1. Today is my day, and the day of the graceful gazelles
So urge our camels into song, O camel driver

2. Direct their steps to the land of Iraq, for
The seeker of glory has no business with fears

3. Urge our riding beasts thither, for that urging
Will ensure success for our hopes

4. None has firmly planted his foot, or
Stretched out his hand to a star without reaching it

5. Our riding beasts have naught in common with the travelers
Save the duty binding on loved ones and friends

6. All are straight arrows that hit the days of fate
With purpose, never swerving from the bows

7. By God, a band of companions I left behind
Against my will when we departed, without reaching them

8. The tears confounded our eyes, theirs and mine
Neither overflowing at parting, nor assuaged

9. Dear friends who, out of love not hate
Made my camel litters teeming with supplies

10. And kept to the open country and thickets
Fearing for me the enemy and spies

11. But fate severed what lay between me and them
As is its wont, and it has not changed

12. Often I asked the barren desert about their abodes
But my eyes said to tears, you are forbidden

13. I left those whose loss my soul could not bear
Until I departed, my heart remaining behind

14. And I wept at every vestige I passed
Of their dwellings, be it on plain or hill

15. The land was scented by a wind from their abodes
While fire ran in my entrails

16. And on my cheek the lightning flash of white hair smiles
While my tears flow down my face like pouring rain

17. When my friends pierce me with their gaze
In shame, I restrain my tears

18. When they disagree about advising me
I divide my attention between excuses and blame

19. On the day the gazelles blocked my way
And the meadow was blooming in spots

20. As the band leaned in yearning
Toward the soft sand, frolicking and milling playfully

21. I was carried away by the gazelles until one said
“What ails the old man and the fawns and grazing beasts?”

22. They thought my blood was what wild cows shed
When stabbed by the glance of a wanton eye

23. Unaware that, for my poor heart it was lovesickness not frivolity
And my illness came from the pangs of passion, not them

24. The turns of fate left in me no wounds
That do not heal, save those of passion

25. The darkness of that night has cleared away from my eyes
Thanks to the white hair blazing on my head

26. But the gazelles’ breaths distinguished them
So I avoided them and journeyed on

27. Until I joined the caravan, resolved
On a resolve of one no coward or weakling

28. Noble men wronged by time complain of naught
Save the deserts and long stretches of silent gloom

29. There to entertain the guests of melancholy
With festival meat gleaming with fat

30. Until the servants came scurrying up
Breathless, with heaving chests and necks weighed down by necklaces

31. Then he shook their litters’ corners to the singers’ rhythms
Like drunkards swinging to and fro

32. One said our camels are spent
Though we hurried to reach Baghdad

33. I said: “a land upheld by faith,” said I,
“So head for it and do not weaken our resolve

34. Our faces there are turned to a king
Whose reign the ages will walk upon as though on hills

35. When we draw near, our camel litter will ease up
If the terrain gets difficult, and we will kiss the ground

36. Bring us to the abode of glory inviolable
Before which no ambition bowed, and none was humbled

37. Its cornerstones are palms that meet in prayers
While its gates are mouths that kiss all comers

38. Its land's a sanctuary filled to the brim with nobility
To which all roads from every land lead

39. Bounteous, who if you come to ask one day
Will grant your every wish then say ‘ask on!’”

40. Ill luck shuns the day its morning star rises
For no celestial spheres can encompass its extent

41. God bless the pillar of the faith, the sovereign
Whose hopes are linked by cause to God on high

42. The helper of God's servants, one and all
Be they warrior or weary wayfarer

43. Three namesakes, their glory equals
None ever walked the earth wearing shoes or sandals

44. In my time none compares to them
Nor did the like exist in ancient days of yore

45. Each bears the name Abu Al-Qasim, by which they're called
Even so did God, Lord of the Throne, ordain in eternity

46. And each of them was last of his own race, so fortune smiled on them
And their dynasties flourished beyond compare

47. For prophets, it's Muhammad of exalted glory, Seal of Messengers
Among monarchs, Mahmud of the lineage of Noah

48. And among ministers the victorious Nasir son of ‘Ali
My lord, in whom every glory scattered far and wide across the earth

49. In detail or in sum is reconciled and unified
Seeing him suddenly loom before you

50. He seems one man though in him are combined all men
With the Just Caliph to guide his steps aright

51. No speck on earth remains now left in darkness or confusion
A king who turns the cosmic spheres of every realm

52. By the counsel of his mentor fully ripe and still ripening
Be the chance never lost that comes his way

53. From him no reckless act is there to fear
More majestic than a sturdy pillar, his resolve

54. Is sharper than the sword when perils mount and loom
As though he were the heavens ceaselessly revolving

55. His course forever constant, never changing pace
He rends the dark night with his swords’ white blades

56. With lances’ points that pierce his enemies like lightning brands
He smites his foes’ abodes though they be distant

57. While his foe, when they attack, tastes but alarm and panic
With horses bright like mirrors, racing by,

58. Others, sleek as thunderbolts raying through darkness
Chargers outstripping all before, their riders

59. Prancing, neither flagging nor the rein obeying
When they wheel and charge back down upon them

60. Their spears arrive before their enemy can even throw
God save the high minister whose wisdom and flag

61. Are stamped with destiny and fate’s appointed span,
In his restoration the brilliant State regained

62. Its finest ornament which had been lost
The office of minister refused to replace him; for

63. Can the body replace the spirit once fled?
You are the minister rightfully, none shall usurp it

64. But vainly grasp its shade then fade away
Time vanquished other deities, then passed;

65. While only God remains and will not pass
To you God made it subservient when He saw

66. You worthy of it—whom God does not empower retreats!
So stand up for it, pillar of the faith, and champion it!

67. Until what deviated from uprightness you set right!
Earth's naught but channels in your hands, set right

68. If by your wisdom's spirit you inspire them!
O you whose name and deed resounds each time

69. Men call for guidance and the godless spurn their aid!
Dire fate long left me with a band who swear their faith

70. With words, while action contradicts their troth,
But now, thanks to your gifts, I hope and fear

71. Losing my sight from watching horse and foot
Beside my words their actions aye prevail, and fail

72. My words when faced with yours—forgive such blots!
The likes of me will fail unless the likes of you assist

73. Swords fail unless wielded by the arms of heroes bold
Restore to me the gaze of sympathy you bent before

74. Be just, and then my tongue will gain its boldness back
And live for those like me who hope your days may last

75. Till gentle life may grow leaves, sprout and thicken green!
You stand now at the hub of this dominion as the spokesman

76. Of religion's claim, and the noblest grace of this lowly world,
Around you your peers, but none compares or vies with you e’er—

77. You are nothing but peerless, matchless, and without compare!