1. لو كنت أملك للأقدار واقيةً

    دفعتُ عنك أبا الخطّاب ما طرقا

    If I possessed a shield against fate,

    I would have kept from you, Abu al-Khattab, what came by night.

  2. إنّ الزّمانَ ولا عَدْوَى على زمنٍ

    سقانِيَ المُرَّ مِن فقدِيك حين سقى

    Indeed, time—and there is no redress against time—

    made me drink the bitterness of my loss of you when it poured.

  3. كم ذا كسيتَ غصوناً وهي ذاويةٌ

    الماءَ من جاهك المبسوط والورقا

    How often you clothed branches, though they were withered,

    with water from your far-reaching influence, and with foliage.

  4. وكم أجَرْتَ بلا مَنٍّ ولا كدرٍ

    مستمسكاً بك في خوفٍ ومُعْتَلِقا

    And how often you gave refuge, without reproach or ill will,

    to one holding fast to you in fear and clinging to you.

  5. قد نال قومٌ وحلّوا كلَّ عاليةٍ

    ومثلَ ما نلته في النّاسِ ما اِتّفقا

    Others attained rank and reached every height,

    but among men nothing like what you attained ever came to pass.

  6. وما ذخرتَ سوى حَمْدٍ ومَكرُمةٍ

    وإنّما يذخرون العين والوَرَقا

    You stored up nothing but praise and noble deeds,

    while they store up only gold and silver.

  7. حكمتَ في الدّهرِ لا رزقاً أصبتَ به

    والأمرُ بعدك في الدنيا لمن رُزقا

    You held sway over time, rather than merely gaining a livelihood through it;

    after you, worldly power goes to whoever is favored with it.

  8. فلم تعرِّجْ على لهوٍ ولا لَعِبٍ

    ولا بعثتَ إلى حاجاتك المَلَقا

    You never turned aside to amusement or play,

    nor sent flattery in pursuit of your needs.

  9. سُستَ الملوكَ وودّ القومُ أنّهُمُ

    ساسوا وما بلغوا تلك المُنى السُّوَقا

    You governed kings, while others wished that they

    could govern common folk, yet never attained that ambition.

  10. وإنّما كنتَ باباً للملوك ومذْ

    ذُقتَ الرّدى سُدّ ذاك الباب واِنغلقا

    You were the gateway to kings, and ever since

    you tasted death, that gate has been barred and closed.

  11. وما تركتَ من الدّنيا وزينتها

    مِن بعدِ فقدك إلّا رَثَّها الخَلَقا

    You left nothing of the world and its adornment

    after your loss but its shabby, worn-out remnants.

  12. وحالكٍ شَحِبِ القُطرين مُلتبسٍ

    أَطلعتَ فيه برأيٍ واضحٍ فَلَقا

    And in many a dark, bewildering plight, dim at both horizons,

    you brought forth a dawn with lucid counsel.

  13. وموقفٍ حَرِجِ الأرجاءِ قمتَ به

    والبَيْضُ تنثرها ما بينهما فِلَقا

    And many a position, perilous on every side, you held,

    while you scattered bright blades in shards between the two sides.

  14. طَعنتَ بالرّأي فيه والقنا قَصِدٌ

    والطَّعنُ يفتقُ بالأجساد ما اِرتَتقا

    You thrust there with counsel while the spears lay shattered,

    and spear-thrusts tore open what in bodies had been joined.

  15. فقد رأوا منك ماذا كنتَ تعملهُ

    في ضالعٍ شذّ أو في مارقٍ مَرَقا

    They saw from you what you used to do

    to a dissenter who strayed, or a renegade who broke away.

  16. ناموا عن الملك إِهمالاً لنصرتِهِ

    وأنت تكرع فيه وحدَك الأَرَقا

    They slept, heedless of kingship, neglecting its defense,

    while you alone drank deep of sleeplessness in its cause.

  17. صدقتَ في نصره حتَّى أقمتَ له

    دِعامَه والفتى في الأمر مَن صدقا

    You were true in its defense until you raised for it

    its pillars; in any undertaking, a true man is one who proves true.

  18. يا حِلْفَ قصرٍ مشيدٍ فوق نُمْرُقةٍ

    على الأريكة قد أصبحتَ حِلْفَ نَقا

    O companion of a lofty palace, upon a cushion

    on a couch, you have become the companion of a sand dune.

  19. ويا مبيناً على الأطواد من عِظَمٍ

    كَيفَ اِرتَضيت بوَهدٍ هَبْطَةٍ نَفَقا

    And O you who towered above mountains in greatness,

    how could you accept a tunnel in a low-lying hollow?

  20. راموا لِحاقك في علياءَ شاهقةٍ

    وهل ترى لمحلّ النَّجمِ مَن لحقا

    They sought to catch you on a towering height,

    but do you see anyone who has reached the star's abode?

  21. وثِقتُ فيك بما لم أخشَ نَبْوَتَه

    وطالما عاد بالإخفاقِ مَن وثقا

    I trusted in you with a confidence I never feared would fail,

    though often one who trusted has returned disappointed.

  22. وطالما كنتَ لي في كلّ مُعضلةٍ

    حصناً حصيناً وماءً بارداً غَدَقا

    And how often, in every difficulty, you were for me

    an impregnable fortress and cool, abundant water.

  23. فأىُّ عينٍ عليك الدّمعَ ما قَطرتْ

    وأيُّ قلبٍ بنار الهمِّ ما اِحترقا

    What eye has not shed tears for you,

    and what heart has not burned in sorrow's fire?

  24. ولو نظرتَ إلينا بعد فُرقتنا

    رَأيتَ منّا الّذي رتّقتَ مُنفتِقا

    Had you looked at us after our parting,

    you would have seen what you stitched together in us torn open.

  25. أَعزِزْ عليَّ بِأن تُضحِي على شَحَطٍ

    منّا ورهنُك في كفِّ الرّدى غُلِقا

    How grievous to me that you should lie far

    from us, your pledge forfeited in death's hand,

  26. وأنْ يراك فريداً وسْطَ مُقفرةٍ

    مَن لو خطرتَ له لاقى الرَّدى فرَقا

    and that you are seen alone amid a barren waste

    by one who would meet death from fear if you appeared to him.

  27. إنْ تُمسِ مرتفقاً بالتّربِ جَنْدَلَةً

    فطالما كنت بالعَيّوقِ مرتفقا

    If now you rest your elbow on a stone in the dust,

    yet so often you rested it upon al-Ayyuq.

  28. وإنْ لمستَ الثَّرى مَيْتاً فما رضيت

    منك التَّرائبُ ديباجاً ولا سَرَقا

    And if, dead, you touch the soil, they were never content—

    your breastbones—with brocade or fine silk.

  29. وإنْ سكنتَ مُصيخاً للرّدى فبِما

    أصبحتَ من قبل أعلا ناطقٍ نطقا

    And if you lie still, listening to death, how often

    in former days you were the loftiest speaker ever to speak.

  30. وإنْ أقمتَ مقاماً واحداً فبما

    شَنَنْتَ نحو المعالي النَّصَّ والعَنقا

    And if you dwell in a single place, how often

    you sped toward noble heights, at full speed and a brisk trot.

  31. وإنْ مضيتَ فماضٍ خلَّفَتْ يدُه

    فينا الجميلَ الّذي لَم يمضِ واِنطلقا

    And if you have gone, you are one whose hand has left

    among us goodness that has not passed away or vanished.

  32. فَما لَنا صِحّةٌ من بعد مصرعهِ

    ولا دواءٌ لشاكٍ يمسِكُ الرَّمَقا

    So no health is left to us after his fall,

    nor medicine to preserve a sufferer's last breath.

  33. ولم يكن غيرَ نجمٍ غاب من أفقٍ

    وغيرَ سَجْلٍ جلالٍ للورى دَفَقا

    He was none other than a star that vanished from a horizon,

    and a mighty bucket that poured forth for humankind.

  34. وقد مضى مالكُ الرِّبْقاتِ قاطبةً

    فاِنسوا بمصرعه مَن يملك الرِّبَقا

    The master of all bonds has departed;

    so, at his death, forget anyone who holds the bonds.

  35. فلا لقيتَ من الضَّرّاءِ لاقيةً

    ولا سقاك البِلى طَرْقاً ولا رَنِقا

    May you meet no affliction of adversity,

    nor may decay give you fouled or murky water to drink.

  36. اِذهبْ فزادك إنعامٌ ملكتَ به

    رِقَّ الرّجال وقد زوّدتني حُرَقا

    Go; your provision is the kindness by which you won

    men's servitude, while you have provisioned me with burning grief.

  37. ولا يزلْ جَدَثٌ أُسكِنْتَ ساحتَه

    ملآنَ ريّانَ مِن وَكْفِ الحَيَا عَبِقا

    May the grave in whose precinct you were lodged remain

    brimming, well-watered by the pouring rain, and fragrant.

  38. وإنْ مررتُ على قبرٍ حللتَ به

    لَوَيتُ بعد اِجتِيازي نحوك العُنُقا

    And if I pass a grave in which you have settled,

    after passing by, I turn my neck toward you.