كلما شئت أن أزورك يا إسما

عيل عاق السقام عما أشاء

Whenever I wish to visit you, O Isma—

—il, illness bars me from what I desire.

ألفتني الأوجاع حتى كأني

وطن لا يمل فيه الثواء

The pains have grown so used to me that I seem

a homeland where one never tires of dwelling.

حمل الداء بامتثال كلانا

وصبرنا فزادت الأدواء

Both of us bore illness with submission,

and we endured patiently, so the ailments increased.

فكأن امتثالنا كان حمداً

وكأن الصبر الجميل رضاء

As though our submission had been praise,

and as though beautiful patience were contentment.

قد حمدنا وقد رضينا زماناً

فجزينا شراً وطال الجزاء

We gave thanks and were content for a time,

so we were repaid with evil, and the recompense dragged on.

من يعزى فخر الرئاسة اسما

عيل عني فقد نبا بي العزاء

Who will console the pride of leadership, Isma—

—il, on my behalf? For consolation has failed me.

ذقت ذا الثكل قبله ثم أمسى

لي شريكاً فنحن فيه سواء

I tasted this bereavement before him; then he became

my partner, and in it we are equal.

وبكى عند ما بكيت فجارى ال

دمع دمع شعر العيون البكاء

And he wept when I wept, matching the—

—tears with tears; weeping is the poetry of eyes.

ودموع الباكين تنضب أحيا

ناً وتجري دموعها الشعراء

And mourners' tears run dry some—

—times, while poets make the eyes' tears flow.

رحم الله من ثوت وحبا البا

قي أجراً وللرئيس البقاء

May God have mercy on her who lies at rest, and grant the survi—

—vor a reward; and may the leader live on.