1. راية الموت فوق هام العباد

    نشرتها كتائب الآباد

    Death's banner flies above the heads of mankind;

    The battalions of eternity unfurled it.

  2. يشرب العالمون في السلم منها

    ويريفون ظلها في الجهاد

    The world's peoples drink from it in peace

    And seek refreshment in its shade in war.

  3. من تعاجِل يمت وينس ومن تمـ

    ـهل يعش تحت خافق متهاد

    Whomever it overtakes dies and is forgotten; whoever it grants respite

    Lives beneath a fluttering, gently swaying banner.

  4. غاية المرء عائد وطبيب

    ومصير الطبيب للعواد

    Man's final lot is a sickbed visitor and a physician;

    And the physician's fate is to receive sickbed visitors.

  5. وبكأسين من حياة وموت

    شرب العالمون من عهد عاد

    And from two cups—of life and death—

    The world's peoples have drunk since the age of ʿAd.

  6. حلم هذه الحياة فمن تمـ

    ـدد له يشق أو يطب بالرقاد

    This life is a dream; whoever has it prolonged

    Suffers or finds delight in slumber.

  7. وقصارى الكرى وإن طال نعمى

    لزوال أو شقوة لنفاد

    And slumber's utmost end, however long, is bliss

    Destined to pass, or misery destined to end.

  8. ذهبت في حساب يوسف سبع

    لينات في إثر سبع شداد

    In Yusuf's reckoning, seven years passed—

    Gentle ones, in the wake of seven harsh ones.

  9. واستوى الصاحبان هذا إلى الرعـ

    ـد تولى وذا إلى الإبعاد

    The two companions were alike: this one toward thunder [perhaps: ease]

    Turned, and that one toward banishment.

  10. قبره الأرض والبرية ميت

    تلك مطوية وذى لمعاد

    The earth is his grave, and mankind a corpse;

    The former will be folded up; the latter is destined to return.

  11. ومرور الأجساد بالأرض هلكي

    كمرور الأرواح بالأجساد

    And bodies pass through the earth, dead,

    As souls pass through bodies.

  12. أي عصر ببعلبك دفين

    تحت ذاك الثرى وتلك العماد

    What age lies buried in Baalbek

    Beneath that dust and those pillars?

  13. قف بآثارها الجلائل وانظر

    هل ترى من ممالك وبلاد

    Stand by its majestic ruins and look:

    Do you see any kingdoms or lands?

  14. أصبح الملك سيرة وذوو الملـ

    ـك حديثا فكيف بالأفراد

    Kingship has become a tale, and those who possessed it

    A story—what, then, of ordinary people?

  15. شيدوا للبلى ومر عليهم

    زمن صالح وآخر عاد

    They built for decay, and over them passed

    A benign age and another hostile.

  16. بعلبك أخشعى ولاقى أبا يو

    سف لقيا الرياض صوب العهاد

    Baalbek, bow humbly and greet Abu Yusuf

    As gardens greet the downpour of renewing rains.

  17. وإذا جاور الملوك وأمسى

    بين عين البلى وعين السواد

    And when he dwells beside kings and comes to rest

    Between the Spring of Decay and the Spring of Darkness,

  18. أنزليه منازل الصيد منهم

    وأبيجيه مرقد الأنداد

    Lodge him in the dwellings of their noble lords

    And grant him the resting place of his peers.

  19. قف بفادى الصديق والجار واسأل

    يا أسير المنون هل لك فاد

    Stand by the rescuer of friend and neighbor, and ask:

    O captive of death, is there anyone to ransom you?

  20. إن سهما أصاب منك حبيبا

    وقعه في القلوب والأكباد

    Indeed, an arrow struck a loved one in you;

    Its impact is in hearts and livers.

  21. وقضاء دهاك هد بناء الـ

    ـبر ركن العفاة والقصاد

    And the fate that befell you shattered the edifice of

    Goodness, the mainstay of supplicants and visitors.

  22. أى حي سواك يوم تولى

    خدّدته نجابة الأولاد

    What living man besides you, on the day he departed,

    Was furrowed [perhaps: immortalized] by his sons' nobility?

  23. خمسة بالشام بعدك قاموا

    ملء عين اللدات والحساد

    Five in Syria have stood forth after you,

    Filling the eyes of their peers and the envious.

  24. كلهم حافظ الصديق كريم الـ

    ـعهد راعى الزمام وافي الوداد

    Each safeguards his friend, noble in his

    Covenant, mindful of bonds, steadfast in affection.

  25. ذا لهذا أب وجد إذا ول

    لَى أبر الآباء والأجداد

    One is father and grandfather to another, when

    The kindest of fathers and grandfathers has departed.

  26. أخذوا البر والوفاء جميعا

    عن أب سيد وفيّ جواد

    They took kindness and faithfulness alike

    From a noble father, loyal and generous.

  27. آل مطران لو أتيت بوحى

    لم أزدكم من الحجى والرشاد

    House of Mutran, even if I came with revelation,

    I would add nothing to your wisdom and right guidance.

  28. لكم أنفس تمر بها الأحـ

    ـداث مر الرياح بالأطواد

    You have souls over which calamities pass

    As winds pass over great mountains.

  29. فخذوا بالعزاء في خطب من با

    ن وكونوا عليه غوث العباد

    So take comfort in the loss of him who has

    Departed, and be the people's succor against it.

  30. يهزل العيش والمنية جد

    وتضل الحياة والموت هاد

    Life jests, but death is earnest;

    Life leads astray, but death is a guide.

  31. وخفوق الفؤاد في ساعة التكـ

    ـوين داع إلى سكون الفؤاد

    And the heart's beating at the hour of its

    Formation calls the heart to stillness.

  32. فإذا جددت فأبلت فأعيت

    جاءها حينها بلا ميعاد

    So when it renews, wears out, and wearies,

    Its hour of death comes to it without appointment.