يرق بدا ام ثغرك الجوهر

شهد حلا أم ريقك الكوثر

Has lightning appeared—or your jewel-like mouth?

Honey grown sweet—or your saliva, like al-Kawthar?

شمس تبدّت أم شموس بدت

للراح من حاناتها تسفر

Has one sun revealed itself, or have suns appeared,

shining forth for wine from its taverns?

أم ان سعد الاسعدي قد بدا

يشرق في غرته نيّرُ

Or has al-Asʿadi's lucky star appeared,

a radiant light shining upon his brow?

يا آل بيت المجد من منكم

قد جاءت الناس به تشعر

O family of glory's house, which of you

have people come to celebrate in verse?

هذا العلي المرتضى اسما ومن

همته يعلمها الأكثرُ

This is ʿAli, al-Murtada in name, the one

whose lofty resolve most people know.

ليثٌ إذا ما جال في حربه

ترهبه الأسد إذا يزأر

A lion: whenever he charges into battle,

the lions dread him when he roars.

ظباؤُه بيض الظبا لمّعٌ

يضحكها بل غيده الضمّر

His gazelles are gleaming, white sword-edges;

he makes them smile—nay, his slender maidens.

يحكي لكم عن طعنه مخبرا

أعداءه ورمحه السمر

His thrusts are recounted to you in testimony

by his enemies and his tawny spear.

كم جندل الفرسان يوما وكم

يهمي دماء سيفه الأبتر

How many horsemen he has felled in a day, and how often

his severing sword rains blood!

لا يختشي وقع اليماني ولا

طعن الرديني لا ولا يحذر

He fears no blow of the Yemeni blade, nor

the thrust of a Rudayni spear—no, nor does he fear

منفلت الحصن يقينا بما

أبدى بها أو تلّها الأصفر

the fortress's fugitive, surely, given what

he displayed there, or on its yellow hill.

مذ جال بالقوم خميس له

همته كالسيل إذ يحدر

Since an army of his swept among the foe,

his resolve like a torrent rushing down,

كرّا على الأعداء في عصبة

لم يرهبوا الموت ولم ينفروا

charging the enemies with a band

who neither feared death nor fled.

فما ترى الأضداد يوما سوى

من مدبر ورأسه ينثر

So you never see his foes except

in flight, their heads sent flying.

لاسيما صولاته غدوة

بالسيسنيا تلك لا تنكر

Especially his assaults one morning

at al-Sisniya—those cannot be denied.

أقام سوق الحرب في ذابل

ما هزّه إلّا دما يقطر

He set up war's market with a slender spear,

never brandished without dripping blood.

يهتزّ بالنقع اشتياقا إلى

صوت سليل العضب إذ يهدر

It quivers in the battle-dust, longing for

the sound of the drawn, keen sword as it roars.

جال بنو مرعب فيها ضحى

ما فيهم إلّا لذا يذخر

The sons of Murʿib ranged there at forenoon,

not one among them but held in reserve for this.

عاداتهم في الطعن يوما إذا

كرّوا إلى الهيجاء ان ينصروا

Their custom in spear-thrusting, on a day when

they charge into battle, is to triumph.

كم قلدوا جيدا بأسيافهم

طوق عقيق عقده أحمر

How many a neck they have adorned with their swords

with an agate collar whose beads are red!

ينبيكم عنهم ما شيدوا

في ذلك اليوم الذي يذكر

You learn of them from what they built

on that day which is remembered,

إذ عمّروا برج الرؤوس الذي

في كل صقع ذكره يشهد

when they raised the tower of heads, whose

memory is attested in every region.

كذاك في شاص لقد اضرموا

عجاج حرب نارها تسعر

Likewise at Shas they set ablaze

the swirling dust of war, its fire blazing.

فيلقوها والقنا عابس

ويوردوها موردا يصدر

They meet it while the lances scowl,

and bring it to a watering-place from which one returns.

مقدامهم يوم الوغى سيد

ليث شديد بطل قسور

Their foremost fighter on battle's day is a lord,

a mighty lion, a ferocious hero.

ان سل هنديا وأومى به

أو هز خطيا به يخطر

If he draws an Indian sword and gestures with it,

or brandishes a Khatti spear, striding proudly with it,

كم من كميّ بالدما قد غدا

مجدلا يرمي وذا منحر

how many an armored warrior has come to lie bloodied,

felled and cast down, and another slaughtered!

سل آل محفوض أما عاينوا

مولودهم في دمه يخفر

Ask the house of Mahfud: did they not behold

their son abashed in his blood?

لما رأوه صيتوا خيفة

فروا فقد جاء القضا المحدر

When they saw him, they cried out in fear:

“Flee, for sweeping doom has come!”

يوما على الميماس لا تنكروا

اذ كانت الأعدا هم الأكثر

One day at al-Mimas—do not deny it—

when the enemies were more numerous,

كر عليهم مستجيشا بهم

في ثابت جياشه أوفر

he charged them, mustering a host against them,

with a steadfast force, his host more abundant.

فروا أيا آل نصير ومن

في غيه عن رشده يزجر

Flee, O house of Nusayr, and whoever

is driven, in his error, away from sound judgment.

وأفاكم ليث العرين الذي

عن فتكه يوما حكي المخبر

And the lion of the lair has come to you,

of whose ravages a teller once spoke.

جاء ابن عثمان ألم تعلموا

ذا عبد رزاق فمن يصبر

Ibn ʿUthman has come—did you not know?

This is ʿAbd Razzaq: who can stand firm?

شهم مجيد أروعٌ معلمٌ

يوم اشتداد الطعن لا يضجر

Gallant, glorious, awe-inspiring, distinguished,

he never chafes when spear-thrusts grow fierce.

لاسيما يوم الوغى أسعد

في معركٍ كانه عنتر

Especially Asʿad on battle's day,

in the fray as though he were ʿAntar.

يميس في ميدانه معجبا

باسمر قوّمه سمر

He sways proudly in his field, admiring

a tawny spear made straight by tawny hands.

كأنما الحرب لدى باسه

خود رداح طرفها أحور

As though war, before his might,

were a full-hipped maiden with lustrous dark eyes.

وحبهم في مصطفاهم ومن

في ملتقى الجمعين لا يقصر

And their love rests in their Mustafa, and in him

who never falls short where the two hosts meet.

كم فيهم من قسور قد رأى

قطر الدما كأنه العنبر

How many a lion among them has regarded

dripping blood as though it were ambergris!

حازوا علاء من عليّ وكم

يوم الحمى فضل له ينشر

They won eminence from ʿAli, and how often

his merit is proclaimed on the day of defense!

يوما به تشكو الرماح الظمى

من حرنقع والظبا تشهر

A day when lances complain of thirst

from the heat of battle-dust, while blades are drawn.

فيلتقي الخير إذا ما علا

من جمها قسطلها الأغبر

Then he meets good fortune when there rises

from its masses its gray-brown cloud of dust.

ما يصطليها والضيا مظلم

الا بعضب برقه يظهر

He never braves its fire, with daylight darkened,

without a keen sword whose lightning shines.

وعندما يروي غليل القنا

من بعد أن يشكو الظما يحجر

And when he quenches the lances' burning thirst,

after their complaints of thirst, he holds them back.

ذو مرة سنّ له عادة

عن خصمه يعفو متى يقدر

A man of strength, he has made it his custom

to pardon his foe whenever he holds power.

جواد بذل كم بدت ديمةٌ

من كفه يوم العطا تزخر

A lavish giver—how often steady rain has emerged

from his palm, pouring forth on the day of gifts!

من مسه بوسٌ فيأت إلى

بحر نوال ما له أخر

Whoever misery has touched, let him come to

a sea of bounty without end.

أيا عليّ السعد صيرتني

بجود فضل عمني أشعر

O ʿAli of good fortune, you have made me

a better poet through generous favor that encompassed me.

أنت أبو الغيث الذي كفه

من جوده جاد الخلا المقفر

You are the father of rain, whose palm

has watered the barren wilderness through its bounty.

قد جاءكم شاعركم ناظما

عقد مديح عنكم يخبر

Your poet has come to you, stringing

a necklace of praise that tells of you.

فاسلم ودم بالنصر مستبشرا

في غيرك العلياء لا تنظر

So live unharmed, and remain glad in victory;

high glory looks to no one but you.