عاث هذا المنون يسرف فينا

فلحت تحتج الحياة المنونا

This Death has wrought havoc, ravaging us without restraint.

So life kept protesting against Death.

لم نكن بالارزاء نعبأ حتى

اخذ الموت قاهرا ادسونا

We paid no heed to calamities until

Death, all-conquering, took Edison.

ذاك رزء عم الانام واني

لا ارى فوق الارض الا حزينا

That loss overtook all humankind, and I

see none upon the earth but sorrowing.

اطفأ الدهر شعلة كانت الاضواء

منها يملأن منا العيونا

Time extinguished a flame whose lights

would shine forth and fill our eyes.

هد يقسو بمعول الموت ركنا

كان قد شادته الحياة متينا

Cruelly, with Death's pickaxe, it demolished a pillar

that life had raised up strong.

افقد الخافقين مخترعا كا

ن بامثاله النبوغ ضنينا

It robbed East and West of an inventor—

genius had been sparing of his like.

علم العصر العبقري الذي قد

ذلل الصعب بالنهى مستعينا

The age's luminary, the genius who

subdued difficulty with reason's aid.

وتقصى يبين ما لم يكن يو

ما لمن كان قبله مستبينا

And he probed deeply, revealing what had never

been clear to anyone before him.

ما اتى الكهرباء في الذكر الا

كان للفضل باسمه مقرونا

Electricity was never mentioned

without being linked to his name, in recognition of his merit.

وهو القوة التي بقى النا

س دهورا عن امرها غافلينا

It is the power to whose nature people remained

oblivious for ages.

انما الكون كله كهرباء

وان انشق الناس يختلفوا

The universe is nothing but electricity,

though people split apart and disagree.

يا بلاد الامريك انا معزو

ك على رزء قد ابى ان يهونا

O land of America, we offer condolences

to you for a loss that refuses to grow light.

ملك الكهرباء خلدك العلم

وان كنت قد لقيت المنونا

King of Electricity, science has immortalized you,

though you have met Death.

ملك الكهرباء انا محيو

ك وان كنت في التراب دفينا

King of Electricity, we offer our salute

to you, though you lie buried in the dust.

ملك الكهرباء ان علينا

لك فيما اخترعته لديونا

King of Electricity, we owe

you debts for what you have invented.

انني لا اعد من هو يحيا

في قلوب الورى من الهالكينا

I do not count one who lives

in human hearts among the dead.

لا يموت الذي يعيش بآثا

ر له في مصانع قد بنينا

He does not die who lives through works

of his in factories we have built.

لا يموت الذي يعظمه التأ

ريخ بعد القرون تقفو القرونا

He does not die whom history honors

as centuries follow centuries.

لا يموت الذي توفق ان يعلن

ما كان سره مكنونا

He does not die who has succeeded in revealing

what had been kept secret.

واباحت له الطبيعة ان يخ

رج ما كان عندها مخزونا

And nature allowed him to bring

forth what she had held in store.

انها لا تلقى المقاليد جمعا

ء الى غير من تراه امينا

She does not surrender all the keys

to any but one she deems trustworthy.

وستبقى برغم موتك حيا

ما توالت بعد السنين السنونا

And despite your death, you will remain alive

as long as years follow years.

ان للأعمال الخلود مباح

لا لاجسام في القبور بلينا

Immortality is granted to deeds,

not to bodies that have decayed in graves.

انت من صيرت الليالي بيضا

بالمصابيح بعد ما كان جونا

You are the one who turned nights white

with lamps, after they had been black.

انت من انطقت الجماد بما عندك

من قدرة فكان مبينا

You are the one who made inert matter speak, through what you possessed

of power, so it became articulate.

انت من قد اشعلت في كل قطر

قبسا يهتدي به المهتدونا

You are the one who kindled in every land

a flame by which people find their way.

وبذلت الجهد الجهيد فتيا

تصلح التغلراف والتلفونا

And in youth you exerted your utmost effort,

improving the telegraph and the telephone.

وقد اسطعت ان تحمل سلكا

في زمان انباء مختلفينا

And you were able to make a wire carry

messages from different people at the same time.

وبعثت الاشباح ممن تناءوا

فرأى الناظرون ما يفعلونا

And you brought forth images of those far away,

so viewers saw what they were doing.

ونفعت الانام شرقا وغربا

باختراعات قد بلغن المئينا

And you benefited humankind in East and West

with inventions that numbered in the hundreds.

وخدمت العلم العزيز لاجل العلم لم

تبغ منه دنياً ودينا

And you served noble science for science's sake, not

seeking worldly gain or religion from it.

ولقد سرت فاحصا لا تبالي

أسهولا قد جبتها ام حزونا

You traveled inquiring, heedless

whether you crossed plains or rugged terrain.

أي خير للناس في نظر لم

يك بالفعل صدقه مقرونا

What good is a theory to people if

its truth is not borne out in practice?

كل ما قد صنعت كان بديعا

كل ما قد ابدعت كان ثمينا

Everything you made was wondrous;

everything you devised was precious.

وخدمت الانسان بعد جهاد

متعب وهي غاية المحسنينا

And you served humanity after a struggle

that was exhausting—such is the aim of benefactors.

تلك آيات قد سبقت بها مقتدرا

في حياتك الاولينا

These are marvels through which you, with your prowess, surpassed

in your lifetime those who came before.

ايها المبدع الكثير المناحي

أي شيء تركت للآخرينا

O innovator of manifold pursuits,

what have you left for others?

انت حيّ وانت ميت وهذا

من خصال قد حازها الخالدونا

You are alive though you are dead, and this

is among the qualities the immortals have attained.

اصبح الروح مطلقا يتسامى

غير ان الجثمان امسى دفينا

The spirit is now unbound, soaring upward,

but the body now lies buried.

وكأن الارواح قد كن سجنى

وكأن الابدان كن سجونا

As though souls had been prisoners,

and as though bodies had been prisons.

اتعبتك الحياة حتى مللت العيش

فاخترت في المنايا السكونا

Life wearied you until you tired of living,

so you chose repose in death.

واذا ما الحياة دب بها الوهن

فليست الاّ اسى وشجونا

And when frailty creeps through life,

it is nothing but sorrow and grief.

ما لقاء المنون منك ببدع

أي انسان لا يلاقي المنونا

There is nothing strange in your meeting Death;

what human being does not meet Death?

قد وددنا لو كنت للعلم تفدى

بالوف تحيا من الجاهلينا

We wished that, for science's sake, you could be ransomed

with thousands of the ignorant who live on.

يا لها من نوي على الرغم منا

قد قضى الدهر ان تكون شطونا

Alas for a parting, against our will,

which Time has decreed should be so distant!

غير انا كنا نظن بان الموت

يستحيي ان يغولك فينا

But we had thought that Death

would be ashamed to carry you off from among us.

ايها الراحل الكريم رويدا

فاليك الحاجات لم ينقضينا

O noble departing one, wait a little!

For our needs of you have not yet ended.

اكبرت اذ فشا نعيك فيهم

امم الارض امره اجمعينا

When news of your death spread among them, its import was deemed momentous

by all the nations of the earth.

انا لو كنت عند قبرك طأطأ

ت له الرأس خاشعا والجبينا

Had I been beside your grave, I would have bowed

my head and brow before it in reverence.

كنت في امر الروح توجس ريبا

فهل اليوم قد بلغت اليقينا

You used to harbor doubts about the spirit;

have you today attained certainty?

واذا كان الروح ليس بفان

فافدنا علما بذاك مبينا

And if the spirit does not perish,

then give us clear knowledge of that.

انما هذا الكون بحر خضم

تستبيح الامواج منه السفينا

This universe is but a vast ocean,

whose waves make prey of ships.

نعمة هذه الحياة لو ان الناس

من شر بعضهم يسلمونا

This life would be a blessing, if only people

were safe from one another's evil.

غير ان الفتى يعيش مهانا

من اناس يلقونه او مهينا

But a man lives either humiliated

by people who meet him, or humiliating them.

ان بين الذين يحيون فوق

الارض حربا على البقاء طحونا

Among those who live upon

the earth is a grinding war for survival.

ما على وجه الارض من هو يبقى

من رحاها التي تلحّ مصونا

No one upon the face of the earth remains

safe from its relentless millstone.