1. أصم ناعيك آذاني وأنساني

    ما حل قبلك بي يا خير إنسان

    The herald of your death deafened my ears and made me forget

    What befell me before you, O best of men.

  2. أصمني ونفى نومي وأغرقني

    يا قان أهل الوفا بالمدمع القاني

    He deafened me, banished my sleep, and drowned me—

    O you who won the loyal—in crimson tears.

  3. فما أنا اليوم يا ابن الأخت ذو رمق

    يحيى به بعض يوم عاجز عاني

    So today, O my sister's son, I have no spark of life

    By which a helpless captive might live part of a day.

  4. ولا بحامد عيشٍ يا خليل غدا

    أحلى وأطيب منه سمُّ ثعبان

    Nor do I praise life, O Khalil: now

    A serpent's venom is sweeter and more pleasant than it.

  5. أودعت مدحك ديواني فأطربني

    لكنه بالمراثي اليوم أبكاني

    I placed your praise in my book of poems, and it delighted me;

    But today, with its elegies, it has made me weep.

  6. إذا تذكرت أيامي التي سلفت

    في الشام ألفيتها أحلام وسنان

    When I recall my days gone by

    In al-Sham, I find them a drowsy man's dreams.

  7. أيام جودك سيلٌ غير منقطع

    عن العفاة وبحرٌ غير ضنّان

    Days when your generosity was an unceasing torrent

    To supplicants, and a sea that never stinted.

  8. وأنت تحسن مسروراً كأنك من

    راجي نوالك ممطورٌ بإحسان

    And you did good gladly, as though from

    The seeker of your bounty you were showered with kindness.

  9. ويل المنية ما أدهى عجائبها

    أحيت بموتك بعد الموت أحزاني

    Woe to death! How terrible are its wonders!

    Through your death, it raised my sorrows from the dead.

  10. ولم تدع لبني أيوب ليث شرى

    أجرى وأجرع من آساد خفان

    And it left Banu Ayyub no lion of Shara,

    Swifter and broader-throated than the lions of Khaffan.

  11. لو أن إجماعنا في وصف سؤدده

    في الدين لم يختلف في الأمة اثنان

    If our unanimity in describing his nobility

    Were in religion, no two in the community would disagree.

  12. لمن لمن بعدك الأفراس تلجم وال

    أشعار تنظم من قاصٍ ومن دان

    For whom, for whom after you are horses bridled, and

    Poems composed by those far away and those near?

  13. ومن سواك يحلِّي السابحات ويه

    ديها ويمهر أشعاراً بعقيان

    And who but you adorns the swift-swimming steeds and

    Gives them away, and dowers poems with pure gold?

  14. ويعتني بيتامى الشام في سنة

    لا الروض فيها ولا النادي بريّان

    And cares for al-Sham's orphans in a year

    When neither meadow nor gathering-place has its thirst quenched?

  15. لو يشترى يا خليلُ الدمعُ حين يُرى

    فوق الخدود كياقوتٍ ومرجان

    If tears could be bought, O Khalil, when seen

    Upon cheeks like rubies and coral,

  16. أغنى الأراملَ يوم الأربعاء به

    عن راحتيك وعن أنسٍ وعن جان

    With them, the widows on Wednesday would have no need

    Of your two palms, nor of humans, nor of jinn.

  17. لم يبقني للهنا يا ويلتي زمني

    لكنه للعنا والهمِّ أبقاني

    My time has not spared me for happiness—alas for me!

    But it has kept me for suffering and worry.

  18. لو لم تكن بأخيك القرم تعزيتي

    وبالبنين لكان الموت فاجاني

    Had my consolation not been in your noble brother

    And in your sons, death would have struck me unawares.

  19. فليسلم ابن أبيك البر في سعةٍ

    لآله الغر ما كر الجديدان

    So may your father's virtuous son remain safe in abundance

    For his illustrious family, as long as night and day return.

  20. وليبق شبلك إبراهيم وابنتك ال

    كبرى وميشيل أعواناً لسوسان

    And may your lion-cub Ibrahim, and your daughter, the

    Eldest, and Michel live on as helpers to Susan.

  21. عليك رحمة ربي يا خليل فما

    أضرَّ سعيُك في الدنيا بإنسان

    May my Lord's mercy be upon you, O Khalil, for never

    Did your striving in this world harm a human being.