1. لَبَّيْكَ عنْ سِرِّيَ وَعَنْ إعلاني

    ما شئتَ منْ بَوْحٍ ومن كتمانِ

    At your call, in my secrecy and my openness,

    whatever you wish of disclosure and concealment.

  2. شَوْقٌ إليكَ أطَعْتُهُ وأطاعني

    لولا النُّهَى لَعَصَيْتُهُ وَعَصاني

    A longing for you: I obeyed it, and it obeyed me;

    but for reason, I would have defied it, and it me.

  3. وهوىً رفعتُ به لوائي في الهوى

    فاليومَ يا عزِّي ويا سلطاني

    And a love through which I raised my banner in love;

    so today, O my glory and my sovereign,

  4. حيث المكارمُ تحتَ أظلالِ العُلا

    والحُسْنُ في بَحْبُوحةِ الإحسان

    where noble deeds lie beneath the shades of high honor,

    and beauty dwells in the spacious realm of beneficence.

  5. والخيلُ لاحقةُ البطونِ كأنها

    فَضَلاتُ ما جرَّتْ من الأرسان

    And the horses, their bellies drawn tight, seem

    the trailing ends of the halter-ropes they drag,

  6. في غمرة ملء الفضاء حبالها

    قِصَدُ القَنَا وجماجمُ الفرسان

    in a tumult filling space, whose ropes are

    splinters of spears and horsemen's skulls.

  7. يَخْرُجْنَ من خَلَلِ الغبار كأنها

    شررٌ تطايرَ من خلالِ دُخان

    They emerge through gaps in the dust, like

    sparks scattering through smoke.

  8. والموت ممنوع الحريمِ مُبَاحُهُ

    قد حانَ بين البِيضِ والأجفان

    And death, its sanctuary both guarded and exposed,

    has come between bright blades and eyelids.

  9. وأهابَ بالأرواحِ في أجسْادِها

    فأتَتْه بين الذلِّ والإذعان

    It called to the souls within their bodies,

    and they came to it in abasement and submission.

  10. والدهرُ قد هدَّ القلوبَ فأصبحتْ

    مشغولةً حتى عن الخَفَقان

    And time has shattered hearts, leaving them

    too preoccupied even to beat:

  11. قُلُباً ولكنْ إن بَدا لك مَتْحُها

    فإلى الرماح ولا إلى الأْشطانِ

    wells—but if you wish to draw from them,

    then turn to spears and not to well-ropes.

  12. وإنِ القلوبُ حَنَتْ عليها فانْتَصِفْ

    منها بأمثالِ القلوب حواني

    And if hearts incline tenderly toward them, take redress

    from them with bracelet-like, curving bows.

  13. وَهْيَ الوَغَى لا ما تَخَيَّلَ عاجزٌ

    جَمَعَ السلاحَ وَعُدَّةَ الأقْرانِ

    This is battle, not what a weakling imagines,

    having gathered arms and the gear of matched opponents.

  14. وإذا المنايا طار عنها فارسٌ

    فالأرضُ حتى يستحيل أماني

    And if a horseman flies away from death,

    then down to earth, until he becomes mere wishes.

  15. وعلا ابن زُهْرٍ والكواكبُ دونها

    في كلِّ يَوْمَيْ نائلٍ وَطِعَان

    And Ibn Zuhr's lofty glory, with the stars beneath it,

    on both his days of bounty and of spear-fighting.

  16. المُشْتَفِي الشّافي الحميُّ الحامي

    الآمرُ الناهي البعيدُ الداني

    The avenger, the healer, the zealous, the protector,

    the commander, the forbidding one, the distant, the near;

  17. رِدْءُ الكتيبةِ خَلْفَها وأمامَها

    كالموتِ تلقاهُ بكلِّ مكان

    the battalion's support, behind it and before it,

    like death, you meet him everywhere.

  18. وفتى إيادٍ شيبِها وشبابِها

    في كلِّ حادثةٍ وكلِّ أوان

    And the champion of Iyad, its elders and its youth,

    in every calamity and at every time,

  19. القادرينَ على الوفاءِ ضَمانَهُمْ

    حينَ الليالي لا تَفِي بِضَمان

    those able to fulfill their pledge

    when the nights keep no pledge;

  20. وَمُكَلّلينَ النارَ هاماتِ الربى

    في حيثُ ما شُبَّتْ وفي الغِيْطان

    and those crowning the hilltops with fire,

    wherever it is kindled, and in the lowlands.

  21. قومٌ إذا عَرَضُوا لحملِ أمانةٍ

    أيْقَنْتَ أنَّ الفَضْلَ للإنسان

    A people who, when they come forward to bear a trust,

    make you certain that excellence belongs to humankind.

  22. وإذا فُلانٌ عُدَّ سَيّدَ مَعْشَرٍ

    زحفوا له منهمْ بأَلْفِ فُلان

    And when some so-and-so is reckoned a clan's lord,

    they advance toward him with a thousand so-and-sos of their own.

  23. هُمْ ضَمَّنوكَ عَناءَ كلِّ سيادةٍ

    واسْتنجحوكَ لِسَعْدِ كلِّ قران

    They charged you with the toil of every lordship,

    and sought success through you for the good fortune of every conjunction.

  24. واري الزنادِ بدفْعِ كلِّ مُلِمَّةٍ

    مُتَصرّفٌ في صَرْفِ كلّ زمان

    Your fire-steels spark as you repel every calamity,

    mastering the vicissitudes of every age.

  25. ركَّابُ أهوالٍ قريعُ حوادثٍ

    طلاّبُ أوتارٍ رفيعُ مَبانِ

    A rider of terrors, a champion against calamities,

    a pursuer of blood debts, lofty in your edifices.

  26. ركبَ اصطكاكَ الموج في أمثالِهِ

    مِنْ حِمْلِهِ المتدافع الأركان

    He rode the clashing waves in things like them,

    the cargo they bore, with jostling sides.

  27. تسمو به حُبْلى عقيمٌ أمكنتْ

    بِصُماتِ بكرٍ في هَدَاةِ عوان

    She bears him aloft, pregnant yet barren, yielding herself

    with a maiden's silence in a matron's calm.

  28. من كلِّ حاملةٍ وقلْ محمولةٍ

    لو لم تعُمْ عُدَّتْ من الغربان

    One of those that bear—and say, are borne—

    were she not swimming, she would be counted among ravens.

  29. طَوْعُ الرياحِ أو الرياحُ تُطِيعها

    حكمانِ مُتَّفِقانِ مختلفان

    At the winds' command—or the winds obey her:

    two judgments, agreeing yet differing.

  30. فكلاهما فرَسا رهانٍ برّزا

    سَبْقاً وإن لم يجريا لِرِهان

    Both are racehorses that excelled

    in speed, though they did not run for a wager.

  31. تحنو على سُكّانها لا عن هوىً

    وتُضِيْعُ أنفُسَهُمْ لغيرِ هَوان

    She bends toward her passengers, not out of love,

    and squanders their lives, not out of disdain.

  32. وكأنهم فيها نشاوى قهوةٍ

    قد صُرّعوا منها بجامٍ جان

    As though on board they were drunk with wine,

    laid low by it, by a baleful goblet,

  33. لتحطَّ مِنْ رَضوى إلى ثَهْلانِه

    بأجلَّ من رَضْوى ومن ثهلان

    to land, from Radwa at his Thahlan,

    with one more august than Radwa and Thahlan.

  34. إحدى جيادِكَ لو أزارْتها الوَغَى

    متهلّلاً والموتُ ذو ألوان

    She would be one of your steeds, if battle brought her to you,

    with you beaming while death wears many colors,

  35. ولو أنَّ ما حَملتك فيه وضعته

    مما يُطَلُّ من النجيع القاني

    and if you had fashioned what she bore you upon

    from the deep-crimson blood shed unavenged.

  36. وأتى وعيدٌ من حماك اعتادني

    بَعْدَ الهدوِّ فشفَّني وشفاني

    A threat came from your precinct, returning to haunt me

    after repose; it wore me thin and healed me.

  37. ذِكرٌ يكرُّ هواكَ وبين جوانحي

    حتى أراكَ على النَّوى وتَرَاني

    A remembrance renews love of you within my ribs,

    until I see you despite the distance, and you see me.

  38. خطٌّ نَظَمْتَ الدينَ والدنيا به

    لو لم يَعُدْني غيرُهُ لكفاني

    A letter with which you ordered religion and the world;

    had nothing else come to me, it would have sufficed.

  39. لَتُطالِعَنَّكَ من ثَنائي أسْطُرٌ

    تُزْهى بِسِحْرِ بلاغةٍ وبيان

    Lines of my praise shall surely greet you,

    resplendent with the magic of eloquence and clarity.

  40. ولأتركنَّ عداكَ نَهْبَةَ أسْهُمٍ

    مما بَرَى قلبي وراش لساني

    And I shall leave your enemies prey to arrows

    that my heart has sharpened and my tongue has fletched,

  41. شكراً لأنْعُمِكَ التي أعْلَتْ يدي

    حتَّى تَذَبْذَبَ دونها الفجران

    in thanks for your favors that raised my hand

    until the two dawns wavered beneath it.

  42. فاسْلَمْ على أخْذِ الزمانِ وَتركِهِ

    قَمَرَ النديّ وفارسَ الميدان

    So live unscathed through time's taking and sparing,

    O moon of the assembly and knight of the field.

  43. واطلبْ أميرَ المؤمنينَ لعزَّةٍ

    قعْساء بينَ الأمنِ والإيمان

    And seek the Commander of the Faithful for a might

    unassailable, between security and faith.

  44. وقولَّهُ في عَهْدِ كلّ سياسةٍ

    هو أوَّلٌ فيها وأنتَ الثاني

    And prompt him to say, in every covenant of governance:

    he is first therein, and you are second.

  45. وتسنَّما خُطَطَ الفَخارِ وأنتما

    أَخَوَان أو قلباكما أخوان

    And both ascend the realms of glory, while you two

    are brothers—or your two hearts are brothers.