1. همٌّ سرى في أضلعي وسرى بي

    فالبرقُ سَوْطي والظلامُ ركابي

    A care crept through my ribs and carried me by night;

    so lightning is my whip, and darkness my mount.

  2. لأكَلِّفنَّ الليلَ عَزْماً طالعاً

    في كلِّ مظلمةٍ طلوع شهاب

    I shall surely burden the night with a resolve that rises

    in every darkness as a shooting star rises.

  3. ولأعنينَّ الدهر أن يصمَ المنى

    ولو انَّني أَنضبتُ ماء شبابي

    And I shall weary fate in its attempt to mar hopes,

    even if I drain the water of my youth.

  4. بالهولِ أركبُهُ بكلِّ دُجُنَّةٍ

    والسيرِ أُعملُهُ بكلِّ يباب

    With terror I ride it through every deep darkness,

    and set it traveling through every wasteland.

  5. من مبلغُ الزهراء أَنِّيَ راتعٌ

    منها بروضِ أزاهرِ الآداب

    Who will tell al-Zahra that I am reveling

    in a garden of her literary blossoms?

  6. ومخبِّر البلقاء أنَّ خطيبها

    ظَفِرتْ يدي من سجعه بخطاب

    And inform al-Balqa that, from her orator,

    my hand has obtained a letter of his rhymed prose?

  7. مهلاً أبا بكر فكلُّ مُسوَّمٍ

    نازَعْتَهُ طَلَقَ الأعنَّةِ كابي

    Easy, Abu Bakr! Every marked steed

    you race, though given free rein, stumbles.

  8. قسماً لَهَاتيكَ المحاسنُ أفصحت

    بمثالب الشعراء والكتاب

    I swear: those excellences have laid bare

    the shortcomings of poets and writers.

  9. يبني لك المجد المؤثَّلَ أخرسٌ

    بَهَرَتْ فصاحتُهُ ذوي الألباب

    A mute builds deeply rooted glory for you;

    its eloquence has dazzled those with understanding.

  10. قلم تمشَّى في طروسِكَ فانبرتْ

    مثلَ الرياضِ وأيمِها المُنْساب

    A pen walked across your pages, and they sprang forth

    like gardens, while it was their gliding serpent.

  11. جاءت حلاها واضحاتٍ كلُّها

    فكأنهن مباسم الأحباب

    All their adornments appeared clear,

    as though they were the smiling mouths of loved ones.

  12. من كل محكمة كأن شذورها

    حلي الترائب من دمىً أتراب

    Each finely wrought piece has scattered jewels like

    ornaments on the breasts of doll-like maidens of equal age.

  13. تركت حلاوةُ لفظها إذ نوزعتْ

    أكوابُها كالصَّابِ لفظَ الصابي

    The sweetness of its wording left—when

    its cups were shared—al-Sabi's wording bitter as spurge.

  14. تردُ العيونُ عيونَها في مُهْرَقٍ

    رُقمتْ به وِردَ القطا الأسراب

    Eyes come to drink at its springs on a writing sheet,

    where they are inscribed, as flocks of sandgrouse come to water.

  15. فكأنما أُلِّفنَ من حدَقِ المها

    أو من ثنيات لهن عذاب

    As though they were fashioned from the pupils of oryx,

    or from their sweet front teeth,

  16. أو من صفاء مودةٍ أدبيّةٍ

    أَغْنَتْ غَنَاءَ تلاحُمِ الأنسابِ

    or from the purity of literary affection

    that served the purpose of close-knit kinship.

  17. لبَّيْكَ داعيَها وإني ضامنٌ

    ألاّ تَزالَ وثيقةَ الأسباب

    At your service, caller to this friendship! I pledge

    that its ties shall never cease to be secure.

  18. ناديتَ أسرعَ من يجيب لدعوةٍ

    محمودةٍ فأجبتَ خيرَ مُجابِ

    You called the swiftest to answer an appeal

    worthy of praise, and answered the one most worthy of reply.

  19. إن نشترك في الودِّ إنَّا والعلا

    جرض لمشتركانِ في الأوصاب

    If we share affection, we and glory,

    choked with grief, are surely partners in suffering.

  20. إيهٍ دموعَكَ للفضائلِ أقلعتْ

    والمجدُ صار إلى حصىً وتراب

    Keep shedding tears for virtues now departed,

    and glory has turned to pebbles and dust.

  21. ولتبكِ من جزعٍ فإنَّ بكاءَنا

    لمصارعِ الأحلام والأحساب

    And weep from anguish, for our weeping

    is for the deaths of wisdom and ancestral honor.

  22. أَفَلَتْ نجومُ العلم لا لتعاقبٍ

    ومضت وفودُ الحلم لا لإياب

    The stars of knowledge have set, not to be replaced;

    and wisdom's delegations have gone, not to return.

  23. قد خِلْتُ والأيامُ تنتهبُ العلا

    بنوائبٍ ما حدُّهنَّ بناب

    I thought—while the days were plundering glory

    with calamities whose edge was never blunt—

  24. وارحمتا للمجد أقوى رَبْعُهُ

    من ماجدٍ محضِ النجارِ لباب

    alas for glory! Its dwelling lies deserted

    of a noble man, pure of stock, the very finest;

  25. من ذي يدٍ حَبَتِ الزمانَ أيادياً

    مُلِئَتْ بهنَّ حقائبُ الأحقاب

    of one whose hand bestowed favors upon time,

    with which the saddlebags of the ages were filled.

  26. فضفاضُ درعِ الحمد مُشتملٌ بها

    عفُّ الضمائر طاهرُ الأثواب

    Ample was his armor of praise, and he was wrapped in it,

    pure in his inner thoughts, spotless in his robes.

  27. ولاَّجُ أبوابِ الأمورِ برأيهِ

    طلاَّعُ أنجادٍ لها وهضاب

    Ever entering the doors of affairs with his judgment,

    ever scaling their highlands and hills.

  28. عِلقٌ أطال من الليالي فَقْدُهُ

    فلبستُ ليلاً سابغَ الجلباب

    A treasure whose loss prolonged the nights;

    so I wore a night with an all-enfolding cloak,

  29. متململاً أصِلُ الدموعَ بمثلها

    صلةَ العِهادِ رَبابَها برباب

    restlessly joining tears to tears,

    as successive rains join their clouds to clouds.

  30. أردى شبيبته الرَّدى ومن المنى

    لو يفتديها شرخُ كلِّ شباب

    Death laid his youth low; and among our wishes

    is that the prime of all youth might ransom it.

  31. سلبَتْه دنياهُ ثيابَ حياتِهِ

    فَلَتَعْصِبَنَّ عليه ثوبَ سِلاب

    His world stripped him of the garments of his life;

    so let it surely gird on a black mourning robe for him.

  32. ولينكصنَّ الصبرُ بعد وفاته

    من كلِّ مصطبرٍ على الأعقاب

    And patience shall surely retreat after his death,

    from every steadfast sufferer, back upon its heels.

  33. أَنَّى خَبَتْ تلك العزائمُ ريثما

    لم يخلُ من ضرَمٍ ومن إلهاب

    How did those resolves die down, while he

    was never without burning and blazing?

  34. أمست كنانةُ بعدهنَّ كِنانةً

    مهجورةً صَفِرَتْ من النُشَّاب

    Kinana became, after them, a quiver,

    abandoned, emptied of arrows;

  35. وتضعضعت أركانها لِحُلاحِلٍ

    قد كان منها في ذُرى الأَهضاب

    and its pillars tottered for a mighty chief

    who had stood upon its highest hilltops.

  36. وتكوَّرت شمسُ العَلاءِ وأُطْفِئَتْ

    سُرُج العلومِ وأنوُرُ الآداب

    And the sun of eminence was rolled up, and extinguished

    were the lamps of the sciences and the lights of literature.

  37. واربدَّ وجهُ الحكم لمّا أن رأى

    ذاك السَّنا متوارياً بحجاب

    And the face of wisdom darkened when it saw

    that radiance hidden behind a veil.

  38. ولربَّ طَبٍّ بالزمان أهاب بي

    وبه من الرزءِ المبرِّح ما بي

    And many a man versed in time's ways called to me,

    and he bore the same agonizing bereavement as I:

  39. أأُخَيَّ إنَّ الدهرَ يَعجَبُ صَرفُه

    من طول دأبكَ في البكاء ودابي

    O dear brother, time's changing course indeed marvels

    at your long persistence in weeping, and mine.

  40. لا تصلح العبراتُ إلا لامرئٍ

    لم يدرِ أنَّ العيشَ لمعُ سَرَاب

    Tears befit only a man

    who does not know that life is a mirage's shimmer.

  41. إنْ تبْكِهِ فمن الوفاءِ بكاؤُهُ

    لكنْ ثوابُ الصبر خير ثواب

    If you weep for him, weeping for him is faithfulness;

    but the reward of patience is the finest reward.

  42. وقُصارُ أعيننا دموعٌ وكّفٌ

    وقُصارُه طُوبى وحسن مآب

    And all our eyes can offer is streaming tears,

    while his end is blessedness and a goodly return.