1. أَلا من لِصَبٍّ دائب المهجات

    طويل الأماني قاصر الحركات

    Ah, who will help a lovesick man, restless to his very soul,

    Long in hopes, yet limited in his movements?

  2. غزير الأسى ما فارق الهم والأسى

    يرى الحسن أردافاً من الحسنات

    Abundant in grief, never parted from worry and sorrow,

    He sees beauty as a succession of good qualities.

  3. يحن حنين الهيم ذاد خماسها

    عن الماء ليث صادق الوثبات

    He yearns like thirst-maddened camels, their fifth-day herd driven

    From water by a lion unfailing in his leaps.

  4. إِذا صعدت أنفاسه انقد ضينه

    وإِن رجع الارزام كالمقلات

    When his breaths rise, his [unclear] splits apart,

    And if he repeats his moans, he is like a mother whose children never survive.

  5. متى خمدت نار الأَسى من فؤاده

    يهب عليها شمأل الزفرات

    Whenever the fire of sorrow fades from his heart,

    The north wind of deep sighs blows upon it.

  6. وإِن جمدت منا الدموع تسيلها

    رعود وأبرق من الحسرات

    And if our tears freeze, they are set flowing by

    Thunderclaps and lightning flashes of anguish.

  7. ففي كل يوم لي من الحزن غارة

    تطالعني في مرة وثبات

    For every day grief makes a raid upon me,

    Confronting me with leap upon leap in a single assault.

  8. لعمري بنات الدهر شيبن مفرقي

    ولم أك في شيبي أَباً لبنات

    By my life, the daughters of time have grayed my hair's parting,

    Yet with my graying hair I was no father to daughters.

  9. على تالد الأَيام لي طارف الأَسى

    وفي كل حين مفجع وشتات

    On top of the old stock of days, fresh sorrow is mine,

    And at every moment come heartbreak and separation.

  10. إِذا نزلت بي غصة قلت تنقضي

    أتت غصص ملء الجهات جهاتي

    When a choking grief descends upon me, I say, 'It will pass';

    Griefs arrive, filling the directions—all the directions around me.

  11. إِذا اعتضت خلا من خليل رؤيته

    فلم يبق لي إلا به وخلات

    Whenever I take one friend in another's place, the sight of him

    Leaves me nothing but piercing hurts through him.

  12. كأن الليالي طالبتني بوترها

    فتفجأني في يقظتي وسنات

    As though the nights demanded their blood-vengeance from me,

    So spells of drowsiness surprise me in my waking hours.

  13. وهيهات لا رزءاً عظيماً نزوله

    علينا كرزء المجتبي بركات

    Far from it! No calamity, however grievous its descent

    Upon us, equals the loss of the chosen Barakat,

  14. عظيم الحرش المرتضى ابن محمد

    سليل شريف معدن البركات

    Mighty in the thicket, the favored son of Muhammad,

    A noble scion, a mine of blessings,

  15. حليف التقى خدن النهى منجع الجدى

    كريم الأَيادي منحض النحوات

    Ally of piety, companion of reason, a resort for bounty,

    Generous in benefactions, [unclear] in his aims;

  16. أخي ثقتي حصني ملاذي وموئلي

    حسامي ودرعي مانعي وقناتي

    My brother, my trusted confidant, my fortress, my refuge and my haven,

    My sword and my shield, my protector and my spear,

  17. خلاصي أخي في اللَه خدني ذخيرتي

    وعيبة سري ناعشاً كبواتي

    My deliverance, my brother in God, my companion, my treasure,

    And the coffer of my secret, raising me from my falls;

  18. أَميني على دنياي غيباً ومشهداً

    معيني على الأَخطار في الأَزمات

    My trustee over my worldly life, in absence and presence,

    My helper against dangers in times of crisis.

  19. كأن سماكاً كان في المنع أَرعنا

    وإِني به مسترقل الهضبات

    As though Simak were a rugged mountain of defense,

    And through him I was a climber of the hills.

  20. كأن الفرات العذب كان وإنني

    لذو نائل منه وذو لهوات

    He was like the sweet Euphrates, and I

    Was surely a receiver of his bounty and lavish gifts.

  21. وقد كان شمساً يستضاء بنورها

    برأد الضحى سيان والظلمات

    And he was a sun whose light gave illumination,

    In early forenoon and in darkness alike.

  22. ورب نهار صائم قد أماته

    وليلاً قضاه ميتاً بحياة

    And many a fasting day he put to death,

    And a night he passed as one dead, yet alive.

  23. إِذا استقبل المحراب باتت دموعه

    من الأَربع الآماق منهملات

    When he faced the prayer niche, his tears spent the night

    Streaming from the four corners of his eyes.

  24. كأن قراح الماء صفو ضميره

    وأَعراضه كالمسك في الندوات

    The purity of his conscience was like unmingled water,

    And his good name was like musk in gatherings.

  25. مضى طارف الجثمان والأَنف والكرى

    وسهد المنى والبرد والأذوات

    Gone are the body's new acquisitions, pride, and slumber [wording unclear],

    And wakeful hopes, coolness, and selves [wording unclear].

  26. كأن بقايا ذكره نشر روضة

    يفتق منها الغيث كل نبات

    The remnants of his remembrance seem a garden's fragrance,

    From which rain unfolds every plant.

  27. أَرى كل حر لم يعش ريثما اقتضى

    لباناته إلا على اللبنات

    I see no freeborn man live long enough to fulfill

    His desires, save upon the bricks of the grave.

  28. يطول بقا التنين وهو مدارج

    وتفنى حياة البدر في الدرجات

    The Dragon endures long as it traverses its courses,

    While the full moon's life dwindles through its degrees.

  29. رأينا الكريم الحُر ليس لعمره

    دوام سوى ما بين هاك وهات

    We have seen that the generous, freeborn man's life has no

    Duration beyond the interval between 'take this' and 'give.'

  30. عليك سلام اللَه وقفاً فإنما

    مماتك موصول بختل مماتي

    God's peace be upon you in perpetuity, for

    Your death is bound to my own death's stealthy assault.

  31. أَيا قدوة الاسلام هل لك عودة

    إلينا ولو في آخر الهدوات

    O model of Islam, is there a return for you

    To us, if only in the last quiet hours?

  32. ويا سيد العُباد هل من زيارة

    أَأَم صرت عنا قاصر الحركات

    And O master of worshippers, is there any visit?

    Or have you become distant from us, limited in your movements?

  33. ويا كعبة الوفاد هل أَنت سامع

    عوالي إِذا اعولت في خلواتي

    And O Kaaba of visiting delegations, do you hear

    My wailing when I cry out in solitude?

  34. بكيت دَماً لو كانَ ينفعني البكا

    لغرَّق عذالي سما عبرات

    I wept blood; if weeping could benefit me,

    A sky of tears would drown my reproachers.

  35. وهات أَنا قد أَصبحت بعدك دالها

    ترقُّ لولوالي قلوب عداتي

    And come now: I have become distraught since you departed,

    The hearts of my enemies soften at my wailing.

  36. وفات سلوي بعد فوتك وانقضى

    وحانت لحين فيك حان وفاتي

    My solace passed after your passing and came to an end,

    And at your doom it drew near—the hour of my death.

  37. حياتي وفاتي بعدك اليوم سيدي

    وكون مماتي في الدنو حياتي

    My life today, after you, is my death, my master,

    And my death, in nearness to you, is my life.

  38. وحرمة طه والمثاني والنبا

    ويس والفرقان والحجرات

    By the sanctity of Ta-Ha, the Oft-Repeated Verses, and al-Naba,

    And Ya-Sin, al-Furqan, and al-Hujurat,

  39. لو أَني أَرى قبراً به أَنتَ نازل

    لأكثرت من قطريه من دعواتي

    If I could see a grave in which you are lodged,

    I would offer abundant prayers from both its sides,

  40. وسرت إِليه حافياً غير ناعل

    مشيحا على عيني وأم سوآتي

    And walk to it barefoot, wearing no sandals,

    Hastening on my eyes and the 'mother of my shameful parts' [unclear phrase].

  41. وليتك مقبور بإنسان مقلتي

    لتمسي كما تضحي حذا نظرات

    Would that you were buried in the pupil of my eye,

    To be before my gaze in evening as in morning.

  42. فيا بحر إن البحر أَوراك موجه

    فأي فرات غائر بفرات

    O sea, if the sea's waves have concealed you,

    What a sweet river lies sunken in a sweet river!

  43. عليك سلام الله في كل ساعة

    ومنه لقد تغشاك بالفضلات

    God's peace be upon you at every hour,

    And from Him, surely, you have been enveloped in bounties.

  44. ولا زالَ تأبيني عليك مدى المدى

    وذلك أَقصى زورتي وصلاتي

    May my elegy for you never cease, for all time,

    And that is the utmost of my visit and my prayer.