من غادر العضب الجراز كليلا

وابتزَّ من تاج العلى اكليلا

Who left the sharp, cleaving sword blunted,

And seized a diadem from the crown of loftiness?

من شقَّ صدراً للقناة فدّقها

من بثَّ في متن الحسام نحولا

Who split open the spear's breast and shattered it?

Who spread wasting through the sword's spine?

من اوصل العليا بقاطعة المنى

واجتذَّ اصلا للعلاء اصيلا

Who joined the heights to the severer of hopes,

And uprooted a firmly planted root of glory?

من غاصب الدنيا بفرخ عصابة

ملأت له الدنيا نعى وعويلا

Who robbed the world of a clan's fledgling—

A clan that filled the world with mourning and wailing for him?

من حلَّ منعقد الرياسة بعدما

عقدت عليه نطاقها المحلولا

Who loosed the knot of leadership, after

It had fastened its loosened girdle around him?

من غال آساد الشرى في غيلها

عَدواً بغاشيةٍ فاخلى الغيلا

Who treacherously slew al-Shara's lions in their thicket,

Assailing them with an overwhelming calamity and emptying the thicket?

خبرٌ اتى والفجر طفلٌ يافع

فتحولت شمس الضحى تطفيلا

News arrived while dawn was a growing child,

And the forenoon sun turned to dusk.

خطب اطلّ على العوالم بغتة

ترك المعالم ارسماً وطلولا

A calamity loomed over the worlds suddenly,

Leaving their landmarks as traces and ruins.

قصفت بك الايام اسمر لهذماً

وثلمن فيك الابيض المصقولا

In you, the days snapped a brown, keen spear,

And in you they notched the polished white blade.

ما للنوائب قد علكن نيوبها

عضباً يردّ شبا الصفيح كليلا

What ails calamities, whose fangs have chewed

A sharp blade that turns sword-edges blunt?

امنوّلٌ عيني التململ لا الكرى

اسمح لعيني بالكرى تنويلا

O giver of restlessness to my eye, not sleep,

Be generous: bestow sleep upon my eye.

ولقد فقدتك ناظراً ذا حوة

وسنان من نجل العيون كحيلا

Indeed, I have lost you—a dark-hued eye,

Drowsy and kohl-dark, one of those wide eyes.

من ذا رماك وانت غصن ناضرٌ

فاراك يا غصن الاراك ذبولا

Who struck you when you were a flourishing branch,

And left you withering, O branch of the arak tree?

ولقد قصرت على الدموع محاجراً

شرقت بمدمعها عليك طويلا

Indeed, I have confined my eyes to tears,

Choking on their tears over you for so long.

حالت بك الايام عن حالاتها

يا ليت يومك كان فيك محيلا

Through you, the days departed from their former states;

Would that your day had spoken falsely of you!

آليت لا انفكُّ الا ناعيا

بنعيِّك التكبير والتهليلا

I swore I would never cease mourning,

In mourning you, the cries 'God is greatest' and 'There is no god but God.'

انعاك للقلب السليم والفةٍ

طبعت بقلبي لوعة وغليلا

I mourn you for a sound heart, and an affection

That imprinted anguish and burning thirst upon my heart.

وشمائلٍ مثل الشمال كأنما

منها شربت وما شربت شمولا

And for qualities like the north wind, as though

I had drunk of them, though I had drunk no wine.

ولعزة قعساء منك تقاعست

عنها الرجال المنجبون فحولا

And for your unassailable honor, of which

Even men who fathered champions fell short.

ولمفرد الكلم البديع تصوغه

جملاً تفصل آيها تفصيلا

And for each exquisite word you fashioned

Into sentences, expounding their verses in detail.

ولراجع رجعت به اقلامه

ينفثن سمّاً في الطروس بليلا

And for a refrain with which his pens resounded,

Breathing deadly poison onto the pages.

ما ضرّ من قد ازمعت احبابه

لولا يشاطرها أسىً ورحيلا

What could harm one whose loved ones had resolved to leave,

Were he not to share their sorrow and departure?

قد كان كفّاً للعلوم ومرفقا

عبل الذراع ومنكباً وتليلا

He was a hand and an elbow for the sciences,

A sturdy arm, a shoulder, and a neck.

اخلى الحمام له سرادق هيبة

قد كان ربع العز فيه مخيلا

Death emptied the pavilion of his awe,

Where honor's abode had once promised rain.

ولئن تجرأ مقدماً فلبعدما

قد ردَّ منه فؤاده اجفيلا

And if it dared advance, it was only after

Its heart had recoiled from him in terror.

فلأخلعن عليه جنبا مخلعاً

ولا خزلنَّ قرىّ به مخزولا

Then I shall rend my already shattered side in mourning him,

And break my back, already broken by him.

ولأنزحنَّ العين فيه ركيّها

دفعاً واسفحها دماً مطلولا

And I shall drain my eye's well for him,

In torrents, and spill it as blood left unavenged.

أأخيَّ ما الدنيا لحّرٍ صاحبا

وان اصطفاها صاحبا وخليلا

O my brother, the world is no companion to a noble man,

Even if he chooses it as companion and intimate friend.

حالٌ تحول ومدة ايامها

طيف يمرّ معللا تعليلا

A changing state; the span of its days

Is a passing phantom, beguiling us with consolations.

إِن الاولى سامو الزمان ظلامة

فأولئكم لا يظلمون فتيلا

Indeed, those who sought redress from Time

Are not wronged by so much as a thread.

ومداخل في الطب يسأل ما الردى

داء لقد اعيا الطبيب دخيلا

And one delving into medicine asks, 'What is death?'

A disease that has baffled the physician, an outsider.

اجلٌ جموح لا يردُّ شكيمه

متنقلٌ بنفوسنا تنقيلا

A headstrong appointed end whose bridle cannot be checked,

Carrying our souls away, again and again.

من مبلغ الحسن الزكي الوكةً

يفضي البريد بها عليه رسولا

Who will convey a message to al-Hasan the pure,

Which the courier delivers to him as a messenger?

نهنه جواك وان نكبت بنكبة

جعلت جيوب الثاكلات ذيولا

Restrain your burning grief, though struck by a calamity

That turned bereaved mothers' necklines into hems.

امحمد الحسن احتمل لرزية

قد فاجأتك فصادفتك حمولا

O Muhammad al-Hasan, endure a bereavement

That surprised you and found you steadfast.

من يحتمل صعب الامور يقودها

مطواعة سلس القياد ذلولا

Whoever endures difficult affairs leads them,

Obedient, yielding to the reins, and docile.

مجدٌ شأوتَ به مناط كواكب ال

جوز اودست بشسعه الاكليلا

A glory with which you surpassed the height of the stars of al-

Jawz, or trod the Crown beneath its sandal-strap.

وسجال كفٍّ قد جعلت لبطنها

وفر الندى ولظهرها التقبيلا

And a hand's torrents: you have allotted its palm

Abundant bounty, and its back kisses.

كرم كأفواه العزالي دافق

بيد يمدُّ النَّيل منها النيلا

Generosity gushing like the mouths of waterskin spouts,

From a hand whose bounty swells the Nile.

واجلت طرفك في الرعايا مرعيا

بالبر تكلأهنَّ جيلا جيلا

And you ranged your gaze over your subjects, watchfully,

Guarding them with kindness, generation after generation.

لم يغضِ طرفك رجع طرف خاملا

حاشاك من غضّ الجفون خمولا

Your gaze never lowered, even for a blink, in idleness;

Far be it from you to lower your eyelids in indolence.

ترضى وتغضب للجليل ملازما

لرضى وسخطٍ يرضيان جليلا

You are pleased and angered for the Majestic One, holding fast

To approval and displeasure that please the Majestic One.

يا طالباً مني الدليل بعصمه

فلقد طلبت على الكتاب دليلا

O you who seek from me proof of his infallibility,

You have indeed asked for proof of the Book itself.

هلا كفاك بيانه ولسانه

صه يا نزعت لسانك المشكولا

Were his eloquence and his tongue not enough for you?

Hush, you who have drawn out your bridled tongue!

نزلت به سور الكتاب فعاذر

لو اوضح التأويل والتنزيلا

The Book's chapters were revealed concerning him; so excuse me

If I explain the interpretation and the revelation.

قوم فروعهم زكت كأصولهم

طابوا فروعاً في العلى واصولا

A people whose branches flourished like their roots;

Noble in the heights, both branch and root.

اخذوا باوضاع الفخار فاصبحوا

غرراً لأبهم دهرهم وحجولا

They adopted the ways of glory, and became

White blazes and fetlock markings on the dark steed of their age.

غرراً تضيء على الزمان شوارقا

ردَّت عيون النجم حسَّر حولا

Blazes shining radiantly across time,

Leaving the stars' eyes weary and cross-eyed.

أأبا العلي وتلك اشرف كنية

طالت على الاسماء عرضا طولا

O Abu al-Ali—and that is the noblest byname,

Towering over names in breadth and length.

ما ضرَّ غابك فقد ضارٍ مشبلٍ

من بعدما رشَّحت فيه شبولا

What harm did losing a fierce lion with cubs do your thicket,

After you had nurtured lion cubs within it?