لم يبق لي صبر ولا سلوان

غاض السلو وفاضت الاجفان

Neither patience nor consolation remains to me.

Solace ebbed, and the eyelids overflowed.

فكأن وجدي بارق متالق

وكان دمعي عارض هتان

My anguish is like a flashing bolt of lightning,

and my tears were a cloud pouring rain.

الدمع ينجدني بخذلان الاسى

ان الدموع على الاسى اعوان

Tears come to my aid by thwarting sorrow;

indeed, tears are helpers against sorrow.

كيف السلو وقد حدا باحبتي

حادي المسري فسارت الاطغان

How can there be solace, when my loved ones were urged on

by the night-journey's camel-driver, and the caravans set out?

رحلوا عن الأوطان الا انهم

سكنوا الحشا فلهم بها أوطان

They departed their homelands, yet they

dwelt in my heart, and there they have homelands.

لا تطلبن نعيم عيش بعدهم

فهم الألى كانوا النعيم فبانوا

Never seek a life of bliss after them;

for they were bliss itself, and they departed.

بانوا فأوحشت الديار لناظر

لا البان يونسه ولا نعمان

They departed, and the dwellings grew desolate to an onlooker;

neither the ban trees nor Nu‘man comforts him.

يا ليت شعري هل تعود كما مضى

بالطف أيام لنا وزمان

Would that I knew: will there return, as in the past,

our days and our time at al-Taff?

فتعود زاهرة منازل بهجة

كانت بهم وهم الصدور تزان

Then the abodes of joy would flourish again,

once adorned by them, the foremost men.

يا جيرتي هل تسمحون بنظرة

يروى بها المتلهف الظمآن

O my neighbors, will you grant a glance

to slake the thirst of one yearning and parched?

حال النهار لفقدكم فكانما

بين النواظر والفضاء دخان

Daylight darkened at your loss, as though

smoke lay between the eyes and the open sky.

بكر النعات كانما الفاظهم

بين الجوانح والحشا نيران

The bearers of death-tidings came early, as though their words

were fires between my ribs and in my heart.

فذهلت عن نفسي ذهول مروع

فتكت به الارزاء والأحزان

I was beside myself with the bewilderment of one terrified,

ravaged by calamities and sorrows.

قالوا أصاب الفضل بعد سحابه

جدب فصوح روضه الفينان

They said: excellence, after its rain-cloud, was struck

by drought, and its leafy garden withered.

وسما إلى أوج الفضائل والعلا

خطب فخر إلى الثرى كيوان

And to the summit of virtues and high glory rose

a calamity, and Saturn fell to the dust.

تنعى إلى أبا الجواد كناية

إن الكناية للذكي بيان

An allusion announces Abu al-Jawad's death to me;

indeed, to the discerning, an allusion is clear speech.

نعم استقلت بالكمال وأهله

نوب وهل للنائبات أمان

Yes, perfection and its people were carried away

by calamities—and is there safety from calamities?

لا يأمن الحدثان إلا جاهل

بضروب ما ياتي به الحدثان

None feels safe from time's reversals except one ignorant

of the many forms of what those reversals bring.

أين الرجال الصالحون تتابعوا

زمراً كما يتتابع الركبان

Where are the righteous men? They followed one another

in groups, as riders follow one another.

أين القياصر والأكاسرة الإلى

خضعت لسطوة ملكها التيجان

Where are the Caesars and the Khosrows, those

before the might of whose rule crowns bowed?

تركوا قصور العز سامية الذرى

وغدوا وهم تحت الثرى سكان

They left palaces of glory with lofty summits,

and became inhabitants beneath the earth.

فتعفرت تلك الوجوه بمنزل

لا المسك عن كثب ولا العقبان

Those faces were covered in dust in an abode

with neither musk nearby nor eagles.

سيف ابن ذي يزن وكان ممنعاً

لم يحمه غمد ولا غمدان

Sayf ibn Dhi Yazan, though he was well fortified,

was shielded by neither a sheath nor Ghumdan.

وكذا الخورنق لم تدم اربابه

لا المنذر الأعلى ولا النعمان

Likewise, al-Khawarnaq's lords did not endure—

neither al-Mundhir the Exalted nor al-Nu‘man.

ان المنية للبرية منهل

لا سوقة ينجو ولا سلطان

Death is a watering place for all creation;

neither commoner nor sovereign escapes.

يا عيلم العلم الذي عن بحره

صدر الرجال وكلهم ريان

O ocean of knowledge, from whose sea

men returned, all of them thirst-quenched!

من للفصاحة والندي جميعه

سمع وأنت به فم ولسان

Who will champion eloquence, when the whole assembly is

all ears, and you within it are mouth and tongue?

من للبلاغة يستمر مجليا

في غاية تكبو بها الفرسان

Who will champion rhetoric, pressing onward in the lead

toward a finish where the horsemen stumble?

ولرب غامضة جلوت ظلامها

بادلة لوميضها لمعان

And many an obscure question's darkness you dispelled

with proofs whose flashes shone.

من قال فيك بان مثلك دونه

يقف القياس ففضلك البرهان

If anyone said of you that, before one such as you,

comparison halts—your excellence is the proof.

قد شيعوك وعين كل مشيع

عين يعوم بمائها الإنسان

They escorted you to burial, and every mourner's eye

was a spring in whose water the pupil swam.

ما فيهم الا حزين نادب

أو ذاهل عن نفسه حيران

None among them but a grieving lamenter,

or one beside himself, bewildered.

حملوا رياض خلائق في اثرها

تجري الدموع كانها غدران

They carried gardens of virtues; in their wake

tears flowed as though they were pools.

ضمنت لك الدكر الجميل محامد

خلدتها فينا فصح ضمان

Praiseworthy deeds guaranteed you beautiful remembrance;

you made them immortal among us, and that pledge proved true.

ما زلت منقطع القرين وربما

عزت لك النظراء والاقران

You never ceased to be peerless, and often

equals and peers for you were scarce.

وجمعت ما بين الفكاهة والتقى

لكن لتقوى الله عندك شان

You joined good humor with piety,

yet fear of God held a special place with you.

ماذا اقول وطرف فكري كلما

رام المجال توسع الميدان

What can I say? Whenever the steed of my thought

sought room to run, the field grew wider.

جمعت سجاياك المحاسن كلها

جمعا فكل سجية احسان

Your traits brought together all virtues,

completely: every trait was goodness.

تلك الشمائل والشمول كلاهما

راح وكل مجالس نشوان

Those noble traits and wine, both of them,

are wine, and every companion is intoxicated.

آليت لا اسلو ولا أنسى وهل

تنسى خلائق كلهن حسان

I swore not to seek solace or forget—and can

virtues all so beautiful ever be forgotten?

فمثال شخصك في الضمير مصور

ابدا ويا ليت المنال عيان

Your likeness is pictured in my heart

forever—would that I could behold you face to face!

جادت ثراك أبا الجود سحائب

ينهل منها اللطف والرضوان

May clouds drench your grave-soil, Abu al-Jud,

pouring forth grace and divine favor.

كنت المخف من الثرا لكنما

بالوزن كان لفضلك الرجحان

You were lightly burdened with wealth, yet

when weighed, your excellence tipped the balance.

قد فاز بالعيش المخفون الاى

ثقلت لهم بالصالح الميزان

The lightly burdened have prospered in life—those

whose scales grew heavy with good deeds.

وسلمت من تبعات دنيا عيشها

عرض تميل بظله الافنان

And you escaped the liabilities of a world whose life

is a passing thing, in whose shade the branches sway.

سيرت في آل النبي قصائداً

غرراً تضوع بطيبها البلدان

You sent forth poems about the Prophet's family,

radiant poems whose fragrance perfumed the lands:

مدحاً تارّج نشرها ومراثياً

في طيها الأحزان والأشجان

praises whose scent wafted, and elegies

within whose folds lay sorrows and griefs.

غاليت في ثمن القريض فماله

الا نعيم جنانها اثمان

You set a lofty price upon your verse; it has

no payment but the bliss of its gardens.

وبكل بيت نلت بيت كرامة

بشراك يوم يحاسب الديوان

And for each verse you gained a dwelling of honor:

glad tidings for you on the day the ledger is reckoned!