لَقَد أَدنَت لَكَ البَلَدَ السَحيقا

فَهَل كانَت خُيولاً أَم بُروقا

The distant land drew near for you,

Was it horses or lightening flashes?

وَهَل مَن قَلَّدَ الخَيلَ المَخالي

كَمَن جَعَلَ الشَكيمَ لَها عَليقا

Is one who adorns horses with ornaments

Like one who makes the thorns their fodder?

سَرَت مُقوَرَّةً تَجلو الدَياجي

بِأَروَعَ يُلبِسُ اللَيلَ الشُروقا

They marched slowly, the darkness dissolving,

In the finest garb with which dawn clothes the daybreak;

أَثَرنَ عَجاجَةً خيلَت دُخاناً

وَخيلَ سَنا الحَديدِ بِها بُروقا

Their tracks left smoke behind like a simmering fire,

And the horses’ teeth flashed with the sparks struck from steels;

وَبارَينَ الرِياحَ لِكَسبِ نَصرٍ

رَجَعنَ حَوامِلاً مِنهُ وَسوقا

The winds competing to ensure victory,

Returned bearing booty back from there;

وَما لِمُمَلَّكٍ في العِزِّ حَقٌّ

إِذا لَم يَستَرِدَّ كَذا الحُقوقا

No ruler has the right to dignity and power

Unless he recovers what rights have been lost;

لَأَسرَعتَ اِنصِلاتاً وَاِعتِزاماً

وَفَخرُ السَيفِ أَن يُلفى دَلوقا

You hastened resolutely and purposefully,

And the pride of the sword is to be wrapped in its scabbard;

نُصِرتَ وَكُنتَ أَوفى الناسِ رِبحاً

أَوانَ تُقيمُ لِلهَيجاءِ سوقا

You were victorious and gained more than others,

Is it not time to establish a market for the plunder?

وَلاقَت طَيِّئٌ ضَرباً دِراكاً

أَطارَ طُلىً وَأَذرِعَةً وَسوقا

The clan of Tayyi’ suffered a terrible onslaught

Their robes and forearms were taken as booty;

رَمَيتَهُمُ بِعَزمٍ لَو تَحَدّى

حَديدَ السُدِّ جاوَزَهُ مُروقا

You pelted them with a resolve that, had it rivaled

The firmness of a dam, would have breached it;

وَعَزمٍ ناصِرِيٍّ بَثَّ فيهِم

فَيالِقَ غادَرَت هاماً فَليقا

And a resolute, triumphant spirit that cast upon them

Agonizing separation, so they met with misery;

وَظَنّوا العَزمَ ضَحضاحاً بَكِيّاً

فَكانَ لِحَينِهِم بَحراً عَميقا

They thought your resolve a tearful weakling

Yet for them, when the time came, it was a deep sea;

وَقَد زَأَرَت أُسودُهُمُ فَلَمّا

دَنَوتَ غَدا زَئيرُهُمُ شَهيقا

Their lions roared, but when you approached

Their roaring turned at once into wheezing;

وَوَلَّوا عَن حَريمِهِمُ فِراراً

فَكُنتَ بِصَونِ مَن تَرَكوا حَقيقا

They fled from their homes in terror

While you protected those whom they abandoned;

وَلَولا أَن كَفَفتَ الجَيشَ عَنهُ

لَسيقَ مَعَ السَوامِ غَداةَ سيقا

Had you not reined in your army from them

They would have been led off with the captives in the morning;

فَأَلحَقتَ المَتالي بِالعَذارى

وَكَثَّرتَ الأُطَيفالَ الرَقيقا

So you restored the infants to the mothers

And multiplied the precious little ones;

وَلَو لَم تَقفُ رَأياً حَيدَرِيّاً

لَما أَوصَلتَهُم إِلّا العَقيقا

Had you not wisely resolved to show clemency

You would have left them naught but carnage;

وَقَد وَرَدَت رِماحُ الخَطِّ مِنهُم

مَوارِدَ لَم تَدَع بِالقَومِ موقا

Their spear-thrusts were repelled to places that left

No refuge for them, so that the people were undone;

قَناً تَمضي مُصَمِّمَةً فَتَقضي

لِسَكرانِ الغَوايَةِ أَن يُفيقا

Like spears that pierce with purpose so as to determine

The fate of the intoxicated gone astray to awaken;

وَقَد صَدَرَت تَمايَلُ كَالنَشاوى

فَهَل سُقِيَت نَجيعاً أَو رَحيقا

As if swaying drunkenly, though they were taken down,

Were they given to drink until sated, or a narcotic?

أَتَيتَهُمُ بِما كَرِهوا نَهاراً

إِباءً أَن تُوافِيَهُم طُروقا

You attacked by day with what they hated,

Disdaining to meet them by night with raids;

لَئِن وَجَدوا الثَباتَ لَهُم عَدُوّاً

لَقَد وَجَدوا الفِرارَ لَهُم صَديقا

If holding fast seemed an enemy,

They found fleeing a true friend;

لَقَد ذَكَروا عَلى جَرَشٍ طِعاناً

بِلوبِيَةٍ بَلَوكَ بِهِ خَليقا

They mentioned you at Jerash with rancor—

An affliction that tested you—yet you pardoned graciously;

وَما سَبَقوا الحِمامَ هُناكَ إِلّا

كَما سَبَقَ الحَمامُ السَوذَنيقا

Their pigeons took off faster than those doves only

As faster than a pigeon is the arrowhead;

وَلَو ثَبَتوا فُواقاً لِلمَواضي

وَلَم يَتَيَقَّنوا الخَبَرَ الصَدوقا

Had they remained for a time in the pastures

Or ascertained the trusted news of what transpired,

جَعَلتَ حَصى بِلادِهِمُ عَقيقاً

بِما سَفَكَت وَتُربَتُها خَلوقا

You would have made the pebbles of their lands carnelian

With what was shed there, and the soil a true killing;

وَهَل في أَرضِهِم إِلّا فَريقٌ

يُحَدِّثُ بِالَّذي لاقى فَريقا

Is there any in their lands left but a group

That tells of what befell their other group?

أَتَيتَ لِتَقتَضي حَقّاً مُبيناً

هُناكَ فَكانَ باطِلُهُم زَهوقا

You came to exact a clear right,

So their falsehood there perished, declined;

أَبَت لَكَ أَن تُسامَ الخَسفَ نَفسٌ

إِلى غَيرِ الفَضائِلِ لَن تَتوقا

A protector refused to be found lacking, wanting,

Anything but vengeance and conquest when they insisted on vice;

وَمَحمِيَةٌ أَبَت إِلّا اِنتِقاماً

وَقَهراً إِذ أَبَوا إِلّا فُسوقا

If after this they take another path,

Then they have come to know the way to ruin;

وَإِن قَطَعوا طَريقاً بَعدَ هَذا

فَقَد عَرَفوا إِلى الحَتفِ الطَريقا

And if they persist in villainy—but how could that be?—

Then their blood has come to know mortification;

وَإِن لَزِموا المُروقَ وَذا مُحالٌ

فَقَد عَرَفَت دِماؤُهُمُ المُريقا

You refused anything but the harvest of glory,

While others gained spoils and flocks;

أَبَيتَ سِوى صَريحِ العِزِّ غُنماً

وَغَيرُكَ غانِمٌ غَنَماً وَنوقا

Upon them you loosed calamities that left

Each one's heart quivering and pounding;

شَنَنتَ عَلَيهِمُ شَعواءَ أَبقَت

لِكُلٍّ مِنهُمُ قَلباً خَفوقا

The shepherd of beasts will forget the howl, not the bleating,

Yet the shepherd of sheep will forget the bleat, not the howl;

سَتُنسي راعِيَ النَعَمِ الحُداءَ ال

حَنينَ وَراعِيَ الشاءِ النَعيقا

If you left their patience captive,

Then you left their terror free;

وَإِن غادَرتَ صَبرَهُمُ أَسيراً

فَقَد غادَرتَ رُعبَهُمُ طَليقا

You vie with them whenever they take to the open country,

So what chance have they if they take a narrow pass?

تُزاحِمُهُم إِذا سَلَكوا فَضاءً

فَكَيفَ بِهِم إِذا سَلَكوا مَضيقا

And if God's land shrinks from the space their corpses require,

Your pardoning them would never shrink;

وَإِن ضاقَت بِلادُ اللَهِ جَمعاً

بِفَلِّهِمِ فَعَفوُكَ لَن يَضيقا

Indeed, if you denied fate something,

It would find itself prohibited, constrained;

وَإِنَّكَ لَو مَنَعتَ الدَهرَ شَيئاً

لَأَضحى عَن تَناوُلِهِ مَعوقا

Whenever a high goal eluded your grasp,

You eternally strove to outpace it;

وَكُنتَ إِذا عُلىً بَعُدَت مَنالاً

إِلى غاياتِها أَبَداً سَبوقا

I see the name of king shared in common,

Yet none but you suits its meaning;

أَرى اِسمَ المَلكِ مُشتَرَكاً مُشاعاً

وَمَعناهُ بِغَيرِكَ لَن يَليقا

How often you surpassed in pursuing great deeds

A path where you found no companion;

وَكَم جاوَزتَ في طَلَبِ المَعالي

طَريقاً ما وَجَدتَ بِهِ رَفيقا

So one whose breast expands with vaster breadth

As the days constrict the breast of fate!

فَياذا الصَدرِ يَزدادُ اِتِّساعاً

إِذا ما اِزدادَ صَدرُ الدَهرِ ضيقا

Your law killed souls of a people—

When did they begrudge it?—they were thankless, rebellious;

وَقَتكَ مِنَ الرَدى أَرواحُ قَومٍ

مَتى بَخِلوا بِها بَخِلوا عُقوقا

You made bettering their situation a daily concern,

Your pardon for the wrongdoers a constant practice;

تَخِذتَ صَلاحَ حالِهِمُ صَبوحاً

وَصَفحَكَ عَن مُسيئِهِمُ غَبوقا

Indeed, were time itself to suffer what you endure,

It could not have been patient or borne it;

فَلَو مُنِيَ الزَمانُ بِما تُعاني

لَما كانَ الزَمانُ لَهُ مُطيقا

May God perpetuate days of bliss

In the shade of which life is comfortable and elegant;

أَدامَ اللَهُ أَيّاماً جَنينا

بِضافي ظِلِّها العَيشَ الأَنيقا

And may God increase the worth of my father ‘Ali,

Though enemies spurn him contemptuously;

وَزادَ اللَهُ قَدرَ أَبي عَلِيٍّ

وَإِن رَغِمَت أَعاديهِ بُسوقا

For malice aims only for mischief,

Nor does hatred intend but to ruin;

فَما أَمَّ العِدى إِلّا مُشيحاً

وَلا قَصَدَ الوَغى إِلّا مَشوقا

So may he remain a brother, precious,

And you for him a devoted, kindly father;

فَدامَ أَخاً شَقيقاً لِلمَعالي

وَدُمتَ لَها أَباً بَرّاً شَفيقا

I saw you as a cultivated palm tree, with branches spreading,

A beautiful growth, roots sound and thriving;

رَأَيتُكَ دَوحَةً طالَت فُروعاً

وَطابَت مَنبِتاً وَزَكَت عُروقا

So praise is detained for you, since truly

I found you well-versed, deeply rooted in it;

فَحَبسٌ ذا الثَناءُ عَلَيكَ إِنّي

وَجَدتُكَ في مَحَبَّتِهِ عَريقا

The envious were enraged to their souls’ torment,

So ceaseless agony visited those warped minds;

لَقَد شَجِيَت بِكَ الحُسّادُ غَيظاً

فَلا بَرِحَ الشَجى تِلكَ الحُلوقا

Your lands were not deprived of support

That ordained you should triumph and surpass;

وَلا عَرِيَت رُبوعُكَ مِن مَساعٍ

قَضَت لَكَ أَن تَفوزَ وَأَن تَفوقا