حملته بين احشائي بلا برم

اغذوه فيها الى وضعي له بدمي

I carried him within my womb without impatience,

Nourishing him there with my blood until I gave him birth.

وكان اما نهاري جاء من فكري

وكان اما بليلي نمت من حلمي

By day he came from my thoughts,

And at night, when I slept, from my dreams.

وضعته بعد آلام مؤملة

وفي المؤمل تخفيف من الالم

I bore him after hope-filled pains,

And in what is hoped for lies relief from pain.

وبعد وضعي له ساقيت نبعته

حولين بالدر من ثديي بلا سأم

After bearing him, I watered his tender shoot

For two years with milk from my breasts, without weariness.

وطالما قمت في ليلي اراقبه

وطالما نام في حضني ولم انم

How often I rose at night to watch over him,

How often he slept in my lap while I did not sleep.

وكنت انظر ساعات اليه فلا

ارى هنالك الا وجه مبتسم

For hours I would look at him and see

Nothing there but a smiling face.

وشب ينمو كخوط البان مزدهراً

حتى تناسق من فرع الى قدم

He grew, flourishing like a slender shoot of the ban tree,

Until he was well-proportioned from head to foot.

وفاق كل قرين في ثقافته

فكان اشهر من نار على علم

He surpassed every peer in his learning,

And was more renowned than a fire on a mountaintop.

حتى اذا قلت ان الدهر من مقة

مسالم لي وان السعد ملتزمي

Until, when I said that Time, out of affection,

Was at peace with me, and good fortune clung to me,

اصابني في وحيدي غير مكترث

لما بقلبي من حب ومن ضرم

It struck me through my only child, heedless

Of the love and burning ardor in my heart.

فرام بي حين جاء الموت يخطفه

تشبثا ثم لما اقتيد لم يرم

When Death came to snatch him, he reached for me

To cling; then, when led away, he did not stir.

اجل تحفز يبغي الموت غيلته

فنال منه كذئب القرة النهم

Yes, Death readied itself, intent on murdering him,

And preyed upon him like a ravenous wolf in bitter cold.

سطا عليه بجنح الليل مختطفاً

واغتاله قبل وجه الصبح من امم

It attacked him under cover of night, snatching him away,

And slew him at close quarters before dawn showed its face.

ولست تاللَه انسى حسن طلعته

ولا حلاوة ذاك اللفظ والكلم

By God, I shall not forget the beauty of his face,

Nor the sweetness of that speech, those words.

فكان ان جاء في امر يكلمني

في سمعي الصوت منه احسن النغم

Whenever he came to speak to me of something,

His voice was, to my ears, the loveliest of melodies.

وكان صورته من خير ما نظرت

عيني وشيمته من اكرم الشيم

His form was among the finest things ever seen

By my eyes, and his character among the noblest of characters.

وسوف ابقى على الايام ذا كرةً

لما هنالك من عزم ومن شمم

And through all my days I shall keep remembering

The resolve and proud dignity that were there.

اما هواه فملء القلب يشبعني

مسرة واسمه المحبوب ملء فمي

Love for him fills my heart and sates me

With joy, and his beloved name fills my mouth.

وكنت آمل عونا منه في كبرى

على صروف زماني ثم في هرمي

I had hoped for his help as I grew old,

Against my time's reversals, and later in my decrepitude.

وللسعادة ايام قد انصرمت

اما شقائي فهذا غير منصرم

Happiness has had its days, now gone;

But my misery—this has no end.

واحر قلباه من نار قد اضطرمت

من سورة الثكل فيه أي مضطرم

Ah, my burning heart, with a fire that has flared

From bereavement's fury within it—what a blaze!

كأن قلبي بركان به انحبست

نيرانه مع ما فيه من الحمم

My heart seems a volcano in which are imprisoned

Its fires, along with all the lava within it.

يا دهر انك لم تعطف على كبرى

وما رحمت بياض الشعر في لممي

O Time, you showed no tenderness toward my old age,

Nor pitied the white hair among my locks.

قد اخترمت اعز الناس قاطبة

علي تقسو فهلا كنت مخترمي

You cut down the dearest of all people

To me, in cruelty—why did you not cut me down?

وقد بنيت به الآمال شاهقة

فيا شواهق آمالي به انهدمي

I had built my hopes on him, towering high;

O towering heights of my hopes in him, collapse!

ما ان ذكرتك الا صحت مجهشة

بني فقدك جرح غير ملتئم

Whenever I remember you, I cry out, sobbing:

'My dear son, your loss is a wound that will not heal.'

يا كوكب الصبح قل لي اين انت وقل

لي اين ما كان يذكو فيك من ضرم

O morning star, tell me where you are, and tell

Me where the fire that once blazed within you is.

قالوا سيرجع حيا بعد ميتته

وهل سيرجع معدوم من العدم

They said, 'He will return alive after his death.'

Will one who is no more return from nothingness?

الا اذا شاء بي فهو مقتدر

على اعادة آلاف من الرمم

Unless He wills it for me—for He has power

To restore thousands of decayed remains.

لكنما اللَه لو شاء الحياة لهم

ما سلط الموت محتوما على الامم

Yet if God had willed life for them,

He would not have set inevitable death to rule the nations.

استغفر اللَه ان الحزن دلهني

حتى تعثرت الالفاظ في كلمي

I ask God's forgiveness: grief has bewildered me

Until the words stumbled in my speech.

اني اذا كان ربي لم يضع رشدي

فليس الا بحبل اللَه معتصمي

Indeed, if my Lord has not let my reason be lost,

Then God's rope alone is my refuge.

اللَه يبعث موتانا ليجزيهم

على طواعية في الامر او اثم

God raises our dead to recompense them

For willing obedience to His command, or for sin.

واللَه يمقت مكارا ومنتقما

واللَه اكبر مكار ومنتقم

And God abhors a schemer and an avenger,

And God is the greatest schemer and avenger.

ادهى الكوارث ما يشقى الجميع به

والحادث الفرد دون الحدث العمم

The direst calamities are those that make everyone suffer;

An individual calamity is less than a universal disaster.

وما اتهامك دهرا لا اختيار له

فيما يجيء من الاحداث والازم

Why do you accuse Time, when it has no choice

In the events and crises that come to pass?

وهل اذا الجلم المشحوذ اوسعنا

قرضاً نعاتب الا صاحب الجلم

And if sharpened shears subject us

To many cuts, do we blame anyone but their owner?

لا تحزننّ اذا اصبحت متهما

فلست وحدك يا دهري بمتهم

Do not grieve if you now stand accused,

For you are not alone, O my Time, in being accused.

الارض والشمس والاقدار قاطبة

لم تنج واحدة منها من التهم

Earth, the sun, and the decrees of fate, all alike—

Not one of them has escaped accusations.

ما الدهر في سيره الا كدائرة

وما الحدوث سوى شكل من القدم

Time in its course is only like a circle,

And coming into being is only a form of eternity.

ونحن الا فقاقيع مبعثرة

في لج بحر بعيد الغور ملتطم

And we are nothing but scattered bubbles

In the depths of a fathomless, surging sea.

اني لاحقر نفسي ثم احقرها

اذا تصورت ما للكون من عظم

I deem myself so small, then smaller still,

When I envision the immensity of the universe.

لقد تنقدني ناس قد انغمسوا

في الجهل لا يكتبون النون بالقلم

Indeed, people have criticized me, people immersed

In ignorance, unable to write the letter nun with a pen.

يخفون في الضوء كالخفاش انفسهم

ولا يطيرون الا في حمى الظلم

In the light they hide themselves like bats,

And fly only in the shelter of darkness.