1. The sword is avenging, and striving is excusable,
And it is no fault of yours if fate is unkind.

2. Though one night may be dark in the course of time,
Still many days after it shine bright.

3. We did not complain of darkness amid its depths
Until the moon peered through its midst.

4. An eclipse of the sun cannot dim its rising,
It is only so in the claim of eyesight.

5. Is it a disgrace if the brave protector loses heart
When the enemy shows cowardice or betrayal?

6. But the generous have worn down their loyalty
On the battleground before victory makes it shabby.

7. It did not harm them though death was in their throats -
The swords kept the traditions and this fame remains.

8. They took refuge in your sword until it was free of them,
Tested in defending from catastrophes and experienced.

9. Of the swords whose striking revived religion
Otherwise faith would have had no essence or trace.

10. Indian, with the clan of Hamdan its company,
Indeed, the noble and the devout made the choices.

11. And belittlers, small of mind,
Did not mount horses until after they grew up.

12. They hid in their cunning some treachery, but
The resolve of spears did not concern what needles intended.

13. Do not rush, for at their tips is aftermath
Whose consequences in you are hoped for and awaited.

14. You have provoked a lion whose claws are bloody,
A beast - no age or burden for it.

15. Beware that you do not take the anger of forbearance lightly
If caution profits with the traitor.

16. You tried him, so his blades destroyed you,
And had you been reasonable, report of him would have sufficed.

17. With them he transcended beyond the stars,
So how can one whose power falls short catch up?

18. Relate the might of the clan of Hamdan in nations
Where these warnings have appeared.

19. And recall for them extraordinary feats of glory –
Had it not been for Islamic law we would have called them miracles.

20. A people, if enemies seek their faults,
Say nothing but that they are human.

21. The first to the world with their kingdom –
The people entered only after they led.

22. As if their hands guaranteed sustenance -
So glory stands with them and awaits.

23. The lands are exalted when their deeds in them
Are counted, and the world smiles when they are recalled.

24. They died, but the son of two glories revived their memory,
So they think only that they have been resurrected.

25. He praises them with what his fingers bestow,
And a garden is praised for the kindness of its rain.

26. A release, of quick glances, in a period
Where eyesight is no use in keeping up.

27. If you observe him in attaining his goal
You see how stars are plucked like flowers.

28. It is as if his view in every dilemma
Is an eye upon all that is hidden and concealed.

29. O supporter of the well-known state, his stance
In aiding it, while the heat of war flares up.

30. You are its swords, and gallantry is impregnable,
And its gray hair, and the darkness of crises cloaks it.

31. And bearers of the white banner—it does not cease
To rise lofty upon your spears and unfold.

32. You were the supporters, in two rows, of the trustee’s call
While it called others but they did not rally or aid.

33. Thus the caliphate—its pulpits
Still incline towards your swords in ferocity.

34. Will the Arabs thank for blessings that have arrived?
Or is gratitude never useful to them?

35. A people whose souls incline to the world,
So every mystic after them is nonsense.

36. If that craft singles out the clan of Adad,
Then let none deny the harm in its fold.

37. As for the son of Nasr, hearts have concealed
Affection for you in which there is no turbidity.

38. The branch of Aban—his noble origin sheltered him—
Wood is not praised until its fruit is known.

39. From him, baleful to the likes of the enemy,
For them you hoarded provisions and took precautions.

40. Awake, his eyelids were not seized by sleep,
So that life in warring with foes would not rouse him.

41. O bestower, though fortune be stingy with me,
And riser, though the summits of glory descend.

42. As for rhymes, they came to you racing,
As the flowers crept before the rain.

43. As verses—when the ink flows with them
You’d think the stars of night are scattered.

44. Of my miracles, which, were it not for their novelties
In poetry, some likened to a kind of sorcery.

45. They praise you and expose the faults of others—
With them I satirized a people who did not feel it.

46. There came to you a scout of a people with no
Truth or water or trees.

47. Your mention shines in the darkness of their worries
As dawn shines to the eyes of one staying up.

48. So entertain it—the diver’s pearl he extracted
After concerns submerged him except for it.

49. It does not complain of the misery of exile, and its company—
Are your actions the gray hair, or are your natures the caves?

50. And listen as I inform you, for my news has
Explanation, though I narrate and summarize it.

51. For my people, clouds poured from you,
No favor from them was absent, though they attended.

52. I thanked in their name, and even if you were good to them,
I compose some of what they scattered.

53. The turns of fate deserted me after them
Like chameleon—no claws or nails.

54. In a land whose arena contains the noble—
They have therein no homeland or abode.

55. I long for you, but inability prevents me,
So I claim your distance from me and apologize.

56. And I complain of danger between me and you,
Though the sign of longing is to make light of danger.

57. Is it possible for your view to revive one fallen
Whose merit is a crime that cannot be forgiven?

58. With you is bounty—no defect or turbidity.
And with him is praise—no flaw or limit.

59. And if you brandish it against an affliction,
In your right hand is a blade remembered.

60. Virtues which are, to hearers, a claim
And the like of you follows and considers.

61. So I do not fear the blows of fate depriving me
Of your help, if you live long in your days.

62. Nor does missing wealth get by you—you guarantee it,
Though the oversights of fate are sudden.