1. تكاثرت الأحزان في كبدي الحرَّى

    وزادت دموع البين في عينَي الشَكرَى

    Sorrows have multiplied in my burning liver,

    and tears of separation have swelled in my brimming eyes.

  2. وجارت على ضعفي الليالي وأَوقدت

    بطيّ فؤَادي من نوائبها جمرا

    The nights have oppressed my frailty and kindled

    within my heart's folds, embers from their calamities.

  3. وقد أَلَّمتني الحادثات بصَرفها

    كما أَلَّمت خنسآءَ إذ فقدت صخرا

    And calamities have pained me with their reversals,

    as they pained al-Khansa when she lost Sakhr.

  4. وهيهات ما الخنسآءُ عند بليَّتي

    بشيءٍ وصخرٌ صرت أحسبهً صخرا

    But far from it! Beside my calamity, al-Khansa

    is nothing; and Sakhr I now regard as a mere rock.

  5. فقدتُ أبي مالي وللعيش بعدهُ

    فموتي من عيشي غدا بعدهُ أحرَى

    I have lost my father—what have I to do with life after him?

    For after him, my death has become more fitting than my life.

  6. حياةُ الحزين القلب موتٌ وموتهُ

    حياةٌ يلاقي عندها الراحة الكُبرَى

    The life of one sorrowful at heart is death, and his death

    is life, in which he finds supreme rest.

  7. فتَبًّا ليومٍ فرَّق الدهر شملنا

    وجمَّع في قلبي مصائبهُ تَترَى

    So cursed be the day when Time sundered our union

    and heaped its calamities in my heart, one after another.

  8. أَيا قلبي المكسور لِم لم تذب أَسىً

    لفقدِ الذي في حَجرهِ لم تَذُق كسرا

    O my broken heart, why have you not melted in grief

    for the loss of him in whose lap you never tasted heartbreak?

  9. وياناظري لِم لا تسيل لفقد من

    بأيامهِ لم تبكِ الاَّ لِما سَرَّا

    And O my eye, why do you not stream for the loss of him

    in whose days you wept only at what brought joy?

  10. وياجسمي المضنى من الحزن مُت أَسىً

    لموت الذي قد عشتَ في حَجرهِ عمرا

    And O my body, worn out by sorrow, die of grief

    for the death of him in whose lap you lived a lifetime.

  11. حرامٌ على قلبي المسرَّةُ بعدهُ

    وكيفَ سروري وَهوَ قد نزل القبرا

    Joy is forbidden to my heart after him;

    and how could I rejoice when he has descended into the grave?

  12. ساندبهُ ما عشتُ دهري وأنهُ

    جديرٌ بأَن يُبكَي على فقدهِ دهرا

    I shall lament him all my life, for he

    deserves an age of tears for his loss.

  13. نهاري كليلي أسودٌ لا يطيب لي

    وليلي كيومي بالسهاد وبالذِكرَى

    My day, like my night, is black and brings me no delight;

    and my night is like my day, in sleeplessness and remembrance.

  14. فيا ليت كُلّي أعينٌ تذرف الدما

    ويا ليت كُلّي اكبدٌ تفقد الصبرا

    Oh, would that all of me were eyes shedding blood!

    And would that all of me were livers bereft of patience!

  15. أيا عَلَم الشرق المبجَّل والذي

    أقرَّت لهُ بالفضل كلُّ الوَرَى طُرَّا

    O revered luminary of the East, whose

    excellence all humankind, without exception, acknowledged!

  16. ويا معدن العلم الذي ضمَّهُ الثرى

    وكم معدنِ كان الترابُ لهُ سِترا

    And O mine of knowledge, whom the earth has embraced,

    and how many a mine has had the dust for its covering!

  17. ويا كوكباً لن يُخلف الدهر مثلهُ

    تولَّى وأبقى بعدهُ في الحشا وغرا

    And O star whose equal Time will never bring forth,

    who departed, leaving burning anguish in the heart in his wake.

  18. ويا بحر فضلٍ كان بالدُرّ زاخراً

    لفقدكَ كاد البحر أن يفقد الدُرَّا

    And O sea of excellence that was teeming with pearls,

    at your loss, the sea nearly lost its pearls.

  19. ويامن لهُ في كل فنٍّ طلائعٌ

    تبدّلُ ليلَ الجهل من نورها فجرا

    And O you whose vanguards in every art

    turn ignorance's night into dawn with their light.

  20. ويا من بمسراهُ تيتَّمت العُلَى

    كما يتَّم التأليف والنظم والنثرا

    And O you whose night journey left lofty glory orphaned,

    as it orphaned authorship, verse, and prose.

  21. ينوح عليكَ الشعر دهراً وطالما

    بك اهتزَّ فاستعلى على فَلَك الشعرَى

    Poetry will lament you for an age, and how often

    it thrilled through you and soared above the sphere of Sirius!

  22. ويبكي عليك الدهرُ يا تاج رأسهِ

    ويا فخر أهليهِ إذا ذكروا الفخرا

    And Time weeps for you, O crown upon its head,

    and O pride of its people whenever they speak of pride.

  23. لقد ملتَ يا ركنَ العلوم فأوشكت

    لفرط الأسى أوراقهُ تُذهِب الحبرا

    You have indeed leaned, O pillar of learning, and so close were

    its pages, from overwhelming grief, to erasing the ink.

  24. وقد غبتَ يا شمس العلوم وبدرها

    فاصبح كلٌّ يندب الشمس والبدرا

    And you have set, O sun of learning and its full moon,

    so everyone now laments the sun and the full moon.

  25. وقد غصتَ من خمر المنون بسكرةٍ

    فها أَنا لم أبرح بخمر الأسى سَكرَى

    And you have choked on death's wine in a drunken stupor,

    so here I am, still drunk on the wine of grief.

  26. فيا قبرهُ اكرِم أعز وديعةٍ

    بطَيّكَ لم تبرح لأهل الورى ذُخراً

    So O his grave, honor the dearest charge

    within your folds, who has never ceased to be a treasure for humankind.

  27. وياسُحُب الآفاق جودي ضريحهُ

    بصوبٍ على اكنافهِ يُنبِتُ الزَهرا

    And O clouds of the horizons, shower his tomb

    with rainfall upon its sides, making flowers grow.

  28. ويا رحمة الله الكريم تغَّمدي

    لهُ نفس حُرٍّ لم تكن تعرف الوزرا

    And O mercy of God the Generous, enfold

    his noble soul, which never knew sin.

  29. عليهِ سلام الله ما هبَّت الصَبا

    وما رَدَّدت لُسنُ الأنام لهُ ذِكرا

    May God's peace be upon him as long as the east wind blows,

    and as long as the tongues of humankind speak of him again and again.