1. الدَهرُ أَفتَكَ فارِسَ بِطِرادِهِ

    أَبَداً وَأَكثَرَ فَتكَهُ بِجِيادِهِ

    Time is the deadliest knight in his jousting,

    forever; and most of his slaughter strikes his noble steeds.

  2. يَخنى فَإشن قَصَدَ الفَتى لَم يَنتَفِع

    بِمَضاءِ صارِمِهِ وَطولُ نِجادِهِ

    He destroys; if he targets a young man, that man gains nothing

    from his sword's keenness and his long baldric.

  3. يَسطو عَلى المَرءِ المَنِيِّ بَعدَ العَنا

    قَسراً فَماذا النَفعُ مِن إيجادِهِ

    He assails the mighty man after toil,

    forcibly—what benefit, then, in his being created?

  4. يَرِثُ الفَناءَ وَقَد يَرى مَن لَم يَرِثِ

    شَيئاً سِوى ذا المَوتُ عَن أَجدادِهِ

    He inherits extinction; one may see someone who has not inherited

    anything but this death from his forefathers.

  5. لا يَشفَعَن بِالمَرءِ غَضُّ شَبابِهِ

    عِندَ الحَمامِ وَلا ذَكاءِ فُؤادِهِ

    The freshness of his youth will not intercede for a man

    before death, nor his heart's keen intelligence.

  6. البَينُ يَختَرِمُ الجَميعَ وَلَيتُما

    قَد كانَ كُلُّ البَينِ بِينَ سَعادِهِ

    Parting snatches everyone away; would that

    all parting had been only parting from his Su'ad.

  7. بَينٌ كَفى الدُنيا نَعابُ غَرابِهش

    وَبِهِ كَفى مُتَشائِماً بِسَوادِهِ

    A parting whose raven's croaking is enough for the world;

    and its blackness is enough to fill one with foreboding.

  8. يَردى الحَبيبُ وَخِلُّهُ مُتَقَلِّبٌ

    في مَضجَعٍ أَهناهُ شَوكُ قَتادِهِ

    The beloved perishes, while his friend tosses

    in a bed whose sweetest comfort is its qatad thorns,

  9. مُتَعَرِّضاً بِالنائِباتِ الغُبَرِ في

    إِصدارِهِ أَبَداً وَفي إيرادِهِ

    exposed to dark calamities in

    his departures, always, and in his arrivals.

  10. يا أَيُّها البَينُ المُفَرَّقُ بَينَنا

    إِذ فيهِ مَعنى الدَهرِ في اِستِبدادِهِ

    O parting that divides us,

    for in it lies the very meaning of Time's tyranny.

  11. الدَهرُ أَنزَقَ شيمَةً مِن أَن يُرى

    بِالحَزمِ ذا بَقيٍ عَلى أَفرادِهِ

    Time is too fickle in nature to be seen

    with prudent restraint, sparing its people.

  12. ما زالَ يُفَجِّعُنا بِهِم حَتّى غَدا

    شَرَفُ الفَتى بَينَ الوَرى بِمَعادِهِ

    It has kept bereaving us of them, until

    a young man's honor among mankind has come to lie in his final return.

  13. فَلَبِئسَ عَيشٌ باتَ مُختَرِماً بِهِ

    مِثلَ السَليمِ رَزيئَةٌ لِبِلادِهِ

    Wretched is a life in which death cuts down

    one like Salim—a calamity for his country.

  14. وَلَبِئسَ أَفضالٍ وَمَجدٍ بَعدَهُ

    وَلَبَئِسَتِ الأَيّامُ بَعدَ بِعادِهِ

    And wretched are noble deeds and glory after him,

    and wretched are the days after his departure.

  15. مَن هَزَّ هَذا القَطرُ فاجِعُ فَقدِهِ

    حَتّى تُفطِرَ فيهِ قَلبَ جَمادِهِ

    He whose grievous loss shook this land,

    until even the heart of its lifeless matter broke;

  16. وَسَطا عَلى الصَبرِ التَفَجُّعِ بالِغاً

    سَيلُ الأَسى الطامي ذَرى أَطوادِهِ

    and grief assailed patience, as

    the surging flood of sorrow reached its mountain peaks.

  17. وَتُوُفِّيَت آمالُنا من بَعدِهِ

    ما الدَهرُ يُحييها إِلى آبادِهِ

    And our hopes died after him;

    Time will not revive them through all its ages.

  18. الأَروَعُ الشَهمَ الَّذي بِعُلومِهِ

    وَجَدائِهِ كَالبَحرِ في إِزبادِهِ

    That splendid, noble-hearted man, who in his learning

    and his bounty was like the sea in full foam;

  19. الطائِرُ الصيتُ الرَفيعُ مَقامُهُ

    وَالباهِرُ الحَسَناتُ في إِسعادِهِ

    his renown flew far, his standing was lofty,

    and his good deeds dazzled in the happiness he brought.

  20. مَن كانَ باباً لِلرَجاءَ مَبلَغاً

    في الخَطبِ مَن يَرجو شَأوَ مُرادِهِ

    He who was a doorway to hope, bringing

    in adversity, the hopeful to the furthest reach of their desire.

  21. وَقَفَ الحَياةَ لِخِدمَةِ العِلمِ الَّذي

    قَد كانَ حَقّاً باسِطاً لِمِهادِهِ

    He dedicated his life to serving learning, whose

    groundwork he had truly laid.

  22. فَقَضى بُعَيدَ أَبيهِ في أَجَلِ أَبي

    إِلّا اِتِّصالَ حَدادِهِ بِحِدادِهِ

    So he died soon after his father, at an appointed hour that allowed

    only mourning for him to join mourning for his father.

  23. أَسَفاً عَلَيهِ وَكانَ رُكناً لِلعُلى

    وَقوامُها بِطَريفِهِ وَتِلادِهِ

    Alas for him! He was a pillar of greatness,

    and its mainstay, with all he had acquired and inherited.

  24. أَيّامَ باهِرَ مَجدِهِ يَذَرِ السُهى

    وَكَواكِبَ الأَفلاكِ مِن حُسّادِهِ

    In the days when his dazzling glory left Suha

    and the stars of the celestial spheres among those who envied him;

  25. أَيّامَ لا تَلقاهُ إِلّا جاهِداً

    وَمُجاهِداً في العِلمِ حَقَّ جِهادِهِ

    in days when you met him only striving,

    and struggling for knowledge with the effort it deserved;

  26. أَيّامَ أَن صَعَدَ المَنابِرَ خاطِباً

    تَهتَزُّ مشن عَجَبٍ ذَرى أَروادِهِ

    in days when he mounted the pulpits to speak,

    the heights of his Arwad trembling in wonder.

  27. مَهلاً لِتُبصِرَ حالَ مَن غادَرَتهُم

    وَتَرى قَضاءُ اللَهِ بَينَ عِبادِهِ

    Wait a moment, to behold the state of those you left,

    and see God's decree among His servants:

  28. مِن كُلِّ مَن تَخِذَ السُهّادَ سَميرُهُ

    وَأَقامَ نَواحاً عَلى تَعدادِهِ

    each one who took sleeplessness as his night companion,

    and raised a lament recounting his virtues;

  29. مِن كُلِّ مَن نَظَمَ المَراثي جاعِلاً

    مِن ذَوبِ عَينِهِ سَوادَ مِدادِهِ

    each one who composed elegies, making

    the blackness of his ink from his eye's melting tears.

  30. غادَرتُ ذِكرَكَ في الوَرى لا نافِذاً

    بَل تَنتَهي الأَيّامُ قَبلَ نَفادِهِ

    I have left your memory among mankind unexhausted;

    rather, the days will end before it runs out.

  31. فَاِذهَب إِلى مَولاكَ يا مَن قَد قَضى

    وَالشُكرُ لِلرَحمَنِ أَكثَرَ زادِهِ

    Go, then, to your Lord, O you who have passed away,

    and whose chief provision is gratitude to the Merciful.