1. سَأَلوني لِمَ لَم أَرثِ أَبي

    وَرِثاءُ الأَبِ دَينٌ أَيُّ دَين

    They asked me why I did not lament my father,

    And lamenting one's father is a debt—what a debt!

  2. أَيُّها اللُوّامُ ما أَظلَمَكُم

    أَينَ لي العَقلُ الَّذي يُسعِدُ أَين

    O you reproachers, how unjust you are!

    Where is the mind that would help me—where?

  3. يا أَبي ما أَنتَ في ذا أَوَّلٌ

    كُلُّ نَفسٍ لِلمَنايا فَرضُ عَين

    O father, you are not the first in this;

    Every soul is death's inescapable due.

  4. هَلَكَت قَبلَكَ ناسٌ وَقُرى

    وَنَعى الناعونَ خَيرَ الثِقَلَين

    People and villages perished before you,

    And mourners announced the death of the best of humans and jinn.

  5. غايَةُ المَرءِ وَإِن طالَ المَدى

    آخِذٌ يَأخُذُهُ بِالأَصغَرَين

    A mortal's end, however long his span,

    Is a taker who seizes him by heart and tongue,

  6. وَطَبيبٌ يَتَوَلّى عاجِزاً

    نافِضاً مِن طِبَّهُ خُفَّي حُنَين

    And a physician turning away, powerless,

    Shaking out Hunayn's two boots—his medicine of no avail.

  7. إِنَّ لِلمَوتِ يَداً إِن ضَرَبَت

    أَوشَكَت تَصدَعُ شَملَ الفَرقَدَين

    Death indeed has a hand that, if it strikes,

    Could almost tear the two Farqad stars apart.

  8. تَنفُذُ الجَوَّ عَلى عِقبانِهِ

    وَتُلاقي اللَيثَ بَينَ الجَبَلَين

    It pierces the sky to fall upon its eagles,

    And meets the lion between the two mountains.

  9. وَتَحُطُّ الفَرخَ مِن أَيكَتِهِ

    وَتَنالُ البَبَّغا في المِئَتَين

    And brings the fledgling down from its thicket,

    And reaches the parrot at two hundred years.

  10. أَنا مَن ماتَ وَمَن ماتَ أَنا

    لَقِيَ المَوتَ كِلانا مَرَّتَين

    I am the one who died, and the one who died is I;

    Both of us have met death twice.

  11. نَحنُ كُنّا مُهجَةً في بَدَنٍ

    ثُمَّ صِرنا مُهجَةً في بَدَنَين

    We were one soul within one body,

    Then became one soul within two bodies;

  12. ثُمَّ عُدنا مُهجَةً في بَدَنٍ

    ثُمَّ نُلقى جُثَّةً في كَفَنَين

    Then returned to one soul within one body,

    Then we shall be laid as one corpse in two shrouds.

  13. ثُمَّ نَحيا في عَلِيٍّ بَعدَنا

    وَبِهِ نُبعَثُ أولى البِعثَتَين

    Then we live on in Ali after we are gone,

    And through him we are raised in the first of two resurrections.

  14. اِنظُرِ الكَونَ وَقُل في وَصفِهِ

    كُلُّ هَذا أَصلُهُ مِن أَبَوَين

    Look at the universe, and say in describing it:

    All this has its origin in two parents.

  15. فَإِذا ما قيلَ ما أَصلُهُما

    قُل هُما الرَحمَةُ في مَرحَمَتَين

    And if it is asked, 'What is their origin?'

    Say: they are mercy in two embodiments of compassion.

  16. فَقَدا الجَنَّةَ في إيجادِنا

    وَنَعِمنا مِنهُما في جَنَّتَين

    They lost paradise in bringing us into being,

    And through them we lived in bliss in two paradises.

  17. وَهُما العُذرُ إِذا ما أُغضِبا

    وَهُما الصَفحُ لَنا مُستَرضِيَين

    And they are indulgence whenever they are angered,

    And they are forgiveness for us, seeking to please us.

  18. لَيتَ شِعري أَيُّ حَيٍّ لَم يَدِن

    بِالَّذي دانا بِهِ مُبتَدِأَين

    Would that I knew: what living being has not lived by

    What they both lived by in the beginning?

  19. وَقَفَ اللَهُ بِنا حَيثُ هُما

    وَأَماتَ الرُسلَ إِلّا الوالِدَين

    God has set us where they stand,

    And caused the messengers to die, save the two parents.

  20. ما أَبي إِلّا أَخٌ فارَقتُهُ

    وُدُّهُ الصِدقُ وَوُدُّ الناسِ مَين

    My father is but a brother from whom I parted;

    His love is truth; other people's love is falsehood.

  21. طالَما قُمنا إِلى مائِدَةٍ

    كانَتِ الكِسرَةُ فيها كِسرَتَين

    How often we went to a table

    Where one piece of bread became two pieces;

  22. وَشَرِبنا مِن إِناءٍ واحِدٍ

    وَغَسَلنا بَعدَ ذا فيهِ اليَدَين

    And we drank from a single vessel,

    And after that washed our hands in it.

  23. وَتَمَشَّينا يَدي في يَدِهِ

    مَن رَآنا قالَ عَنّا أَخَوَين

    And we walked, my hand in his;

    Whoever saw us spoke of us as two brothers.

  24. نَظَرَ الدَهرُ إِلَينا نَظرَةً

    سَوَّتِ الشَرَّ فَكانَت نَظرَتَين

    Time cast a glance upon us,

    Dealing equal harm, so that one glance became two.

  25. يا أَبي وَالمَوتُ كَأسٌ مُرَّةٌ

    لا تَذوقُ النَفسُ مِنها مَرَّتَين

    O father, death is a bitter cup

    From which no soul tastes twice.

  26. كَيفَ كانَت ساعَةٌ قَضَّيتَها

    كُلُّ شَيءٍ قَبلَها أَو بَعدُ هَين

    What was the hour you endured like?

    Everything before it or after it is easy.

  27. أَشَرِبتَ المَوتَ فيها جُرعَةً

    أَم شَرِبتَ المَوتَ فيها جُرعَتَين

    Did you drink death in it in one draught,

    Or did you drink death in it in two draughts?

  28. لا تَخَف بَعدَكَ حُزناً أَو بُكاً

    جَمَدَت مِنّي وَمِنكَ اليَومَ عَين

    Do not fear grief or weeping after you are gone;

    Today your eye and mine have frozen.

  29. أَنتَ قَد عَلَّمتَني تَركَ الأَسى

    كُلُّ زَينٍ مُنتَهاهُ المَوتُ شَين

    You have taught me to leave sorrow behind:

    All beauty whose end is death is ugliness.

  30. لَيتَ شِعري هَل لَنا أَن نَلتَقي

    مَرَّةً أَم ذا اِفتِراقُ المَلَوَين

    Would that I knew: can we meet

    Once again, or is this parting for as long as night and day endure?

  31. وَإِذا مُتُّ وَأودِعتُ الثَرى

    أَنَلقَّى حُفرَةً أَو حُفرَتَين

    And when I die and am laid in the earth,

    Shall we be laid in one grave, or two?