1. نَبَأٌ تَقاصَرَ دونَهُ الأنْباءُ

    واستَمطَرَ العَبَراتِ وهْيَ دِماءُ

    News beside which all other news falls short,

    and made tears rain down—tears of blood.

  2. فالمُقْرَباتُ خَواشِعٌ أبصارُها

    مِيلُ الرُّؤوسِ صَليلُهُنَّ بُكاءُ

    So the favored steeds have downcast eyes,

    their heads bowed, their neighing a lament.

  3. والبِيضُ تَقْلَقُ في الغُمودِ كَما الْتَوى

    رُقْشٌ تَبُلُّ مُتونَها الأنْداءُ

    And bright swords stir within their sheaths like coiling

    speckled serpents whose backs the dews moisten.

  4. والسُّمْرُ راجِفَةٌ كأنَّ كُعوبَها

    تَلوي معاقِدَها يَدٌ شَلاّءُ

    And brown lances tremble, as though their nodes

    were twisted at the joints by a palsied hand.

  5. والشَّمسُ شاحِبةٌ يَمورُ شُعاعُها

    مَوْرَ الغَديرِ طَغَتْ بهِ النَّكْباءُ

    And the sun is pale; its radiance heaves

    with the heaving of a pool lashed by a crosswind.

  6. والنَّيِّراتُ طَوالِعٌ رَأْدَ الضُّحى

    نُفِضَتْ على صَفَحاتِها الظَّلْماءُ

    And the bright stars rise in the first light of morning,

    with darkness scattered across their faces.

  7. يَنْدُبْنَ أحْمَدَ فالبِلادُ خَواشِعٌ

    والأرضُ تُعْوِلُ والصّباحُ مَساءُ

    They mourn Ahmad; the lands bow in grief,

    and the earth wails, and morning is evening.

  8. والعينُ تنْزِفُ ماءَها حُرَقُ الجَوى

    والوجْهُ تُضمِرُ نارَهُ الأحشاءُ

    And grief's burning pangs drain the eye of its tears,

    and the inward parts harbor the fire of the face.

  9. فأذَلَّ أعناقاً خَضَعْنَ لفَقْدِهِ

    وهْيَ التي طَمَحَتْ بها الخُيَلاءُ

    Thus it humbled necks that bowed at his loss,

    though these were the necks that pride had lifted high.

  10. غَنِيَتْ عَواطِلَ بَعْدَما صاغتْ حُلَى

    أطواقِها بِنَوالِهِ الآلاءُ

    They remain unadorned, after the jewels were fashioned

    for their collars by the blessings of his bounty.

  11. ما لِلْمَنايا يَجْتَذِبْنَ إِلى الرَّدى

    مُهَجاً فهُنَّ طلائِحٌ أنْضاءُ

    What ails the fates, that they drag toward destruction

    souls, and they are worn out and wasted?

  12. تُدْهى بِها العَصْماءُ في شَعَفاتِها

    وتُحَطُّ عنْ وُكُناتِها الشّغْواءُ

    By them the white-footed ibex is stricken on its peaks,

    and the hook-beaked eagle is brought down from its perches.

  13. عُونٌ تَكَدَّسَ بالنّفوسِ وعِندَها

    في كُلِّ يومٍ مُهجَةٌ عَذْراءُ

    Veteran fates leap upon souls, yet with them

    each day there is a virgin soul.

  14. دُنيا تُرَشِّحُ للرَّدى أبْناءَها

    أُمٌّ لَعَمْرُ أبيهِمُ وَرْهاءُ

    The world rears its children for destruction—

    a foolish mother, by the life of their father!

  15. فالنّاسُ منْ غادٍ علَيهِ ورائِحٍ

    ولِمَنْ تأخَّرَ عنهُما الإسْراءُ

    Thus people go to death, some at dawn, some at dusk,

    and those who lag behind the two must travel by night.

  16. لا شارِخٌ يَبْقى ولا ذو لِمَّةٍ

    ألْوَتْ بعَصْرِ شَبابِها العنْقاءُ

    Neither a youth remains, nor a man with locks

    whose youthful season the Anqa has carried away.

  17. ولكَمْ نَظَرْتُ إِلى الحياةِ وقدْ دَجَتْ

    أظْلالُها فإذا الحَياةُ عَناءُ

    And how often I have looked upon life, when darkened

    were its shadows—and behold, life was suffering.

  18. لا يَخْدَعَنّكَ مَعْقِلٌ أشِبٌ ولَو

    حلَّتْ علَيْهِ نِطاقَها الجَوْزاءُ

    Let no thickly wooded stronghold deceive you, even if

    Orion loosened its belt upon it.

  19. واكْفُفْ شَبا العَينِ الطّموحِ فَدونَ ما

    تَسْمو إليهِ بلَحْظِها أقْذاءُ

    And curb the edge of the aspiring eye, for short of what

    it seeks to reach with its gaze lie irritating motes.

  20. ولَوِ اسْتُطيلَ على الحِمامِ بعِزَّةٍ

    رُفِعَتْ بِها اليَزَنِيَّةُ السَّمْراءُ

    And if death could be bested by might

    by which the brown Yazanite spear was raised,

  21. لَتَحدَّبَتْ صِيدُ المُلوكِ على القَنا

    حَيثُ القُلوبُ تُطيرُها الهَيْجاءُ

    the proud kings would have bent over their lances

    where battle sends hearts flying.

  22. يَطَؤونَ أذيالَ الدُّروعِ كأنّهُمْ

    أُسْدُ الشّرَى وكأنّهُنَّ إضاءُ

    They tread upon the trailing hems of their mail, as though they were

    lions of al-Shara, and as though their mail were pools.

  23. والخَيْلُ عابِسَةُ الوُجوهِ كأنّها

    تَحْتَ الكُماةِ إذا انْجَرَدْنَ ضِراءُ

    And the horses are grim of face, as though they were,

    beneath the armored warriors, when they race forth, fierce hounds.

  24. يَفْدونَ أحمَدَ بالنُّفوسِ وقلَّما

    يُغْني إذا نَشِبَ المَنونُ فِداءُ

    They would ransom Ahmad with their lives, yet seldom

    does ransom avail when Death has taken hold.

  25. قادَ الكَتائِبَ وهْوَ مُقتَبِلُ الصِّبا

    حتَّى اتّقَتْ غَزَواتِهِ الأعْداءُ

    He led the battalions while still in the first bloom of youth,

    until his enemies came to dread his campaigns.

  26. ورَمى المَشارِقَ بالمَذاكِي فارْتَدى

    بِعَجاجِها المَلْمومَةُ الشَّهْباءُ

    And he struck the eastern lands with full-grown steeds; cloaked

    in their dust was the massed, gray host.

  27. ولهُ بأطرارِ المَغارِبِ وَقْعَةٌ

    تُرضي السُّيوفَ وغارَةٌ شَعْواءُ

    And his, on the fringes of the western lands, was a battle

    that satisfied the swords, and a sweeping raid.

  28. لمْ يَدْفَعِ الحَدَثانِ عَن حَوبائِهِ

    مَجْدٌ أشَمُّ وعِزّةٌ قَعْساءُ

    The ravages of time were not warded from his soul by

    lofty glory or unyielding might,

  29. وصَوارِمٌ مَشْحوذَةٌ وأسِنَّةٌ

    مَذروبَةٌ وكَتيبَةٌ جَأواءُ

    or sharpened swords and spearheads,

    keen-edged, or a host dark with armor.

  30. لَقِحَتْ بهِ الأرضُ العَقيمُ وأُسْقِيَتْ

    سَبَلَ الحَيا فكأنَّها عُشَراءُ

    Through him the barren earth conceived and was watered

    with showers of rain, as though she were a she-camel ten months pregnant.

  31. والصّبْرُ في رَيْعانِ كُلِّ رَزيَّةٍ

    تَقِصُ الجَوانِحَ عَزْمَةٌ بَزْلاءُ

    And patience at the first onset of every calamity

    that breaks the ribs is a firm, seasoned resolve.

  32. ولِكُلِّ نَفْسٍ مَصْرَعٌ لا تُمْتَطَى

    إلا إلَيهِ الآلَةُ الحَدْباءُ

    And every soul has a place of death; none rides

    the humpbacked bier except toward it.

  33. للِّهِ ما اعتْتَنَقَ الثَّرى من سُؤْدَدٍ

    شَهِدَتْ بهِ أُكْرومَةٌ وحَياءُ

    By God, what nobility the dust has embraced,

    to which magnanimity and modesty bore witness,

  34. وشَمائِلٍ رقَّتْ كَما خَطَرتْ على

    زَهرِ الرَّبيعِ رُوَيْحَةٌ سَجواءُ

    and qualities, gentle as the wafting over

    spring's blossoms of a little, tranquil breeze.

  35. عَطِرَتْ بهِ الأرضُ الفَضاءُ كأنَّما

    نُشِرَتْ علَيها الرَّوضَةُ الغنَّاءُ

    Through him the open earth grew fragrant, as though

    the luxuriant garden had been spread upon it.

  36. لا زال يَنْضَحُ قبْرَهُ دَمُ قارِحٍ

    يَحْبو لدَيْهِ وديمَةٌ وَطْفاءُ

    May his grave be ever sprinkled with the blood of a newly risen raincloud,

    creeping beside it, and with a thick-fringed cloud of steady rain.

  37. والبَرْقُ يختلِسُ الوَميضَ كأنّهُ

    بَلْقاءُ تَمْرَحُ حَولَها الأفْلاءُ

    And the lightning snatches flashes, as though it were

    a piebald mare with foals frisking around her.

  38. جَرَّ النَّسيمُ بهِ فُضولَ عِطافِهِ

    وبَكَتْ عَلَيْهِ شَجْوَها الأنواءُ

    The breeze trailed about it the loose ends of its cloak,

    and the rain-bearing stars wept their sorrow over him.