1. تصبَّر وَإِن لَم تَملكِ الصَبرَ فَاِجزَعِ

    فَما أَغفل الأَقدار عَن صَوبِ مَدمعِ

    Be patient; and if you cannot command patience, then yield to anguish.

    For how heedless the fates are of a weeping eye's downpour!

  2. يَهمُّ اللَيالي ما تَثيرُ وَقَلَّما

    تَهمُّ اللَيالي لَوعةَ المتفجِّعِ

    What they wreak concerns the nights, and seldom

    Does the bereaved one's anguish concern the nights.

  3. تَضيعُ لَدَيها كُلِّ نَفسٍ فَهَل تَرى

    يَبيتُ لَدَيها الدَمعُ غَيرَ مَضيَّعِ

    Every soul is lost with them; do you think

    Tears pass the night with them without being wasted?

  4. شَجانيَ إِنَّ الدَهرَ لَيسَ بِراحمٍ

    وَأَنيَ ذُو قَلبٍ شَديدٍ التَوَجُّعِ

    It grieves me that time has no mercy,

    And that I have a heart sorely wracked with pain,

  5. وَإِن الَّذي أَشكوهُ لا لُبَّ عِندَهُ

    يَقلّبُ أَهل اللُبِّ في كُلِّ مَصرَعِ

    And that what I complain of has no understanding,

    Yet tosses the wise into every place of death.

  6. فَوا حَرَباً مِن حُكمِهِ وَهوَ جائرٌ

    وَصَبري وَما صَبري لَدَيَّ بِطيّعِ

    Alas for its rule, unjust as it is,

    And for my patience—my patience will not obey me!

  7. وَلي كُلّ يَوم ما يَروعُ فَكَيفَ لا

    يَذوبُ فُؤادي لَهفَةً بَينَ أَضلُعي

    Each day brings me something dreadful; how, then, should not

    My heart melt in anguish between my ribs?

  8. نَعى البَدرَ ناعيهِ عَشيةَ فَجعَةٍ

    فَيا لَهْفَ اَجفانٍ وَيا لَهفَ مَسمَعِ

    The full moon's death was announced by his herald on an evening of calamity;

    Oh, the anguish of eyelids, and the anguish of the ear!

  9. وَيا ذوبَ أَكبادٍ تَسيلُ كآبةً

    عَلى جَمرِ حُزنٍ حَيثُما مسَّ يَلذَعِ

    And oh, the melting hearts that flow with sorrow

    Over grief's embers, scorching wherever they touch!

  10. تَدارَكَهُ قَبلَ التَمامِ مَحاقُهُ

    مُبادرةً مِن حَيثُ لَم يَتَوقَّعِ

    His waning overtook him before he reached fullness,

    Hastening upon him from where he did not expect.

  11. فَقَطَّعَ أَحشاءً وَواصلَ أَدمُعَاً

    وَضيََّع مِن آمالِنا كُلَّ مَطمَعِ

    It tore entrails apart and kept tears flowing,

    And shattered every aspiration in our hopes.

  12. وَساءَ أَباً ما ساءَ قَلباً فَأَصبَحَت

    لَهُ اليَومَ في الأَكبادِ لَوعَةَ مُوجَعِ

    It grieved a father as it grieved a heart; now

    For him today, hearts hold the anguish of one afflicted.

  13. وَفارقَ أَوجَ العَزِّ وَالمَجدِ وَالعُلى

    إِلى أَوجِ مَجدٍ مِنهُ أَعلى وَأَرفَعِ

    He left the pinnacle of honor, glory, and eminence

    For a summit of glory higher and loftier still.

  14. أَيا كَنَفَ الرَحمانِ أَودَعَت دُرّةً

    مكرّمةً مِن عِند أَكرَمِ مودِعِ

    O shelter of the All-Merciful, you have been entrusted with a pearl,

    An honored one, from the noblest of those who entrust.

  15. وَيا قَبرُ فيكَ اليَومَ أَنضرُ زَهرَةٍ

    غَنيتَ بِها عَن زَهرِكَ المتضَوِّعِ

    O grave, within you today lies the freshest flower;

    With it, you have no need of your fragrant flowers.

  16. وَيا أَيُّها الغُصنُ الَّذي هَصَّرَ الرَدى

    مَعاطفَ قَدٍّ مِنهُ رَيَّانَ مُمرِعِ

    And O bough, death has bent and crushed

    The curves of your lush, flourishing form.

  17. تَرَكتَ مَغانينا وَقَد بِتَّ مِثلَما

    دُعيتَ فَريداً ضِمنَ صَحراءَ بِلقعِ

    You left our dwellings, and have come to lie, just as

    You were named, Farid—alone—within a barren desert.

  18. فَما بَرِحَتْ في كُلِّ قَلبٍ كَآبةٌ

    مِنَ الحُزنِ تَغشى كُلَّ وَجهٍ بِبُرقُعِ

    Sorrow has never ceased to dwell in every heart,

    From grief, covering every face with a veil.

  19. وَطالَتَ مَناحاتُ النَوادبِ في الحِمى

    عَلَيكَ فَأَشجى نَوحُها كُلَّ مَربعِ

    The lamentations of mourning women have lingered in the precincts

    For you, and their wailing has saddened every dwelling.

  20. رُويدَكَ إِنَّ العَينَ لَم تُوفِ حَظَّها

    بِمَرأى جَمالٍ مِنكَ بِاللطفِ مُبدِعِ

    Linger a little: the eye has not yet had its fill

    Of seeing your beauty, wondrous in its grace.

  21. وَلا رَوِيتْ مِنكَ الصَدورُ فَإِنَّها

    مُشَوقةُ أنسٍ ظَلَّ أَعذَبَ منقعِ

    Nor have our bosoms drunk their fill of you, for they

    Long for companionship that remained the sweetest watering-place.

  22. لَئن صَدَقَتْ فيكَ العُيونُ بِدَمعِها

    فَإِنَّ قُلوبَ القَومِ بِالجَرحِ تَدَّعِي

    If eyes have been true to you with their tears,

    Then the people's hearts make their claim through wounds.

  23. وَإِن تَكُ قَد أَمسَيتَ في القَفرِ موحِشاً

    فَوحشَتُنا في الحَيِّ لَم تَتَقَشَّعِ

    And though you now lie lonely in the wilderness,

    Our loneliness in the settlement has not lifted.

  24. هُوَ البَينُ يَغشى كُلَّ خَلقٍ فَأَنْفُسٌ

    تَفانَتْ وَدَمعٌ سالَ في كُلِّ مَضجَعِ

    It is parting that overtakes all creation: souls

    Have perished, and tears have flowed upon every bed.

  25. وَما الناسُ إِلا نازِلٌ غَيرَ قادمٍ

    وَمُرتَحَلٌ وَلَّى عَلى غَيرِ مرجعِ

    People are only sojourners, not arrivals,

    And travelers who have gone, with no return.

  26. بِماذا نُعزِّي عَنهُ مُهجَةَ والدٍ

    رَؤوفِ فُؤادٍ بِالشُجونِ مُرَوَّعِ

    With what can we console a father's soul for his loss—

    Tender of heart and terror-stricken by sorrows?

  27. لَقَد هاجَمتُهُ الحادِثاتُ مَغيرَةً

    بِأَذلقَ حَدّاً مِن ظُباهُ وَأَقطَعِ

    Indeed, calamities have assailed him in a raid,

    With an edge sharper and more cutting than his own blades.

  28. عَلى أَننا مِنهُ عَرَفنا لَدى البَلا

    تَقلُّدَ صَبرٍ لَيسَ بِالمُتَزَعزِعِ

    Yet we have known in him, at times of trial,

    The donning of a patience that is never shaken.

  29. وَقَد خَبِرَ الدُنيا فَلم تَأتِ عِندَهُ

    غَريباً وَلَم تَبدو بِوَجه مُقنَّعِ

    He has known the world; it has not come to him

    As a stranger, nor appeared with a veiled face.

  30. وَعَرّفهُ الماضي حَقيقةَ قادِمٍ

    كَقافيةٍ في صَدرِ بَيتٍ مَصرَّعِ

    The past has taught him the truth of what is coming,

    Like a rhyme in the first half of a verse whose halves rhyme.

  31. تَعوَّد أَخذَ الرفقِ في كُلِّ حالَةٍ

    فَما وَقَعَتْ إِلا عَلى قَلب أَروَعِ

    He has grown accustomed to choosing gentleness in every circumstance,

    So each fell only upon a noble heart.

  32. وَقابلَ هَذا الدَهرَ بِالحِلم فَاِنثَنى

    عَلَيهِ بِطَبعٍ بِالسَفاهةِ مُولَعِ

    He met this age with forbearance, and it turned

    Upon him with a nature enamored of folly.

  33. أَمَولايَ رِفقاً انَّ رزءَكَ في المَلا

    تَقاسَمَهُ الأَكبادُ في كُلِ مَوضِعِ

    O my lord, be gentle: your bereavement among the people

    Has been shared by hearts in every place.

  34. تَعِزُّ بِأَنجالٍ كِرامٍ أَعِزَةٍ

    لَهُم في سَما عَلياكَ أَشرفُ مَطلَعِ

    You draw strength from noble, honored sons,

    Theirs is the noblest rising in the sky of your eminence.

  35. تَناولَ كُلٌّ مِنهُمُ المَجدَ تالِداً

    وَحازَ كَمالَ الفَخرِ قَبلَ التَرَعرُعِ

    Each of them received glory as an inheritance,

    And attained the fullness of honor before growing up.

  36. فَلا ساءَتِ الدُنيا بِهِم لَكَ مُهجَةً

    وَلا كَدّرَت أَحداَثُها طيبَ مَنجعِ

    May the world never grieve your heart through them,

    Nor may its calamities cloud your pleasant pasture.

  37. ودُمْ بَعدَ مَن فارَقت بِاللَهِ سالِماً

    عَزيزاً وَمَن فارَقتَ في خَيرِ مَرتَعِ

    Live on after the one you parted from, safe in God's care,

    Honored, while the one you parted from is in the best of pastures.