1. إن ضاعَ وِترُكَ يا بن حامي الدين

    لا قال سيفُك للمنايا كوني

    If your vengeance goes unclaimed, O son of the faith's defender,

    may your sword never say to death, 'Be!'

  2. أَولم تُناهض آلَ حربٍ هاشمٌ

    لا بشّرت علويَّةٌ بجنين

    Or if Hashim does not rise against the House of Harb,

    may no Alid woman receive glad tidings of a child.

  3. أَمعلّلَ البيضِ الرقاق بنهضةٍ

    في يوم حربٍ بالردى مشحون

    O you who soothe the slender bright swords with promises of rising

    on a day of battle laden with death,

  4. كم ذا تهزُّك للكريهةِ حنَّةٌ

    من كلّ مشجية الصهيل صفون

    how often does a yearning whinny stir you toward battle,

    from every poised steed whose neigh stirs sorrow?

  5. طال انتظارُ السمرِ طعنتكَ التي

    تلدُ المنونَ بنفس كلّ طعين

    The dusky spears have long awaited that thrust of yours

    that begets death in the soul of every man it pierces.

  6. عجباً لسيفك كيف يألف غمدَه

    وشباهُ كافلُ وِتره المضمون

    Strange that your sword should grow accustomed to its sheath,

    while its keen edges guarantee its pledged vengeance!

  7. لله قلبُك وهو أغضبُ للهدى

    ما كان أصبرَه لهتك الدين

    How wondrous your heart, so wrathful for true guidance—

    how patiently it has endured the desecration of the faith!

  8. فيما اعتذارُك للنهوض وفيكم

    للضيم وَسمٌ فوق كلِّ جبين

    What excuse have you for not rising, when among you

    a brand of oppression lies upon every brow?

  9. أَيمينُكم فقدَت قوائمَ بيضِها

    أَم خيلكم أضحت بغير مُتون

    Has your right hand lost the hilts of its bright swords,

    or do your horses now have no backs?

  10. لا استكّ سمع الدهر سيفُك صارخاً

    في الهام فاصلُ حدّه المسنون

    May time's ear never be deafened by your sword crying out

    among the skulls, its sharpened edge cleaving,

  11. إن لم تُقدها في القتام طوالعاً

    فكأنَّها قِطعُ السحابِ الجون

    unless you lead them surging through the battle-dust,

    as though they were masses of dark cloud.

  12. ما إن سطت بحماة ثغرِ تهامةٍ

    إلاَّ ذَعرن حماةَ ثغر الصين

    No sooner do they assail the defenders of Tihamah's frontier

    than they terrify the defenders of China's frontier.

  13. يحملن منك إلى الأعادي مخدراً

    يرمي المنونَ لقاؤه بمنونِ

    They bear you to the foes, a lion from his lair,

    whose encounter strikes Death itself with death.

  14. غضبانَ إن لبسَ الضواحي مصحِراً

    نزعت له الآساد كلَّ عرين

    Wrathful, when he dons the open plains and ventures into the desert,

    the lions yield every den to him.

  15. فمتى أراك وأنت في أعقابها

    بالرمح تطعنُ صلبَ كلّ ركين

    When shall I see you following at their heels,

    piercing with your spear the spine of every stalwart foe?

  16. حيث الطريد أمام رمحك دمعهُ

    كغروبِ هاضبةِ القطار هتونِ

    Where the fugitive's tears before your spear

    are like torrents from a cloud pouring ceaseless rain,

  17. لم يمسحنَّ جفونَه إلاَّ رأى

    شوكَ القنا الأهدابَ رأي يقين

    he never wipes his eyelids without seeing

    the spears' thorns as his eyelashes, beyond all doubt.

  18. ومن الجسوم تُزاحِمُ الأرض السما

    ما بين مضروبٍ إلى مطعون

    And with the bodies, earth crowds against the sky,

    from those struck by swords to those pierced by spears.

  19. والموتُ يسأم قبض أرواح العدى

    تعباً لِقطعك حبلَ كلِّ وتين

    And Death tires of gathering the souls of your foes,

    exhausted by your severing the cord of every vital artery.

  20. فتمهّد الدنيا بإمرة عادلٍ

    وبنهي علاّمٍ وقسط أمين

    Then you set the world aright through a just man's rule,

    a deeply learned man's prohibitions and a trustworthy man's justice,

  21. ومُضاء منصلتٍ وعزم مجرّبٍ

    وأناتِ مقتدرٍ وبطشِ مكين

    the decisiveness of one with drawn sword and a veteran's resolve,

    a powerful man's deliberation and a mighty man's force.

  22. أتُشيمُ سيفَكَ عن جماجم معشرٍ

    وتروكم بالذُحل في صفين

    Will you sheath your sword away from the skulls of a people

    who bereaved you in blood-vengeance at Siffin?

  23. وحنينُ بيضهم الرقاقِ بهامكم

    ملأَ الزمانَ برنَّةٍ وحنين

    The moaning of their slender bright swords against your heads

    filled time with ringing and lament.

  24. وكمينُ حقد الجاهليَّةِ فيهم

    أنَّى طلعتم غالكم بكمين

    And the lurking hatred of the age of ignorance within them,

    wherever you appeared, slew you treacherously from ambush.

  25. غصبوكم بشبا الصوارم أنفساً

    قام الوجودُ بسرّها المكنون

    With the edges of cutting swords they robbed you of lives

    whose hidden mystery upheld existence.

  26. كم موقفٍ حلبوا رقابكم دماً

    فيه وأعينكم نجيع شؤون

    How many a battlefield where they milked your necks for blood,

    and there your eyes for gore from their tear-ducts!

  27. لا مثلَ يومكم بعرصة كربلا

    في سالفات الدهر يَومُ شجون

    No day is like yours on the field of Karbala—

    no sorrowful day in all the bygone ages.

  28. قد أرهفوا فيه لِجدكَ أنصلاً

    تركت وجوهَكم بلا عِرنين

    That day they sharpened blades against your grandfather

    that left your faces without noses.

  29. يومٌ أبيُّ الضيم صابَر مِحنةً

    تُفدى بجملة عالم التكوين

    A day when he who scorned oppression endured an ordeal—

    may the whole created universe be your ransom!

  30. فثوى بضاحية الهجير ضريبةً

    تحت السيوفِ لحدّها المسنون

    Then he lay in the exposed midday heat, a target

    beneath the swords for their sharpened edges.

  31. وقفت له الأفلاكُ حينَ هويّه

    وتبدَّلت حركاتُها بسكون

    The celestial spheres stood still for him as he fell,

    and their motions turned to stillness.

  32. وبها نعاه الروحُ يهتفُ منشداً

    عن قلب والهةٍ بصوت حزين

    Amid them the Spirit announced his death, calling out in verse,

    from a grief-stricken woman's heart, in a sorrowful voice:

  33. أضمير غيب الله كيف لك القنا

    نفذت وراءَ حجابه المخزون

    O innermost secret of God's unseen, how did the spears reach you,

    penetrating beyond His hidden veil?

  34. وتصكُّ جبهتك السيوفُ وإنَّها

    لولا يمينُك لم تكن ليمين

    And swords battered your brow, though they,

    but for your right hand, would never have served a right hand.

  35. ما كنتَ حين صُرعتَ مضعوف القوى

    فأقول لم تُرفد بنصر معين

    You were not feeble in strength when you were struck down,

    so that I could say no helpful succor was granted you.

  36. وأما وشيبتِكَ الخضيبةِ إنَّها

    لأبرُّ كلِّ إليّةٍ ويمين

    And indeed, by your stained gray hair—it is

    surely the truest of all solemn oaths and pledges.

  37. لو كنتَ تستامُ الحياةَ لأرخصت

    منها لك الأقدارُ كلّ ثمين

    Had you sought to purchase life, the fates would have cheapened

    for you every precious thing within it.

  38. أو شئتَ محوَ عداك حتَّى لا يُرى

    منهم على الغبراء شخص قطين

    Or had you wished to erase your foes until none could be seen

    of them upon the dusty earth, not a single inhabitant,

  39. لأخذتَ آفاقَ البلادِ عليهم

    وشحنتَ قطريها بجيش منون

    you would have sealed the land's horizons against them,

    and filled both its expanses with an army of death,

  40. حتَّى بها لم تُبق نافخَ ضرمةٍ

    منهم بكلِّ مفاوزٍ وَحصون

    until you left no one there to breathe upon an ember

    among them, in any wilderness or fortress.

  41. لكن دعتك لبذلِ نفسِك عصبةٌ

    حان انتشارُ ضلالِها المدفون

    But a band summoned you to offer up your life,

    the time having come for its buried misguidance to spread.

  42. فرأيتَ أنَّ لقاءَ ربِّك باذلاً

    للنفس أفضلُ من بقاء ضنين

    So you saw that meeting your Lord, freely offering

    your life, was better than living on while hoarding it.

  43. فصبرتَ نفسك حيث تلتهب الضُبا

    ضرباً يذيب فؤادَ كلّ رزين

    So you held yourself steadfast where sword-edges blazed,

    with blows that melt every steadfast heart.

  44. والحربُ تطحن شوسَها برحاتِها

    والرعب يَلهم حلمَ كلّ رصين

    While war ground its fierce warriors with its millstone,

    and terror devoured every steadfast man's composure,

  45. والسمرُ كالأضلاع فوقك تنحني

    والبيضُ تنطبق انطباق جفوني

    the dusky spears bent above you like ribs,

    and the bright swords closed as my eyelids close.

  46. وقضيتَ نحبَك بين أظهر معشرٍ

    حُملوا بأخبث أظهُرٍ وبطون

    And you met your destined death amid a people

    borne by the foulest backs and wombs.

  47. وأَجلُّ يومٍ بعد يومك حلَّ في

    الإِسلام منه يشيبُ كلُّ جنين

    And the gravest day after yours came upon

    Islam, a day that turns every unborn child gray:

  48. يومٌ سرت أسرى كما شاء العدى

    فيه الفواطمُ من بني ياسين

    a day when captives journeyed as the foes willed—

    the Fatimahs from the House of Ya Sin.

  49. أُبرزن من حرم النبيّ وإنَّه

    حرمُ الإِله بواضحِ التبيين

    They were brought out of the Prophet's sanctuary, which is

    God's sanctuary, as plainly declared.

  50. من كلِّ محصنةٍ هناك برغمها

    أضحت بلا خدرٍ ولا تحصين

    Every chaste woman there, against her will,

    was left without a secluded chamber or protection.

  51. سُلبت وقد حجبَ النواظرُ نَورُها

    عن حُرّ وجهٍ بالعفاف مصون

    She was stripped, though her radiance had barred all eyes

    from a noble face protected by chastity.

  52. قذفت بهنَّ يدُ الخطوبِ بقفرةٍ

    هيماءَ صاليةِ الهجير شطون

    The hand of calamity cast them into a wilderness

    waterless, scorched by noon, far remote.

  53. فغدت بهاجرة الظهيرة بعدما

    كانت بفيَّاح الظِلال حصين

    So she came to the scorching heat of noon, after

    dwelling in a secure retreat of spreading shade.

  54. حرّى متى التهبت حشاشتُها ظماً

    طفِقت تُروِّح قلبها بأنين

    Parched, whenever her life's last spark blazed with thirst,

    she began to cool her heart with moaning.

  55. وَحَدت بها الأعداءُ فوق مصاعبٍ

    ترمي السهولَ من الفلا بحُزون

    And the foes drove them with chanting atop unruly camels,

    hurling the desert's plains against its rugged ground.

  56. لا طاب ظلُّكَ يا زمانُ ولا جرت

    أنهارُ مائِك للورى بمعين

    May your shade never be pleasant, O Time, nor may

    your rivers run with clear water for humankind.

  57. ما كان أوكَسها لفكّك صفقةً

    فيها ربحت ندامةَ المغبون

    What a ruinous bargain it was for your jaws,

    in which you gained the remorse of one cheated!

  58. فلقد جمعت قِواك في يوم به

    ألقحت أمَّ الحادثات الجون

    For you gathered your strength on a day in which

    you impregnated the mother of dark calamities.

  59. وبه مُذ ابتكرت مصيبة كربلا

    عقُمت فما لنتاجها من حين

    And since, on that day, you devised Karbala's calamity,

    she grew barren, with no season for her to bear.

  60. أحماةَ ثغرِ الدين حيثُ سيوفكم

    شَرعت محجّةَ نهجهِ المسنون

    O defenders of the faith's frontier, where your swords

    opened the clear road of its ordained way,

  61. صلَّى الإِلهُ عليكم ما مِنكم

    هتفَ الصوامعُ باسم خير أمين

    may God bless you for as long as, through you,

    the minarets proclaim the name of the best of the trustworthy.