1. ما رأى الناسُ مثلَ مُلككَ مُلْكا

    مَلأَ الخافقينِ للحربِ تُركا

    Never have people seen a kingdom like yours,

    that filled East and West with Turks for war,

  2. وَجُيوشاً لو صادَمَتْ جَبَلَ الشّرْ

    كِ لدكتهُ بالسّنابك دكّا

    and armies that, if they struck the mountain of polytheism,

    would pound it utterly beneath their hooves.

  3. عَزْمةٌ أرعَدَتْ فَرائصَ أرغو

    ن فأمسى للخوفِ لا بتلكّا

    A resolve that made Arghun's flesh tremble,

    so, from fear, he did not linger.

  4. شامَ برقاً بالشّامِ بيضُكَ لمّا

    ضَحكَتْ منهُ بالسّواحل ضحْكا

    He glimpsed lightning in al-Sham, when your white swords

    laughed at him along the coasts.

  5. أي برقٍ غيوثُهُ النبْلُ يُصمي

    كُلَّ قَلْبٍ ناواكَ شقاً وسَكاً

    What lightning, whose showers are arrows, striking dead

    every heart that opposes you, cleaving and piercing!

  6. فقضى خيفَةً وقتلُ أعادي

    ك بأوهامهم أشد وأنكا

    So he died of fear; and killing your enemies

    through their own imaginings is harsher and more grievous.

  7. أيُّها الأشرفُ الذي شرّف الدن

    يا وقد أصبحت له الأرضُ مُلكا

    O al-Ashraf, who ennobled the world,

    and the earth has become his domain.

  8. أنتَ أذكى الملوكِ نَشراً وإن حا

    ولتَ أمراً فأنتَ في الرأي أذكى

    You are the sweetest-scented of kings; and if you undertake

    a task, you are the keenest in judgment.

  9. وثبات في البأس عزماً وحزماً

    وثبات في الناس حلماً وَنُسْكا

    And steadfast in battle, resolute and prudent;

    and steadfast among people, forbearing and devout.

  10. قد رأينا ونت أنت صلاح الدّ

    ين ما كانَ عَن سَميكَ يُحكى

    We have seen—and you are truly Salah al-Din—

    what used to be recounted of your namesake.

  11. صدتَ صيدا قنصاً وصورَ وعثلي

    تَ وَبَيْروتَ بعدَ فتحكَ عَكا

    You hunted Sidon as prey, and Tyre and Athlit,

    and Beirut, after your conquest of Acre.

  12. حجر بَهرَجُ الملوك قديماً

    في التماسٍ حتى رأوه مَحَكّا

    A stone against which kings proved counterfeit long ago,

    in their quest, until they saw it was a touchstone.

  13. وَنَظَمتَ الرؤوسَ بالطّعن حتى

    ظنَّ قوم تلكَ الذَّوابلَ سلكا

    And you strung heads with spear-thrusts, until

    some thought those slender lances were thread.

  14. راعَ بابَ الثورين أَسدُ عَرين

    ضارياتٍ تَدحي الفريسةَ دعكا

    Lions from a lair terrified the Gate of the Two Bulls,

    ravening beasts that hurl down and crush their prey.

  15. شُرُفات بَدَتْ كأسنمة العي

    س وباتَتْ على المفاوز بُركا

    Battlements appeared like the humps of pale camels,

    and spent the night kneeling upon the desert wastes.

  16. قبّلَتْ هَيْبَةً لمقْدمَكَ الأر

    ضَ ومادَتْ بِشدَّة الخوف منكا

    They kissed the earth in awe of your arrival,

    and swayed with the intensity of their fear of you.

  17. لو رأى الباب يوم صلّى صلاة

    الموت والقومُ في ذُرى الباب هُلكا

    Had the pope seen it, the day he prayed the prayer

    of death, while the people lay dead on the gate's heights,

  18. لرأى أَنَّ رأيهُ كان رأياً

    فاسداً كأتخاذه الدين إفكا

    he would have seen that his judgment had been

    corrupt, like his making religion a lie.

  19. ولكم قد أَظَلّهم ذلك الشي

    خُ وأضحى على العصا يتوكّا

    And how often that old man has cast his shadow over them,

    and now he leans upon the staff.

  20. ساقَهم كالأنعام براً وبحراً

    فَقطين بعض وَبَعض مُذكى

    He drove them like livestock over land and sea;

    so some became slaves, and some were slaughtered.

  21. كُل علجٍ أَعطى قفاهُ وولّى

    في انهزامٍ فَحَقُّهُ أَنْ يُسَكَا

    Every foreign brute who turns his back and flees

    in rout deserves to be buggered.