رَعى اللهُ نَفْسي ما أَشَدَّ اصْطبارَها

وَلو طَلَبَتْ غَيْرَ العُلا ما تَعَنَّتِ

My soul, how patient it has been

Had it sought aught but the sublime, it would have protested

إِذا ذُكِرَ المَجْدُ التَّليدُ تَلَفَّتَتْ

إِليهِ بِعَيْنَيْ ثاكِلٍ وَأَرَنَّتِ

When lasting glory was recalled, it looked about

With the eyes of a bereft mother, and was gentle

فَليتَ اعْتِراضَ اليَأْسِ دونَ رَجائِها

ثَنى غَرْبَها أَوْ أَدْرَكَتْ ما تَمَنَّتِ

Would that despair's onslaught had spared its hopes

Or that its sunset had bent, or it had attained its wishes

وَلولا دَواعي هِمَّةٍ أُمَوِيَّةٍ

تُذَكِّرُها أجْدادَها لاطْمَأَنَّتِ

Were it not for the motives of Umayyad determination

Reminding it of its forebears, it would have been tranquil

تَحِنُّ إِلى حَرْبٍ أَخُوضُ غِمارَها

بِجُرْدٍ يُبارِينَ القَنا في الأَعِنَّةِ

It yearns for a battle I plunge into its depths

With a troop that rivals the lances in their sharp tips

وَيَوْمٍ عَبُوسٍ ضَيِّقٍ حَجَراتُهُ

تُضاحِكُهُ تَحْتَ العَجَاجِ أَسِنَّتِي

And on a day, somber, straitened, whose sides

Laugh at it beneath the horse armor, my tongues

وَلَمَّا رَأَتْ أَنّ الثَّراَء يَخُونُها

لَوَتْ جِيدَها عَما تَمنَّتْ وَظَنَّتِ

And when it saw that fortune betrayed it

It folded its hand from what it wished and thought

وَما اسْتَهْدَفَتْ لِلْذُّلِّ حينَ تَكَدَّرَتْ

عَلَيْها اللَّيالي فَالقَناعَةُ جُنَّتي

It did not aim for humiliation when the nights grew turbulent

So contentment is my armor