أَمَا والهوى لو أن أحكامه قِسْطُ

أَمَا والهوى لو أن أحكامه قِسْطُ

لما اجترأتْ أنْ تملك العربَ القِبْطُ

لما اجترأتْ أنْ تملك العربَ القِبْطُ

Indeed, by love—if its judgments were just,

If only justice governed love's decrees,

the Copts would not have dared to rule the Arabs,

The Copts would not have dared to rule the Arabs.

وخَطَّتْ على لَبّاتها البيضِ أَسْطُرا

وخَطَّتْ على لَبّاتها البيضِ أَسْطُرا

يكون بأطراف الوَشيجِ لها نَقْط

يكون بأطراف الوَشيجِ لها نَقْط

and lines would have been inscribed upon their white upper breasts,

Yet they inscribe their laws on tablets white,

their dotting done with the tips of spears,

And at their edges set their seal and dot.

بأيدي رجالٍ تعرف الحربُ صبرهم

بأيدي رجالٍ تعرف الحربُ صبرهم

كأنهمُ من نَسْجِ عِثْيَرِها شمْط

كأنهمُ من نَسْجِ عِثْيَرِها شمْط

by the hands of men whose endurance war knows,

By men who know how steadfastly to bear

as though they were grizzled from the weave of its dust,

The wounds of war, as if from their first breath

بجُرْدٍ يُطير النار كالقاعِ رَكْضُها

بجُرْدٍ يُطير النار كالقاعِ رَكْضُها

كأنْ قد توارَى في سنابكها النِّفْط

كأنْ قد توارَى في سنابكها النِّفْط

on sleek steeds whose galloping sends fire flying, like the plain,

Molded of sheer and ductile steel they were,

as though naphtha lay hidden in their hooves.

In whom no fear of death engenders dread.

وإلا فِلمْ تُنْمَى المَذاكي وتنتمي

وإلا فِلمْ تُنْمَى المَذاكي وتنتمي

شِفار المَواضي أو لما يُرْكَزُ الخَطّ

شِفار المَواضي أو لما يُرْكَزُ الخَطّ

Otherwise, why are mature steeds given pedigrees, and lineage claimed

Else why do they still till the fertile plains,

by the edges of keen swords—or why are the spears of Khatt planted upright?

Furrow the meadows, tap the spring's sweet draught,