Poems about Death
Abu al-Ata’ah expressed the inevitability of death with the lines:
Build for death and prepare for destruction,
For all of you will ultimately return to ruin.
Why do we build when we will turn to dust,
As we were originally created from it?
O Death, why do you not accept a ransom?
You come without bias or favoritism,
As if you have ambushed my old age,
Just as old age has ambushed my youth.
An Anthem of Death
I stood among the graves, calling at the top of my voice,
What have you done to them? Answer me, O Death!
But I found no answer to my question,
Except that death is their state and will soon be mine.
Ask yourself, O servant, have you prepared for death?
Or has worldly life distracted you and hidden you from the inevitable?
Remember the darkness of night and how it terrifies hearts,
So how will it be in the darkness of the grave, with abundant sins?
Remember the tightness of the grave and the separation from loved ones,
Recall the grave, the shroud, and the dread of reckoning.
Remember the interrogation by the stern, intimidating angels,
And you, poor and weak, face either a response or punishment.
Remember standing before the Almighty,
When you are questioned about the injustices of this world.
A Discourse on Death
And while a man is basking in comfort and joy,
Admiring life and its elegance,
He is swiftly seized by death like a thunderbolt.
Then on the third morning, he becomes lifeless,
Uncovered, without spirit or trace of life.
Those who mourn him gather by the grave,
Surrounded by soil and dark shadows.
What did he take with him from what he once amassed?
Only fragrances and the rags that wrapped him.
And aside from the whiff of incense for his corpse,
There is little left from a life once rich in abundance.
Miscellaneous Verses on Death
- Al-Mutanabbi declared:
If you risk seeking high honor,
Do not settle for anything less than the stars.
The taste of death in trivial matters
Is akin to the taste of death in significant affairs.
- Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah honor him) stated:
The soul weeps for worldly life even as it knows,
That safety lies in leaving what it contains.
There is no home for man after death,
Except the one he built before he departed.
If he built it with goodness, its residence is pleasant,
But if with evil, he is disappointed as its builder.
Every soul, even if hesitant about death,
Harbors hopes that buoy it.
Man extends these, while time extinguishes them;
The soul spreads its ambitions, but death folds them away.
Do not lean towards the world and all it includes,
For indeed, death will undoubtedly annihilate us both.
- The poet Antarah ibn Shaddad said:
Choose for yourself a place that elevates you,
Or die nobly under the shade of the palm tree.
Death cannot save you from its afflictions,
No fort, even if built with resilience, will protect you.
It is better for a young man to die with dignity,
Than to spend a night as a captive to cowardice.
Do not quench my thirst for life with shame,
But serve me the cup of bitterness with pride.
Water of life served shamefully is like Hell,
While Hell served with dignity is a more pleasant abode.
- The poet Daraj al-Dhababi wrote:
Neither imprisonment makes me weep, nor chains restrain me,
Nor do I fear death’s approach.
- Poet Ahmed Shawqi expressed:
Indeed, death is the ultimate end for every living being;
No ruler has secured eternal dominion.
This is Allah’s decree upon His servants,
And a proclamation that will not be rescinded.
- Poet Abu Firass al-Hamdani shared:
When I found no escape but death’s embrace,
I invoked the will of my friends: Die nobly!
- Poet Dabil al-Khuza’i remarked:
Even if a whisperer in Yamamah knew my domain,
And my neighbors inhabited the heights of al-Hadr, he would find me seeking fulfillment.
- Poet Ilya Abu Madi said:
Life is a poem, and we are its verses,
Our lifetimes, and death is its rhyme.
- Poet Yazid ibn Khidhaq al-Abdi reflected:
Is there a refuge for man from life’s tribulations?
Or from death’s inevitability, is there a respite?
- Poet Ibn Nabata al-Sa’di stated:
Whoever does not die by the sword will die by another,
For the causes of demise are many, yet the outcome is singular.
- Poet Abu al-‘Ala al-Ma’arri noted:
Death is a quarter of reliance, where no man steps
Without being redirected to what he has forsaken.
And sovereignty belongs to Allah; whoever yearns for wealth,
Must submit to constraints and guard their soul.
Had I or anyone else a smidgen of glory,
This matter would indeed be shared.
If the mind were clearer, it would shed its burdens,
And one would not witness turmoil among the chaos.
Indeed, the leather cast out by its owner,
Fulfills the tribe’s needs in its distribution.
Leave aside the doubts, for fate takes its course,
Whether the caravan is moderate or excessive.
The fate of our lives is less heavy, with spirits witnessing,
As they are released from bonds that have long been intertwined.
And the individual is much like a noble steed fleeing,
From death’s grip; when fate strikes, it falls at last.
- Poet Sufyan al-Thawri advised:
O soul, repent, for death is upon us now.
Resist desires; passions have always led us astray.
Each day, we witness a body being laid to rest,
And we forget our own demise amid the memories of the departed.