أَمُساوِرٌ أَم قَرنُ شَمسٍ هَذا

أَم لَيثُ غابٍ يَقدُمُ الأُستاذا

Is this Musawir, or is it the horn of the sun?

Or a lion of the forest leading the Master?

شِم ما اِنتَضَيتَ فَقَد تَرَكتَ ذُبابَهُ

قِطَعاً وَقَد تَرَكَ العِبادَ جُذاذاً

Sheathe what you have drawn, for you have left its edge

In fragments, just as it has left the people cut to shreds.

هَبكَ اِبنَ يَزداذٍ حَطَمتَ وَصَحبَهُ

أَتَرى الوَرى أَضحَوا بَني يَزداذا

Suppose you have shattered Ibn Yazdad and his cohort,

Do you deem that all mankind have become sons of Yazdad?

غادَرتَ أَوجُهَهُم بِحَيثُ لَقِيتَهُم

أَقفائَهُم وَكُبودَهُم أَفَلاذا

You left their faces behind where you encountered them,

Turning their napes, and leaving their livers in slivers.

في مَوقِفٍ وَقَفَ الحِمامُ عَلَيهِمِ

في ضَنكِهِ وَاِستَحوَذَ اِستِحواذا

In a stand where Death itself stood over them,

In its crushing press, and seized them with total dominion.

جَمَدَت نُفوسُهُمُ فَلَمّا جِئتَها

أَجرَيتَها وَسَقَيتَها الفولاذا

Their souls had frozen solid, but when you descended upon them,

You made them flow again, and gave them steel to drink.

لَمّا رَأَوكَ رَأَوا أَباكَ مُحَمَّداً

في جَوشَنٍ وَأَخا أَبيكَ مُعاذا

When they beheld you, they beheld your father Muhammad,

Clad in chainmail, alongside your father’s brother, Mu'adh.

أَعجَلتَ أَلسُنَهُم بِضَربِ رِقابِهِم

عَن قَولِهِم لا فارِسٌ إِلّا ذا

You hastened their tongues by striking at their necks,

Before they could utter, "There is no horseman but this one."

غِرٌّ طَلَعتَ عَلَيهِ طِلعَةَ عارِضٍ

مَطَرَ المَنايا وابِلاً وَرَذاذا

A deluded fool, upon whom you rose like a storm cloud,

Raining down dooms, in torrential downpours and drizzle.

فَغَدا أَسيراً قَد بَلَلتَ ثِيابَهُ

بِدَمٍ وَبَلَّ بِبَولِهِ الأَفخاذا

So he became a captive; you had soaked his garments

With blood, while he soaked his thighs with urine.

سَدَّت عَلَيهِ المَشرَفِيَّةُ طُرقَهُ

فَاِنصاعَ لا حَلَباً وَلا بَغداذا

The Mashrafi blades blocked off all his paths,

So he turned in flight—making neither for Aleppo nor Baghdad.

طَلَبَ الإِمارَةَ في الثُغورِ وَنَشؤهُ

ما بَينَ كَرخايا إِلى كَلواذا

He sought the emirate in the frontier lands, yet his origin

Lay merely between Karkhaya and Kalwadha.

فَكَأَنَّهُ حَسِبَ الأَسِنَّةَ حُلوَةً

أَو ظَنَّها البَرنِيَّ وَالآزاذا

As though he deemed the spearheads to be sweet confections,

Or imagined them to be Barni and Azad dates.

لَم يَلقَ قَبلَكَ مَن إِذا اِختَلَفَ القَنا

جَعَلَ الطِعانَ مِنَ الطِعانِ مَلاذا

Before you, he never met one who, when the lances crossed,

Made the thrust of battle a refuge from the thrust of battle.

مَن لا تُوافِقُهُ الحَياةُ وَطيبُها

حَتّى يُوافِقَ عَزمُهُ الإِنفاذا

One whom life and its sweetness do not please,

Until his resolve meets its full execution.

مُتَعَوِّداً لُبسَ الدُروعِ يَخالُها

في البَردِ خَزّاً وَالهَواجِرِ لاذا

Accustomed to the wearing of armor, imagining it to be

Silk in the bitter cold, and fine linen in the midday heat.

أَعجِب بِأَخذِكَهُ وَأَعجَبُ مِنكُما

أَن لا تَكونَ لِمِثلِهِ أَخّاذا

I marvel at your capture of him, yet more marvelous than you both,

Is that you should ever be the captor of his like.