1. A weak and helpless creature, as sometimes seen,
Reaped war's harvest one day, but it did not avail.

2. Does not the Mahdi know my threat, that I
Am swift to do what irks his peers?

3. My place is with the brave when they come forth;
And if the timid and poltroons drag me out,

4. When war descends on a tribe, it reveals
The faults of men you thought fine in peace.

5. And war has men who shield it,
Yet how many of repute do you see whom it avails naught!