Lord unfolding continuously.

فهناك أُسقط في يديَّ وعقَّني

جلدٌ تملَّك مدمعاً هطّالا

There my endurance, which had abandoned me, fell into my hands

And disciplined my weeping eyes pouring down tears.