1. ممالِكَ الشّرقِ ما في الحقِّ من باسِ

    أشفى الجريحُ وضلّت حكمة الآسي

    O kingdoms of the East, there is no harm in truth.

    The wounded man neared death, and the healer's wisdom went astray.

  2. دَعِي القضاءَ وما تَبغِي زَلازِلُه

    بالشّامخِ الضّخم أو بالشّاهقِ الرّاسي

    Let fate be, and let its earthquakes have their way

    with the towering and massive, or the lofty and steadfast.

  3. واستقبلي ضَرباتِ الدّهرِ خاشعةً

    ذَهَبْنَ بالقلبِ أم أَوْدَيْنَ بالرّاسِ

    And receive Time's blows submissively,

    whether they carry off the heart or destroy the head.

  4. نداعِسُ الحادثاتِ السُّود ثائرةً

    والموتُ يَصرعُ منّا كلَّ دَعّاسِ

    We trade thrusts with raging, black calamities,

    while Death fells every fierce spear-fighter among us.

  5. هَوَى الأمينُ على أشلاءِ رفقتِه

    في جوفِ أشدقَ للأبطالِ فَرّاسِ

    Al-Amin fell upon the torn remains of his companions,

    in the belly of a wide-mawed devourer of heroes.

  6. طوى الدُّهورَ ووارَى في جوانِحه

    مِلءَ الممالكِ من جنٍّ ومن ناسِ

    It folded away the ages and hid within its breast

    enough jinn and humankind to fill the kingdoms.

  7. يرمي الشُّعوبَ إذا استعصَتْ بطاغيةٍ

    جَمِّ الصّواعقِ جبّارِ القُوَى قاسِ

    It assails peoples, when they resist, with a tyrant

    abounding in thunderbolts, mighty in strength and cruel.

  8. باد الأُلى عَمروا الأيّامَ زاهيةً

    فما ترى العينُ منهم غيرَ أرماسِ

    Those who made the days resplendent have perished,

    so the eye sees nothing of them but graves.

  9. الدَهرُ نَشوانُ ما ينفكُّ يَقْرَعُنا

    بالحادثِ النُّكرِ قَرْعَ الكاس ِبالكاسِ

    Time is drunk and never ceases battering us

    with dreadful calamity, as cup strikes cup.

  10. كبّرتُ للفارس المِقدامِ مُنْعَفِراً

    بين الضَّجِيعَينِ مِن صِدقٍ ومن باسِ

    I cried 'God is great' for the bold knight, laid in dust,

    between his two bedfellows, truth and valor.

  11. أَوْلىَ الرجالِ بِسربالِ الحياةِ فَتىً

    ضَافي السرَّابيلِ مِن نَسْج الوَغَى كاسِي

    Of all men, the worthiest of life's robe is a youth

    ample-robed, clothed in the weave of battle.

  12. لكنَّهُ الموتُ لا يُرْمَى بأسلحةٍ

    ولا تُرَدُّ عَواديهِ بِحُرَّاسِ

    But it is Death: no weapons can strike it,

    and no guards can turn back its assaults.

  13. رَمَى الأمينَ بِنابٍ غاصَ نَافِذُه

    في أُمَّةٍ رَهْنَ أنيابٍ وأَضْراسِ

    It struck al-Amin with a fang whose point sank deep

    into a nation at the mercy of fangs and molars.

  14. يُلقِي الشّباكَ عليها كلُّ مُقْتنِصٍ

    وَيُدمِنُ الفَتكَ فيها كلُّ نَهّاسِ

    Every hunter casts his nets over it,

    and every ravenous biter persists in slaughter within it.

  15. ما إن تَزالُ رُعاةُ السُّوءِ تجعلُها

    مَرْعَى عَواسِلَ عَجْلىَ الشَّدِّ أطلاسِ

    Wicked shepherds never cease making it

    a pasture for gray wolves, swift in their loping rush.

  16. مَوقوفةَ السَّعي ما يَمشي الزّمانُ بها

    كأنّ آمالَها شُدَّتْ بِأَمْراسِ

    Its striving is halted; Time does not move it forward,

    as though its hopes were bound with stout ropes.

  17. تُناشِدُ العهدَ أَقواماً فَراعِنةً

    سَاسوا الشُّعوبَ فكانوا شرَّ سُوّاسِ

    It appeals to peoples, pharaohs all, to honor the covenant,

    who ruled nations and proved the worst of rulers.

  18. يَنقضُّ جَلّادُهم في كلِّ مَملكةٍ

    يَرْمِي العبيدَ ويحمي كل نخّاسِ

    Their executioner swoops down in every kingdom,

    shooting the slaves and shielding every slave-trader.

  19. بُوركت مِن مُؤمنٍ ما كَانَ أطهرَهُ

    على تَصاريفِ دُنيا ذاتِ أرْجاسِ

    Blessed are you, believer—how pure you were

    amid the vicissitudes of a world steeped in filth.

  20. مُسْتَيْقنِ النّفسِ لا يَغْشَى سرِيرتَهُ

    ما في السّرائرِ مِن ظنٍّ وَوَسواس

    Sure in soul, his inner heart was never veiled

    by the suspicion and whispering doubts found in secret hearts.

  21. يَشْقَى بهِ في رِداءِ الحقِّ كُلُّ فتىً

    نَزّاعِ أَرْديِةٍ في القومِ لبّاسِ

    Every man cloaked in truth is troubled by him,

    ever shedding robes and donning them among the people,

  22. جمِّ النّوازعِ لا تُحْصَى مذاهِبُه

    ولا تُحدُّ مَناحيهِ بِمقياسِ

    full of impulses, his courses beyond counting,

    his directions beyond the bounds of any measure.

  23. جِنسٌ من الشّرِّ ما يَنفكُّ واحِدُه

    يَنشقُّ عن صُوَرٍ شتَّى وأجناسِ

    A breed of evil, each member of which never ceases

    to split into varied forms and kinds.

  24. الشَّرقُ يَرجفُ والإسلامُ في فَزَعٍ

    عاني الممالِكِ يخشى كُلَّ دَسّاسِ

    The East trembles, and Islam is in terror,

    a captive of kingdoms, fearing every schemer,

  25. عَاليِ الضَّجيجِ لِيومٍ من مآتمهِ

    كَيومِ حَمزةَ أو يوم ابْنِ عبّاسِ

    raising loud cries for a day among its days of mourning,

    like the day of Hamza or the day of Ibn Abbas.

  26. صَيحاتُ تُونسَ مَا انْفكّتْ تجاوبُها

    أنّاتُ بكين أو رَنّاتُ مِدارسِ

    The cries of Tunis are still answered

    by the groans of Beijing or the wails of Madras.

  27. وَعْندَ مكَّةَ إذ أَوْدَى وَجارَتِها

    ما عند بغدادَ مِن هَمٍّ وَإبْلاسِ

    And at Mecca, when he died, and at its neighbor,

    was the grief and despair found in Baghdad.

  28. تَمضي الخطوبُ فَتُنْسَى بَعدَ شِدَّتِها

    وما لِخطبِ بني الفاروقِ مِن ناسِ

    Calamities pass and are forgotten after their severity,

    but no one forgets the calamity of the sons of al-Faruq.

  29. راحوا به صَيِّباً مِن حِكمةٍ وَهُدىً

    في صَيِّبٍ من دُموعِ الرُّسْلِ رَجَّاسِ

    They carried him away, a downpour of wisdom and guidance,

    amid a thundering downpour of the messengers' tears.

  30. نُورٌ مِن الملأ الأعلى مَطالِعُه

    يَنسابُ سَاطِعُه في كلِّ نبراسِ

    A light whose rising comes from the Highest Assembly,

    its radiance streams into every lamp.

  31. الفارسُ العدلُ لم يَجهلْ على بَطَلٍ

    ولم يُذِقْهُ الرَّدَى إلا بِقِسْطَاسِ

    The just knight never acted insolently toward a hero,

    nor made him taste death except by the scales of justice.

  32. والكاتبُ الحُرُّ لم يَهْتِكْ حِمَى قَلَمٍ

    بالتُّرَّهاتِ ولم يَعْبَثْ بِقِرْطَاسِ

    The free writer never violated a pen's sanctuary

    with nonsense, nor trifled with a sheet of paper.

  33. مِن معشرٍ غَيرِ أنكاسٍ ولا وُهُنٍ

    مُسْتَمْسِكينَ بِحبلِ اللهِ أكياسِ

    Of a people neither ignoble nor weak,

    wise men holding fast to the rope of God.

  34. لا تَسْتَبِيحُ الدَّنايا خِيسَ مَكْرُمَةٍ

    إلا احْتَمَتْ مِن سَجاياهم بأخياسِ

    No baseness ever violates a thicket of noble virtue

    without that virtue finding shelter in thickets of their character.

  35. هُمُ الكنانةُ تَرمي كلَّ مُرتَبِئٍ

    ضَاحِي السّهامِ وتنفِي كلَّ عَسّاسِ

    They are Kinana—the quiver—shooting every lookout

    exposed to arrows, and driving off every night prowler.

  36. لسنا مَطايا الأَذى إن حَاجةٌ عَرَضتْ

    للِغاصِبينَ وما كُنّا بِأحْلاسِ

    We are not mounts for harm, should a need arise

    for usurpers, nor have we been saddlecloths.

  37. لا يَصلحُ الأَمرُ إلا في مَدارجهِ

    ولا تَطولُ الذُّرَى إلا بآساسِ

    Affairs are set right only through their proper stages,

    and summits rise high only on foundations.

  38. لا جَفَّ مَثواكَ مِن ناءٍ تحيَّتُه

    ما في الفراديسِ مِن وَرْدٍ ومن آسِ

    May your resting place never dry—from one far away whose greeting

    is every rose and myrtle in the gardens of Paradise.

  39. أكبرتُ رُزءكَ حتّى ما تُجاوِرُني

    خضراءُ إلا ذَوَتْ مِن حرِّ أنفاسي

    I felt your loss so deeply that nothing stood beside me—

    nothing green—without withering in the heat of my breath.

  40. وكيف تملكُ نَفْسِي فيكَ تأسيةً

    والحزنُ يملِكُ وِجداني وإحساسي

    And how can my soul find consolation for you,

    while sorrow rules my emotions and my senses?

  41. ليِ مِن مُصابِكَ إن نَفْسُ امْرئٍ سكَنتْ

    نَفسُ الجَريح وقلبُ الجازعِ الآسي

    From losing you—even if another man's soul grows calm—I have

    the soul of the wounded and the heart of the anguished mourner.

  42. أبكي الكِنانةَ حَيرى لم تُصِبْ سَعَةً

    مِن الرّجاءِ ولم تَنْزَعْ إلى الياسِ

    I weep for bewildered Kinana, which has found no abundance

    of hope, yet has not turned toward despair.

  43. ما للمآتمِ والأعراسِ مِن خَطرٍ

    مآتمي هي في الدُّنيا وأعراسي

    Mourning rites and wedding feasts have no weight;

    mine are the mourning rites and wedding feasts in this world.