1. Let me be struck with the blunted sword,
And blame not the likes of me, O mother of prey, for being out of tune.

2. For I refused injustice when there was no helper,
Save my resolve, the staff and the bleak desert.

3. How can I accept injustice today when my helper
Is as numerous as the pebbles between my sight and Egypt?

4. When I call upon my son Nizar he answers me,
With the most steadfast battalions against the vicissitudes of fate.

5. They rally to the caller’s voice rallying,
Like the swelling waves that come with the tide to the shore.

6. Against every long-tailed and bare mountains,
They come like a torrent that beats down the tamarisks and sidrs.

7. The progeny of Umayr, Dubayb and Kamil,
And the lineage of Nusa’a, Na’amah and Al-Khatr.

8. Champions who do not set out on their daily patrols,
To stab, nor do the stars move as they move.

9. They inherited from the two sheikhs, Bakr and Taghlib,
And from Abd Qays with glory, and from Al-Namr.

10. And Qays Abu Shumayt Al-Tiwal and after him,
Tamim, Akram and my kind father Amr.

11. And from my masters, the fathers of every tribe,
And their noblest lineage, Khuzaymah and Al-Nadr.

12. Horses are but a blessing from our God,
For us, not for Zayd from Siwan, nor Amr.

13. They were created for us when they were created, not for a coward,
A deserter, nor for Murad or Qasr.

14. With them we trampled the confederates with a trampling,
That made the stars of the Pleiades run with Al-Duhur.

15. Had we not met the tribe of Jurhum with them,
They would have perished at the hands of those who neither tear nor flee.

16. By my life even without the aid of Nizar’s army,
The beautiful faced, pure, perfumed with musk.

17. They healed my anxiety with their white blades,
And cooled the heat of my rage with the brown polished swords.

18. Nights they led the horses with bridles that made them
Nothing like the viziers in secrecy.

19. With sound judgement and strong resolve,
Skilled with pulling the heavy Khamis and trained steed.

20. Ambitions that crossed forty, and exceeded it
By ten years or close to ten.

21. So he became one whose old age is not feared to lose his mind,
Nor a youth to be reprimanded, absent of thought.

22. The brother of Azmah, like fire and tinder and determination,
Who sees a star closer than a cubit or span.

23. The signs of his glory appeared on his face,
As a boy, and manliness shows on the surface of the seal.

24. He rose to loftiness as a child, and came of age
As a youth, and was named before his lips sprouted or he lost his milk teeth.

25. He rallied squadron after squadron and led them,
Repelling calamities from them like yellow orioles.

26. By God! Bakr’s sharpness of incisor never blunted,
And he surpassed mountain peaks with glory and danger.

27. He raced and raced the rivals, striving for supremacy,
So he reached the highest rank quicker than the blink of an eye.

28. The progeny of kings of hunting and sublime chiefs,
Who built their glory above the fish and eagles.

29. He traces his lineage to the peak of the noble Tayy,
Does a golden dinar belong to any but the pure gold?

30. His uncles, the lowest of Uqayl to the highest,
Are houses, and the farthest of them from villainy and betrayal.

31. Possessors of the elegant, white and speckled horses,
And owners of the blond, red and chestnut steeds.

32. Verily, Ali is the one whose pride
Makes him taller, and more sublime than any other proud man.

33. The most honourable and generous neighbour,
And most resembling a lion, sea and full moon.

34. Whenever you leave him you leave a peerless man,
Neither a regent in calamities nor a shirker of duties.

35. Nor one who raises his voice while speaking - though he is -
One whose litter makes the necks of camels bow.

36. He has such majesty as fills the chests, so if he called
Death falsely, it would come from fright.

37. If he asked the orbiting spheres to stand still in their course,
They would stop still, neither rotating nor revolving.

38. A stalwart, if the forest lion had his might,
It would spare it fangs of steel and claws.

39. If the Arabian Oryx had his determination,
It would not grow on the peaks of the rocks.

40. If the clouds had his generosity,
The fourth would never change to a tenth.

41. He excelled in generosity and asceticism,
And in forbearance, the son of Qays Abu Bakr.

42. The most hateful thing to him is - though he
Yearns for pleasures, even if life was spent seeking them -

43. To plummet and soar in honour and generosity,
And no good is in one who does not plummet and soar.

44. He refused all but the honour of the self, justice and piety,
Mending rifts, forbearance, attainment and covering faults.

45. And when he assumed kingship he girded himself
With its burdens, without panting or confusion.

46. He pardoned so he never extended his hand
To harm a Muslim, nor did a scorpion crawl in his night.

47. Nor did the wings of night complain of one aggrieved by him,
Crying grievance to God while subjected and wronged by him.

48. So O you who strives to attain his glory,
Restrain yourself and see who you run after!

49. For it is no shame that one led astray by passions,
Is the most ignorant camel that cannot be reined.

50. The capacity was not too narrow for him except for one
Who asks of a man in the valleys of righteousness and seas of generosity.

51. So leave what has wearied kings in seeking it,
Refrain from it, and seek what you can accomplish.

52. And leave the noble things to a mighty Sheikh,
Like the Indian sword in its tracks.

53. For no king but Ali son of Majid,
Beautiful of face, returning penitently and remembering.

54. To you Abu Mansur I offer pearls,
That my chest has touched and my mind is its diver.

55. I delighted in them over all others and poured them
To you, knowing they are the best treasure.

56. I enumerated them over the saliva of a despicable frowning man,
Who cares little for praise or reward.

57. Who comes and goes like a cloud you see having
Lightning that burns the country without rainfall.

58. He sneaked out of the misfortune of time, though he is
More hidden than jerboas in the back of a dune.

59. So he came to be the chief of the ignorant, though he is
Of the worst dregs with men of experience.

60. An era passed with ruins as his food,
And houses of what he buys with mud and sidr.

61. My slipper is too noble to stand at his door,
And too dignified to walk in his dusty courtyards.

62. If it were not for you in Ahsa its marshes would not
Have been delimited, nor its stallion sired.

63. For I am not one who is ignorant of his merit,
So I accept a disappointing share of the sublime unwillingly.

64. I protect my praise, though time was harsh to me
And its afflictions overwhelmed and alienated me.

65. But you are the king from whose sky
are my stars that guide me, and whose sun is my full moon.

66. From his flesh is my flesh, from his blood my blood,
From his bone my bone, from his hair my hair.

67. Your noble fathers are my fathers,
And your sea from its currents is my sea.

68. May you ransom me from every wretched
Nosed ring of people who care not for customs or foreigners!

69. And may you have the scope in lowering a life and a state
Supported by safety, authority and victory!

70. Nizar is protected wherever it is, and never
Was your side devoid of gratitude, nor your door of mention.

71. And may a life as long as yours be for one who tends you,
Coming and going in humiliation and smallness!