أعلمت بعد نواك ما لاقى الحمى

تركت موادره المدامع علقما

Have you learned what the cherished land endured after your departure?

Tears left its watering places bitter as colocynth.

ما اخضر حتى جاورته سحابةٌ

من راحتيك فعاد رونقه كما

It did not grow green until a cloud drew near it,

From your two palms; then its splendor returned as before.

كانت كغمد السيف رتبتك التي

أعطيتها فغدت بذاتك مخذما

Like a sword's sheath was the rank that

You were granted; through your very self it became a keen blade.

قد كان يغنيك اليراع عن الظُبَى

لو لم تكن كفوءاً لكل منهما

The reed pen could indeed have sufficed you instead of sword edges,

Had you not been equal to each of the two.

نبِّئتُ أن البحر يوم ركبتَه

أمسى وأصبح بالسيول ملجَّما

I was told that the sea, the day you sailed upon it,

Was bridled with torrents, at evening and morning.

ما الممطرات عليك كن سحائباً

لكنهنَّ دعاء أملاك السما

Those raining upon you were not clouds,

But the prayers of heaven's angels.

وشقائقٍ لك في الشآم أراملٍ

حاكت دموع عيونهن الخضرما

And widowed sisters of yours in Syria—

The tears of their eyes rivaled the vast sea,

فرحاً بمن وافى يكرم فاضلاً

ويبرُّ محتاجاً ويخذل مجرما

For joy at one who came, honoring a man of merit,

Helping one in need and forsaking a wrongdoer.

فالحمد للَه الذي بك نور ال

نادي وأخمد بالندى نارَ الظما

So praise be to God, who through you lit up the

Assembly, and with bounty quenched the fire of thirst,

ويراك أطيب من عرارة جلق

ريحاً وأملح من أقاحيها فما

And sees you as sweeter than Jilliq's ʿarār blossom

In scent, and lovelier of mouth than its daisies.