1. تَفديك لو قبِلَ المنونُ فِداها

    نَفسٌ عليكَ تقطَّعت بأساها

    Would ransom you, if death accepted its ransom—

    A soul torn apart by its grief for you.

  2. يا كوكباً قد خرَّ من أفق العُلى

    في لَيلَةٍ كَسَت الصباحَ دُجاها

    O star that fell from the horizon of glory

    In a night whose darkness clothed the morning.

  3. كانَت حياتُك للنواظر قرَّةً

    وَاليومَ موتُك للعيون قَذاها

    Your life was a cool comfort to the eyes,

    And today your death is grit in the eyes.

  4. يا لَيتَني غُيّبتُ قبلَك في الثَرى

    وَسُقيتُ كاسَ الموت قبل تَراها

    Would that I had been buried before you in the earth,

    And made to drink death's cup before you saw it.

  5. أَو ليتَ عيني قبلَ تبصرُ يومَك ال

    محتوم كحَّلها الردى بعَماها

    Or would that, before my eye saw your

    Fated day, death had lined it with blindness.

  6. لَم لا تَمنّى الموتَ دونك مهجةٌ

    قد كنتَ تجهدُ طالباً لرضاها

    Why should a soul not wish for death in your stead—

    One whose contentment you labored to win?

  7. أَم كَيفَ لا تَهوى العَمى لك مقلةٌ

    قد كنتَ قرَّتها وكنت سَناها

    Or how should an eye not desire blindness for your sake,

    When you were its cool comfort and its radiance?

  8. آهٍ ليومكَ ما أَمضَّ مُصابَه

    وأَحرَّ نارَ مصيبةٍ أَوراها

    Alas for your day! How searing its affliction,

    And how fierce the fire of the calamity it kindled!

  9. لا وَالَّذي أَبكى وأضحكَ والَّذي

    أَفنى نفوساً بعدما أَحياها

    No, by Him who made weep and laugh, and by Him who

    Extinguished souls after bringing them to life—

  10. لَم يَبقَ لي في العيش بعدَك رغبةٌ

    ما لي وللدنيا وطولِ عَناها

    No desire to live remains in me after you.

    What have I to do with this world and its long suffering?

  11. هَيهات ترغبُ في الحياة حشاشةٌ

    قد كنتَ أَنتَ حياتَها وَمُناها

    How could a remnant of life desire to live,

    When you yourself were its life and its hopes?

  12. كانَت تؤمِّل أَن تَكونَ لك الفِدا

    فأَبيتَ إلّا أَن تَكونَ فداها

    It hoped to be your ransom,

    But you insisted on being its ransom.

  13. وَبررتَها حتّى كأَنَّك رأفَةٌ

    وَتعطُّفاً كنتَ اِبنها وأَباها

    And you treated it kindly, as though, in tenderness

    And compassion, you were its son and its father.

  14. أفٍّ لها إِذ لم تشاطِركَ الرَدى

    ما كانَ أَغلظَها وما أَقساها

    Shame on it, since it did not share death with you!

    How callous it was, and how hard!

  15. قسماً بربِّ العاكفين بمكّةٍ

    والطائفين بِحجرها وَصفاها

    I swear by the Lord of those devoted in Mecca

    And those circling its Hijr and its Safa:

  16. لَولا يقيني أَنَّني بك لاحقٌ

    لقهرتُها حتّى تذوقَ رداها

    Were it not for my certainty that I shall join you,

    I would have subdued it until it tasted its death.

  17. تاللَّه خابَ السعيُ واِنفصمت عُرى ال

    آمال مِمّا نابَها وَعَراها

    By God, striving failed, and severed were the bonds of

    Hope, through what befell and beset it.

  18. لا مُتِّعَت بالعيش بعدَكَ أَنفسٌ

    كانَت حياتُك روضَها وَجَناها

    May no souls enjoy life after you,

    Souls whose garden and fruit your life had been.

  19. بَل لا هَنا للقَلب غيرُ غليله

    أَبَداً ولا للعين غيرُ بُكاها

    Rather, may the heart have no delight but its burning grief

    Ever, nor the eye anything but its weeping.

  20. يا دوحةً للمجد مثمرةَ العُلى

    ذَهبت نَضارتُها وجفَّ نَداها

    O great tree of glory, bearing the fruit of exalted rank,

    Whose freshness departed and whose dew dried!

  21. قد كنتَ ساعديَ الَّذي أَسطو به

    وَيدي الَّتي يَخشى الزَمانُ سُطاها

    You were the arm with which I struck,

    And my hand, whose onslaught Time feared.

  22. تَنفي الأَسى عنّي وتحمي جانبي

    من كُلِّ كارثةٍ يعمُّ أَذاها

    You drove sorrow from me and guarded my side

    From every calamity whose harm spreads wide.

  23. وَاليومَ قد هجمت عليَّ حوادثٌ

    ما كُنتُ أَحذرُها ولا أَخشاها

    But today calamities have descended on me

    That I had neither dreaded nor feared.

  24. طوبى لأَيّام الوصال وطيبها

    ما كانَ أَحلاها وما أَهناها

    Blessed were the days of togetherness and their sweetness!

    How sweet they were, and how blissful!

  25. أَيّام لي من حسنِ وجهك بَهجةٌ

    بجمالها بين الوَرى أَتَباهى

    Days when the beauty of your face gave me a joy

    In whose loveliness I took pride among humankind.

  26. فإذا جلستَ بجانبي فكأَنَّني

    قارنتُ من شمس النهار ضُحاها

    Whenever you sat beside me, it was as though I

    Had stood beside the morning radiance of the daytime sun.

  27. وإذا رأَيتُك بين آل المُصطَفى

    عوَّذتُ منظَرك الجَميل بطاها

    And when I saw you among the Chosen One's family,

    I sought protection for your beautiful appearance through Taha.

  28. كانَت بقُربكَ في الزَمان مواردي

    تَصفو ويعذُبُ وردُها ورواها

    With you near, my watering places throughout life

    Ran clear, their draughts and thirst-quenching waters sweet.

  29. فمُنيتُ من حرِّ الفِراق بغلَّةٍ

    حكم الرَدى أَن لا يبلَّ صَداها

    Then the heat of parting afflicted me with a burning thirst

    Whose thirst death decreed should never be quenched.

  30. وَبُليتُ من أَرزائِه برزيَّةٍ

    عظُمت مصيبتُها وَطالَ جَواها

    And among its calamities I was tried by a loss

    Whose affliction was immense and whose anguish endured.

  31. إنّي ليملكني التأَسُّفُ والأَسى

    فيعزُّ من نَفسي عليكَ عزاها

    Regret and sorrow truly possess me,

    So consolation for your loss comes hard to my soul.

  32. فإذا ذكرتُ فناءَ دُنيانا الَّتي

    لا لفظها يَبقى ولا مَعناها

    Yet when I remember the passing of this world of ours,

    Neither its name nor its meaning endures,

  33. خفَّ الأَسى عنّي وهان عليَّ ما

    أَلقاه من أَهوالها وَبَلاها

    My sorrow eases, and what I face grows bearable—

    Its terrors and its trials.

  34. كَيفَ البَقاءُ بهذه الدار الَّتي

    من قد بَناها للفَناءِ بناها

    How can one endure in this abode,

    Whose builder built it for passing away?

  35. دارٌ قَضَت أَن لا يَدومَ نعيمُها

    لا كانَ مسكنُها ولا سُكناها

    An abode decreeing that its bliss shall not last—

    May neither its dwelling nor dwelling there exist!

  36. لا يُسرُها باقٍ ولا إِعسارُها

    سيّانَ حالا فقرها وغناها

    Neither its ease nor its hardship endures;

    Its states of poverty and wealth are alike.

  37. مقرونةٌ خَيراتُها بشرورِها

    وَنَعيمُها بعنائِها وَشَقاها

    Its blessings are coupled with its evils,

    And its bliss with its suffering and misery.

  38. إِن أَضحكت أَبكت وإِن برَّت بَرَت

    وإِذا شَفَت شفَّت عليلَ ضَناها

    If it makes you laugh, it makes you weep; if it is kind, it wears you down,

    And when it heals, it wastes away the sufferer of its sickness.

  39. أَينَ المُلوكُ المالكون لأَمرها

    والعامِرو أَمصارِها وقُراها

    Where are the kings who ruled its affairs,

    And the builders of its cities and villages?

  40. أَينَ القياصرُ والأَكاسرةُ الألى

    شادوا مَباني عزِّها وَعُلاها

    Where are the Caesars and the Chosroes who

    Raised the edifices of its glory and grandeur?

  41. أَينَ الخواقينُ الَّذي تمسَّكوا

    بعهودِها واِستمسَكوا بعُراها

    Where are the khagans who held fast

    To its covenants and clung to its bonds?

  42. غَرَّتهم بشَرابها وَسَرابها

    حتّى اِنتشوا من كأسِها وطلاها

    It beguiled them with its drink and its mirage,

    Until they were drunk on its cup and its wine.

  43. بطشت بهم بطشَ الكمين بِغرَّةٍ

    اللَه أَكبَرُ ما أَقلَّ وَفاها

    It struck them unawares, as one lying in ambush strikes.

    God is greatest! How little its faithfulness!

  44. قَد ضَلَّ رشدُ من اِطّباه جمالُها

    فَصَبا إِليها واِزدَهاهُ زُهاها

    Lost was the good sense of anyone its beauty lured,

    Who yearned for it, dazzled by its splendor.

  45. يَهوى الأَنامُ بها البقاءَ وإنَّما

    شاءَ الإلهُ بقاءَهم بِسواها

    People long for permanence in it, yet

    God willed their enduring life elsewhere.

  46. ما هذه الأَيّامُ غيرُ مراحلٍ

    تُطوى وأَنفاسُ النفوس خُطاها

    These days are nothing but stages of a journey,

    Traversed, with the breaths of souls as their steps.

  47. حتّى إِذا بلغت نهايةَ سَيرها

    أَلقَت عَصاها واِستقرَّ نَواها

    Until, when the soul reaches its journey's end,

    It lays down its staff, and its wandering comes to rest.

  48. يا قُرَّةً للعين أَسخَنها الرَدى

    وعزيمةً للقَلب فَلَّ شَباها

    O coolness of the eye, which death has heated,

    And resolve of the heart, whose edge it blunted!

  49. تَبكي عليكَ النفسُ من فرط الأَسى

    وَتَنوحُ وجداً من عظيم شَجاها

    The soul weeps for you from excess of grief,

    And wails in anguish from the greatness of its sorrow.

  50. وَتَقولُ حقّاً حين يَنكشفُ العَمى

    عنها وَتبصرُ رشدَها وَهُداها

    Yet it speaks truly when blindness lifts

    From it, and it sees its right course and guidance:

  51. وُفِّقتَ حين رَفضتَ ألأَمَ منزلٍ

    ورقيتَ من عُليا الجنان ذُراها

    You were rightly guided when you forsook the vilest abode

    And climbed the peaks of the loftiest gardens of Paradise.

  52. جارَيتَني فبلغتَ قَبلي غايةً

    للحقِّ لم يبلغ أَبوكَ مَداها

    You raced with me and reached before me a goal

    Of truth whose extent your father has not reached.

  53. ما زلتَ تسهر كلَّ لَيلَةِ جمعةٍ

    لِلَّه إِذ يَغشى العيونَ كَراها

    You kept vigil every Friday eve

    For God, when slumber enfolded the eyes,

  54. حَتىّ دَعاكَ اللَهُ فيها راضياً

    لِتَنالَ منه مثوبةً تَرضاها

    Until God called you on that night, well pleased,

    To receive from Him a reward that pleased you.

  55. لِلَّه همّتُك الَّتي فاقَت عَلى

    هِمم الأَعاظِم شيخِها وَفَتاها

    To God belongs your aspiration, which rose above

    The aspirations of the greatest, old and young.

  56. سعت الرجالُ لنيل دُنياها الَّتي

    قد دُنِّست فعزفت عن دُنياها

    Men strove to gain their earthly world, which

    Had been defiled; you turned away from their worldly life.

  57. وَسعيتَ للأخرى المقدَّسة الَّتي

    لَم يرعَ غيرُ الطاهرين حِماها

    And you strove for the sacred life to come,

    Whose protected pasture none but the pure have grazed.

  58. فحويتَها وَالعمرُ مُقتَبل الصِبا

    واهاً لهمَّتك العليَّة واها

    You gained it while your life was still in early youth.

    Ah, your lofty aspiration—ah!

  59. إِن كنتَ أحلِلتَ الجنانَ منعَّماً

    فأَبوكَ حلَّ من الهموم لَظاها

    If you have been lodged in Paradise in bliss,

    Your father has lodged in the blaze of grief.

  60. حزِنت لموتك طيبةٌ وبقيعُها

    وَبكت لفوتِكَ مكَّةٌ ومِناها

    Tayba and its Baqi grieved at your death,

    And Mecca and its Mina wept for your loss.

  61. وَغَدا الغريُّ عليك يُغري بالأَسى

    طُوساً وبغداداً وسامرّاها

    And al-Ghari began stirring grief for you in

    Tus, Baghdad, and Samarra.

  62. أَقررتَ أَعينَ من بها بنزاهَةٍ

    حلَّتكَ في سنِّ الصِبا بحُلاها

    You delighted the eyes of those there with a purity

    That adorned you in youth with its ornaments.

  63. صَلّى عليكَ اللَهُ من مُستودَعٍ

    في رَوضَةٍ ضمَّ الكمالَ ثَراها

    May God bless you, one laid to rest

    In a garden whose earth enfolded perfection.

  64. وَتواتَرت رحماتُ ربِّك بُكرةً

    وَعشيَّةً يَسقي ثَراك حَياها

    And may your Lord's mercies come in succession, morning

    And evening, their rain watering your earth,

  65. ما حنَّ مُشتاقٌ إِلى أَحبابِه

    وتذكّرت نفسٌ أهَيلَ هَواها

    As long as a yearning lover longs for his beloved ones,

    And a soul remembers the dear ones of its love.