الدهرُ أنت ودارُك الدُّنيا ومَن

في العَدّ بعدُ مؤمِّل وحَسُودُ

Time is your abode, and this world your home,

After counting, there remains an envious delayer.

وأزمَّةُ الأقدار طَوْعُ يديك وال

أَيَّامُ جُنْدُك والأنامُ عبيدُ

The crises of fate are subservient to your hands,

Your days are your troops, mankind your servants.

فُتَّ الوَرى وَعَقَدت ناصِيَةَ المَدى

بِمذمّر الشِّعرى فَأَينَ تريدُ

You have conquered the earth and grasped the reins of eternity,

With hoary hair tied about your temples, so where are you headed?

تالٍ أَباكَ فَهل سليمانٌ يُرَى

في الدَّسْت مَهَّد مُلْكَه داودُ

Such is your nature! Did Solomon's throne,

Cradled in David's lap, endure?

جَلَّى وسُدْتَ مُصَلِّياً ولا يُرْفَعُ ال

مَعْدُومُ ما لَم يَشفَعِ المَوجودُ

You let shine and shut up the worshiper, and none can intercede for the doomed.

No ancestry or father helped you grow,

لم يُختَرَم جَدٌّ نَماكَ وَلا أبٌ

إِنّ النّباهَةَ في الخليفِ خلودُ

Indeed, wisdom in a successor is eternity.

Your minarets loomed high over the horizon, and made motherless

شَمَخت مَنارُكَ في اليَفاع وأمَّها

من لم يسُدْ فأَرَتْهُ كيف يسودُ

One who did not yield, so how can he rule?

You raged for Islam while it called for help,

وَهَبَبْتَ لِلإِسلامِ وَهوَ مُصوّح

فَاِهْتَزَّ أَهضابٌ وَرَقَّ نجودُ

So peaks trembled and stars scattered.

You kindled the embers of its Salihs with a flashing blade

وَفَثأتَ جَمرَةَ صالميه بِصَيْلَمٍ

نَصَعَ الأجنَّةَ يومُهَا المشهودُ

Whose edge on its day cleaved the viscera.

They met them above al-Khatim with towering giants

خَطَمَتهُمُ فَوقَ الخَطيمِ لَوافِحٌ

نَفسُ الأَرينِ لِوأرهِنَّ برودُ

Whose souls yearned to be ransomed with refrigeration.

And they hurled themselves into Golan by your rage

وَرُمُوا عَلى الجَوْلانِ مِنكَ بِجَولَةٍ

تَوئيدُها نَسرُ الضَلالِ وَئيدُ

Which whelped the eagle of misguidance and its whelp.

And a flaming meteor singed their bones,

وَلَحَا عِظامَهمُ بعَرْقَة عارِقٌ

مازِلتَ تَمحضُ جَوّهُ فَتَجودُ

You continue purifying its air, so you dwell in bounty.

You flogged the ghosts with the soulful spear, and above it

وَشَلَلت بِالرّوح السّروج وَفَوقها

زرعٌ تحصِّدُه الرِّماح حصيدُ

Crops the spears would reap at harvest time.

And over Azaz you toppled their lofty nests,

وَعَلى عَزاز عَنَوْا وَثَلّ عُروشَهُم

مَلكٌ مُقيّدُ مَن عَصاهُ مَقيدُ

A captive king is one who disobeys his binder.

So with striking they struck you, and were struck down,

وبِتَلِّ باشِرَ باشَروكَ فَعافَسوا

أُهبَ الأَساوِدِ حَشوُهُنَّ أسودُ

The innards of the black lionesses are blackest.

They perished as perished Aad led astray by its she-camel,

أَوْدَوا كَما أَوْدَى بعادٍ غَيُّها

وَعَقوا كَما اِستَغوى الفَصيلَ ثَمودُ

And rebelled like Thamud's calf-worshipping clan.

If they hurt, then you are righteous,

إِنْ آلَموا عَقراً فَإِنَّكَ صالحٌ

أَو آلَموا غَدراً فَإِنَّكَ هودُ

Or if betrayed, then you are judicious.

You scattered them, so at every steep descent

وَزَّعتَهم فَبِكُلِّ مهبطِ تَلْعَةٍ

خَدٌّ بِهِ مِن وازعٍ أُخْدُودُ

Lies a cheek rubbed bare by a reprimanding patron.

And you fettered them with shackles filling the expanse

وَعَصَبتَهم بِعَصائِبٍ مِلء المَلا

شَتَّى وَإِنْ خلَّ البَسالَة عودُ

Dispersed, though the gallantry of their spears is intact.

Its traces are praiseworthy, and its traces

آثارُها مَحمودَةٌ وَآثارها

مشهودةٌ وشعارها محمودُ

Witnessed, its motto praiseworthy.

It wore your name in hardship like a garment

لَبِسَتْ مِنَ اِسْمِكَ في الكَريهَةِ مَلبِساً

يَبْلَى جديدُ الدَّهْرِ وهو جديدُ

New in time though it wears out.

The short-lived were given long lives by inspiration

وَقَصيرَةُ الآجالِ طَوَّلَ باعها

بَوْحٌ يُسامي هامَها وقدودُ

That rivals the heights of its aspirations.

Bereft of purpose since they were shaken,

مطرورةُ الأسلاب مُذْ هَزَّعتها

تَاهَ الهُدى وَتَبخْتَرَ التّوحيدُ

Guidance was lost and pure faith contaminated.

You unfurled them by the law of Ahmad

أَشْرَعْتَها فَعَلى شَريعَةِ أَحمَدٍ

مِمّا جَنَتهُ بَوارِقٌ وَعُقودُ

With what his lightning and clouds have reaped.

And how much of its prose you have scattered in a stance

وَلَكَم نَثَرتَ نَظيمَها في مَوقِفٍ

تَغريدُ صالي حَرّهِ التَغريدُ

Where the heated warbling of his ally warbles!

Clearing its darkness and undoing what

يَجلو سَناكَ ظَلامَهُ وَيحُلّ ما

عَقَدت قَناهُ لِواؤك المَعقودُ

His binding pact has knotted.

In a swoop, its ceiling crowded the sky

في هَبوَةٍ زَحَمَ السَماءَ رواقُها

وَالأَرضُ تَرجُف تَحتَه وتَميدُ

And the earth quaked beneath it and swayed.

You pitched its camp, so its pegs were the Very Remote,

ضَرَبتْ مُخَيَّمَها فَكانَ كُمَاتُها

أَوتادَهُ القُصوى وَأَنت عَمودُ

While you are its pillar.

Every day of your conquests a herald proclaims

في كُلِّ يَومٍ مِن فُتوحِكَ صادِحٌ

هزجُ الغناءِ وَطائرٌ غِرِّيدُ

The rhymed song and a bird chirps.

Bestowing the nectar of his cup on Anah,

تُهدي لِعانَةَ كَأسَه فِرغانة

وَتسيغُ زبدة ما شَداهُ زبيدُ

And sweetening the cream his abundance curdled.

The slash of your sword is a prison for the Abyssinians,

فَغِرارُ سَيفِكَ لِلأَحابِش محبسٌ

ومُثارُ نَقعِكَ لِلصّعيدِ صَعيدُ

And the flow of your moisture is soil for the ground.

Let not this imitator lack a community

لا تَعْدَمَنْ هَذا المقلّدُ أُمَّةً

مُلقى إِليهِ لِرَعْيِها الإِقليدُ

To which leadership of its flock is entrusted.

Rosy wine and spacious theaters,

الوِرْدُ قرٌّ والمسارحُ رَحْبَةٌ

والرّفْدُ مَدٌّ والظّلالُ مَديدُ

Provisions extended and shaded shadows stretched.

Life is fine, its features illuminated,

وَالعَيشُ أَبلَجُ مُشرِقُ القَسَمَات وال

أَشجارُ غُرٌّ وَالأَصائلُ غيدُ

Trees lush, roots anchored.

The kingdom has porticoes stretched to the horizon, vistas lit,

وَالمُلْكُ مَمدودُ الرّواقِ مُنوّرَ ال

آفاقِ وَضّاءُ المُنى مَحسودُ

Wish fulfillment radiates its glimmer.

In a state whose spring scatter broadcast

في دَولَةٍ مُذْ هَبَّ نَشرُ رَبيعِها

نُشِر الرّفاتُ وَأَثمَرَ الجُلْمُودُ

Serenity, and the frozen bloom.

Praiseworthy in effect, worthy of praise

مَحمودَةُ الآثارِ مَحمودِيَّةٌ

كلُّ المَواسِمِ عِندَها تَعْييدُ

Are all its seasons, each a celebration.