He was mourned by his brother Sayf al-Dawlah (1), who said:

Man stands (2) a target for calamities that never cease
 until his body is hidden in its grave;
One whose term is deferred meets death in another (3),
 while one whose term is hastened meets death himself.

It so happened that an Arab was present with Sayf al-Dawlah, who said to him, “Compose something in the same vein.” The man replied:

Whoever longs for long life must equip himself
 with patience for the loss of his loved ones;
And whoever lives on will taste for himself
 what he once wished upon his enemies.

Ibn al-Saʿi (4) records these two verses as Sayf al-Dawlah’s elegy for his brother Abu Firas, whereas Ibn al-Jawzi, in Al-Muntazam, attributes them to Abu Firas himself and says that the Bedouin matched them with the two lines just quoted (5).

He also cites several fine passages from Abu Firas’s poetry. Among them are the following lines in one of his poems:

My people will miss me (6) when grave matters press,
 and in the darkest night the full moon is sought;
Had anyone but I filled the breach I filled, they would have been content,
 and gold would never be dear if brass were plentiful (7).

And from another poem:

To Allah I complain that we dwell in houses
 where curs have come to rule over lions.
Would that you were sweet while life is bitter,
 that you were pleased while mankind is enraged;
Would that what lies between you and me were thriving,
 and what lies between me and all the world were ruin (8).