1. The least that life and power grant
And less than what speech and deed amount to

2. Is to shield your enemies when you defeat them
So no plain or mountain shelters them

3. And proof of the victory you were granted
Is that they have no livelihood or reprieve

4. For your sword does not curb its ignorance
Until it shows the ignorant their blindness

5. A fire that drives the foe wherever they gather
To dust, their refuge when they die

6. An Indian flashing in India estranged
Calling out whenever it ignites and implores

7. Of Kisra's fire, which before him was the hallmark
Of lightning, ants are named for it

8. Dewdrop laughing in the dreariness for a gleam
As tears, eyelids, and kohl meet

9. In it a secret still for its worshipers and tenders
By which Mars or Jupiter were worshipped

10. It may burst from its sheath flaring
Green, which the valiant knight dreams of

11. It may lack a maiden's trilling song
And he keeps watching for wetness on its curve

12. Does exhaustion in its stillness tire him
Or the fiery brand's heat that hurls sparks?

13. He sees it bear the two opposites raising it
For it only appears then wanes

14. It hides so none should see its glow
And be guided by its brilliance when lit

15. May the sword ransom you, killing in its right
It, not the crazed fool's club, is sovereign

16. Your spear cannot be bent to fold its robes
Unless the spearshaft bends, never flagging or fading

17. Sweet of touch, no numbness or roughness
The goal of prodding, no deviation or wrong

18. A compact blade, excellent however you swing it
Inclining however you push back destruction evenly

19. The crisp polished point made more radiant with it
As if the bright eyes employed it as a needle

20. It sees not death but where it sees it
A death appointing some times and postponing

21. Is this or a resolve that cast the cross with it
Though before it were ravines and hills?

22. Ask the Romans, did they feel confidence
Of facing the finest invasion, giving all it seeks?

23. He drove the steeds from their stance against them
Going, when awe made the delegate freeze

24. It covers the battle, and if it misguides him, meet it
Where souls grapple in the fray's midst

25. Beware a lion the lions dread in his grasp
A handful with which he sates the thirsty

26. Speak not of worldly things, for he's a king
The world moves through his army and departs

27. A leader, horizons flourish at his rising
When his might's brilliance shines like Taurus or Aries

28. When it appears to them in his awe's veil
All things matching its light are ashamed

29. A sea of plenty, when its ships cluster
Tell the sea it is inadequate

30. A lofty peak birds cannot reach its summit
Until eagles and partridges are leveled with it

31. In its sides you see mounts and vines
Trailing their shoots and blossoms

32. A sovereign mingled with the light of truth
And shade of security attached to God's veil

33. A resolve advancing in fighting unbelief
From its sunset, no westering, setting, or nightfall

34. The prince Abu Yahya is called to it and by it
When a people rely or depend

35. It drove the enemies away from ravaging their homes
You hurried to them or they hurried

36. It asked Toledo, what do you want of it?
Explaining the syntax if apposition or substitution is unclear

37. You rained death around it, is this cloudburst
Of events returning, O pouring rain?

38. If it rises or draws near while aims are hopes
Examples and parables have passed before it

39. If it refuses, havoc is hostage to a quandary
Neither the continent was halved nor muscle hewn

40. Best for them, then best for the cross through it
Than a contingent with the swords' wont and habit

41. And for the enemies near it, from battle's heat
That almost makes the damp air ignite

42. And from a mill grinding their deaths, revolving with it
A day the horizons narrow and paths constrict

43. A day the alive are scorned, adorned
By no ornament, even if untroubled by decline

44. The most potent fang, if the champions are deluded by it
Thus war in its jaws is potent

45. From Abu Yahya's cunning and position
Where safety is unsure or unsure

46. Live forever! Men, if you had offered in place of life
Would not have spoken or acted

47. How is the path to a day I wish for
Where I and my enviers are busy with it?

48. That I may kiss your right hand which
The gazelles gained before we gained kisses

49. And complain of the tyranny of my days to a king
Whom neither cowardice nor greed attend

50. O blessed king, of auspicious influence, O full moon
O sea, O pleiades, O man!

51. Will you leave me to time's caprice playing with me
When love and hope drew me toward you?

52. I thanked you for blessings when gratitude was little
For the generous shows favor despite defects

53. Take them, goodness befits their charm
Though excuses and faults distort them

54. Time has tempted them, if a time contests it
Your loftiness in it the dawns and origins vie

55. A departing star in earth's corners
Relaying the heights and improvising to you