1. تَرى البَرِيَّةَ في حالَيْ نَدى ورَدى

    يَريشُها وبِحَدِّ السَّيْفِ يَبْريها

    You see humankind in two states: bounty and death;

    He enriches them, and with the sword's edge he cuts them down.

  2. فَفِرقَةٌ بِمَناياها مصبّحة

    وفرقة صَدَقَتْ فيها أَمانِيها

    So one group is visited at dawn by its doom,

    And for another, its wishes have come true.

  3. كَأَنَّهُ الدَّهْرُ في الآَمالِ يَنْشُرُها

    بَيْنَ العِبادِ وفي الأَعْمارِ يَطْويها

    As though he were Time, unfurling hopes

    Among humankind, and folding lifespans away.

  4. إِذا الصَّوارم عَرَّتْهنَّ غَضْبَتُهُ

    فإِنَّهُ بِنُفوسِ الأُسْدِ كاسيها

    When his wrath lays the keen swords bare,

    Then he clothes them in the souls of lions.

  5. يَظَلُّ بِالهَزِّ يَوْمَ الرَّوْعِ يُضْحِكُها

    وبِالدِّماءِ مِنَ الهاماتِ يُبْكيها

    He keeps them laughing as he brandishes them on the day of terror,

    And with blood from heads he makes them weep,

  6. حتَّى كَأَنَّ جُفونَ المُشْرِكينَ حَلَّتْ

    طَيّاتُها وأَعارَتْها مآَقيها

    Until it seems the polytheists' eyelids have loosened

    Their folds and lent the swords their inner eye-corners.