1. يُلحى الزَمانُ وَما عَلَيهِ مَلامُ

    يَجني القَضا وَتُعَنَّفُ الأَيامُ

    Time is blamed, though no blame rests upon it.

    Fate commits the wrong, yet the days are rebuked.

  2. أَعيا البَسالَةَ وَالحِذارَ حَبائِلٌ

    سِيّانِ فيها الأُسدُ وَالآرامُ

    Snares have baffled valor and caution;

    within them, lions and gazelles are alike.

  3. يودي الرَدى بِمُسالِمٍ وَمُحارِبٍ

    يُقوي الكِناسُ وَتُقفِرُ الآجامُ

    Death brings ruin upon the peaceable and the warrior alike;

    the covert is deserted, and the thickets grow desolate.

  4. قُل لِلمَنونِ لَئِن عَظُمتِ خَطيئَةً

    فَلَقَد أَصابَ سُدادُكِ المُعتامُ

    Tell Death: though your sin is great,

    your selective aim has indeed struck its mark.

  5. أَنّى اِهتَدَيتِ حَظِيَّةِ سُؤدَدِ

    قَد ضَلَّ عَنها الصُبحُ وَالإِظلامُ

    How did you find nobility's favored lady,

    whom dawn and darkness had failed to find?

  6. مَحجوبَةُ الشَخصِ الكَريمِ وَفَضلُها

    كَالفَجرِ لا يُلقى عَلَيهِ لِثامُ

    Her noble person was veiled, yet her excellence

    was like the dawn, upon which no veil is cast.

  7. لَو رامَها غَيرُ القَضاءِ لَكانَ في

    أُسدِ الهَياجِ تَخَمُّطٌ وَعُرامُ

    Had any but Fate assailed her, there would have been, among

    the lions of battle, swelling rage and ferocity.

  8. وَلَكانَ في حَدَقِ الرِماحِ تَشاوُسٌ

    وَلِأَلسُنِ البيضِ الرِقاقِ خِصامُ

    And the eyes of the spears would have glared fiercely,

    and the tongues of slender white blades would have contended.

  9. ها إِنَّهُ الرُزءُ الَّذي ثَقُلَت بِهِ

    نُوَبٌ وَخَفَّت عِندَهُ الأَحلامُ

    Behold, this is the calamity beneath which grew heavy

    the blows of fate, while sober minds lost their poise before it.

  10. هَيهاتِ ما بَرقُ الجَوانِحِ خُلَّبٌ

    فيهِ وَلا مُزنُ الجُفونِ كَهامُ

    Far from it! The lightning in the breast is not rainless

    in this grief, nor are the eyelids' rain clouds feeble.

  11. أَمّا العَزاءُ فَقَد غَدا مُتَنَكِّراً

    فَكَأَنَّما حَسَناتُهُ آثامُ

    As for consolation, it has become unrecognizable,

    as though its good deeds were sins.

  12. يا بَرَّةً لَمّا اِنطَوى إِحسانُها

    تاقَت إِلَيهِ الصُحفُ وَالأَقلامُ

    O virtuous woman! When her beneficence was folded away,

    the pages and pens yearned for it.

  13. تَرضى نُفوسٌ أَن تَكونَ لَكِ الفِدا

    فَتَذود عَنكِ وَإِنَّها لَكِرامُ

    Souls would gladly be your ransom,

    and ward harm off you; indeed, they are noble.

  14. لَو أَنَّ شَمسَ الأُفقِ دونَكِ أُدرِجَت

    ما كانَ حَقُّ المَجدِ فيكِ يُقامُ

    Had the sun of the horizon been shrouded in your stead,

    glory's debt to you would still not have been discharged.

  15. أَوحَشتِ شَهرَ الصَومِ حَتّى قَد بَدَت

    لِلبَثِّ فيهِ وَلِلأَسى أَعلامُ

    You made the month of fasting desolate, until there appeared

    within it banners of anguish and sorrow.

  16. فَعَلى النَسيمِ مِنَ الكَلالِ كَآبَةٌ

    وَعَلى الأَصيلِ مِنَ الشُحوبِ سَقامُ

    So weariness casts gloom upon the breeze,

    and pallor lays sickness upon the late afternoon.

  17. سَيَسيرُ هَذا الشَهرُ قَبلَ أَوانِهِ

    إِذ لَم يَسعهُ لِما صَنَعتِ مَقامُ

    This month will depart before its appointed time,

    for what you have done leaves it no room to linger.

  18. كَم جُدتِ بِالمَعروفِ وَهوَ مُتَمَّمٌ

    هِبَةً وَقُمتِ اللَيلَ وَهوَ تَمامُ

    How often you lavished kindness, made complete

    as a gift, and stood in prayer through the entire night.

  19. مَن يُنجِدُ الأُمّالَ بَعدَكِ أَنجَدَت

    زَفَراتُهُم وَلِدَمعِهِم اِتِهامُ

    Who will aid the hopeful after you? To Najd have risen

    their sighs, while their tears descend to Tihamah.

  20. وَأَراكِ نِمتِ عَنِ العُفاةِ وَطالَما

    عَدَتِ الخُطوبِ فَسَهَّدَتكِ وَناموا

    And I see you sleeping, unheeding the seekers of bounty, though so often

    calamities struck, keeping you awake while they slept.

  21. عاشَت بِكِ العَلياءُ دَهراً في غِنىً

    فَاليَومَ صَبَّحَ رَبعَها الإِعدامُ

    Through you, high honor lived long in plenty;

    so today, destitution has visited its dwelling at dawn.

  22. وَاليَومَ عادَ الدَهرُ في إِحسانِهِ

    وَاِستَرجَعَت مَعروفَها الأَيّامُ

    And today Time has revoked its kindness,

    and the days have reclaimed their bounty.

  23. يا ديمَةً في التُربِ غارَت بَغتَةً

    وَذَوُو الأَماني واقِفونَ حِيامُ

    O steady rain, suddenly sunk into the earth,

    while those who hope stand parched with thirst.

  24. صِرنا نَشيمُ لَها البَوارِقَ في الثَرى

    وَالبَرقُ مِن جِهَةِ السَماءِ يُشامُ

    We have come to watch for her lightning flashes in the soil,

    though lightning is watched for in the direction of the sky.

  25. كانَت رَءوما بِالصَنيعِ تَرُبُّهُ

    فَالمَكرُماتُ لِفَقدِها أَيتامُ

    She was tender toward beneficence, nurturing it;

    so noble deeds are orphaned by her loss.

  26. لَولا ضَريحُكِ ما عَلِمنا حُفرَةً

    أَضحَت يُنافِسُها العُلُوَّ شَمامُ

    But for your tomb, we would never have known a hollow

    with which Shamam now vies in height.

  27. ما ضَرَّها أَن لَم يَكُن مِسكاً وَلا

    دُرّاً حَصىً حَلَّت بِهِ وَرُغامُ

    It did the grave no harm that they were neither musk nor

    pearls—the pebbles and dust in which she lay.

  28. وَقَفَ الأَكابِرُ مِن ثَنائِكِ مَوقِفاً

    فَضَلَت وُجوهَهُمُ بِهِ الأَقدامُ

    The great took such a station in praising you

    that feet surpassed their faces there.

  29. سَبقَت خَطاكِ إِلى الجِنانِ وَسائِلٌ

    أَثنى عَلَيها اللَهُ وَالإِسلامُ

    Deeds of devotion preceded your steps into Paradise,

    upon which God and Islam bestowed praise.

  30. مَدَّت إِلَيكِ الحورُ مِن أَبصارِها

    وَاِستَقبَلَتكِ تَحِيَّةٌ وَسَلامُ

    The houris cast their gazes toward you,

    and greeting and peace welcomed you.

  31. لَم تُضجَعي في لَحدِكِ الزاكي الثَرى

    إِلّا وَهُنَّ لِلاِنتِظارِ قِيامُ

    You were not laid in your grave of pure earth

    without their standing ready in expectation.

  32. خَلَّفتِ حينَ ذَهَبتِ خَيرَ اِبنٍ كَما

    يَبقى الرَبيعُ إِذا اِستَهَلَّ غَمامُ

    When you departed, you left the best of sons behind, just as

    spring remains when a cloud has poured its rain.

  33. ذاكَ الهُمامُ الفَردُ لَكِن ثُنِّيَت

    سِمَةُ الوَزارَةِ فيهِ فَهيَ تُؤامُ

    That peerless, valiant man—yet doubled

    in him is the badge of the vizierate, so it is twin.

  34. شَرُفَت بِآلِ خَلاصٍ الرُتَبُ العُلا

    فَهُمُ نُفوسٌ وَالعُلا أَجسامُ

    The lofty ranks were ennobled by the house of Khalas,

    for they are souls, and lofty stations are bodies.

  35. قُل لِلدُجونِ أَوِ الحُروبِ تَصَدَّعي

    فَأَبو عَليٍّ كَوكَبٌ وَحُسامُ

    Tell the dark clouds or the wars: Break apart,

    for Abu Ali is a star and a sword.

  36. فَالخَطبُ لا يُعيِي مُروءَةَ ماجِدٍ

    رُكناهُ نَبعٌ وَالخُطوبُ ثُمامُ

    For calamity cannot overwhelm the magnanimity of a noble man

    whose two pillars are nabʿ wood, while calamities are thumam grass.

  37. لَو تُطبَعُ الأَسيافُ مِن عَزَماتِهِ

    لَم يُغنِ أَبناءَ الوَغى اِستِسلامُ

    If swords were forged from his resolves,

    surrender would not save the sons of battle.

  38. ذُلُلٌ مَواهِبُهُ وَلَكِن دَمعُهُ

    في الحادِثاتِ أَعَزُّ ما يُستامُ

    His gifts come readily, but his tears

    in calamities are the hardest thing to obtain.

  39. إِن قاسَمَتهُ الكَلمَ أَنفُسُنا فَكَم

    شُفِيَت لَنا بِنَدى يَدَيهِ كِلامُ

    If our souls share his wound, how many

    wounds of ours were healed by the dew of his hands!

  40. أَو شاطَرَتهُ السُهدَ أَعيُنُنا فَما

    زالَت تُعَزُّ بِعَدلِهِ وَتَنامُ

    Or if our eyes share his sleeplessness, they have never

    ceased to be cherished by his justice and to sleep.

  41. لا يُبكِهِ الدَهرُ الخَؤونُ بِحادِثٍ

    فَالدَهرُ عَنهُ ضاحِكٌ بَسّامُ

    May treacherous Time not make him weep through calamity,

    for Time laughs and smiles because of him.

  42. أَتَروعُةُ الدُنيا بِنَثرِ مُنَظَّمٍ

    وَوُجودُهُ أَمنٌ لَها وَنِظامُ

    Can the world frighten him by scattering what is ordered,

    when his presence is its safety and order?