1. سَعيٌ شَفى بالمُنى قبل انتها أَمَدِهْ

    ويوْمُ سَعدٍ أَرانا الفتحَ قَبلَ غدِهْ

    An endeavor that healed with wishes fulfilled before its term was done,

    And a fortunate day that showed us conquest before its morrow,

  2. بمقدِمٍ والقنا مِلءُ الفضاءِ بِهِ

    وقادِمٍ وعتادُ الشِّرْكِ ملءُ يدِهْ

    With a bold attacker, lances filling the sky through him,

    And one arriving, unbelief's armaments filling his hand,

  3. داعٍ إِلَى دعوةِ الإِسلامِ ينصُرُها

    فأَيُّ مُعتمدٍ من شَأْوِ مُعتمدِهْ

    Calling to Islam's summons and championing it:

    What trusted champion can match the reach of his trusted patron?

  4. وكمْ فؤادٍ وكم جسمٍ وكم بَصَرٍ

    لَبَّاهُ من قُرْبهِ سَعياً ومِنْ بُعُدِهْ

    How many a heart, how many a body, how many an eye

    Answered his call, hastening from near and far!

  5. جمعاً غدا الحاجِب المَيمونُ قائدَهُ

    والنَّصرُ والصَّبرُ والإِيمانُ من مَدَدِهْ

    An assembled host whose commander became the auspicious chamberlain,

    With victory, patience, and faith among its reinforcements.

  6. لمثلِها كنتَ يَا منصورُ والِدَهُ

    ومِثلَها سَيُريكَ اللهُ فِي وَلَدِهْ

    For deeds like these, Mansur, you were his father;

    And God will show you their like in his son.

  7. أَنجبتهُ وسْطَ رَوْضِ المُلكِ تَظْأَرُهُ

    بواسِقٌ للعُلا تَهْتَزُّ فِي ثأَدِهْ

    You begot him nobly amid kingship's garden, where he was fostered

    By lofty trees of glory swaying in its moist soil.

  8. أَثمارُها من جنى الجانين دانِيةٌ

    ووَرْدُ زَهْرَتِها قَدْ راقَ فِي نضدِهْ

    Its fruits hang within easy reach of the gatherers' picking,

    And the roses of its blossom delight in their ordered clusters.

  9. فأَرْضَعَتْهُ ثُدِيَّ الحربِ فِي كِلَلٍ

    من القنا فَوْقَ مَهدٍ من شبا قِصَدِهْ

    So they suckled him at war's breasts beneath canopies

    Of lances, above a cradle of the sharp tips of their broken shafts,

  10. حَيْثُ تلاقَتْ نواصي الخَيلِ واعتَنَقَتْ

    صدورُ غَيظٍ يذوبُ الصَّخْرُ من وَقَدِهْ

    Where horses' forelocks met and embraced

    Breasts of wrath whose heat melts rock.

  11. سَرى لأَمرِكَ لا لَيلٌ بواجِدِه

    عَلَى الحَشايا ولا نَجمٌ بِمفتقِدِهْ

    He traveled by night at your command: no night found him

    Upon soft bedding, and no star missed him,

  12. مُجهِّزاً فِي سبيلِ اللهِ جَيشَ هُدىً

    السَّمعُ والطَّوْعُ للمنصورِ من عُدَدِهْ

    Equipping in God's path an army of guidance,

    With obedience and willing submission to al-Mansur among its equipment,

  13. لمنْ بنى قُبَّةَ العَليا نَدىً ووَغىً

    فأَصبحَ المُلكُ مرْفوعاً عَلَى عُمُدِهْ

    For him who built the dome of greatness through bounty and battle,

    So kingship stood raised upon his pillars,

  14. مُوَرَّثِ المُلكِ من عُليا تَبابِعِهِ

    والسَّيفِ من عَمْرِهِ والسَّيب من أُدَدِهْ

    Heir to kingship from his exalted Tubbaʿ kings,

    And the sword from his Amr, and bounty from his Udad,

  15. والنَّصْرِ من سَعيِ أَعمامٍ لَهُ فُطرُوا

    لِنَصرِ ذي العَرْشِ فِي بَدْرٍ وَفِي أُحُدِهْ

    And victory from the striving of his uncles, created

    To champion the Lord of the Throne at Badr and at Uhud,

  16. مُشَدِّداً عُقَدَ الإِسلامِ إِنْ نُكِثَتْ

    ولا تَحُلُّ خطوبُ الدَّهرِ من عُقَدِهْ

    Tightening Islam's bonds whenever they are broken,

    While time's calamities cannot loosen any of his bonds,

  17. وقائِدُ الخيلِ مُزْجاةً مُجَهَّزَةً

    للحربِ من صبرِهِ فِيهَا ومن جَلَدِهْ

    And leading the horses, driven onward and equipped

    For war through his patience in it and his endurance,

  18. هادٍ هوادِيَها والليلُ معتكرٌ

    بهَدْيِ من أرْشِدَ الإِسْلامُ فِي رَشَدِهْ

    Guiding their foremost ranks while the night grows thick,

    With the guidance of one whose rectitude guided Islam aright.

  19. كم بَيْنَ ليلِكَ يَا منصورُ تُركِضُها

    وليلِ مُرْتكِضٍ فِي لَهْوِهِ وَدَدِهْ

    How far apart are your night, Mansur, as you spur them on,

    And the night of one rushing about in his amusements and play!

  20. ما صُبحُ مصطَبحٍ فِي روضةٍ أُنفٍ

    من صُبْحِ من يَنعمُ الإِسلامُ فِي كَبِدِهْ

    How can the dawn of a morning drinker in an untouched garden

    Compare with the dawn of one through whose hardship Islam prospers?

  21. سارٍ إِلَى غِرَّةِ الأَعداءِ يَطلُبُها

    إِذَا تقلَّبَ ساهِي العيش فِي رَغَدِهْ

    Traveling by night to catch his enemies unguarded, seeking that moment,

    While one living heedlessly turns about in life's ease,

  22. مسهَّداً فِي سبيلِ اللهِ يكلؤُهُ

    ربٌّ أَنامَ عُيونَ الدِّينِ فِي سُهُدِهْ

    Kept sleepless in God's cause, guarded

    By a Lord who put faith's eyes to sleep during his vigil,

  23. مُوفٍ عَلَى كَتدَيْ طاوي الحُزونِ بِهِ

    والمُلكُ والدِّينُ والدنيا على كَتدِهْ

    Perched upon the withers of a steed carrying him across rough ground,

    While kingship, faith, and the world rest upon his shoulder.

  24. تُقصِّرُ الرِّيحُ عن مَسْرى كتائِبِهِ

    كما تَقاصَرَتِ الأَملاكُ عن أَمَدِهْ

    The wind falls short of his battalions' night march,

    As kings have fallen short of his reach.

  25. بُحورُ جَدْواهُ فِي الآفاقِ زاخِرةٌ

    وَقَدْ يُزاحِمُ هِيمَ الطَّيرِ فِي ثَمدِهْ

    The seas of his bounty overflow across the horizons,

    Yet he may jostle thirsty birds at his scant waterhole,

  26. شَرَّابُ أَنقُع أَجوازِ الفَلاةِ إذَا

    مَا كَانَ شُرْبُ دمِ الأَعداءِ من صَدَدِهْ

    A frequent drinker of pools in the heart of the wilderness, when

    Drinking enemies' blood is his intent,

  27. حَتَّى يَئُودَ القنا فِي كُلِّ معركةٍ

    أَوْداً يُقيمُ قَناةَ الدِّينِ من أَوَدِهْ

    Until he bends the lances in every battle,

    A bending that straightens faith's spear from its crookedness,

  28. ويُنهِبُ الموتَ أَرواحَ الكُماةِ كَما

    يُبيحُ فِي السَّلم جَدْوَاهُ لمُنتقِدِهْ

    And gives death the warriors' souls as plunder, just as

    In peace he makes his bounty freely available to its claimant,

  29. حَيْثُ يُعِلُّ أَديمَ القِرْنِ من دَمِهِ

    ويَحتَبي جَسدُ الجبَّارِ فِي جَسَدِهْ

    Where he gives the opponent's skin draught after draught of his blood,

    And the tyrant's body wraps itself in its own blood,

  30. وتلحَظُ الشَّمسُ من أَثناءِ هَبْوَتِهِ

    كما يُغَضغِضُ جَفنُ العَينِ من رَمَدِهْ

    And the sun peers through the folds of his dust cloud,

    As an eye's lid droops with inflammation.

  31. لا يُبعِدُ الجُودَ من يومِ الجِلادِ ولا

    يُغِبُّ يومَ نداهُ يومُ مُجتلَدِهْ

    He does not keep generosity far from the day of combat, nor

    Does his day of fighting interrupt his day of bounty.

  32. كَأَنَّهُ من دَمِ الأَعداءِ فِي حَرجٍ

    فإِنْ يَمُتْ ذو سلاحٍ من يدَيْهِ يَدِهْ

    As though enemy blood weighs upon his conscience,

    If an armed man dies at his hands, he pays his blood-price.

  33. ومُعتَفوهُ لَديهِ أولياءُ دمٍ

    نَداهُ ذُو عَقلِهِ فيهم وذو قَوَدِهْ

    And his petitioners are, in his eyes, claimants to blood;

    His bounty bears his blood-price among them and his retribution.

  34. مساعِياً كُتِبتْ فِي اللَّوْحِ واكتُتِبَت

    فينا بسعي ابن يحيى واعتلاءِ يدِهْ

    Deeds written upon the Tablet and inscribed

    Among us through Ibn Yahya's striving and his hand's ascendancy:

  35. يَخُطُّها بصدورِ الخَطِّ مُنصلِتاً

    فِي كلِّ صدرٍ حليفِ الكُفرِ مُعتقِدِهْ

    He writes them with Khatt lance-points, charging with weapon drawn

    Into every breast allied to unbelief and professing it,

  36. ويَنْثَني فِي صِفاحِ العُجمِ يُعجِمُها

    بِصَفحَتَيْ كُلِّ ماضِي الغرْب مُتَّقدِهْ

    And turns upon the non-Arabs' broad faces, dotting them

    With the two flats of every blade, keen and blazing of edge.

  37. والمُلكُ يَنسَخُها فِي أُمِّ مَفخَرِهِ

    والدهرُ يَقرَؤها فِي مُنتَهى أبَدِهْ

    Kingship copies them into the mother-book of its glory,

    And time reads them to the furthest limit of its eternity.

  38. راع الملوكَ فمخنوقٌ بجِرَّتِهِ

    يهيمُ فِي الأرضِ أو لاجٍ إِلَى سَندِهْ

    He terrified kings: one, choking upon his cud,

    Wanders over the earth; another seeks refuge in his mountain fastness.

  39. فتِلكَ نفسُ ابن شَنجٍ لا مآلَ لَهَا

    من مِيتَةِ السيفِ أَوْ عَيشٍ عَلَى نَكدِهْ

    Such is Ibn Shanj's soul: it has no escape

    From death by the sword or a life of misery.

  40. ما يَرْتَقي شَرَفاً إِلّا رَفَعتَ لَهُ

    وجهاً من الرَّوْعِ مَرفوعاً عَلَى رَصَدِهْ

    He climbs no height but you raise before him

    A face of terror held high in ambush for him.

  41. ولا انتحى بلداً إلّا قَرَنْتَ بِهِ

    هَمّاً يُبلِّدُهُ عن مُنتحى بَلَدِهْ

    Nor does he head for any land but you couple with him

    An anxiety that numbs him short of the land he seeks.

  42. وقد تَوَجَّسَ من يُمناكَ بارِقَةً

    فِي عارِضٍ لا يفوتُ الطَّيرُ من بَرَدِهْ

    He has fearfully sensed a lightning flash from your right hand

    Within a cloud whose hail no bird can escape:

  43. جيشاً إذَا آدَ مَتنَ الأَرضِ تَعدِلُهُ

    بحِلْمِ أَرْوَعَ راسي الحِلمِ مُتَّئدِهْ

    An army that, when it weighs down the earth's back, you balance

    With the forbearance of a noble man, steadfast and deliberate in judgment,

  44. كالبحرِ تَنسِجُهُ ريحُ الصَّبا حُبكاً

    إذَا ترَقرَقَ فِي الماذِيّ من زَرَدِهْ

    Like a sea the east wind weaves into rippled patterns,

    When it shimmers in the supple mail of its links,

  45. بحرٌ سفائِنهُ غُرٌّ مَسومَةٌ

    والبَيْضُ والبِيضُ والرَّاياتُ من زَبَدِهْ

    A sea whose ships are white-blazed, marked steeds,

    And whose helmets, bright swords, and banners are its foam,

  46. وجاحمٌ من حريقٍ لا خمودَ لَهُ

    إِلاَّ ونَفسُ ابن شَنجٍ وسْط مُفتأَدِهْ

    And a blazing furnace, a fire that will not die down

    Until Ibn Shanj's soul lies amid its roasting pit,

  47. كَتائِباً تَرَكَتْ عُبَّادَ مِلَّتِهِ

    لا تعرِفُ السبتَ فِي الأيامِ من أَحَدِهْ

    Battalions that left the worshippers of his creed

    Unable to tell Saturday from Sunday among the days.

  48. إِن ضاقَ عن مرِّها رَحْبُ الفضاءِ فقد

    نَفِذْتَ من قَلبِهِ فِيهَا إِلَى كَبدِهْ

    Though the wide expanse grew too narrow for their passage, you have

    Pierced through his heart with them into his liver.

  49. فتَّتَّ منها قواصي بَنباويَتِهِ

    بالهَدْمِ والنَّارِ فَتّاً فتّ فِي عضدِهْ

    With them you shattered the farthest reaches of his Banbawiya

    By demolition and fire, a shattering that weakened his arm.

  50. وقدْتَ منها مطاياهُ مُوَقَّرَةً

    بأهل كُلّ رفيع القدر أَوْ وَلَدِهْ

    And you drove from it his mounts, heavily laden

    With the family of every high-ranking man, or his child.

  51. سما لَهُمْ رهَجُ المنصورِ فانقلبُوا

    نحلاً جَلاهُ دُخانُ النَّار عن شُهُدِهْ

    Al-Mansur's battle-dust rose over them, and they became

    Bees driven by fire's smoke from their honeycomb.

  52. وراحَ كُلُّ منيعٍ من معاقِلِهِمْ

    غاباً خَلا لمُبيرِ الأُسدِ من أَسَدِهْ

    And every impregnable stronghold of theirs became

    A forest emptied of its lions for the lions' destroyer,

  53. يرمي إِلَى الخيلِ والأَبطالِ مُفتدياً

    بكلِّ أَغيدَ زادَ الذُّعر فِي غَيَدِهْ

    Casting toward the cavalry and champions, to ransom itself,

    Every supple youth whose terror increased his swaying grace.

  54. ثم اتَّقَى أعيُنَ النُّظَّارِ ينقُدُها

    من عَينِهِ كالحَصى عدَّاً ومِنْ نقَدِهْ

    Then he warded off the onlookers' eyes, paying them

    From his gold, counted like pebbles, and from his coin.

  55. فرُبَّ ذي قَنصٍ زُرقٍ حبائِلُهُ

    قَدْ صادَ ظَبياً وَكَانَ اللَّيثُ من طَرَدِهْ

    Many a hunter whose snares are blue

    Has caught a gazelle, while a lion was among his quarry.

  56. وقد ترَكْتَ ابنَ شَنجٍ فلَّ مُعتَرَكٍ

    إِن لَمْ يَمتْ من ظُباهُ ماتَ من كَمَدِهْ

    You have left Ibn Shanj a routed remnant of battle:

    If he does not die of its sword-edges, he dies of his grief,

  57. مُشَرَّداً فِي قواصي البيدِ مُغترِباً

    وَقَدْ مَلأْتَ فِجاجَ الأَرْضِ من خُرُدِهْ

    Driven out into the remotest deserts, an exile,

    While you have filled the earth's passes with his bashful maidens.

  58. وَ فِرْذَلندُ رَدَدْتَ المُلكَ فِي يَده

    وَمَا رَجا غَيرَ رَدِّ الرُّوحِ فِي جَسَدِهْ

    And Firdhaland—you restored kingship to his hand,

    When he had hoped for nothing but the return of the soul to his body,

  59. شِبلٌ دعاكَ لأُسْدٍ فوقهُ لِبَدٌ

    فأقشعتْ عنه والأَظفارُ فِي لِبَدِهْ

    A lion cub who called you against lions, their manes above him;

    They dispersed from him, though their claws were in his mane.

  60. وطارَ نحوَكَ سَبحاً فِي مَدامِعِهِ

    وَقَدْ تزَوَّدَ مِلْءَ الصَّدر من زُؤُدِهْ

    He flew toward you, swimming in his tears,

    Having taken a breastful of his terror for provisions.

  61. ثم انثنى وملوكُ الشِّرْكِ أَعبُدُهُ

    إِذْ جاءَ عبدَ يَدٍ أَلقى لَهَا بيدِهْ

    Then he returned, the kings of unbelief his slaves,

    Having come as the servant of a hand to which he yielded his own.

  62. وآبَ مَنصورُ قَحطانٍ بعزَّتِهِ

    أَوْباً تَذُوبُ مُلُوكُ الأَرْضِ من حَسَدِهْ

    And Mansur of Qahtan returned in his might,

    With a return that made earth's kings melt with envy of him.

  63. فاللهُ ينقُصُ من أَعدائِه أَبداً

    ويستَزيدُ من الإِسلامِ فِي عَدَدِهْ

    So God forever diminishes his enemies,

    And adds ever more of Islam to his ranks.