الموت درس وعزرائيل ملقيه

والخلق شرح وذات الصدع ترويه

Death is a lesson, and Azrael delivers it.

Creation is its commentary, and the cleft-bearing earth recounts it.

لولاه ما عرف المخلوق خالقه

فيا لمثله أستاذا نعاديه

Without it, the creature would not have known its Creator.

What a teacher he makes—yet we oppose him!

وفسحة العمر أنفاس مقدرة

كأنما هي دين نحن نقضيه

The span of life is a number of allotted breaths,

as though it were a debt that we repay.

والكون سفر ونحن أحرف فإذا

تتلى صحائفه فالدهر يطويه

The universe is a book, and we are letters; when

its pages are recited, time folds it away.

وما المنايا سوى طور تقدمه

طور الحياة وما يدريك ما فيه

Death is only a stage preceded

by life's stage—and what tells you what it holds?

ما هذه الأرض إلا بعض من دثروا

قد استحال ترابا منه باليه

This earth is nothing but a portion of those who have perished;

their decayed remains have turned to dust.

ومن يشاهد أجداث الألى سلفوا

يقول آخذه ما هي تعطيه

Whoever sees the graves of those who went before

says, "What it gives him will claim him."

يفنى القديم ويأتي غيره عوضا

عنه إلى أجل لسنا نسميه

The old perishes, and another comes to replace it

until a term that we cannot name.

هذا هو الشأن في هذه الحياة فهل

فهمت ما أنت في دنياك لاقيه

Such is the state of affairs in this life; have you

understood what you will meet in your world?

الله أكبر ما منا سوى دنف

يهوى الحياة كأن الموت ناسيه

God is greatest! Each of us is but a lovesick soul,

enamored of life, as though death had forgotten him.

أليس من عبث الأقوال قول فتى

للغير عن طمع الله يبقيه

Is it not foolish speech when a young man says

for another, out of self-interest, "May God keep him alive"?

لولا المساواة في خطب المنون لما

هانت رزية من قمنا نعزيه

Were there no equality in the calamity of death,

the bereavement of the one we set about consoling would not grow lighter.

عاثت يد الموت في النوع اللطيف كما

عاثت يد اللص تشبيها بتشويه

Death's hand has ravaged the gentle sex, just as

the thief's hand has ravaged—an ugly comparison.

فتقتني كل آن من نفائسنا

ما لا تضارعه جنات شاربه

Every moment it acquires from our treasures

what even its drinker's gardens cannot rival.

كمن فقدنا بها كنز العفاف على

إثر أبيها فقيد العلم مبكيه

Like her, in whom we lost chastity's treasure, following

her father, learning's departed one who made it weep.

لاقت أباها ولم تجزع لفاجعة

فيه فلاقت سرورا في تلاقيه

She met her father and felt no anguish at the calamity

that befell him, but found joy in meeting him.

بشرى لحظوتها في الحادث الأبوي

وإن تعاظم منها خطبنا فيه

Glad tidings of her good fortune in joining her father,

though, in this, our affliction through her has grown immense.

إن قمت في القوم ترثيها فإنك قد

تبكي العفاف من الدنيا وترثيه

If you rise among the people to eulogize her, you indeed

weep for this world's chastity, and eulogize it.

هي اللبيبة أخلاقا وتسمية

خوجية البيت بيت العلم مثريه

She is Labiba, wise in both character and name,

of the Khoja household, a house that enriches learning.

حليلة المصطفى أغا حفيد

وزير الحرب أول مؤتم بناديه

The wife of al-Mustafa Agha, grandson

of the Minister of War, foremost follower in his assembly.

نقية العرض فردوس الفضائل را

موز الطهارة في أفلاك تنزيه

Pure in honor, a paradise of virtues, an emblem

of purity in the spheres of sanctity.

زكية النفس ذات اللطف معدنه

سلسلة المجد شبت في مبانيه

Pure of soul, possessed of gentleness, its very source,

a link in glory's chain, raised within its edifices.

فريدة العصر في التقوى وأكرمنا

عند المهيمن أتقانا لباريه

Unique in her age in piety; and the noblest of us

before the Guardian is the most reverent toward his Maker.

كأنها ولسان الحال يذكرها

بالفضل زهراؤنا من غير تشبيه

It is as though she—the tongue of circumstance proclaiming

her virtue—were our Zahra, without any comparison.

ما خلفت ولدا لليتم يندبها

إلا صغيرا لها كانت تربيه

She left no child to be orphaned and mourn her,

except a little boy she had been raising.

تحنو عليه حنو الأم كافأها

عنه الإله كما كانت تكافيه

She cherished him with a mother's tenderness; may she be rewarded

by God on his behalf, as she used to reward him.

أبقته للبعل تذكارا يؤانسه

وحسبها فيه ذكرى أن يواسيه

She left him to her husband as a memento to keep him company,

and enough remembrance of her is that he should console him.

لهفي عليها وإن كانت منعمة

في الخلد ضاق فؤادي عن تأسيّه

Alas for her, though she is blessed

in eternity; my heart cannot find consolation.

ما كاد يبلغ منعاها مسامعنا

حتى جرى الدمع منا في مجاريه

Scarcely had news of her death reached our ears

before our tears flowed in their channels.

وشارك الأهل في خطب ألم بهم

أهل البلاد وعزى الفضل ناعيه

The family were joined in the calamity that struck them

by the people of the land; virtue's death-herald consoled it.

داروا جميعا حوالي نعشها حلقا

كهالة البدر دارت في دياجيه

They all circled her bier in rings

like the halo of the full moon revolving in its darkness.

وامتدت القوم أسماطا تشيعها

والذكر يرفع أصواتا لصاغيه

The people stretched out in necklace-strands, escorting her,

and sacred chanting raised voices for those who listened.

ويمموا الجامع الزيتونة العلوي

حيث الصلاة عليها في معاليه

They headed for the lofty Zaytuna Mosque,

where prayer over her was offered in its lofty precincts.

واستأنفوا السير من بعد الصلاة إلى

حيث المقر الذي يزكو بأهليه

They resumed their journey after the prayer toward

the resting place ennobled by its inhabitants.

سارت إلى جبل الجلاز يتبعها

جم غفير من الأعيان راقيه

She was borne to Mount al-Jallaz, followed

by a vast throng of notables climbing it.

إذ اصبحت جارة فيه لوالدها

جنبا لجنب يحاديها تحاذيه

There she became her father's neighbor,

side by side: he beside her, she beside him.

فقال في ذاك مأسوفا مؤرخا

رزم أبيك تلاه اليوم ثانيه

Then he said of this, sorrowfully marking the date:

"Your father's bundle [uncertain reading] has today been followed by its second."