1. Wield your swords upon the necks of the wretched,
And if you alight in an abode of humiliation, move on,

2. And if you are wronged by an oppressor, be an oppressor,
And if you meet the ignorant, be ignorant.

3. And if the coward forbids you on an ominous day,
Fearing for you the thronging of the throngs,

4. Then disobey his words and pay no heed,
And advance when the time of battle comes at first.

5. And choose for yourself a high abode,
Or die nobly beneath the shadow of a spear,

6. For death will not save you from its harms,
Though you build a fortress of marble.

7. Better for a man to die with honor,
Than to pass the night a captive of a blue-eyed maid.

8. If I am counted among the slaves, still my spirit
Is higher than Sirius and the bare-tailed shooting star.

9. Or if the horsemen of ‘Abs denied my lineage,
Then the spearheads and the swords affirm me,

10. And with my raids and onslaughts I attained exaltation,
Not through ties of kinship or numerous tribe.

11. And I flung my prize into ‘Ajjāj, stirring it up,
As fire kindles from the striker of the flints.

12. He stirred up ‘Ajjāj, all armed, until when
He witnessed the battle, he returned unarmed.

13. And I dealt the Banū Ḥurayqah a terrible blow
When I stabbed the heart of their cavalry.

14. And I killed their champion Rabī‘ah by force
And Al-Haydhabān and Jābir ibn Muhallal,

15. And the two sons of Rabī‘ah and Al-Ḥarish and Mālik,
And tomorrow Az-Zubayriqān will lie slain.

16. And I am the son of a black-browed mother, as if
She were a hyena nurtured among homestead ruins,

17. With legs like an ostrich’s legs
And hair like grains of pepper,

18. And a mouth beneath the veil as if it were
Lightning flashing in the darkest night.

19. O you who alight at the sanctuary and its lands!
Have you not seen me restless in these lands?

20. Long has your glory lasted, and long my love,
And of wonders is your glory and my abasement.

21. Give me not the water of life in abasement,
Nay, give me the cup of honor to drink as hanzal.

22. The water of life in abasement is like Hell,
While Hell with honor is the fairest abode.