الثار دونك يا ليث الوغى الثارا

فليس غيرك عنا يكشف العارا

Vengeance! Take it up, O lion of battle—vengeance!

For none but you can lift disgrace from us.

جرد سيوفك من اغمادها فلقد

آن انتضاها على الجار الذي جارا

Unsheathe your swords from their scabbards, for indeed

the time has come to draw them against the neighbor who did wrong.

وانظم جسومهم وانثر جماجمهم

انا عهدناك نظاما وتتارا

And string together their bodies and scatter their skulls;

we have indeed known you as a stringer of bodies and a Tatar host.

وروّ من دمهم بيضا وسمر قنا

ومن لحومهم وحشا واطيارا

And drench white swords and brown spear-shafts in their blood,

and sate wild beasts and birds on their flesh.

واترك ديارهم تشكو الانيس بها

ولا تدع منهم في الدار دبار

And leave their dwellings lamenting the lack of a companion within them,

and leave not a single inhabitant of them in the house.

واعجل بقتلهم من قبل ان يلدوا

لكفرهم فاجرا في الارض كفارا

And hasten to kill them before they beget,

through their unbelief, a wicked, inveterate unbeliever on earth.

فيا حليف الردى أبشر فسوف ترى

ليثا تدور المنايا حيثما دارا

So, O ally of death, rejoice, for you shall soon see

a lion, with deaths circling wherever he turns.

فلست والله يا نسل الخنا حسنا

بل اللئيم الذي لا يحفظ الجارا

For by God, O offspring of depravity, you are no Hasan—no good man,

but the base man who does not protect his neighbor.

غدا تنوح عليك الغانيات اذا

ما جس للضرب عيدانا واوتارا

Tomorrow the fair women will lament over you, when

he fingers lutes and strings to strike them.

فلا تقسه بمن لاقيت ان له

سيفا يقلد آجالا وأعمارا

So do not compare him with those you have faced, for he has

a sword that hangs appointed deaths and lifespans about men's necks.

تظن جمعك ذا تنجيك كثرته

من بأس من لم يخف جما واكثارا

You think the numbers of this host of yours will save you

from the might of one who has never feared a multitude or greater numbers.

نجم اغرّ به تهدى طلائعه

وفي سماء الوغى تلقاه غرّارا

A radiant star by which his vanguards are guided,

and in battle's sky you find him full of guile.

أخذ الفوارس في الهيجا احبّ له

من اخذه قاصرات الطرف ابكارا

Taking horsemen in battle is dearer to him

than his taking virgins with downcast eyes.

يجلو دجى الحرب ان ابدو الظلام وغى

كأنما اضرمت اسيافه نارا

He dispels war's gloom if they bring darkness into battle,

as though his swords had kindled a fire.

تجوب عرض الفلا طولا عساكره

وينتهي السير فيهم حيثما سارا

His armies traverse the breadth and length of the wilderness,

and their marching ends wherever he travels.

لكل عادية بيضاء تحسبها

شهبا بليل الوغى اطلعن أقمارا

Every charging band has white blades you would take

for meteors in battle's night that make moons rise.

بقودهم ملك رحب البنان له

ينقاد كل عنيد كان جبارا

At their head is a king, open-handed, to whom

every obstinate tyrant submits.

البأش واليأس والرأي السديد ومن

في العز أمسى على الاعداء كرارا

His are might, despair, and sound judgment; he is the one who

in glory has become a relentless charger against his enemies.

اخو الندى يشبه المهدى من تركت

له المكارم حتى الحشر تذكارا

Brother to generosity, he resembles the Mahdi, for whom was left

by noble deeds a memorial until the Resurrection.

مجري الدما بانابيب القناة ومن

اسال غيث دم الابطال مدرارا

He who sets blood flowing with the spear's shafts, and who

poured out a copious rain of heroes' blood;

ومن على سابح قد خاض ليل وغى

والنحر بحر جرى بالموج تيارا

and who, astride a swimming steed, has plunged into battle's night,

while slaughter is a sea flowing in surging waves;

التارك الخيل خلوا من فوارسها

تحت العجاج ونقع الحرب قد ثارا

who leaves horses empty of their riders,

beneath the dust cloud, while war's dust has risen;

القالق الهام بالعضب الحسام اذا

ما طاش لب وعقل في الورى طارا

who cleaves heads with the keen, cutting sword, when

understanding reels and reason flies away among humankind.

فقل لمن راح من راح الوغى ثملا

بدائه دونك اليوم الدوا دارا

So tell the one who has grown drunk on the wine of battle,

for his ailment: 'Take the Dawadar today!'

فلو رأى قصر ما حاز حار ولم

تذكر له دولة كسرى ولا دارا

Had Caesar seen what he won, he would be bewildered, and neither

Khosrow's realm nor Darius's would be mentioned to him.

ولو وزنتَ ملوك الارض قاطبة

به لما وزنوا في الحرب معشارا

And if you weighed all the kings of the earth

against him, they would not weigh a tenth as much in war.

تعود البسط لم يقبض أنامله

إلا عنانا وعسالا وبتّارا

Accustomed to open-handed giving, he has never clenched his fingers

except around reins, a quivering spear, and a keen-cutting sword.