Sol 6.1

  1. ناحت عليك الغارة الشعواءُ

    واللامة الحسنية الغراءُ

    The raging raid wailed over you,

    and the radiant Hasani armor,

  2. والخيل والبيداء والصمصامة ال

    حمراء واليزنية السمراء

    and the steeds, the desert, and the keen sword—

    crimson—and the brown Yazani spear.

  3. وتيتمت من بعدك العلماء وال

    حكماء والفصحاء والبلغاء

    After you, the scholars were orphaned, and

    the sages, the articulate, and the eloquent.

  4. وسطا الجريض على القريض وصوَّح ال

    جود الأريض وزالت السراء

    And choking grief assailed verse, and withered lay

    the ample bounty; gladness passed away.

  5. وابيض طرف المجد واحمر الثرى

    بدموعه واسودت البيضاء

    And glory's eye turned white, and the dust grew red

    with its tears; what was white turned black.

  6. وهوت ربوع العلم والحلم انقضت

    أيامه وطوتهما الدهناء

    And the abodes of learning and forbearance fell; ended

    were his days, and al-Dahna enfolded them both.

  7. وتناثرت درر النجوم فخلتها

    درراً بها رثت العُلى العلماء

    And the stars' pearls scattered, and I imagined them

    pearls with which high glory mourned the learned.

  8. يا قطب دائرة المعارف لم يدم

    للعلم بعدك كوكبٌ وضّاء

    O axis of knowledge's sphere, no longer endures

    a radiant star for learning after you.

  9. قضت المعارف والعوارف نحبها

    لما انقضت أيامك الغراء

    Knowledge and beneficence met their end

    when your radiant days came to an end.

  10. والخيل من بعد الجهاد تقدمت

    نحو الحصاد يقودها الطلقاء

    And the steeds, after jihad, advanced

    toward the harvest, led by the freedmen.

  11. والجود بادَ وبدد البخل الرجا

    ودجى الوجود وأظلم الإنباء

    And generosity perished; miserliness scattered hope.

    And existence grew dark, and tidings darkened.

  12. فنهارنا بعد ارتحالك مقلةٌ

    عمياء أو ديجورةً دهماء

    So our daylight, since your departure, is an eye

    blind—or a deep, pitch-black night.

  13. والليل كان سناك يفتق جيبه

    فاليوم جيب قميصه عصماء

    And night—your radiance used to tear its collar open;

    but today the collar of its shirt is impenetrable.

  14. لا تحسبن الصبر بعدك يرتجي

    الصبر زورٌ والسكون رياء

    Do not suppose that patience can be hoped for after you:

    patience is falsehood, and composure pretense.

  15. جاورت محيى الدين يا ابن سميَّه

    فتقدست بضريحك الشهداء

    You became Muhyi al-Din's neighbor, O son of his namesake;

    and so the martyrs were hallowed by your tomb.

  16. وسما الضريح على السماء بكوكبٍ

    حساده السيارة العظماء

    And the tomb rose above heaven with a star

    envied by the mighty wandering planets.

  17. تجري السيول عليه وهي مراحمٌ

    وتذوده العبرات وهي دماء

    Torrents flow over it, and they are mercies;

    and tears defend it, and they are blood.

  18. ما قام يستسقي الغمام به امرؤٌ

    إلّا وفاضت حوله الأنواء

    No man stood to ask the clouds for rain through him

    but rainstorms poured forth around him.

  19. فهو المقام لمن يجل مقامه

    عن أن يقال علت عليه سماء

    It is the abode of one whose station is too exalted

    for it to be said that any heaven rose above him.

  20. السيد الوهاب والمتعبد ال

    أواب عبد القادر الوفّاء

    The master, the lavish giver, the devout worshipper,

    the ever-penitent, Abd al-Qadir the faithful;

  21. العالم العلامة الفهامة ال

    حكم الحكيم الفارس الأبّاء

    the learned man, the great scholar, the deeply discerning,

    the arbiter, the sage, the unbowing knight.

  22. أسفي عليه وإن تبرج جنةً

    خضراء تغبطه بها السعداء

    I grieve for him, though he shines in a garden,

    green, for which the blessed envy him.

  23. أسفي على العلم الذي افتقرت له ال

    علماء واحتاجت له الحكماء

    I grieve for the eminent scholar whom

    scholars needed, and sages had need of;

  24. والبحر بحر الجود والكرم الذي

    رزئت به الفقراء والشعراء

    and for the sea, the sea of bounty and generosity,

    whose loss bereaved the poor and the poets.

  25. أسفي عليه مؤبّدٌ لِعَناه بي

    يوم الشآم وفي الشآم عناء

    My grief for him is everlasting, for his care for me

    on the day of al-Sham—and in al-Sham was suffering.

  26. والناس تذبح في البيوت وبيته ال

    حرم الذي يأوي له الضعفاء

    And people were slaughtered in their homes, while his house was

    the sanctuary in which the weak took refuge.

  27. صلى عليك اللَه ما عرت الصبا

    زهرَ الربى وتغنت الورقاء

    May God bless you as long as the east breeze visits

    the hills' blossoms, and the ringdove sings.

  28. وسقى الرحيق ثراك لا ترضى له

    غير الرحيق عبيدك الشهداء

    And may nectar water your dust; they will not accept for it

    anything but nectar—your bondsmen, the martyrs.

  29. يا بضعة المختار ما أنقى ولا

    واللَه أطهر من أديمك ماء

    O flesh of the Chosen One, nothing is cleaner, nor—

    by God—is any water purer than your skin.

  30. فبما غُسلت وأنت بحرٌ زاخرٌ

    ومتى نَجُست وأمُّك الزهراء

    With what, then, were you washed, when you are a surging sea?

    And when were you ever unclean, when your mother is al-Zahra?

  31. وبما دُفنت وأنت يا علم الهدى ال

    علم الذي ما طاولته سماء

    And with what were you buried, O banner of guidance, the

    mountain no heaven ever rivaled in height?

  32. ما كنت أحسب أن يحل بمسمعي

    قول ابن دأية ماتت الكرماء

    I never thought my ears would hear

    the raven Ibn Da'ya's cry: 'The generous have died.'

  33. سكن ابن فاطمة الضريح وعزَّة ال

    فظّ الشحيح تقلُّهُ الغبراء

    Fatima's son dwells in the tomb, while in pride the

    coarse miser is borne by the dusty earth.

  34. وكأن جود يديه ساعة دفنه

    مس الثرى فاخضرت الحصباء

    And it is as though the bounty of his hands, at his burial,

    touched the dust, and the pebbles turned green.

  35. بك يا زمان السوء تبرح أنجم ال

    مجد الرفيع وتمرح السفلاء

    Through you, O evil age, depart the stars of

    lofty glory, while the lowly make merry.

  36. ما كنت أحسب قبل يحمل نعشه

    أن الجبال تقلها الأمراء

    I never thought, before his bier was carried,

    that emirs could bear mountains.

  37. كلا ولا أيقنت قبل ضريحه

    أن البدور تضمها البطحاء

    No, nor before his burial had I been certain

    that the level earth could enfold full moons.

  38. مات الأمير فنحن بعد مماته ال

    أموات والموتى همُ الأحياء

    The emir has died; after his death we are

    the dead, while the dead are the living.

  39. وسرى لفردوس النعيم مخلفاً

    شرفاً تخر لمجده الجوزاء

    And he journeyed by night to the Paradise of bliss, leaving

    honor before whose glory Orion falls prostrate,

  40. وفطاحلاً ما شاركوا بفخارهم

    بشراً وفي أموالهم شركاء

    and mighty men who never shared their proud distinction

    with any mortal, yet others shared in their wealth.

  41. شم الأنوف كريمةٌ شفراتهم

    وعروضهم موفورةٌ شمّاء

    Proud-nosed, their sword-edges are noble,

    and their honor is unimpaired and exalted.

  42. لي يا بني المختار بعد أبيكم

    وجد الدفين وللحياة بقاء

    For me, O sons of the Chosen One, after your father,

    there is grief for the buried one, while life remains.

  43. ولكل ناضحةٍ عليه دموعها

    سيل الغمام وللغمام رغاء

    And every eye that pours its tears over him

    has the clouds' torrent, and the clouds their bellow.

  44. حتى كأن قلوبكم وقلوبنا

    ودموعكم ودموعنا أكفاء

    So that it seems your hearts and our hearts,

    your tears and our tears, are equals.

  45. فعليكم بالصبر يا آل التقى

    والفضل فهو اللامة المنعاء

    So hold fast to patience, O house of piety

    and virtue: it is the impregnable armor.

  46. لولا الحِمام لأغلقت أبوابها

    دار السلام وقلَّت الصلحاء

    Were it not for death, it would have closed its gates—

    the Abode of Peace—and the righteous would be few.

  47. فهو السبيل لجنةٍ نحيا بها

    بعد الممات ولا يكون فناء

    For it is the path to a garden where we live

    after death, with no extinction.