1. بشير الخير إلى العراق

    وقد بلغت بنا الروح التراقي

    A Herald of Good Tidings to Iraq

    And our life-breath had already reached our collarbones,

  2. وكنّا بين تيس مستعار

    وعلج مارد وبني نفاق

    And we were caught between a borrowed billy-goat,

    And a rebellious barbarian, and sons of hypocrisy,

  3. وأوباش زعانف قد أطالت

    أياديها لإفساد النساق

    And rabble—hangers-on—who had stretched out

    Their hands to corrupt the order of things.

  4. فسامونا البوار وكل خسفٍ

    وقد رمنا الفرار على العِتاق

    So they subjected us to ruin and every humiliation,

    And we had sought to flee on thoroughbred steeds.

  5. وقد كسفوا من الزوراء بدراً

    بدا فكأنها ليل المُحاق

    And they had eclipsed a full moon of al-Zawrāʾ,

    That had appeared, leaving her like a moonless night.

  6. إلى أن جاء نادينا بشيرٌ

    يبشّر بالمسرَّة للرفاق

    Until a herald came to our gathering,

    Bringing tidings of joy to the companions:

  7. بأن أبا الحسين لنا وزير

    عليُّ المجد محروس الرواق

    That Abu al-Husayn is our vizier,

    Glorious ʿAlī, whose portico is guarded;

  8. كريم فارس بطلٌ هزبر

    رفيع فوق هام النجم راق

    Generous, a horseman, a hero, a lion,

    Lofty, rising above the crowns of the stars.

  9. له حلمٌ يعد من الرواسي

    له كرم للسع الدهر راق

    His forbearance is reckoned among the firmly rooted mountains;

    His generosity charms away the sting of time.

  10. علي المجد محمود السجايا

    حليف الجود معطاء النياق

    Glorious ʿAlī, praised for his character,

    An ally of generosity, a lavish giver of she-camels.

  11. له عدل يلذّ به الموالي

    وتعمى منه أصحاب الشقاق

    His justice gives delight to his loyal followers,

    And the partisans of discord are blinded by it.

  12. شجاع لو سطا من فوق طرق

    يجاري جريه جري البراق

    Brave—were he to charge astride a stud camel

    Whose speed rivaled the speed of al-Burāq,

  13. لأنتج كل حرب عن حيال

    وأمهرها شبا البيض الرقاق

    He would make every barren war give birth,

    And give her the edges of slender white swords as dowry.

  14. أبا حسن بك الزوراء باهت

    جميع المُدنِ فخراً باتفاق

    O Abu Hasan, through you al-Zawrāʾ has vied with

    All cities in pride, by common accord.

  15. علوت بمفرد الإقبال أرّخ

    فحقٌّ أنت كهفٌ للعراق

    You have risen with singular good fortune; record the date:

    So, truly, you are a sheltering cave for Iraq.