ما سَدِكَت عِلَّةٌ بِمَورودِ

أَكرَمَ مِن تَغلِبَ بنِ داوُّدِ

No affliction befell a noble man like Taghlib bin Dawud

No illness ever clung to a visited soul / Nobler than Taghlib, the son of Dawud.

Who disdained death by plague though that was his destined fate

He disdained to die resting upon a bed, / Though now the truest of promises has settled on him.

يَأنَفُ مِن ميتَةِ الفِراشِ وَقَد

حَلَّ بِهِ أَصدَقُ المَواعيدِ

Another like him disdained dying anywhere but on

One like him denied that death should take him / Save on the saddles of long-necked, swimming steeds,

Saddled steeds with glinting swords held high

After the lances had stumbled within his chest, / And he had shattered the heads of stubborn chiefs,

وَمِثلُهُ أَنكَرَ المَماتَ عَلى

غَيرِ سُروجِ السَوابِحِ القودِ

After surviving the perils of war with his firmness

And after wading the flood of every peril / Where the hero’s heart trembles like a coward’s.

And smiting the heads of warriors with might

If we endure, then we are a patient breed; / And if we weep, the lost is not returned.

بَعدَ عِثارِ القَنا بِلَبَّتِهِ

وَصَربِهِ أَرؤُسَ الصَناديدِ

And plunging into the midst of every fray

If we mourn him in panic, it is no wonder; / Such an ebb in the sea was never known before.

Where the hearts of the brave tremble in fright

Where are the gifts he used to scatter wide / Upon the throngs and on the solitary soul?

وَخَوضِهِ غَمرَ كُلِّ مَهلَكَةِ

لِلذِمرِ فيها فُؤادُ رِعديدِ

Whether we show patience or weep incessantly

He who survives his loved ones after they pass / Survives for sorrow, not for immortality.

Or agonize over him, it is no surprise

What do souls hope for from a time wherein / The fairest state is far from fair or praised?

فَإِن صَبَرنا فَإِنَّنا صُبُرٌ

وَإِن بَكَينا فَغَيرُ مَردودِ

This ebb in fate’s sea we have not known before

The fangs of Time know me well indeed— / I am he whose wood they have gnawed for an age.

Where are the gifts he would lavish freely

In me lies that which has dueled with disaster, / And made me tame to black catastrophes.

وَإِن جَزِعنا لَهُ فَلا عَجَبٌ

ذا الجَزرُ في البَحرِ غَيرُ مَعهودِ

On the noble and the commoner equally?

You were not absent when he cried for help, / O Sword of Bani Hashim, never sheathed!

Greetings of peace to his beloved friends

O noblest of the noble, O King of all / The Kings on earth, O proudest of the proud.

أَينَ الهِباتُ الَّتي يُفَرِّقُها

عَلى الزَرافاتِ وَالمَواحيدِ

Who now must bid peace to sorrow, not felicity

He had died before, but you raised him up / By the stroke of Khatt spears in the throats of foes,

What hopes can souls harbor for an era

By hurling your armies against the night, / While you hurled sleeplessness into their lids.

سالِمُ أَهلِ الوِدادِ بَعدَهُمُ

يَسلَمُ لِلحُزنِ لا لِتَخليدِ

Whose present is disagreeable, future unsought?

So the vanguard surprised them at dawn, on lean mounts, / Between steady ranks and scattered bands.

The calamities of time let me recognize

Their scabbards bore the ransom, yet they chose / To deal out blows that carve like furrowed trenches.

فَما تُرَجّي النُفوسُ مِن زَمَنٍ

أَحمَدُ حالَيهِ غَيرُ مَحمودِ

That I have long been inured to its hurts

The strike found its rest in the cushions of their skulls, / And its scent lingered in the nostrils of the wolf.

And immersed in all the misfortunes it has inflicted

He consumed the life that you granted him / In honor, in thankfulness, and in sovereignty.

إِنَّ نُيوبَ الزَمانِ تَعرِفُني

أَنا الَّذي طالَ عَجمُها عودي

What aid were you unable to render him

Frail in body, yet sound in nobility; / Besieged by pain, yet a rescue to the besieged.

When the swords of Hashim’s sons sought you in need?

Then death became his shackle, and from this / The hand of the prisoner finds no liberation.

وَفيَّ ما قارَعَ الخُطوبَ وَما

آنَسَني بِالمَصائِبِ السودِ

O noblest of the noble, king of all kings

The perishing deplete no number so long as / Ali remains to constrict the desert's breadth.

Quick to soar, outmatching all in the hunt!

His battalions sweep across the desert's back / Like the blowing of its gentle, guiding winds.

ما كُنتَ عَنهُ إِذِ اِستَغاثَكَ يا

سَيفَ بَني هاشِمٍ بِمَغمودِ

Before you he died by the swords unleashed

The first letter of his name is written out / By the hooves of horses upon the solid rock.

Like the stones hurtling down the rugged cliffs

Whatever solace is offered the Prince for him, / It cannot replace his courage or his bounty.

يا أَكرَمَ الأَكرَمينَ يا مَلِكَ ال

أَملاكِ طُرّاً يا أَصيَدَ الصيدِ

You assailed the night with battalions galore

And our wish is that he remain forevermore, / Until he is consoled for every soul born.

But it assailed their eyes with a tranquilizing spell

قَد ماتَ مِن قَبلِها فَأَنشَرَهُ

وَقعُ قَنا الخَطِّ في اللَغاديدِ

So at dawn their steeds were limp and languid

Scattered from regiment to lonely abode

وَرَميُكَ اللَيلَ بِالجُنودِ وَقَد

رَمَيتَ أَجفانَهُم بِتَسهيدِ

Their sheaths bore liberation but they

Parried the blows like solid boulders

فَصَبَّحَتهُم رِعالُها شُزَّباً

بَينَ ثُباتٍ إِلى عَباديدِ

His blow in the resting place of their valor

His scent in the nostrils of their chief

تَحمِلُ أَغمادُها الفِداءَ لَهُم

فَاِنتَقَدوا الضَربَ كَالأَخاديدِ

You granted him a lofty life he lived to the full

Thanking you in glory and tranquility

مَوقِعُهُ في فِراشِ هامِهِمُ

وَريحُهُ في مَناخِرِ السيدِ

A weak frame, generous soul, poured anguish

Gushing aid, answered supplication

أَفنى الحَياةَ الَّتي وَهَبتَ لَهُ

في شَرَفٍ شاكِراً وَتَسويدِ

Then his shackle became the dove, and his

Right hand could not be freed from its bond

سَقيمَ جِسمٍ صَحيحَ مَكرُمَةٍ

مَنجودَ كَربٍ غِياثَ مَنجودِ

The passing ones do not decrease in number

Among them, Ali of clenched fists lies

ثُمَّ غَدا قَيدُهُ الحِمامُ وَما

تَخلُصُ مِنهُ يَمينُ مَصفودِ

Battalions of his waft like spirits

On the winds, unanchored, adrift

لا يَنقُصُ الهالِكونَ مِن عَدَدٍ

مِنهُ عَلِيٌّ مُضَيَّقُ البيدِ

The first letter of his name their hooves etched

Into the earth amidst the fray and blood

تَهُبُّ في ظَهرِها كَتائِبُهُ

هُبوبَ أَرواحِها المَراويدِ

However the knight may fortify the prince

Not by his valor or open-handedness

أَوَّلُ حَرفٍ مِنِ اِسمِهِ كَتَبَت

سَنابِكُ الخَيلِ في الجَلاميدِ

His remaining forever is a blessing

Until solaced is each newborn child

مَهما يُعَزُّ الفَتى الأَميرَ بِهِ

فَلا بِإِقدامِهِ وَلا الجودِ

وَمِن مُنانا بَقائُهُ أَبَداً

حَتّى يُعَزّى بِكُلِّ مَولودِ