الرزء أعظم أن تراق دموع

أو أن تقد من الزفير ضلوع

The calamity is too great for tears to be shed,

Or for ribs to be split by sighing.

والحزن أبرح أن تشقق حلة

ويخد خد بالأكف شموع

And grief is too agonizing for a robe to be torn,

Or a smiling cheek to be scratched by palms.

هذا هو الخطب الجليل لأنه

لو كان حلماً نافداً لفظيع

This is indeed the tremendous disaster, for

Even were it a passing dream, it would be dreadful.

وهو المصيبة في الورى عمت فلا

أد يخص به ولا يربوع

It is the calamity that has spread throughout humankind; neither

Udd alone is afflicted by it, nor Yarbuʿ.

ذي ثلمة وقعت كأسد آدها

في العلم بين العالمين وقيع

This breach has opened—like a lion weighing it down [unclear wording]—

A grievous blow to learning among the learned.

كادت بها تطوى السموات العلا

والأَرض ترجف والجبال تميع

Through it, the lofty heavens almost folded up,

The earth trembles, and the mountains melt.

بقلوب أهل الأَرض منها مثلة

وبقلب أملاك السماء صدوع

From it, the hearts of earth's people are wounded,

And the hearts of heaven's angels are cracked.

من سره دفن العلوم فهكذا

دفن العلوم وهكذا التشييع

Whoever delights in the burial of learning: this is how

Learning is buried, and this is its funeral procession.

أو سره للبين توديع النهى

والمكرمات فهكذا التوديع

Or whoever delights in bidding intellect farewell at parting,

And noble deeds: this is the farewell.

ليس العزيز على الردى بمعزز

بيد الزؤام ولا المنيع منيع

The mighty are not protected against death

In sudden death's grasp, nor are the unassailable secure.

حظ الشريف من الردى وضريحه

يلقى المثال من المحل وضيع

The noble person's portion of death and the grave

Is matched by that of the lowly in station.

قبض الردى الأوعال من قلل الحمى

ومضى به في حجرة اليربوع

Death seized the ibexes from the protected heights,

And carried its prey into the jerboa's burrow.

يا راغباً في هذه الدُنيا أما

لك من مصائبها العضال مريع

O you who desire this world, is there not

In its grievous calamities something to turn you back?

تسهو وتلهو والردى لك لازم

ترجو الاناءة منه وهو سريع

You are heedless and playful, while death clings to you;

You hope it will delay, though it is swift.

ألهاك ما جرفته وجمعته

والجامع الأسوا لك المجموع

What you swept together and amassed has distracted you,

And your hoard is what gathers woes for you.

رقعت بالدنيا ومن يبلى بها

هي حية رقشاء وهو لسيع

You have made the world your patch; whoever is afflicted by it—

It is a speckled serpent, and he is its bitten victim.

تباً لذي الدنيا ومن يبلى بها

فالدين هتك هتك المرقوع

Ruin upon this world and whoever is afflicted by it!

For faith is rent like a patched garment torn apart.

ونعيمها الصافي يكدره الردى

إن النعيم مع المنون ضريع

Death clouds its pure delight;

Indeed, pleasure alongside death is bitter thorn.

لا غصة كالموت إلا بعده

سم الحياة والبقاء نقيع

No anguish is like death—except that, after it,

The poison of life and survival is potent.

فامهد لمضجعك التقى كل امرئ

ما قمشته يداه فهو ضجيع

Make piety the bedding of your resting-place; every person

Has as a bedfellow whatever his hands have gathered.

واعلم بأنك ميت يا ميتا

واعلم بأنك للبلا مدفوع

Know that you will die, O mortal,

And know that you are consigned to decay.

والموت لم يوجع منيباً وقعه

لكن فقدان المنيب وجيع

Death's stroke did not hurt the penitent,

But losing the penitent is painful.

ولقد رأيت الحر ليس له بقا

لكن يبقى ذكره المرفوع

I have seen that the noble man cannot remain,

Yet his exalted remembrance endures.

آها على فقد الذي قد برني

فيه ضنى وتأوه وولوع

Ah, for the loss of him who showed me kindness!

In it are wasting sorrow, groaning, and ardent longing.

أودى الذي أخلاقه أبقت لنا

كالمسك ذكراً في الندى يضوع

He has died, whose virtues left us

A remembrance fragrant as musk amid the dew.

فكأنه سر تضمنه الحيا

بعد الممات وفي الحياة يذيع

As though he were a secret enfolded by the rain,

Made known after death and during life.

أودى الذي كانت بنور هدائه

تهدى الأنام إلى الصلاح جميع

He has died, through whose guiding light

All humankind was led to righteousness.

فكأنه نار على علم بدت

ليلاً لها كل البلاد تريع

As though he were a fire appearing upon a mountain

By night, toward which all lands would turn.

أودى الذي قتل الهواجر صائماً

والليل قد أحياه وهو نجيع

He has died, who subdued the scorching noons by fasting,

And enlivened the night when it was dark as blood.

فكأنه نبع حني هجيرة

وكأن صبحاً ليله المسفوع

As though he were bow-wood bent in the midday heat,

And his blackened night were morning.

وصل الصيام إلى القيام كأنه

صب بحب هوى غد مولوع

He joined fasting to standing in prayer, as though

A lovesick man, enthralled by love's longing for tomorrow.

أودى الذي كانت له سير بها

قامت على كل العماد شروع

He has died, whose ways had raised

Sails upon every mast.

فكأنه أعطي النبوة والمنى

فهو المطاع وقوله المسموع

As though he had been given prophecy and his wishes,

He was obeyed, and his words were heeded.

أودى الذي كان العفاف دثاره

وتضاعفت منه عليه دروع

He has died, whose mantle was chastity,

And coats of armor made from it were multiplied upon him.

فكأنه من خوفه وبكائه

فوق الفراش ممرض مصروع

As though, from his fear and weeping, he were

A sick man laid low upon his bed.

أودى الذي كان الملائك دائماً

في داره لهم بها ترجيع

He has died, for whom the angels were always

In his house, their chanting echoing there.

وكأنها البيت الحرام مقدسا

وكأنهم طير عليه سجوع

As though it were the sacred, consecrated House,

And they were birds cooing above it.

أودى الذي كان القضاء لأمره

طوع القياد كما يقاد تبيع

He has died, to whose command fate was

Obedient to the reins, as a yearling calf is led.

فكأنه حكم عليه موكل

وكأنه عبد عليه مطيع

As though he were a judge appointed over it,

And it were a slave obedient to him.

أودى الذي في حلمه متثبت

ما قيل فيه زلة ووضوع

He has died, steadfast in his forbearance,

Of whom no lapse or baseness was spoken.

فكأنها الخصماء تلقى عينه

سيف يسل على الحود قطيع

As though adversaries, meeting his eye, encountered

A cutting sword unsheathed against the wayward.

أودى الذي في كل حي ناطق

أو أخرس منه عليه صنيع

He has died, whose kindness reached every living thing that speaks

Or is mute: each received a good deed from him.

فكأنه فيهم وهم في حكمه

شيخ يتيم في يديه رضيع

As though, among them, while they were in his care, he were

An elder holding an orphaned suckling in his hands.

أودى الذي كانت مناهل كفه

بالسيب تفهق والعفاة شروع

He has died, whose palm's watering-places

Overflowed with bounty, as petitioners came to drink.

فكأن في كفيه عشر سحائب

من كل واحدة جرى ينبوع

As though ten clouds were in his two palms,

From each of which a spring flowed.

أودى الذي كان الضيوف بسوحه

صيف لهم يمضي به وربيع

He has died, whose guests in his courtyards

Had summer and spring passing in his company.

فكأنهم ذو الهنائد كفه

روض رعته ولن تراع مريع

As though they owned hundred-camel herds, and his palm were

A lush meadow their herds grazed, never to be frightened.

فاليوم أصبح ثاوياً تحت الثرى

عما يروم معبد ممنوع

Today he lies beneath the dust,

Subdued, denied whatever he seeks.

درست ربوع منه في الأحيا وقد

عمرت به للقاسطين ربوع

His dwellings among the living have faded away, while

Dwellings for the unjust have been filled by him.

من لي بمثلك بعد مسكنك الثرى

يا صالح متحمل زعزيع

Who will find me your like, now that the dust is your abode,

O Ṣāliḥ, departed amid upheaval?

هل إن دعوتك يا ابن بلحسن الرضى

أنت المجيب وللدعاء سميع

If I call you, O son of Balhasan, the well-pleasing,

Will you answer and hear the call?

خلفتني سلو الحوادث كلما

نعت النعاة فإنني مفجوع

You left me to console myself amid calamities; whenever

The death-criers announce a loss, I am stricken.

بي منك ما بك في الضريح فربما

أنت المريح وإنني لنزوع

Through you, I bear what you bear in the grave; perhaps

You are at rest, while I am full of longing.

وكأنني بدح من الحزن الذي

أورثتني عن أمه مخلوع

As though I were a young creature, through the grief

You bequeathed me, torn away from its mother.

أبكي عليك وحق لي طول البكا

نفدت دموعي فاستهل نجيع

I weep for you, and long weeping is my right;

My tears ran out, and blood began to pour.

أبكي عليك وكل من وطئ الثرى

يبكي عليك وليس عنك يروع

I weep for you, and everyone who has trodden the earth

Weeps for you, never turning away from you.

أبكي عليك وقد يعظم لوعتي

فيك البكا والحُزن والتفجيع

I weep for you, and my anguish may grow

Through weeping, sorrow, and lament for you.

أبكي عليك وقد بكت عندي العلا

وجماعة وجمائع وجموع

I weep for you; exalted glory has wept beside me,

And a company, assemblies, and throngs.

لو كان يعلم غاسلوك بلوعتي

تركوك لي عوض المياه دموع

Had those who washed you known my anguish,

They would have left you to me, with tears instead of water.

بل ليت قبرك كان في عيني وفي

أحشاي واللحد المصان ضلوع

Indeed, would that your grave had been in my eye and in

My inward parts, and my ribs its sheltered burial-niche.

روحي فداك أقول كنت وما درت

روحي بأنك قبلها مبخوع

My soul be your ransom, I used to say; little did

My soul know that you would be struck down before it.

أنا بعد مسكنك الضريح بغصة

ما طاب بعدك في العيون هجوع

Since the grave became your abode, I am choked with grief;

Since your passing, no slumber has been sweet to my eyes.

أنا بعد ما فارقتني في وحشة

ومن الزمان وأهله لقنوع

Since you parted from me, I am in desolation,

And am resigned to time and its people.

يا قدوة الأبدال هنيت الرضى

أنت الشفيع لك النبي شفيع

O exemplar of the abdāl, may you enjoy approval;

You are an intercessor, and the Prophet intercedes for you.

هذا السحاب بكى عليك بعبرة

للرعد فيه زماجر وبعيع

These clouds have wept a tear for you;

Within them, thunder growls and bellows.

ولجنة الفردوس روحك روحت

وعليك من لطف الاله خليع

Your soul has been brought to rest in the Garden of Firdaws,

And a robe of God's kindness rests upon you.

فمبارك عقباك فهو مبارك

عقب الغروب من الضياء طلوع

Blessed is your final lot; blessed is

The rising of light after sunset.

والاخوة الأبرار والأعمام هم

نعم الخلائف نهجهم متبوع

The righteous brothers and the uncles are

Excellent successors, whose path is followed.

طابوا أصولاً والصلاح دليلها

والأَصل مهما طاب طين فروع

They are goodly roots, and righteousness proves it;

Whenever the root is good, so is its branches' clay.

رفعت منابرهم لهم فسمت بهم

إن الرفيع ولو أهين رفيع

Their pulpits were raised for them and rose high through them;

The exalted remain exalted, even when humiliated.

دين الأباضي صار منهم أبيضا

والعلم منهم زانه التوريع

The Ibadi faith has been made white through them,

And learning was adorned by the piety they fostered.

عشتم بني عبد السلام بدولة

أنف العدو لكم بها مجدوع

May you live, sons of Abd al-Salam, in good fortune,

Through which your enemy's nose is cut off for your sake.

وعليكمو بالصبر في بلواكمو

إِن الحلم بما أتيح قنوع

Hold fast to patience in your trial;

For forbearance is content with what has been allotted.

فالموت قنطرة على ظهر الرجا

عمرت وعابرها الأنام جميع

Death is a bridge upon the back of hope;

It has been built, and all humankind crosses it.