أَلا هَل أَتى قَومي مكّري وَمَشهَدي

بقا ليقلا وَالمقربات تَثوب

Alas! Did my treacherous people and my onlookers come,

Has word reached my people of my charge and my battle-stand

Remaining for them to say while the close ones put on their cloaks,

In Qaliqala, while the noble steeds were gathering round?

تَداعَت معدّ شيبُها وَشَبابها

وَقَحطانُ مِنها حالِب وَحَليب

The allies of Ma'add gathered, their elders and youth,

Ma'add rallied against me, its greybeards and its youth,

And Qahtan among them, a milker and wet nurse,

And Qahtan too—the milker among them and the milked.

لِيَنتَهِبوا مالي وَدون انتهابه

حُسامٌ رَقيق الشَفرَتين خَشيب

To loot my wealth without looting,

They sought to plunder my wealth, but standing before the spoil

With a sword, thin of blade, unsheathed,

Was a sword of fine blade, double-edged and well-honed.

وَنادَيت مِن مَروٍ وَبلخٍ فَوارِساً

لَهُم حسب في الأَكرمين حَسيب

And I called the horsemen of Marw and Balkh,

I called out to horsemen from Merv and from Balkh,

For them in the generous is sufficient pedigree,

Men of lineage, reckoned among the most noble.

فَيا حَسرَتا لا دار قَومي قَريبَة

فَيَكثر منهم ناصِري فَيَطيب

Oh what a pity! The abode of my people is not near,

But alas for my sorrow! The abode of my people is not near,

So that many of them come to my aid and it would be pleasant,

That my defenders might multiply and my fortune mend.

وَإِنَّ أَبي ساسان كسرى بن هرمز

وَخاقان لي لَو تَعلَمين نَسيب

Verily my father is Sasan son of Hormuzd,

For truly my father is Sasan, Khosrow son of Hormizd,

And the Khagan, if only you knew my lineage,

And the Khaqan, if you but knew, is my kinsman.

ملكنا رِقاب الناس في الشِركِ كلَّهُم

لَنا تابع طوع القِياد جَنيب

We ruled over the necks of all people in polytheism,

We ruled the necks of all mankind in the days of idolatry,

For us, the obedient under command bows,

Holding them subject, obedient to the rein, led by the side.

نسومكم خسفاً وَنَقضي عَلَيكُمُ

بِما شاءَ مِنّا مخطىءٌ وَمُصيبُ

We would make you collapse and judge upon you,

We inflicted abasement upon you and decreed your fate,

With what we willed, one who misses and one who hits the mark,

According to the whim of any among us, be he wrong or right.

فَلَمّا أَتى الإِسلامُ وانشرحت له

صُدور به نَحو الأَنام تنيب

But when Islam came and hearts opened up to it,

But when Islam came, and breasts were expanded to receive it,

Yearning through it towards people, regretting,

With hearts turning penitently towards all creation,

تَبِعنا رَسول اللَه حَتّى كَأَنَّما

سَماءٌ عَلَينا بالرِجال تَصوب

We followed the Messenger of Allah until it was as if

We followed the Messenger of God, until it seemed as if

A sky above us with men pouring.

A sky was pouring down men upon us like rain.