1. سَلوا مَعشَرَ المَوتى الَّذي جاءَ وافِداً

    إِلَيكُم يَخبَر فَهوَ أَقرَبُكُم عَهدا

    Ask, O company of the dead, the one who has come as a newcomer

    to you—he knows, for he is the most recently departed among you.

  2. يُحَدِّثُكُم أَنَّ البِلادَ مُقيمَةٌ

    عَلى ما عَهِدتُم ذَلِكَ الهَضبَ وَالوَهدا

    He tells you that the lands remain

    as you knew them—those uplands and lowlands.

  3. وَلَم تَفتاءِ الدُنِّيا تَغُرُّ خَليلِها

    وَتُبَدِّلُهُ مِن غَمضِ أَجفانِها سَهَدا

    And the world has never ceased deceiving her intimate friend,

    and replacing the closing of her eyelids with sleeplessness for him.

  4. تُريهُ الدُجى في هَيئَةِ النورِ خِدعَةً

    وَتُطعِمُهُ صاباً فَيَحسِبُهُ شَهَدا

    She shows him darkness in the guise of light, as a trick,

    and feeds him bitter sap, which he takes for honey.

  5. وَقَد حَمَلَتهُ فَوقَ نَعشٍ وَطالَما

    سَرى فَوقَ عَنسٍ أَو عَلا فَرَساً نَهِدا

    And she has carried him upon a bier, though many a time

    he rode by night on a sturdy she-camel or mounted a powerful horse.

  6. وَلَم تَتَّرِك مِن حيلَةٍ لِتَغُرُّهُ

    وَلم يُبقِ في إِخلاصِهِ حُبُّها جُهدا

    And she has left no trick untried to deceive him,

    and his love for her has spared no effort in his devotion.