1. أَعبدَ الغنيّ اِبني إِلى رَبّكَ الرجعى

    فَكُن شافِعي عِندَ الَّذي أَخرَجَ المَرعى

    O Abd al-Ghani, my son, to your Lord is the return.

    So be my intercessor with Him who brought forth the pasture.

  2. فَقَد أَوثَقَتني السَيِّئاتُ وَبَزّني

    مَغارُ مُلمّاتٍ أَثَرنَ بِهِ نَقعا

    For sins have bound me, and I have been plundered by

    the onslaught of calamities that stirred up dust in their charge.

  3. وَأَورَينَ قَدحاً بالجَوى في جَوانِحي

    وَفَرَّقنَ دَمعي أَن وَسَطنَ بِهِ جَمعا

    They kindled sparks of anguish within my breast,

    and scattered my tears when they charged with them into a throng.

  4. جَزى اللَهُ أمّا أَيتَمَتكَ إِساءَةً

    وَجازى الإِماءَ المُحسِنات بِكَ الصنعا

    May God repay with evil a mother who made you an orphan,

    and reward the bondwomen who treated you with kindness.

  5. بَذَلتُ العَطاءَ الجَزَل كيما أَصونها

    فَباعَتكَ بِالأَوطارِ وَاِدَّعَت المَنعا

    I lavished generous gifts to protect her,

    but she sold you for her desires and claimed to have safeguarded you.

  6. وَكُنتُ أُداريها وَأَرقي سِمامَها

    عَلى أَنَّ أَفعالي تسم بِها الأَفعى

    I placated her and chanted charms against her poisons,

    though my deeds would poison even a viper,

  7. عَلَيكَ حذارَ اليتمِ حَتّى تَمَرَّدَت

    وَقيلَ اِترُكها إِنِّها حَيَّةٌ تَسعى

    for your sake, fearing orphanhood, until she rebelled,

    and it was said, 'Leave her: she is a serpent that slithers.'

  8. رَأَيتُ أَحَبَّ الغانِياتِ لِبَعلِها

    إِذا شابَ لا تَرضى وَإِن غابَ لا تَرعى

    I have found that even the beauty most loving toward her husband

    is discontent when he grows gray, and keeps no faith when he is absent.

  9. فَقُل لِلهَوى حَسبي بِما مَلَكَت يَدي

    وَلَو أَنَّني اِستَبدَلتُ بِالدُرر الجزعا

    So tell desire, 'What my hand possesses is enough for me,'

    even if I have exchanged pearls for onyx beads.

  10. أَلا إِنَّما طيبُ الحَياةِ قَناعَةٌ

    كَفَت وَأَعَزَّت مَن يَرى ضيقهُ وسعا

    Indeed, life's sweetness is only contentment,

    which sustains and honors whoever sees abundance in his straits.

  11. وَما ليَ إِلّا الهَمّ بَعدَكَ هِمَّةً

    أَلَستُ غَريباً لا رَبيعَ وَلا ربعا

    After you, I have no pursuit but sorrow.

    Am I not a stranger, with neither spring nor home?

  12. وَما لاذَ بِاللَّذّاتِ مَن جاوَرَ العِدا

    فَسيء بِهِم عيشاً وَضاقَ بِهِم ذَرعا

    No one who lives beside enemies takes refuge in pleasures,

    his life made miserable by them, his endurance exhausted.

  13. ضَرَبتُ طلى الأَيّامِ مِنكَ بِصارِمٍ

    تَعَلَّمَتِ الأَسيافَ مِن حَدِّهِ القَطعا

    I struck the necks of days with you as a keen-edged sword,

    from whose edge swords themselves learned to cut.

  14. وَزنتُ سَماءَ المَجدِ مِنكَ بِكَوكَبٍ

    رَجَمتُ بِهِ عَنها مَن اِستَرَقَ السَمعا

    I adorned the heaven of glory with you as a star,

    with which I pelted eavesdroppers, driving them from that heaven.

  15. لَقَد صَرَعَتكَ العَينُ قيلَ كَريهَةٍ

    تَرى القَومَ فيها عَن سُروجِهِم صَرعى

    The evil eye indeed felled you, O lord of battle,

    where you see men fallen from their saddles.

  16. وَحارَبَني فيكَ المنى بِمَناصِلٍ

    إِذا ضربت قدّت عَلى البَطَلِ الدرعا

    Death waged war upon me through you, with blades

    that, when they strike, split the armor upon the champion.

  17. وَما الأَسَد الضرغام حامٍ لِشِبلِهِ

    وَلا مالِكٍ لِلنَّفسِ ضرّاً ولا نفعا

    Not even the mighty lion can protect his cub,

    nor control harm or benefit for himself.

  18. فَقَدتُ أَبي ذا الخَيرِ وَاِبني سَميّه

    وَما اِسطَعت عَن نَفسي وَلا عَنهُما دَفعا

    I lost my father, a man of goodness, and my son, his namesake,

    and could not shield myself or either of them.

  19. حَبيبٌ كَأَنَّ اللَّهَ يَومَ وَفاتِهِ

    طَوى السَبعَ للميقاتِ أَو زَلزَلَ السَبعا

    A beloved one—as though God, on the day of his death,

    folded the seven heavens for the appointed hour, or shook the seven earths.

  20. فَلَو لَم يَكُن يَومَ العروبَةِ دمتهُ

    كَما هَدَّ منّي الأَصل وَاِستَأصَلَ الفَرعا

    Had it not been Friday, I would have condemned that day,

    just as it shattered my root and uprooted my branch,

  21. وَأَنبَتَ في جِسمي البَلابِلَ وَالبلى

    وَأَمطَرَ مِن آماقيَ الدَمَ وَالدَمعا

    and planted anguish and decay in my body,

    and rained blood and tears from the corners of my eyes.

  22. فَقَدَّرت الأَعداء ناعيكَ وَالها

    وَقَد دَرَت العَلياء أَيّ فَتى ينعى

    The enemies thought the bearer of your death-news distraught,

    yet glory knew what a young man was being mourned.

  23. هَنيئاً لَكَ الفَوزُ العَظيمُ بِجَنَّةٍ

    جِوارَ رَسولِ اللَهِ مُثمِرَةً يَنعى

    Joy to you for your great triumph in a garden,

    beside God's Messenger, bearing ripe fruit,

  24. وَمَسكوبَةً ماءً وَمَمدودَةً ذرى

    وَمَخضودَةً سِدراً وَمَنضودَةً طَلعا

    whose waters pour freely and whose heights stretch wide,

    with thornless lote trees and tiered palm clusters.

  25. تَقَدَّمتَ يا عَبدَ الغنيّ وَأخّرَت

    أَباكَ ذُنوب إِن دَعا زدنَهُ دَعا

    You went ahead, O Abd al-Ghani, while sins held back

    your father—sins that, when he prays, thrust him farther away.

  26. فَخُذ بِيَدي أَو سَل لي اللَهَ عَفوَهُ

    تَجِدهُ كَريماً يَستَجيبُ إِذا يُدعى

    So take me by the hand, or ask God for His pardon for me;

    you will find Him generous, answering when called upon.

  27. أَنا الوتر في فَضلي بِإِقرارِ حسَّدي

    وَلَو عِشتَ كَنّا في فَضائِلنا الشَفعا

    In excellence I stand alone, as my enviers admit,

    and had you lived, we would have been a pair in our virtues.

  28. تَمَنَّيتُ أَن تَبغي مُناكَ فَأَخلَفَت

    أَمانٍ أَرَتني فيكَ مِن بَرقِها لَمعا

    I wished you would pursue your desires, but false proved

    the hopes that showed me, in you, flashes of their lightning.

  29. أَولَّتني الأَيّامُ ثُمَّ بَدا لَها

    فَما كانَ أَدنى مِن ولايَتي الخلعا

    Did the days appoint me, then change their mind?

    How close dismissal was to my appointment!

  30. وَلَم يَكسني بَردُ الشَبابِ وَطَرزهُ

    حُلى وَلدي حَتّى تقاضيني النَزعا

    The mantle of youth scarcely clothed me, its embroidery

    my son's adornments, before it demanded that I take it off.

  31. شَبيهي لَو أَربى عَلى العَشرِ أَربعاً

    رَوى عَنّي القُرآن وَالشِعر وَالشرعا

    My likeness—had he exceeded ten by four years,

    he would have transmitted from me the Quran, poetry, and sacred law,

  32. وَفَنّدَني في كُلِّ مَدحٍ أَحوكهُ

    لِقَومٍ أسمّيهِم وَهُم عَربٌ نَبعا

    and would have rebuked me for every praise-poem I weave

    for people I call nab‘ wood, though they are Arabs.

  33. قَرَأتُ أَعاريضَ الخَليلِ وَلَم أَكُن

    لِأَقرَأَها لَو كُنتُ أشبههُ طَبعا

    I studied al-Khalil's meters; I would not

    have studied them had I shared his natural gift.

  34. يَكادُ وَإِن لَم يَقرأ النَحوَ يافِعاً

    يعلّل مِنهُ النَصب وَالخَفض وَالرَفعا

    Though he had not studied grammar as a youth, he could almost

    explain its accusative, genitive, and nominative cases.

  35. وَيُهدي إِليّ الدرّ مِن فيهِ حِكمَةً

    وَيوري عَليّ النارَ مِن لبّهِ لَذعا

    He offers me pearls of wisdom from his mouth,

    and kindles against me, from his mind, a searing fire.

  36. سَماءُ المَعالي خَرّ مِنها هِلالها

    فَبيض اللَيالي عدنَ في ناظِري سَفعا

    From the heaven of high honors its crescent has fallen,

    and the white nights have turned dark in my eyes.

  37. كَم اِدَّرَأَت مِن نِقمَةٍ بَرَكاتهُ

    وَدَرَّت بِهِ مِن نِعمَةٍ حافِل ضَرعا

    How many punishments his blessings warded off,

    and how many blessings flowed through him, their udder brimming!

  38. أَنا الآنَ إِذ أَودى وَأَودَعتهُ الثَرى

    وَأَبقَت شعوبٌ في شعوبِ العلا صَدعا

    I, now that he is dead and I have laid him in the earth,

    and Death has left a rift in the branches of high honor,

  39. أَبيت خَليّاً مِن حَديثِ حَوادِثٍ

    تَسومُ بناني العَضّ أَو سنّي القَرعا

    spend my nights free of tales of calamities

    that force me to bite my fingers or gnash my teeth.

  40. مَضى أُنسُ أَوطاري فَيا حزني

    وَيا جَزعي ما أَوحَشَ الحزنُ وَالجَزعا

    The solace of my desires has gone—oh, my sorrow!

    And oh, my anguish! How desolate sorrow and anguish are!

  41. أفاضلُ هذا الدَهر تَشكو صُروفَهُ

    وَما كُنتُ فيهِ مِن أَفاضِلِهِ بِدعا

    The worthiest of this age complain of its vicissitudes,

    and among its worthiest I was no exception.

  42. بَلى حَلّ ما بي مِنهُ حَتّى لَو اِنَّهُ

    بِطَرفي لَم أَسمَع لِأَربعهِ وَقعا

    Yes, what I suffer from it has struck so hard that, were it

    upon my steed, I would hear no tread from its four legs.

  43. يُصبّرُني مَن لَم يَجِد ما وَجَدتهُ

    وَبِالقَلبِ خَرقٌ لا أطيقُ لَهُ رَقعا

    One who has not suffered what I have suffered bids me be patient,

    yet in my heart is a rent I cannot patch.

  44. أَلَم يَقتَنِص مِنكَ الرَدى فَرخ أَجدلٍ

    يَرد البزاةَ الشُهبَ أَغرِبَةً بُقعا

    Did Death not snare in you a falcon's fledgling

    that makes gray hawks into pied crows?

  45. وَضَعتُكَ تَحتَ الأَرض وَالمَجدُ راغِمٌ

    وَما كُنتُ فَوقَ النَجمِ أَرضى لَكَ الوَضعا

    I laid you beneath the earth, while glory was humbled,

    though even above the stars I would not have been content to place you.

  46. وَكُنت كَمِثلِ الزَرعِ أخرجَ شَطأَهُ

    فَآزرَهُ لكِن أَصابَ الرَدى الزَرعا

    I was like a crop that put forth its shoot,

    which strengthened it—but Death struck the crop.

  47. عَلَيكَ سَلامُ اللَهِ مِن مُتَفَجِّعٍ

    مَعَ الورقِ يَبكي كُلَّما هَتَفت سَجعا

    Upon you be God's peace, from a grief-stricken man

    who weeps with the gray doves whenever they call in cooing cadence.