1. لقدْ خَفَقَتْ في النَّحر ألويةُ النَّصْرِ

    وكانَ انمحاقُ الشَّرِّ في ذلك النَّحر

    Indeed, the banners of victory fluttered on the Day of Sacrifice;

    and evil was obliterated in that slaughter.

  2. وفتحٌ عظيمٌ يعلمُ اللهُ أنَّه

    ليستصغر الأَخطار من نوب الدهر

    And a mighty conquest—God knows that it

    indeed makes the perils of time's calamities seem small.

  3. عَلَتْ كلماتُ الله وهيَ عليَّةٌ

    بحدِّ العوالي والمهنَّدة البُتْر

    God's words rose high, lofty as they already are,

    by the points of lofty lances and keen-cutting Indian swords.

  4. تبلَّج دينُ الله بعدَ تَقَطُّبِ

    ولاحت أسارير العناية والبشر

    God's faith beamed after frowning,

    and the radiant features of providence and gladness appeared.

  5. محا البغيَ صمصام الوزير كما محا

    دُجى الليل في أضوائه مطلع الفجر

    The vizier's keen sword erased rebellion, just as

    dawn's rising erased night's darkness with its light.

  6. وكرّ البلا في كربلاء فأَصْبَحَتْ

    مواقف للبلوى ووقفاً على الضّرّ

    And calamity struck again in Karbala, so it became

    grounds of affliction, an endowment dedicated to suffering.

  7. غداة أبادَتْ مفسدي أهلِ كربلا

    وكرَّت مواضيه بهما أيَّما كَرِّ

    That morning, Karbala's evildoers were annihilated,

    and his keen blades charged against them both—what a charge!

  8. فدانت وما دانت لمن كانَ قبله

    من الوُزَراء السَّابقين إلى الفخر

    So it submitted, though it had not submitted to those before him,

    among the viziers who raced ahead toward glory.

  9. وما أدركوا منها مراماً ولا مُنًى

    ولا ظفِروا منها بلبٍّ ولا قشر

    And from it they attained neither aim nor wish,

    nor won from it either kernel or husk.

  10. وحذَّرهم من قبل ذلك بطشه

    وأَمْهَلَهُمْ شهراً وزادَ على الشهر

    And before that he had warned them of his onslaught,

    and gave them a month's respite, then extended it beyond the month.

  11. وعامَلَهم هذا الوزيرُ بعدله

    وحاشاه من ظلمٍ وحاشاه من جور

    And this vizier treated them justly,

    and far is he from oppression, and far from injustice!

  12. وأنذرهم بطشاً شديداً وسطوةً

    وبالغ بالرُّسْلِ الكرام وبالنّذر

    And he warned them of a fierce onslaught and overpowering force,

    and went to great lengths with noble envoys and warnings.

  13. ولو يصبر القرم الوزير عليهم

    لقيل به عجز وما قيل عن صبر

    And had the noble chief, the vizier, been patient with them,

    they would have called it weakness in him, not patience.

  14. وصالَ عليهم عند ذلك صولةً

    ولا صولةَ الضرغام بالبيض والسمر

    And then he charged upon them with an onslaught—

    not even a lion's charge could match it—with white swords and tawny spears.

  15. وسار بجيش والخميس عرمرم

    فكالليل إذ يسري وكالسيل إذ يجري

    And he marched with an army, a vast and mighty host,

    like night when it advances, and like a torrent when it flows.

  16. وقد أفسدوا شرَّ الفساد بأرضهم

    إلى أن أتاهم منه بالفتكة البكر

    And they had wrought the worst corruption in their land,

    until he came upon them with his unprecedented deathblow.

  17. رمتهم بشهب الموت منه مدافعٌ

    لها شررٌ في ظلمة الليل كالقصر

    His cannons pelted them with meteors of death,

    with palace-sized sparks in the darkness of night.

  18. رأوا هول يوم الحشر في موقف الردى

    وهل تنكر الأَهوال في موقف الحشر

    They saw the terror of Resurrection Day in death's arena,

    and should horrors seem strange in Resurrection's assembly?

  19. فدمَّرهم تدمير عادٍ لبَغْيهم

    بصاعقةٍ لم تُبْقِ للقوم من ذكر

    So he destroyed them as ʿĀd was destroyed, for their rebellion,

    with a thunderbolt that left no remembrance of the people.

  20. ألم ترهم صرعى كأَنَّ دماءهم

    تسيل كما سالت معتقة الخمر

    Did you not see them lying slain, as though their blood

    flowed as well-aged wine flows?

  21. وكم فئةٍ قد خامر البغيُ قلبَها

    على أنَّها بأحبولة الحصر

    And many a faction had its heart pervaded by rebellion,

    though it was caught in the snare of siege.

  22. فراحت بها الأَجساد وهي طريحةٌ

    تداس على ذنبٍ جنَتْه لدى الوزر

    So the bodies lay there, cast down,

    trampled for an offense they had committed in sin.

  23. فإنَّ مرادَ جارٍ على الورى

    ولا بدَّ أنْ يجرى ولا بدَّ أن يجري

    For what is willed takes effect over humankind,

    and it must be carried out, and it must run its course.

  24. تجول المنايا بينهم بجنودها

    بحيث مجال الحرب أضيق من شبر

    Death ranged among them with its armies,

    where war's arena was narrower than a handspan.

  25. تَلاطَمَ فيها الموجُ والموجُ من دمٍ

    تَلاطُمَ مَوجِ البحر في لُجَّة البَحر

    There waves crashed together, and the waves were blood,

    as sea waves crash in the depths of the sea.

  26. فلاذوا بقبر ابن النبيّ محمد

    فهل سُرَّ في تدميرهم صاحب القبر

    So they sought refuge at the tomb of the Prophet Muhammad's son;

    was, then, the tomb's occupant pleased by their destruction?

  27. فإن تُركوا لا يترك السيف قتلَهم

    وإن ظَهَروا باؤوا بقاصمة الظهر

    For if they are left alone, the sword will not stop killing them;

    and if they emerge, they incur a back-breaking blow.

  28. ولا برحت أيَّامه الغرُّ غُرَّةً

    تضيءُ ضياءَ الشمس في طلعة الظهر

    And may his radiant days remain a blaze of light,

    shining with the sun's radiance at the coming of noon.

  29. ولا زال في عيدٍ جديد مؤرِّخاً

    فقد جاءَ يوم العيد بالفتح والنصر

    And may he ever be at a new feast, recording its date:

    for the feast day has brought conquest and victory.