1. عبد المجيد لقيتَ من

    ريب المنية ما سنلقى

    Abd al-Majid, you have met with

    the blows of death that we too shall meet.

  2. في الكأس بعدك فَضلة

    كل بكأس الموت يُسقى

    A draught remains in the cup after you;

    everyone is given death's cup to drink.

  3. والشمس شاربة بها

    يوما تضل عليه شرقا

    And the sun shall drink from it

    one day, when it finds no place of rising.

  4. مارستَ كل الحق هل

    صادفت غير الموت حقا

    You practiced justice in full; did you

    find any truth but death?

  5. النفس في عشق الحياة

    ة تموت دون الوصل عشقا

    The soul, enamored of life,

    dies of love without attaining union.

  6. والناس في غمر الشقا

    ء على اختلاف العمق غرقى

    And people, in the flood of misery,

    are drowned, however the depth may differ.

  7. ليت المنون حكتك في

    تصريفها عدلا وفقاً

    Would that death had resembled you in

    its dealings, with fitting justice.

  8. عِجلت إليك فغيَّبت

    زين الشباب نُهى وخلقا

    It hastened to you and hid away

    youth's ornament in intellect and character.

  9. الأرض فوقك مأتم

    جيب الفضيلة فيه شُقا

    The earth above you is a place of mourning,

    where Virtue's robe is rent at the breast.

  10. ماذا جنيت على أب

    شيخ بدمع ليس يرقا

    What have you inflicted upon a father,

    an old man whose tears will not cease?

  11. منَّيته في ذا الشباب

    منىً فهلا كنّ صدقا

    In this youth of yours, you gave him

    hopes—if only they had come true!

  12. قد كان يرجو أن تعيش

    وكان يأمل أن سترقى

    He had hoped that you would live,

    and hoped that you would rise.

  13. والمرء يسعَد بالبنين

    وفيك مُعتَبر ويشقى

    A man finds happiness in sons,

    and suffers too—in you lies a lesson.

  14. من للصغار الذائقين

    برغمهم لليتم رقا

    Who will care for the little ones, tasting

    against their will the bondage of orphanhood?

  15. ضَعُفُوا كأفراخ الحمام

    فمن لهم عطفا وزقا

    They have grown frail as nestling doves;

    so who will tend them and feed them beak to beak?

  16. من للقضاء تركته

    جزِعا ضعيف الركن قلقا

    Who will sustain justice? You have left it

    distraught, its mainstay weakened, anxious,

  17. يبكي ويستبكي عليـ

    ـك المشتِكي والمستحقا

    weeping and drawing tears over

    you from the complainant and the rightful claimant.

  18. نم حيث ضافك في الثرى

    خَلق وحيث تَضيف خلقا

    Sleep where, in the dust, you have received

    multitudes as guests, and where you are a guest of multitudes.

  19. إن التي جاورتها

    لم ترع للجيران حقا

    Indeed, she whose neighbor you have become

    has not honored the rights of neighbors.

  20. عق الخلائق ظهرها

    وأظن باطنها أعقا

    Her surface has been cruel to all creatures,

    and I think her depths crueler still.

  21. كل عليها زائل

    لا شيء غير الله يبقى

    Everything upon her passes away;

    nothing but God endures.