1. To God belongs all that the gallant steeds accomplish,
And the lances on the day of battle, bright and erect.

2. They quenched their thirst then slew their enemies,
A sun that descended upon them and then moved on.

3. It does not rest at the pasturage it exercises
Nor spend the night on the lute strings it plucks.

4. In it is a void from the chalice that occupies it
Distracting it from me while I, because of it, am distracted from all else.

5. When I become inattentive of it, rigor escorts me
As well as sadness, and in it my fervor is quick.

6. O most high, verily the sickness of the heart has no remedy
That can cure it, except the beloved who unites with it.

7. Are you not but the crooked rib, which passion bends straight?
Or the gazelle in the preserve, which amorousness courts?

8. Or the doe of the thicket with kohl on its eyes?
How dare I wail in the land of Iraq, having left behind in Damascus

9. She, who captures my heart, causing it to languish!
But how can laudation and retirement be seemly for me

10. While the gray hairs blaze on my temples?
There remains only the moan of the strings, which I hear

11. And the drinking companion makes the brimming cup morn me at dawn.
Hasten us to the meadows and sweet basil at daybreak!

12. For nothing becomes save rushing headlong therein.
And drink to the fortune of al-Mu'tazz—verily for it

13. Is a share in beauty for which kingdoms did not prove auspicious.
A caliph who inherits the cloud rains when it pours down;

14. Were you to see him adorned, you would say, “the showers descend.”
When the majesty of kingship appears, inundating him,

15. You would reckon him the full moon, perfect in beauty.
His kin are an intermediary to God when they take a fourth,

16. And his ties are connected to the Messenger of God.
The Quraysh yielded the plain of Bat'ha to him and turned

17. The lowland over to him until the mountain brought him possession.
And they preferred him, though their own merits are not enhanced

18. Save by preferring a people by whom they themselves were preferred.
O You to whom belong the first and last of the sublime,

19. And by whose open hands the example is struck!
You saved us from the disgrace of the borrower when

20. His erring opinion had brought perdition to the lands.
He is the star-crossed one whose rule

21. Was an ordeal wherein people perished when they were forsaken.
You deposed him, though he is despised for his unimportance,

22. And the violent injustice of al-Hajjaj had barely ended.
He was like the ignorant calf,

23. While you were Moses who guided the stray people who were ignorant.
He was like the discarded corpse, and you came just as

24. Action followed the recitation of your words, O Solomon!
So religion in every horizon laughs delighted,

25. While unbelief in every land cowers in fear.
As for the loyalists—God’s troops—He charged them

26. To support you; thus they carried out what they took on.
Their remaining alive is safekeeping for the world and their might

27. Is a screen over nascent Islam, ever draping.
They turned aside disgrace and repented before God

28. Of their sin therein and the wrong that they did.
A lapse which was neither unprecedented nor wondrous—

29. Prophets of God and messengers have erred.
Who would take the perilous risk which they undertook yesterday

30. Or sacrifice the aid which they sacrificed?
With ample wealth and lives they struggled for you

31. While the fires of war blaze.
They plunged into the fray—no swerving or holding back—

32. And rushed into death—no bending or withdrawing.
They take up the heels of calamities if they ride,

33. And their lance points verify death if they descend.
None like their elder in wisdom and experience,

34. Nor like their youths’ cups when they come to a head.
Three noble ones—if consulted, they advise sincerely;

35. If aided, they suffice; if given authority, they judge justly.
So entrust to them what dawn brings, adorned,

36. And let them entrust to you what the mid-morn sends, swift.