1. قالوا لنا فرحات سوف يتركنا

    فقلت يا قوم جاء الهم والكدر

    They told us: Farhat will leave us.

    So I said: O people, sorrow and distress have come.

  2. من ذا سواه خليق أن يؤدبنا

    وأن يعلمنا ما الخبر والخبر

    Who but he is fit to educate us,

    and teach us what experience and news are,

  3. وما الجرامر ألغازا وأحجية

    والفرق ما بين عمرو قال أو عمر

    and what grammar is—riddles and a puzzle—

    and the difference, he said, between Amr and Umar?

  4. هيهات هيهات لم يبلغ مكانته

    إلا حبيب فكم عزت له سور

    Far from it, far from it! None has attained his rank

    except Habib—how many surahs were dear to him!

  5. ويا له سيدا للخلق نعبده

    كأنه الصنم العزى أو الحجر

    And what a master of mankind he is, whom we worship,

    as though he were the idol al-Uzza, or the stone.

  6. ولست أنكر أن الدسك زينه

    الشمس والرائع والمريخ والقمر

    And I do not deny that the desk was adorned

    by the sun, the splendid one, Mars, and the moon.

  7. ثلاثة فرحات راح يخلقهم

    من بعد ما فرحوا بالموت أوقبروا

    Three—Farhat set about creating them,

    after they had rejoiced in death or been buried.

  8. يا راحلا وله في ذكرنا أثر

    بوركت كم حاضر لم يبقه أثر

    O departing one, whose trace remains in our memory,

    blessed be you! How many still here have no trace to preserve their memory!

  9. إلى مباءة درس أنت تعشقه

    ونحن ندرس في قيظ ونحتضر

    To an abode of study that you love,

    while we study in scorching summer heat and lie dying.

  10. علم وعلم وأنجب كل نافعة

    فليس يخلد إلا العلم والفكر

    Teach and teach, and bring forth every useful thing;

    for nothing endures but knowledge and thought.

  11. واسعد بدنياك في بحث وفي كتب

    إن كان يسعد من لم ترضه الهذر

    And be happy in your life, in research and in books,

    if one whom idle talk does not satisfy can be happy.