1. للنقص من أعمارنا ما يَكملُ

    والدهر يؤيسُنا ونحن نؤمِّلُ

    What fills out our lifespans serves to shorten them;

    and time makes us despair while we keep hoping.

  2. تمشي المنونُ رويدَها لتغرَّنا

    أبدا فتُدركنا ونحنُ نهرولُ

    Death walks at its leisure to beguile us

    always, then overtakes us while we hurry.

  3. يا معجباً بالعيش طال بقاؤه

    نظراً بقاؤك في المنيّةِ أطولُ

    O you who delight in life, whose stay has lasted long,

    consider: your stay in death is longer.

  4. عن جانبي دنياك فارغبْ آبقا

    ودِيَ الحريصُ وما نجا المتوكّلُ

    Turn away from both sides of your world and flee;

    the covetous man has perished, and the trusting man has not escaped.

  5. وإذا الجفون تخلَّصت من مَجهل ال

    شُبُهات خلّص نفسَه من يعقِلُ

    And when the eyelids escape the trackless waste of

    doubts, whoever understands frees himself.

  6. مَنْ هالكٌ دَرَست عَشيّةَ هُلكه

    سُبُلُ الصلاح وكلُّ نهجٍ مشكلُ

    Who is the departed one, on the evening of whose death

    the paths of righteousness vanished and every way grew obscure?

  7. من كان في الغفلاتِ أعلمَ نفسَهُ

    أنَّ المنية طالبٌ لا يغفُلُ

    He who, amid heedlessness, taught himself

    that death is a pursuer who never grows heedless.

  8. أبكيك للحسناتِ مِتَّ فطُلِّقت

    وابنِ السبيل ثويت فهو مُسَبَّلُ

    I weep for you for the good deeds—you died, and they were divorced—

    and for the wayfarer: you lie at rest, and he is left to wander.

  9. حملوك والبركاتُ حولك والهدى

    مَيْتٌ بموتك فوق نعشِك يُحمَلُ

    They bore you, blessings all around you; and guidance,

    dead through your death, was borne above your bier.

  10. ونزلتَ حيث تقرُّ عينُك لا كما

    كانت عيون الحزن حولك تهمِلُ

    And you alighted where your eye finds joy, unlike

    the sorrowing eyes around you that streamed with tears.

  11. يا قبره النَضِرَ المروَّضَ بعدما

    قد كان قبل القَطر وهو الممحِلُ

    O his verdant grave, made into a meadow after

    it had been barren before the rain,

  12. بلِّغه عن حزني السلامَ وقل له

    جَلَدي وإن أظهرتُهُ متعمَّلُ

    convey to him my sorrow's greeting, and tell him:

    my fortitude, though I display it, is feigned.

  13. أوحشتَ هذا المنزلَ البالي الرُّبى

    فهل استفاد الأنسَ ذاك المنزلُ

    You have left this dwelling lonely, its hills worn away;

    did that dwelling, then, gain companionship?

  14. هيهات صمَّ فليس يوصِلُ مفصِحٌ

    قولا إليه ولا يبلِّغُ مرسِلُ

    Far from it! He has grown deaf: no eloquent speaker can convey

    a word to him, nor can any sender deliver one.

  15. قل لابنه والخير قولُك لابنه

    من كان مسعوداً فمثلكَ ينسُلُ

    Tell his son—and good lies in your words to his son—

    whoever is fortunate begets a son like you.

  16. لو ردَّ بالجودِ المنَّيةَ باذلٌ

    نجىَّ أباك من الردى ما تبذلُ

    If a giver could drive death back with generosity,

    what you give would have saved your father from doom.

  17. أو كان طالبه يقاتل دونه

    ملأ البسيطة دونه من تقتلُ

    Or if his pursuer could be fought in his defense,

    those you would kill defending him would fill the earth.

  18. أو كان داءٌ يُستطَبُّ شفيتَهُ

    لكنّه الداءُ العياءُ المعضلُ

    Or if it were an ailment that could be treated, you would have cured him;

    but it is the incurable, intractable disease.

  19. دُنْيا تسرُّ بما تضرُّ بمثله

    فاسمٌ لها شهدٌ ومعنىً حنظلُ

    A world that delights with things whose like it uses to harm:

    so honey is its name, and colocynth its meaning.

  20. صبراً ومن عجب الرزايا أنّه

    فيها يُبصَّرُ كيف يصبرُ يَذبُلُ

    Be patient! Among the marvels of calamities is that

    amid them, Yadhbul is taught how to endure.

  21. واعلم بِأنّ أباً فداك بنفسه

    لَتهونَ مِيتَتُه عليه وتسهُلُ

    And know that a father who ransomed you with his own life

    would surely find his death light and easy.

  22. فوْزاً له إذ كان قبلك يومُهُ

    كم موتةٍ هي من حياةٍ أفضلُ

    A triumph for him, since his day came before yours;

    how many a death is better than a life!

  23. ولئن رمته يدُ المنونِ فسهمُه

    وقد اتقتك بما رمته المخصِلُ

    And though death's hand shot him, his arrow—

    for that hand spared you by shooting him—is the winning one.

  24. يسليك عنه أن ملأتَ فؤادَه

    من كلّ فائدةٍ تقالُ وتُفعَلُ

    Your consolation for his loss is that you filled his heart

    with every good thing spoken and done.

  25. وأريته قدميك وهو بمعزِلٍ

    متودِّعٌ حيث السِّماك الأعزلُ

    And you showed him your feet while he, in seclusion,

    rested at ease where al-Simāk the Unarmed dwells.

  26. لا يظفرنّ الحزنُ منك بمهجةٍ

    لم تلق يوما ما له تتذلّلُ

    Let sorrow never conquer the soul within you

    that has never met anything before which it would bow.

  27. حاشاك يجمعنا بدارِك مُفزِعٌ

    أبدا ويُعقَد للمساءة محفِلُ

    May no calamity bring us together in your house,

    ever, nor any gathering be held for sorrow.

  28. وورِثت عمرَ الدهر سَوْمَك عيشةً

    في العزّ تسحَبُ ما تشاءُ وترفُلُ

    And may you inherit time's lifespan, pursuing a life

    in glory, trailing what you please and walking proudly.

  29. فإذا سلمتَ عليه حيّاً مقبلاً

    فأبوك تحتَ الترب مَيْتٌ مقبلُ

    So when you greet him, alive and fortunate,

    your father beneath the soil is dead, yet fortunate.