1. People avoid fighting
Only out of fear of combat

2. They seek to stab with lengthy spears
And charge spiritedly when the path is clear

3. Between fleeing and attacking they find
Repose in battle

4. All prefer respite and know not
What comes of constant toil

5. Except the one who thinks lightly of great feats
The crown of the steadfast nation undaunted by terrors

6. Do not end your talk, O pillar of the state
As months and days go by

7. For time is an garment you fray
And its days and nights you annihilate

8. It ransoms you with drawn swords and helpless ones
It ransoms its right hand with its left

9. What can I say or wish for you
O peerless one

10. The life of this world falls short of reaching you
And still you continue to advance

11. Demands are too petty for your ambition
As are deaths and flights of fancy

12. When speech is unveiled in calamity
Asking leave of appointed terms

13. And shields in their slings, straps and rings
Are better than the sires of men

14. How can the pilgrims repay your hands' gifts
Except by sacrificing souls and braving terrors

15. The open deserts dread your wrath, so they contracted
To miles their fringes so broad

16. And the hot sands checked them so they no longer
Bore saddles that galled the mounts

17. They sway under canopies in a gentle, rain-watered wadi
With tresses hanging loose

18. And sins seeking your pardon which you forgot
Forgetting forgiveness itself

19. Your steeds feel safe from ill chance
As though in the security of night and slumber they prance

20. And scorn the mail-clad warriors, desiring only
To fight the champions bold

21. You defeated kings, sapping the patience of the steadfast youth
And the cunning of the crafty and old

22. They were polished by the sword and the whetstone for your blade
Gives the notch after the steel is refined

23. The Zanji took stock, their misfortunes not saving them
From you, asylum of mankind

24. The lofty citadels with gates like mountain crevices
In which they placed their trust

25. Many matters your view sees as easy
While armies see their attainment robust

26. My kinsmen and people denied me kinship over you
And my brothers and clients were askance

27. Until you marked me as yours, I was heedless
O hallmark of the heedless!