1. I understood the Book, the most righteous of books,
Listening to the order of the Prince of the Arabs,

2. Obedient to him and rejoicing in it,
Though the doing falls short of what is due,

3. None hindered me but fear of slanderers,
For slanders are the paths of falsehood

4. And exaggerating some people and belittling others,
And causing dislike between us and confusion.

5. His hearing used to help them,
While his heart and nobility helped me.

6. I have not called the full moon a muddy puddle,
Nor have I called the sun pieces of gold,

7. So that the far-off man of thin patience
Should be alarmed at it and the slow to wrath be angry.

8. No country has met me after you,
Nor have I accused my Lord of blessings, my Lord!

9. He who rode the ox after the stallion
Found its withers narrow and its flanks uncomely.

10. I have not judged all the kings of countries.
Leave mention of some, with him who is in Aleppo!

11. If I had named them by name,
Iron they would have been, and they wood.

12. Can one be compared in opinion or bounty,
Or courage or literary skill?

13. Blessed of name, noblest of titles,
Generous of lineage, noble of descent,

14. Brother of war, serving those he captured,
Clothing them and divesting himself of what he plundered

15. If he gained money he gained it as
A man not pleased with what he does not give.

16. I follow mention of him with
The prayer of God and the watering of the clouds,

17. And I praise him for his kind acts,
Whether near or far from him.

18. If his rains have deserted me,
Most of them pour down when they are not expected.

19. By the sword of thy Lord, not His creation!
By the noble one, not by the branch of thorn-trees!

20. He put far away an aspiring soul,
And knew him who had certain titles by his titles!

21. He pierced whoever touched his honour,
And struck whoever struck with a sword!

22. With this speech the people of the frontiers called you,
And you answered though the mysterious voices spoke beneath the bushes.

23. They despaired of the sweetness of life,
An eye that sunk, a heart that leapt.

24. The injustice of the enemies was gross
In saying that Ali was slow and sluggish.

25. His horses knew that when he determined,
Though sick, to ride, he rode.

26. He brought them wider than their lands,
Long of stirrup, short of reins,

27. The tall were concealed among his army,
And seemed short when they did not disappear.

28. The wind cannot pass in his air
Unless it glides through the passes or leaps.

29. He drowned their towns in armies
And silenced their voices with calamities.

30. He did wickedly in attacking them when he wished to conquer them,
And wickedly when he wished to leave them alone.

31. You were far away, so you fought them in person,
And you came near, so you fought them in flight.

32. They had the glory when he came,
And you had the excuse when he went away.

33. Their deaths forestalled them before he came,
And the benefit of help before the affliction.

34. They fell prostrate before their Creator,
And had you not helped, they would have prostrated themselves to the crosses.

35. How often did you fend off destruction from them with destruction,
And drive away sorrow with sorrows!

36. They claimed that if he counted up
The king who seized would count up with him,

37. And they two would seek help from Him they worshipped,
And in their view He was crucified,

38. To drive off from them what He suffered for them.
Strange are men for this astonishment!

39. I see the Muslims with the polytheists,
Either through incapacity or fear.

40. While you are with God in a party
Little of sleep, much of weariness.

41. It is as though you alone made Him one,
And mankind altogether surrendered to the Son and Father.

42. Would that your swords were in a hater
When they appear above them piled up!

43. Would that your arrows were in his body,
Would that you might reward hatred and love!

44. If you rewarded with it, I should obtain from you
The weakest share with the strongest claim.