1. أصَبْتَ عَيْنَ المهَا يَا مَوْتُ بِالرَّمَدِ

    وَقَدْ أهَضْتَ جَنَاحَ المَجْد فَاتَّئِدِ

    You struck the oryx's eye, O Death, with ophthalmia.

    And you have broken glory's wing, so go gently.

  2. جَدَعْتَ مَارِنِيَ الأقْنَى وَعن غَرَض

    رميتَ جفنِيَ بَعْدَ المَوْتِ بِالسَّهَدِ

    You severed the tip of my aquiline nose, and deliberately

    you afflicted my eyelid with sleeplessness after death.

  3. هَدَمْتَ مَا شِيدَ منْ رُكْنِ الفخار ولم

    تَتْرُكْ لَهُ أبدا بَادٍ إلَى الأبدِ

    You demolished what was built of pride's pillar, and

    left nothing visible of it, forevermore.

  4. نَاجزتَ في صَرْفِ آجَالٍ قَدِ اقْتَرَبَت

    إذْ لاَ تُسَلِّمهَا إلاَّ يَداً بيدِ

    You promptly settled the exchange of lifespans drawing near,

    for you surrender them only hand to hand.

  5. كَمْ زِدْتَ فِي نقصك العليا جَوَى كَبِدٍ

    حَرَّى فَيَا لَيْتَ لم تُنْقِصْ وَلم تَزِدِ

    How much, by diminishing greatness, you increased the anguish of a liver

    burning hot! Would that you had neither diminished nor increased.

  6. وَكَمْ تَركْتَ رُبُوعاً لَيْسَ يعمرهَا

    سوَى الحَدَايَةِ وَالخُطَّافِ وَالصرَدِ

    And how many dwellings you left with no inhabitants

    save the kite, the swallow, and the shrike.

  7. وَكَمْ قَطَعْتَ غُصُوناً غَيْرَةً فَذَوَتْ

    كَأنَّكَ القَلْب مجبُول على الحسدِ

    And how many branches you cut in jealousy, so they withered,

    as though your heart were fashioned for envy.

  8. وَكَمْ أخذتَ حَلِيفاً للِسَّخَاءِ وكَمْ

    تَرَكْتَ زَنْدَ النَّدَى كَفَّا بِلاّ عَضُدِ

    And how many allies of generosity you took, and how often

    you left generosity's forearm a hand without an upper arm.

  9. وكَمْ تَركْت أباً يَبْكِي عَلَى ولد

    أذَقْتَهُ طَعْم ثُكْلِ الأمّ للولدِ

    And how many fathers you left weeping over a child,

    making them taste a mother's bereavement for her child.

  10. وَكَمْ لُحُودِ قُبُورٍ قد نَثَرْت بهَا

    أعْضَاءَ حسنٍ كمثل الجوهر النَّضِدِ

    And in how many burial niches of graves you scattered

    beautiful limbs, like jewels arranged in rows.

  11. وَكَمْ تَوَسَّدْتَهَا رأساً بِلاَ عنق

    كَمَا ارْتَدَيْتَ بِهَا ثَوْباً بِلاَ جَسَدِ

    And how often you took them as a pillow, a head without a neck,

    as you clothed yourself in them, a robe without a body.

  12. وَكَمْ تَرَكْتَ أميناً غَيْرَ مُؤْتَمَنٍ

    كَمَا تَرَكْتَ عِمَاداً غَيْرَ مُعْتَمَدِ

    And how many trustworthy men you left no longer trusted,

    as you left a pillar no longer relied upon.

  13. وَكَمْ ترقَّيتَ مَرْقىً عَزَّ مَدْركُهُ

    وكَمْ تَخَلَّلْتَ حَتَّى غَابَةِ الأسُدِ

    And how often you ascended a height hard to attain,

    and how often you penetrated even the lions' thicket.

  14. يَا مُرْتَدٍ بِالشَّبَابِ الغَضّ مُنْتَشياً

    مِنْ كأسِهِ هَلْ أحَبَّ السكرَ ذُو رَشَدِ

    O you clothed in fresh youth, intoxicated

    from its cup—has anyone of sound judgment loved drunkenness?

  15. لاَ تَغْتَرِرْ بِشَبَابٍ أنْتَ تَهْدِمُهُ

    أن المنيَّة لاَ تُبْقِي عَلَى أحدِ

    Do not be deceived by youth that you yourself are destroying;

    death indeed spares no one.

  16. وَيَا أخَا الشيب لِمْ لاَ تَنْهَ نفسك عن

    مَا قَدْ جَنَتْ مِنْ فَسَادٍ جَلَّ عن عَدَدِ

    And you, brother of gray hair, why do you not restrain yourself from

    the corruption you have committed, beyond all counting?

  17. هَبِ الشَّبَابَ لَهُ عذر بِصَاحبِهِ

    مَا عُذْرُ أشيبَ فِي العصْيَانِ مُنْفَرِدِ

    Grant that youth affords its possessor an excuse:

    what excuse has a gray-haired man alone in disobedience?

  18. لا تَحْسَبَنَّ سُرُوراً دَائِماً أبدا

    مَنْ سَرَّهُ اليَوْمُ وَافَاُه اكتِئَابُ غَدِ

    Never suppose that happiness lasts forever.

    Whoever today delights, tomorrow's gloom will visit.

  19. والعمر ميدَان سبقٍ والحِمَامُ مَدىً

    وكُلُّ جَارٍ سَيَلْقَى غَايَة الأمدِ

    Life is a racecourse, and death its finish;

    and every runner will meet the end of the allotted span.

  20. يَا ليلة باعتلاج البرق قَدْ عَلِقَتْ

    جوزَاؤُهَا كَاعتلاَق القلب بِالكَبِدِ

    O night, amid the lightning's tumult, there hung

    your al-Jawza, as the heart is bound to the liver.

  21. أبديتِ مِثْلَ الذِي أدبرتِ من قَلَقٍ

    وَلَمْ يَكُنْ بِالذِي أكْمَنْتِ من كمدِ

    You showed unrest like that which you left behind,

    but it was not like the grief you had concealed.

  22. وَكَمْ تصبرتُ حَتَّى لاَتَ مُصْطَبَرٍ

    فَالآنَ أجْهُدُ حَتَّى لات مُجْتَهَدِ

    And how often I forced myself to endure, until no endurance remained;

    now I strive until there is no room for striving.

  23. عِنْدِي شوائِبُ حزن لَوْ رَمَيْتُ بِهَا

    عِنْدَ التَّفَجُّعِ هَامَ الغيث لم يَجُدِ

    I bear mingled sorrows that, were I to cast them

    in lamentation upon the heads of rainclouds, they would yield no rain.

  24. وحسرةٌ جَادَهَا دمعِي فَأوْقَدَهَا

    وَلَوْ عَدَتْ بِجَوَاهَا النجمَ لمْ يَقِدِ

    And an anguish my tears watered, setting it ablaze;

    had it assailed the star with its anguish, the star would not have blazed.

  25. عمرِي لَقَدْ غَالنا الرُّزْءُ الذي طَرَقَتْ

    بِهِ اللَّيَالِي وَجَلَّ الخطبُ عَنْ جَلَدِ

    By my life, the calamity that came knocking has overwhelmed us,

    borne by the nights; the ordeal is beyond endurance.

  26. هِيَ المَقَاديِر فَاقبل مَا حَبَتْكَ بِهِ

    من آجِلٍ نَضِرٍ أوْ عَاجِلٍ نَكِدِ

    These are fate's decrees: accept what they bestow on you,

    whether a flourishing future or a troubled present.

  27. فَلِلأمُورِ مَوَاقِيتٌ مقدَّرةٌ

    مَا بَيْنَ مُنْعَكِسٍ مِنْهَا وَمُطَّرِدِ

    For events have their ordained times,

    whether reversing their course or proceeding steadily.

  28. إنْ لَجَّ شَوْقِي فَلاَ بدع لِذِي عجب

    أوْ قَلَّ صَبْرِي فَلاَ لَوْم لِذِي نكدِ

    If my longing grows relentless, it should surprise no one;

    or if my patience dwindles, there is no blame for one in distress.

  29. عَيْن مسهدة الأجفَان أرَّقَهَا

    نأيُ الحَبِيب وَقَلْتٌ نَاحل الجَسَدِ

    An eye with sleepless lids, kept awake by

    the beloved's distance; and a hollow [unclear reading], wasted in body.

  30. لهفي وَهَلْ نَافِعي لهفي عَلَى وَلدٍ

    إذَا لجأتُ لصبرٍ فِيهِ لمْ أَجِدِ

    My grief! And will my grief avail me for a son

    for whom, when I seek refuge in patience, I find none?

  31. لهفي وَهَلَ نَافعِي لهفي عَلَى قمرٍ

    رَمَاهُ بِالخَسْفِ نَحْسُ الطَّالِعِ النَّكِدِ

    My grief! And will my grief avail me for a moon

    that the ill luck of a baleful ascendant struck with eclipse?

  32. لهفَي ولَهف بنْي الأيَام قاَطبة

    على محمدِ إذْ ولَى ولمْ يعِدِ

    My grief, and the grief of all the children of the days,

    for Muhammad, when he departed and did not return.

  33. وَكُلُّ عَيْنٍ بِمَاءِ الدمع في غَرَقٍ

    وَكُلُّ قَلْبٍ بِنَارِ الشَّوْقِ مُتَّقِدِ

    And every eye is drowning in the water of tears,

    and every heart burns with the fire of longing.

  34. لاَ أعتب الزمنَ المُودِي بسيده

    يَكْفِيهِ مَا حَلَّ في أحْشَاهُ من كمدِ

    I do not reproach Time, which carried off its master;

    the grief that settled in its entrails is enough for it.

  35. وَكَمْ طَلَبْتُ اللَّيَالِي أنْ تُغَيِّبَهُ

    عَنِ المنَايَا فَلَمْ تَفْعَلْ وَلَمْ تَكِدِ

    And how often I asked the nights to conceal him

    from death, but they did not, nor did they come close.

  36. آهٍ لعطفِ بَيَانٍ فِيهِ ذِي نَسَقِ

    قَدْ نَازَعَ القربُ فِيهِ عامل البعدِ

    Ah, for an explanatory apposition in him, joined in sequence,

    where nearness contended with the governing force of distance.

  37. بُنَىَّ لَيْتَكَ لَمْ تُخْلَقْ لِوَرْيِ بِلىً

    يَا لَيْتَنِي لم أُسَمْ بالصبر عن شَهَدِ

    My little son, would that you had not been created for burial in decay!

    O would that I had not been subjected to bitter aloes instead of honey!

  38. وَلَيْتَ بدرك لم يَطْلُعْ عَلَى أفقٍ

    وَلَيْتَ شمسك لمْ تشْرق عَلَى بلدِ

    And would that your full moon had not risen over a horizon,

    and would that your sun had not shone upon a land!

  39. مَا كَانَ أقصر سَاعَات بك ارْتُصِدَتْ

    فَلَيْتَنِي كُنْتُ مَوْقُوفاً عَلَى الرَّصَدِ

    How short were the hours spent keeping watch for you!

    Would that I had been kept at that vigil!

  40. سَقَى الحَيَا قبرَك الزاكِي وَوَاصَلَهُ

    سَحَابُ عَفْوٍ وَغُفْرَانٍ مَدَى الأبدِ

    May the rain water your pure grave, and may it be visited continually

    by clouds of pardon and forgiveness for all eternity.

  41. وَصَبَّرَ اللَّهُ قَلْبَ الوَالِدَيْنِ عَلَى

    مَنْ حَرَّكَ الوجدُ فِيهِ ساكن الجَلَدِ

    And may God grant the parents' heart patience for

    one in whom anguish stirred dormant fortitude.