داويت ما نفع العليل دوائي

بل زاد سقماً في خلال ضناء

I treated him; my medicine did not help the sick one.

Rather, it added sickness amid wasting illness.

وأيست من برء الطبيب لدائه

فاعتل قلبي للأياس بداء

And I despaired of the physician's curing his illness,

So my heart sickened with a malady of despair.

أملت فيه صحة من سقمه

فحصلت في أملي بعكس رجائي

I hoped for his recovery from his sickness,

But in my hope I found the opposite of my expectation.

ورجوت أني قد أكون فداءه

عورضت في أملي فكان فدائي

And I hoped I might be his ransom;

I was thwarted in my hope, so he became my ransom.

ووددت لو كنت الدفين بقبره

عوضاً له ويكون في دنائي

And I wished I were the one buried in his grave,

In his stead, and he might be near me.

حرمت طيب النوم بعد فراقه

عن ناظري فسلا عن الإغفاء

I withheld the sweetness of sleep after his departure

From my eye, which has forgotten slumber.

ولقد أبيت وفي فؤادي جمرة

ولهيبها متوقد بجوائي

And indeed I spend the night with an ember in my heart,

And its flame burns in my inward depths;

وذبالة أضحى بقلبي لذعها

زفراته بتنفس الصعداء

And a wick whose scorching in my heart has become

Its groans as it breathes out deep sighs,

من فقد شبل عاجلته منية

ما كان فيها مهلة لبقاء

From losing a lion cub whom death overtook,

Allowing no respite for him to live.

ما كان أسرع ما أتاه حمامه

ورحيله عني إلى الصحراء

How swiftly his death came to him,

And how swiftly he departed from me to the desert!

ما عاش إلا سبعة من عمره

ونأى إلى دار البلى لبلاء

He lived only seven years of his life,

And went far off to the abode of decay, to suffer affliction.

ثم امتطى ثبج المنايا طالباً

جدثاً يناط بصخرة صماء

Then he mounted the back of death, seeking

A grave bound to an unyielding rock.

يأوي إلى لحد ووحشة منزل

وجنادل صم وصلد وصفاء

He shelters in a grave-niche and a dwelling's desolation,

And unyielding boulders, hard rock, and smooth stones.

واختار سكناه القرافة ذاهلاً

عن عيشة ليست بداء بقاء

And chose al-Qarafa as his home, unmindful

Of a life that is no 'malady of continuance' [wording unclear].

إني على إسماعيل لا أعطى عزى

بل قد عدمت تجلدي وعزائي

For Isma'il, I am granted no consolation;

Rather, I have lost my fortitude and consolation.

وأوحشني لفراقه وبعاده

وأفجعني بمصيبة غبراء

And he left me desolate through his parting and distance,

And devastated me with a grim calamity.

قد كنت أذخره لكل ملمة

وأقيه في البأساء والضراء

I had treasured him against every calamity,

And shielded him in hardship and distress.

فاغتالني فيه الحمام ففوقت

قوس المنايا سهمها بحشائي

So death ambushed me through him, and aimed

The arrow of death's bow at my entrails.

تركت فؤادي مثخناً بجراحه

متضرجاً بمدامعي ودمائي

It left my heart ravaged by its wounds,

Stained with my tears and my blood.

أجري المياه على فؤادي طمعة

في أن يبرد غلتي وظمائي

I let waters flow over my heart, in hope

That they might cool my inner burning and my thirst.

فتهيج لي نار إذا بردتها

فعجبت من نار تهيج بماء

But a fire flares in me whenever I cool it;

So I marveled at a fire kindled by water.

قلقاً أبيت على فراشي ساهراً

فكأنني ملقى على الرمضاء

Restless, I spend the night awake upon my bed,

As though I were cast upon sun-scorched sand.

متلهفاً أبكي إلى من مر بي

وإذا أرى ولداً يثور بلائي

Distraught, I weep to whoever passes by me,

And whenever I see a boy, my anguish surges.

إني لأعجب من حياتي بعده

وتلذذي عنه بشرب الماء

I truly marvel at my life after him,

And at my pleasure, without him, in drinking water;

أو أن أرى مبتسماً متنسماً

من بعد رحلته نسيم هواء

Or that I should be seen smiling and breathing in,

After his departure, a breeze of air;

أو أن تغيب همومه عن خاطري

وخياله متمثل بإزائي

Or that sorrows over him should vanish from my mind,

While his image stands before me.

لو عاش كان منطقاً وموفقاً

ومنزهاً عن صبوة الأبناء

Had he lived, he would have been eloquent and successful,

And free of the waywardness of boys.

كانت فراسته تدل عقولنا

أن سوف يخرج أنجب النجباء

His discernment showed our minds

That he would emerge as the most gifted of the gifted.

لكنه ما كل ما قد رامه

ذو فطنة فيناله بذكاء

Yet not everything that is sought

By a discerning man is attained through wit.

والبرق يشهد والرواعد أنها

عنوان كل سحابة وطفاء

And lightning and thunderclaps bear witness that they

Are the sign of every rain-laden cloud.

والفجر يشهد أن ساطع نوره

أبداً يدل على ضياء ذُكاء

And dawn bears witness that its shining light

Always foretells the radiance of Dhuka', the sun.

ومضارب السيف المهند لم تزل

تنبيك عن حد له ومضاء

And the striking edges of the Indian-steel sword have ever

Told you of its keen edge and cutting power.

أملت ساعة سعيهم بسريره

أن لا أقيم بزمرة الأحياء

I hoped, as they hurried along with his bier,

That I would not remain among the living.

وبقيت مكتئباً أكابد لوعة

في حالة أسوأ من الأسواء

Yet I remained, dejected, enduring anguish,

In a state worse than the worst of woes.

جار الزمان علي في أحكامه

فبليت منه بعيشة غلماء

Time was unjust to me in its judgments,

So I was afflicted by it with a turbulent life.

قد كان قوة ناظري بل خاطري

فبقيت صاحب مقلة عمياء

He had been the strength of my sight, nay, of my mind;

So I was left with a blind eye.

فالميت ليس له صديق أو أب

صافاه بعد وفاته بوفاء

For the dead man has no friend or father

Who has kept faith with him after his death.

لا يغررن الحي طول بقائه

فمصيره من بعده لفناء

Let no living man be deceived by his long survival,

For his fate thereafter is extinction.

ويطول مكث المرء ثاو في الثرى

حتى يرى أثراً من الزيزاء

And long is a man's stay, dwelling in the soil,

Until he is seen as a trace of the rugged high ground.