1. المرء لا زال في دنياه كالعرض

    صميمه لسهام الموت كالغرض

    A man remains in this world like a fleeting thing;

    His very core is a target for death’s arrows.

  2. ساه على الحادثات النازلات به

    كأنه للردى لم يبر والحرض

    Heedless of the calamities descending upon him,

    As though he were not fashioned for death and wasting sickness.

  3. يرعى بروض الأماني زهر شرته

    ويرتةي من مياه العجب والبغض

    He grazes in the meadow of hopes on the blossoms of his craving,

    And [drinks his fill] from the waters of conceit and hatred.

  4. للعارضات من الاطماع معترض

    حدوا وللصالحات غير معترض

    He steps forward for the passing temptations of greed,

    Driven onward, yet never stepping forward for good deeds.

  5. وفي الذي يجمع الآصار منتقضا

    وللهدى لو هداه غير منتقض

    And he stirs in what heaps up burdens,

    Yet will not stir for guidance, even if it guides him.

  6. يسهو ويلهو بآمال مموهة

    ولم يروعه إلا حادث المرض

    He drifts heedlessly and plays with gilded hopes,

    And nothing alarms him but the onset of illness.

  7. كالسرب يرعى رياض الحزن معشبة

    يلهو ومن نبأة القناص في قضض

    Like a herd grazing grassy meadows on rugged uplands,

    At play, yet startled into restlessness by the hunter’s slightest sound.

  8. وكلما اعتل أهدى النذر مجتهداً

    فإن شفي عاد عود الفاتح النهض

    Whenever he falls ill, he earnestly offers his vowed gifts;

    But if he recovers, he returns like a vigorous conqueror.

  9. وطال ما قد تمادى بعد صحته

    في غيه ونسى التنغيص بالحرض

    How often, after regaining health, he has persisted

    In his waywardness, forgetting the misery of wasting sickness.

  10. يرجو دوام سرور كان سر به

    هيهات ذاك وإِن الأَمر فيه قضي

    He hopes the joy he once enjoyed will last;

    Far from it! The matter has already been decided.

  11. لا نعمة وردت إلا بها صدرت

    رقشاء من نقم تصميك بالغضض

    No blessing arrives without there emerging with it

    A speckled serpent of calamities, striking you dead with humiliation.

  12. هل نعمة خلصت من نقمة عرضت

    فيما اعتراض جفون العين للغمض

    Has any blessing escaped a calamity that intrudes

    As the eye’s lids draw together to close?

  13. وسرها لذة بالموت قد قرنت

    به اقتران قريع الشول بالهيض

    Its delight is a pleasure yoked to death,

    Bound to it as the stud of milkless she-camels to a renewed fracture.

  14. لا خير في نعم في إثرها غصص

    وصحة بسقام بئس من عوض

    There is no good in blessings followed by choking grief,

    Or health exchanged for sickness—what a wretched exchange!

  15. تبا لمبتهج بالمال مجتمعا

    وحبذا قنعا بالماء من نبض

    Ruin to one who exults in amassed wealth;

    How good to be content with water from a trickle!

  16. لا عارف قدر الأَيام غير فتى

    من موبقات الليالي الغبر منتقض

    None knows the worth of days except a man

    Who recoils from the ruinous afflictions of dark nights.

  17. سيان رقدته فيها ويقظته

    لا يفلت العرض الموصول بالعرض

    His sleeping and waking in them are alike;

    The transient thing bound to transience cannot escape.

  18. يلقى الفتى ما تمناه عن كثب

    يلقى إِلى حرض داع إِلى حرض

    A man meets what he wished for close at hand;

    A caller to wasting sickness casts him toward wasting sickness [sense uncertain].

  19. فاعمل لأخراك في دنياك مجتهداً

    تحظ بفعل غريب الدهر حيث خض

    So labor earnestly in this world of yours for your hereafter;

    You will prosper by acting as the age’s Gharib did, wherever you venture.

  20. يلقى الردى غير محتاج إِلى أمد

    من الزمان ولم يحتج إِلى عرض

    He meets death needing no further span

    Of time, nor has he needed worldly goods.

  21. أَضاف ركب المنايا ثم قابلها

    والزاد جم بلا رونق ولا برض

    He hosted the caravan of deaths, then faced them,

    His provisions abundant, without showy splendor or scantiness.

  22. غفلن عنه ولم يشعرن يقظته

    وأنه لاشتياق الموت في مضض

    They overlooked him, unaware of his wakefulness,

    And of his anguish in yearning for death.

  23. إن الليالي على صنع القضا سخطت

    به ومن زهده بالكاتبات رضي

    If the nights resent what fate has wrought

    Upon him, his detachment leaves him content with the writers of destiny.

  24. علماً بمقدوره في اللَه معتمداً

    على لقاء بوجه في المعاد وض

    Knowing his allotted fate, relying on God

    For a meeting in the hereafter with a radiant face.

  25. ماذا يقول له الناعي وقد ظفرت

    آماله وبجنات النعيم قض

    What can the bearer of death’s news say to him, when fulfilled

    Are his hopes, and he has passed into gardens of bliss?

  26. قد عاش ما عاش لا بخلا ولا بطرا

    ومات مات بلا ذنب ولا هضض

    He lived as long as he lived, neither miserly nor wanton,

    And died—died without sin or abasement.

  27. يقلب الطرف في تدبير خالقه

    تقلب الطرف موقيه إلى الركض

    He turns his gaze over his Creator’s design,

    As a noble steed turns its eyes toward galloping.

  28. بمسمع طاهر من نية خلصت

    في منطق صادق في منظر غضض

    With pure hearing, born of a sincere intention,

    With truthful speech and a modest gaze.

  29. زهداً كأن لعمري النار ما خُلقت

    إِلا لتعذيبه فالتاع من رمض

    In such detachment that, by my life, hellfire seemed created

    Only to torment him, and he writhed at its scorching heat.

  30. إسارتان له في الناس فلا بها

    فوز المجلي بلا صك ولا فضض

    [Two signs] are his among people; through them [unclear],

    The front-runner’s victory, without striking or shattering.

  31. نيرانه للقرى بالليل ساطعة

    ونوره من قيام الليل فهو يضي

    His fires blaze at night to welcome guests,

    And his light, born of night vigil, shines.

  32. قوام صوام مطعام الطعام إذا

    أَخلفن أَنوا نجوم الباخل البرض

    Constant in prayer, constant in fasting, a giver of food when

    The scant-giving miser’s rain-promising stars fail their pledge.

  33. مستوحش أنس يلقى الحتوف كما

    يلقى الضيوف بلا خوف ولا رغض

    Withdrawn, yet companionable, he meets deaths just as

    He meets guests, without fear or frailty.

  34. يا واجد الزهد لولا زهد والده

    وزهد أولاده الباقين في العوض

    O possessor of detachment, were it not for his father’s detachment

    And that of his surviving sons, who stand in his stead,

  35. تركتني كلفا مستغرقاً قلقا

    أصعد النفس الجاري من القضض

    You would have left me consumed with love, engulfed and distraught,

    Sending up the breath that flows from restless anguish.

  36. لي منك ما بك من ثقل بليت به

    لا ضيقة الذنب بل من ضيقة الرضض

    From you I bear the weight upon you, afflicted by it,

    Not distress from sin, but distress from the crushing blow.

  37. كأن أبصرت ما بي منك من حزن

    فاخترت هذا ولا العشار من كضض

    As though you saw the grief I suffer because of you,

    So you chose this—not pregnant she-camels in distress [sense uncertain].

  38. تركت قلبي كريش النسر منتفضا

    والحزن من ذكر قلبي غير منتفض

    You left my heart trembling like an eagle’s feathers,

    While grief stays unshaken in my heart’s remembrance.

  39. غادرت جرح الأسى في القلب منتفضا

    يبلى وبنيان حزني غير منتفض

    You left sorrow’s wound throbbing in the heart;

    It wears away, but the structure of my grief remains unshaken.

  40. وأدمعا من جفوني قد جرت علقا

    جري العروبة في خد لكالريض

    And tears flowed from my eyelids as clotted blood,

    Like the flow of al-‘Arubah along a cheek [final comparison unclear].

  41. أرعى النجوم لرزء منك مشتمل

    على مصائب وجد فيك معترض

    I watch the stars over your loss, which encompasses

    The afflictions of grief that rises over you.

  42. قد عم رزؤك لو خصت جلائله

    أهل السماء وأهل الأَرض عن عرض

    Your loss is universal, even if its gravest blows singled out

    The dwellers of heaven and earth, one and all.

  43. فالرزء أعظم من جيب نشققه

    ولطم خد وسح الأدمع الغيض

    For the loss is greater than a collar we tear,

    Or striking a cheek, or pouring out dwindling tears.

  44. فاليوم تبكي غريباً كل مكرمة

    قد غودرت بعد إبرام لفي نقض

    Today every noble virtue weeps for Gharib,

    Left, after being firmly bound, in dissolution.

  45. من ذا لأيمة عالت وأرملة

    آلت ومنتجع بلواه منتحض

    Who now for an unmarried woman grown needy, or a widow

    Who has wasted away, or a seeker of relief wasted by his affliction?

  46. من ذا لمدرسة بالعلم شاملة

    ومسجد لمهد الذكر مغترض

    Who now for a school abounding in learning,

    And a mosque set apart as a cradle of remembrance?

  47. من ذا لمختبط ظلماء غاطشة

    يهدى ببرق إلى مرعاه منتبض

    Who now for one groping through pitch-black darkness,

    Guided by a flickering flash to his pasture?

  48. قضى فكانت عطاياه مخلدة

    ونشر إحسانه الفياض لم يقض

    He passed away, but his gifts became everlasting,

    And the fragrance of his overflowing kindness has not perished.

  49. عجبت من بشر يسلوك يا بشر

    نشرت في العرض المشهود بالغرض

    I marvel at a mortal who can forget you, O Bishr,

    Whether raised at the witnessed presentation [purpose unclear],

  50. أو كنت في قبرك الفاضي برحمته

    فضيق الحزن في قلبي عليك فض

    Or lying in your grave, overflowing with His mercy.

    Grief’s constriction in my heart for you is broken open.

  51. فليت قبرك في الأحشاء محتفر

    إني أحاشيك في عفر وعن قضض

    Would that your grave were dug within my innermost body;

    I deem you too precious for dust and gravel.

  52. فليت أنك في موق دفنت عسى

    ألحفك بالجفن في جفني وفي عمضي

    Would that you had been buried in the corner of my eye, so perhaps

    I might cover you with my eyelid, within my lid and in my eye’s closing.

  53. أَرجوك من حزني في الحشر تشفع لي

    فارحم عويلي وسج لي مسمع اليقض

    In my grief I hope you will intercede for me at the Resurrection;

    So pity my wailing, and [incline] to me a wakeful ear.

  54. أرجوك في الحشر ما أرجوك في زمن

    قد كنت فيه سكوب العارض المحض

    I hope in you at the Resurrection as I hoped in you in an age

    When you were a cloud pouring down pure rain.

  55. أجاد قبرك محلول النطاق به

    من باكر غدق أو رائح رحض

    May a cloud, its girdle loosened over it, drench your grave,

    In an abundant morning shower or a cleansing evening rain.

  56. كأن جودك أو حُسنى بنيك به

    قد فاض في الأرض حيث البحر لم يفض

    As though your generosity, or your sons’ kindness, through it

    Had flooded the earth where the sea has never overflowed.

  57. الحاملين من الأشياء أثقلها

    بصالح القرض بها من صالح القرض

    Those who bear the heaviest of burdens,

    With a goodly recompense for them, from a goodly loan,

  58. والتاركين من الأشياء أهونها

    والمرتضين من الأصحاب كل رض

    And leave aside the most trivial of things,

    And choose, among companions, every worthy one.

  59. القائمين بدين اللَه أصغرهم

    في حلمه عادل رضوان في المهض

    Those who uphold God’s religion—even their youngest,

    In his forbearance, equals Ridwan while still in the [cradle].

  60. فخاطر نعم من يرجى وإخوته

    الطاهرين من الأدناس والحوض

    So Khatir is a fine man to place hope in, as are his brothers,

    Pure of defilement and of the basin [sense uncertain].

  61. لا زلتمُ خلفا في نسق والدكم

    فالغيث يعقب زاكي النبت في الرهض

    May you always be successors in your father’s pattern;

    For rain leaves flourishing plants in trampled ground [reading uncertain].

  62. أبقى غريب لكم آيات مكرمة

    تتلى عليكم ومجداً غير منخفض

    Gharib has left you signs of noble virtue

    To be recited to you, and glory never diminished.

  63. حُسن العزاء لكم والاقتداء به

    من جوده الجم أو إخباته المحض

    May fine consolation be yours, and emulation of him

    In his abundant generosity or his unalloyed humility.

  64. فالشمس تنتج إلا النور متضحا

    والليث ليثاً وليس الدر من حضض

    For the sun brings forth only manifest light,

    And the lion a lion; pearls do not come from bitter sap.