1. O Arab, how can I blame you,
When all people have blamed you,

2. Stand on the hill and listen to the bones,
For they, like people, have speech.

3. I have heard the serious and the jest from mankind,
So listen as I relate the clear speech:

4. It is as if you are the killer and the judgment is recited against you,
While you wait for the pigeons.

5. Do not hope for pardon from the dead,
Even if al-Husayn is your alleged father.

6. Their blood was shed heedlessly, in play and vanity,
And you did not know the standing of their nobility.

7. It is blood that ransomed you, yet you did not protect it.
You shook your hands of it on the day of the hill.

8. So how can the eye of God sleep about it,
When the Mullah is heedless of it and sleeps?

9. In your ignorance, you spilled the worst bloodshed,
Not for martyrdom or raising a kingdom,

10. And you cry over the ancient glory,
And mourn a rank invented for you, or a medal.

11. The bones speak to you words of truth,
And the words of an object without a voice.

12. You killed the Muslims wrongfully,
And wasted the pact and the oath.

13. They say, "We lasted though we are gone,
We stood steadfast for the foe until we perished.

14. So what is the rule of the nights regarding our children?
And what have the widows and orphans done?"

15. And they say in a voice like loud thunder,
Which echoes remorse in the conscience:

16. "The generous died and you live,
A life that passes in shame and blame."

17. They say in a voice that filled the ages,
Yet you are deafer than unfeeling stone:

18. "O Arab, did you leave us graves
That those who visit them say 'peace'?"

19. They say in an image that reached the sky,
And I hear better than hearing a call:

20. "O God of the worlds, answer the blood
That screams for vengeance, vengeance!"

21. They say, "You were cowardly when injustice grew,
And evil, though no injustice existed in Egypt,

22. And you were fooled by Abu Al-‘Abbas’ clemency,
When his rule was not yet complete a year."

23. You stood by him though the Emir did no wrong,
And the throne did not settle because of him.

24. So the best affairs were disturbed,
And you failed to give them order."

25. They say words that counsel consideration
The evening your separation was caused by fleeing:

26. "Die, O Arab, and then disgrace
Will stick to our leader forever."

27. Each people blamed us,
And the masses insulted us severely,

28. Because of you when you marched out for war,
And did not unsheathe your sword for battle.

29. And it was said, "Their leader turned to flee!
And at Bilbeis he led the train.

30. And he left his army in chaos and confusion,
While the foe had attained their goal."

31. We ask about Arab, but do not see him,
And we call for a defender, but he left his protection.

32. We rode death, we did not ride any but it,
While you rode for the darkness of shame.

33. Gently, O peoples of the land! Wait!
We were not deserving of this blame.

34. When you see us all as one coward and fool,
Our mighty stands made you forget us!

35. Ask our history and ask about Ali:
Did we not fill the land with our renown?

36. The Emir lived powerful through us,
And we lived honored beneath his flag.

37. He gave us might and vanquished whom he wished,
As if we under his flag were fate.

38. Through it we had glory and he had prestige,
And a glory that filled the world with smiles.

39. Did we not spare the Hejaz war parties,
And save it from war and distress?

40. Thus we were the best party for the Protected Friend,
We made religion and the Holy House secure.

41. Ask him and his family when they revolted,
Did we not seize him while he was aflame?

42. Religion then had no stability,
So we made it firm that day as a pillar.

43. When Ibrahim threw his audacity at the citadels of Syria,
And Murey was great on the day he was named,

44. We were the rank when the Imam stood,
So we were the firewall when it blazed.

45. You see us in his arenas coming to his aid,
As the devoted father gathers his sons.

46. And the army is only straight through its leaders,
When they stand, the army stands straight.

47. We responded if he gestured with his palms
Towards a castle, racing him to it,

48. As if his appointing us in his letter
Made him plunge into the fire with tranquility.

49. And in Greece we were excellent in affliction,
And the Muslims shook the banners because of us.

50. We offered our ships as ransom
On the waves, kindling with kindling.

51. In the Bulgars we prayed, then we prayed,
And we mounted the mountains with them, so we were exalted.

52. And we made the foe descend, and did not descend,
And we were pillars for the pillars.

53. Ask of our pride Sudan and Egypt,
For after God and the Mahdi none knows best

54. That we are the brave lions in audacity and courage
When the two sides meet with a crash.

55. And in the Caucasus we spread Egypt’s fame
For those of us who died there and were taken prisoner.

56. We reached, the Turks and us, the utmost excuse,
And satisfied the Protected Friend and the Imam.

57. And we had an ordeal at Karid,
On the day the Nile was furious and strong.

58. We overcame it though it was of iron,
And extinguished its raging with logs.

59. We raised the kingdom on glorious deeds,
That flow upon battleships and height.

60. And with litanies we did not live the nights,
Nor did we spend them in sorrowful sleep.

61. They say to you, "Let go of wishes
And do not consider any sword but a straight sword.

62. It is not Dhu al-Faqar, nor al-Yamani,
Not even al-Muqahhar can parry and riposte."

63. This breast is too narrow to be decorated,
Or to regain the glorious past.

64. The reed-pen was never suitable for it,
Nor did it meet with spears or arrows.

65. Pottery is surely lost to the potter,
And the gift of the Emir is lost to him.

66. Who would feel safe under arms to a minister
Called the master, the hero, the protector?

67. Blind in the East, and still blind!
His excellencies never ceased to attain him.

68. His libel has reached the farthest men,
Who have a position in ignorance that cannot be reckoned.

69. Take the ranks of excellency or leave them,
And if you wish, desire them or sell them,

70. For if you attain them, you will not keep them,
And far be it you are raised, O rabble!

71. All the bones say as you stand there confused,
Wishing for property and status:

72. You lie about praying to God,
And when the soul reaches the throat,

73. We will take you one day by the neck,
And when the soul reaches the throat,

74. You will meet that day what you will meet -
The blood of the people and the barbarous death.

75. We will come to you when the pigeons attend you,
Unsheathing their swords, and we have swords.

76. Their arrows will precede arrows from us
That aim correctly and cannot be aimed at.

77. We will come to you when death attends you,
And reason comes when madness is past.

78. We will say, "Against the criminal we have debts,"
So, Lord of the blood, judge the case!

79. And we will be asked, "What wrong did he do?"
To meet the retribution of his crime.

80. So we will raise the blood to the Creator, blood
And show it to Him as corpses and skulls.

81. We will say, "He profited from his acts against us,
And tried to regain his lost prestige."

82. He wasted our lives, so they were sacrificed for him,
While you, O God, so take vengeance!

83. There you will see Hell burning,
And remember crime after crime.

84. So it will blaze with the spilt blood, shed wrongfully,
And the desolate homeland, with no pillars.