1. يا صاح هل لك في احتمال تحيةٍ

    تهدى إلى الملك الأغر جبينه

    O friend, would you carry a greeting

    to be offered to the king whose brow is radiant?

  2. قف حيث تختلس النفوس مهابةً

    ويغيض من ماء الوجوه معينه

    Stand where souls are snatched away in awe,

    and the flowing moisture of faces ebbs away.

  3. فهنالك الأسد الذي امتنعت به

    وبسيفه دنيا الإله ودينه

    For there stands the lion by whom are made impregnable—

    and by his sword—God's world and His faith.

  4. فمن المهندة الرقاق لباسه

    ومن المثقفة الدقاق عرينه

    For slender Indian swords are his clothing,

    and slender, straightened spears form his lair.

  5. تبدو الشجاعة من طلاقة وجهه

    كالرمح دل على القساوة لينه

    Courage shows in the cheerfulness of his face,

    like a spear whose suppleness reveals its hardness.

  6. ووراء يقظته أناة مجربٍ

    لله سطوة بأسه وسكونه

    And behind his vigilance lies a seasoned man's deliberation;

    God be praised for the force of his valor and his calm!

  7. هذا الذي في الله صح جهاده

    هذا الذي في الله صح يقينه

    This is he whose striving in God's cause is true;

    this is he whose certainty in God is sound.

  8. هذا الذي بخل الزمان بمثله

    والمشمخر إلى العلى عرينه

    This is he whose equal Time has begrudged,

    and whose lair towers toward the heights.

  9. هذا عماد الدين وابن عماده

    نسباً كما انشق الوشيج رصينه

    This is Imad al-Din, and the son of the faith's pillar,

    by lineage, as a sturdy shaft splits from spearwood.

  10. هذا الذي يقف الملوك ببابه

    هذا الذي تهب الألوف يمينه

    This is he at whose gate kings stand;

    this is he whose right hand bestows thousands.

  11. ملك الورى ملكٌ أغر متوجٌ

    لا غدره يخشى ولا تلوينه

    A radiant, crowned king has gained dominion over mankind;

    neither his treachery nor his fickleness is feared.

  12. إن حل فالشرف التليد أنيسه

    أو سار فالظفر العزيز قرينه

    If he halts, ancestral honor is his companion;

    or marches, mighty victory is his companion.

  13. فالدهر خاذل من أراد عناده

    أبداً وجبار السماء معينه

    For Time forsakes whoever seeks to defy him

    forever, and the Almighty of heaven is his helper.

  14. والدين يشهد أنه لمعزه

    والشرك يعلم أنه لمهينه

    And the faith bears witness that he surely exalts it,

    and polytheism knows that he surely abases it.

  15. ما زال يقسم أن يبدد شمله

    والله يكره أن تمين يمينه

    He kept swearing to scatter its gathered ranks,

    and God abhors that his oath should prove false,

  16. حتى رمى بالأعوجية ركنه

    فانهد شامخه وحض ركينه

    until he hurled Aʿwaj-bred steeds against its pillar,

    so its towering part collapsed and its firm foundation was brought low.

  17. فتح الرها بالامس فانفتحت له

    أبواب ملكٍ لا يذال مصونه

    He conquered Edessa yesterday, and there opened to him

    the gates of a realm whose guarded domain is never profaned.

  18. دلف الأمير لها فهب لنصره

    منها مباركٌ طائرٌ ميمونه

    The emir advanced toward it, and there rose to aid him

    from it a blessed bird, an auspicious omen for him.

  19. وغداً يكون له بأنطاكية

    مشهور فتحٍ في الزمان مبينه

    And tomorrow he shall have at Antioch

    a renowned conquest, manifest throughout time.

  20. طعن الجيوش برأيه وسنانه

    يوم اللقاء فما أبل طعينه

    He pierced the armies with his judgment and his spear-point

    on the day of battle, and his stricken foe never recovered.