1. يا فاجعَ القومِ ماذا ينفعُ الحذرُ

    وقد عهدناكَ لا تبقي ولا تَذَرُ

    O you who bereave the people, what good is caution?

    And we have known you to spare nothing and leave nothing.

  2. جنتْ أناملكَ الأرواحَ فانتثرتْ

    كما تناثرَ من أوراقهِ الزَّهَرُ

    Your fingertips plucked the souls, and they scattered,

    As blossoms scatter from their foliage.

  3. وما بمانعهم ما قدَروا وقضوا

    وقبلَ كلِّ قضاءٍ في الورى قدرُ

    And what they planned and decreed cannot protect them,

    And before every decree among mortals stands destiny.

  4. من يتعظ فصروفُ الدهرِ موعظةٌ

    وما مواعظِ دهرٍ كلّهُ عبرُ

    For whoever takes heed, time's vicissitudes are an admonition;

    And what are the admonitions of an age that is all lessons?

  5. يا لهفَ كابلَ ما فاجأتَ كافلها

    حتى درى كلُّ قلبٍ كيفَ ينفطرُ

    Alas for Kabul! How suddenly you struck her guardian,

    Until every heart knew what it was to break.

  6. فجعتها وفجعتَ العالمينَ بها

    حتى النجومُ وحتى الشمسُ والقمرُ

    You bereaved her, and through her bereaved all the worlds—

    Even the stars, even the sun and the moon.

  7. وجئت ضيغمها لكن بمخلبهِ

    فما استطاعكَ ذاكَ الضيغمُ الهصِرُ

    And you came to her lion—but with his own claw;

    And that rending lion could not withstand you.

  8. قد كانَ يزجي المنايا للعدا زمراً

    واليومَ جئنَ لهُ من ربِّهِ الزمرُ

    He once sent deaths upon his foes in throngs,

    And today those throngs have come to him from his Lord.

  9. وكانَ يأتيهِ ريبُ الدهرِ معتذراً

    واليومَ عنهُ صروفُ الدهرِ تعتذرُ

    And time's calamities once came to him apologetically,

    And today time's vicissitudes apologize on his behalf.

  10. ما شبَّ في غيرِ الأحداثِ فكرتهُ

    إلا أضاءت لهُ الأحداثُ والغيرُ

    He never kindled his thought amid the turns of events

    But events and vicissitudes shone for him.

  11. ولو روى الفلكُ الدوارُ حكمتهُ

    لامستِ الشهبُ فيهِ كلها سورُ

    And had the revolving firmament recounted his wisdom,

    All the shooting stars within it would have become surahs.

  12. والدهرُ يومّانٌ يومٌ كلهُ كَدَرٌ

    لا صفوَ فيهِ ويومٌ بعضهُ كدرُ

    And time is two days: a day wholly troubled,

    With no serenity in it, and a day partly troubled.

  13. وما تبسمَ للأيامِ مختبلٌ

    إلا تفجَّعَ بالأيامِ مختبرُ

    And never did a fool smile upon the days

    But a man of experience grieved over those days.

  14. سلوا المآثرَ عنهُ فهي باقيةٌ

    في كلِ قلبٍ لهُ من حبهِ أثرُ

    Ask his glorious deeds about him, for they endure

    In every heart that bears a trace of love for him.

  15. واستخبروا الأرضَ ما للشمسِ كاسفةٌ

    فما جهينةُ إلا عندها الخبرُ

    And ask the earth why the sun is darkened;

    For Juhaynah alone holds the news.

  16. يا شامخاً دكَّهُ ريبُ المنونِ أما اه

    تزَّ الحطيمُ وركنُ البيتِ والحجرُ

    O towering one, whom death's calamity laid low—did not

    The Hatim, the House's corner, and the Stone tremble?

  17. هذي المدافعُ والأسيافُ ناطقةٌ

    في الغربِ والهندِ بالأفغانِ تفتخرُ

    These cannons and swords are speaking;

    In the West and India, they boast of the Afghans.

  18. طارت بنعيكَ في الإسلامِ بارقةٌ

    فانهلَّ دمعُ بني الإسلامِ ينهمرُ

    A lightning flash flew through the Muslim world with news of your death,

    And the tears of Islam's sons poured forth in torrents.

  19. خطبُ قلوبِ الورى من حرِّ جاحمهِ

    كأنَّ نار الوغى فيهنَّ تستعرُ

    A calamity for human hearts: from the heat of its blaze,

    It is as though the fire of battle rages within them.

  20. فما لأنباءِ هذا السلكِ خائنةٌ

    حتى المدامعُ خانت سلكها الدررُ

    So what treachery lies in this wire's tidings,

    That even the pearls of weeping eyes have betrayed their thread?