1. I surpass the nimble doe
Before the callers call to prayer

2. With every good trait and vein
In the eyes of Armenians

3. A homebred, companion though not
Reared in the feathers of a mother hen

4. No wound of sword ever marred him
Nor did he crave soothing in vileness

5. A foal of the year wrought by a craftsman
Who did not spare him refinements

6. Adornment clad him from his stud
Placed atop purebred stock

7. His sheath atop his gauntlet
Collects composition and creation

8. Each tooth gleaming from his chest
His bowed neck seems a nun

9. On a headstall as though bedecked
With some ropes of coursers

10. And cheekpieces soaked to delight
The money-changers

11. We unleash him when set loose
Against the infantry, a piercing blade

12. A horse whose cruppers bang
To fire up the elite warriors

13. The air now inflames them from above
Now the lands excite them

14. And they raise a clamor like
The hubbub of the thronging mob

15. So a routed foe stuck in his spell
And a vanquished stained by his mud

16. He struggled in battle a struggle
That cast out his entrails

17. We departed with it bearing livers
In a leather bag, twenty-one

18. God granted the heroes their share
Not paralleled by the cravers

19. For each beast a morsel like it
In the pot, above or below