1. أَعيدي النَوحَ مُعوِلَةً أَعيدي

    وَزيدي مِن بُكائِكِ ثُمَّ زيدي

    Renew your lament, wailing woman, renew it.

    And add to your weeping, then add still more.

  2. وَقومي حاسِراً في حاسِراتٍ

    خَوامِشَ لِلنُحورِ وَلِلخُدودِ

    And rise bareheaded among bareheaded women,

    clawing at their upper chests and cheeks.

  3. هُوَ الخَطبُ الَّذي اِبتَدَعَ الرَزايا

    وَقالَ لِأَعيُنِ الثَقَلَينِ جودي

    It is the calamity that invented afflictions,

    and told the eyes of humankind and jinn: 'Pour forth!'

  4. أَلا رُزِئَت خُراسانَ فَتاها

    غَداةَ ثَوى عُمَيرُ بنُ الوَليدِ

    Alas, Khurasan has been bereaved of her young hero,

    on the morning Umayr ibn al-Walid lay dead.

  5. أَلا رُزِئتَ بِمَسؤولٍ مُنيلٍ

    أَلا رُزِئتَ بِمِتلافٍ مُفيدِ

    Alas, you have lost one who was asked for gifts and gave them;

    alas, you have lost a lavish spender and benefactor.

  6. أَلا إِنَّ النَدى وَالجودَ حَلّا

    بِحَيثُ حَلَلتَ مِن حُفَرِ الصَعيدِ

    Lo, generosity and bounty have settled

    where you have settled, in one of the earth's pits.

  7. بِنَفسي أَنتَ مِن مَلِكٍ رَمَتهُ

    مَنِيَّتُهُ بِسَهمِ رَدىً سَديدِ

    My life be your ransom—a king struck

    by his appointed death with an unerring arrow of doom.

  8. تَجَلَّت غَمرَةُ الهَيجاءِ عَنهُ

    خَضيبَ الوَجهِ مِن دَمِهِ الجَسيدِ

    The turmoil of battle cleared away from him,

    his face stained with his congealed blood.

  9. فَيا بَحرَ المَنونِ ذَهَبتَ مِنهُ

    بِبَحرِ الجودِ في السَنَةِ الصَلودِ

    O sea of death, you carried off in him

    a sea of generosity in a drought-stricken year.

  10. وَيا أَسَدَ المَنونِ فَرستَ مِنهُ

    غَداةَ فَرَستَهُ أَسَدَ الأُسودِ

    And, lion of death, you slew in him

    the lion of lions, that morning when you slew him.

  11. أَبِالبَطَلِ النَجيدِ فَرَستَ مِنهُ

    نَعَم وَبِقاتِلِ البَطَلِ النَجيدِ

    Was it a valiant hero you slew in him?

    Yes—and a slayer of valiant heroes.

  12. تَراءى لِلطِعانِ وَقَد تَراءَت

    وُجوهُ المَوتِ مِن حُمرٍ وَسودِ

    He showed himself for spear-combat, while there appeared

    the faces of death, red and black.

  13. فَلَم يَكُنِ المُقَنَّعَ فيهِ رَأساً

    خَلا أَن قَد تَقَنَّعَ بِالحَديدِ

    So he was not veiled at all in that fighting,

    save that he had veiled himself in iron.

  14. فَيا لَكَ وَقعَةً جَلَلاً أَعارَت

    أَسىً وَصَبابَةً جَلَدَ الجَليدِ

    Oh, what a grievous battle, which lent

    sorrow and yearning the steadfast man's endurance!

  15. وَيا لَكَ ساحَةً أَهدَت غَليلاً

    إِلى أَكبادِنا أَبَدَ الأَبيدِ

    And what a battlefield, which bestowed burning anguish

    on our livers for ever and ever!

  16. وَإِنَّ أَميرَنا لَم يَألُ نُصحاً

    وَعَدلاً في الرَعايا وَالجُنودِ

    And our commander spared no effort in devoted care

    and justice toward his subjects and troops.

  17. أَفاضَ نَوالُ راحَتِهِ لَدَيهِم

    وَسامَحَ بِالطَريفِ وَبِالتَليدِ

    The bounty of his palm overflowed among them,

    and he gave freely of newly gained and inherited wealth.

  18. وَأَصحَرَ دونَهُم لِلمَوتِ حَتّى

    سَقاهُ المَوتُ مِن مَقِرٍ هَبيدِ

    And he went into the open to face death in their defense, until

    death gave him bitter colocynth to drink.

  19. وَما ظَفِروا بِهِ حَتّى قَراهُم

    قَشاعِمَ أَنسُرٍ وَضِباعَ بيدِ

    And they did not overcome him until he had served them up

    to aged vultures and hyenas of the wastes,

  20. بِطَعنٍ في نُحورِهِمُ مَريدٌ

    وَضَربٍ في رُؤوسِهِمُ عَنيدِ

    with fierce thrusts into their throats

    and with unyielding blows upon their heads.

  21. فَيا يَومَ الثُلاثاءِ اِصطَبَحنا

    غَداةً مِنكَ هائِلَةَ الوُرودِ

    O Tuesday, we drank as our morning draught

    a dawn from you, dreadful in its coming.

  22. وَيا يَومَ الثُلاثاءِ اِعتُمِدنا

    بِفَقدٍ فيكَ لِلسَنَدِ العَميدِ

    And, O Tuesday, we were struck

    on you by the loss of our chief pillar.

  23. فَكَم أَسخَنتَ مِنّا مِن عُيونٍ

    وَكَم أَعثَرتَ فينا مِن جُدودِ

    How many of our eyes you have made hot with tears!

    And how many of our fortunes you made stumble!

  24. فَما زُجِرَت طُيورُكَ عَن سَنيحٍ

    وَلا طَلَعَت نُجومُكَ بِالسُعودِ

    So your birds were not roused to an auspicious flight,

    nor did your stars rise with good fortune.

  25. أَلا يا أَيُّها المَلِكُ المُرَدّى

    رِداءَ المَوتِ في جَدَثٍ خَديدِ

    Ah, O king, robed

    in the mantle of death, within a hollowed grave!

  26. حَضَرتُ فَناءَ بابِكَ فَاِعتَراني

    شَجىً بَينَ المُخَنَّقِ وَالوَريدِ

    I came to the courtyard by your gate, and was seized by

    a choking grief between my throat and jugular vein.

  27. رَأَيتُ بِهِ مَطايا مُهمَلاتٍ

    وَأَفراساً صَوافِنَ بِالوَصيدِ

    There I saw riding-camels left untended,

    and horses standing with one hoof poised at the threshold.

  28. وَكُنَّ عَتادَ إِمّا فَكِّ عانٍ

    وَإِمّا قَتلِ طاغِيَةٍ عَنودِ

    They had been held ready either to free a captive

    or to slay a defiant tyrant.

  29. رَأَيتُ مُؤمِليكَ غَدَت عَلَيهِم

    عَوادٍ أَصعَدَتهُم في كُؤودِ

    I saw those who hoped in you; upon them had come

    afflictions that forced them up a steep ascent.

  30. وَأَضحَت عِندَ غَيرِكَ في هُبوطٍ

    حُظوظٌ كُنَّ عِندَكَ في صُعودِ

    And now with others they were falling—

    fortunes that, with you, had been rising.

  31. وَكُلُّهُمُ أَعَدَّ اليَأسَ وَقفاً

    عَلَيكَ وَنَصَّ راحِلَةَ القُعودِ

    And each of them reserved despair as an endowment

    for you, and urged on the riding-camel of sitting still.

  32. وَأَصبَحَتِ الوُفودُ إِلَيكَ وَقفاً

    عَلى أَلّا مُفادَ لِمُستَفيدِ

    And the delegations to you came to a standstill,

    with no gain for any seeker of gain.

  33. لَقَد سَخَنَت عُيونُ الجودِ لَمّا

    نَوَيتَ وَأُقصِدَت غُرَرُ القَصيدِ

    Indeed, generosity's eyes grew hot when

    you departed, and the brightest of poems were struck dead.