حَلَفْتُ بمَرْقوعِ الأظَلِّ تَشَبَّثَتْ

بهِ فَلواتٌ نِلْنَ منْ خُطُواتِهِ

I swore by the declining shadows,

Clinging to it are pliant branches, swaying at its steps.

لأبْتَغِيَنَّ العِزَّ حتى أنالَهُ

وأنْتَزِعَنَّ المَجْدَ منْ سَكِناتِهِ

I will seek glory until I attain it,

And wrest splendor from its dwellings.

فخَيْرٌ لمَنْ يُغْضي الجُفونَ على القَذى

ويَضْرَعُ للأعْداءِ فقْدُ حَياتِهِ

So better for one who closes his eyelids on motes

And supplicates his enemies, losing his life.

وما أنْسَ لا أنْسَ العِراقَ وربُّهُ

يُخادعُهُ أشياعُهُ عنْ أناتِهِ

How pleasant, no pleasant but Iraq and its Lord

Who is deceived about its groans.

ويُغْرونَهُ بيَ والإباءُ سجيّتي

إذا خوّفوني ضَلّةً سَطَواتِهِ

They seduce Him against me, while adamance is my nature,

When they frighten me with His overwhelming power.

فزُرْتُ عِمادَ الدّينِ معتَصِماً بهِ

أسورُ سُؤُورَ الليْثِ في وَثَباتِهِ

So I resorted to the pillar of the faith, adhering to him,

My arms binding the paws of the lion in its leaping.

فصدَّقَ ظنّي صدّقَ اللهُ ظنّهُ

بِما لا تُناجيهِ المُنى منْ هِباتِهِ

He believed my suspicions, May God confirm his suspicions,

With that which hopes do not share from its gifts.

ورُعْتُ بهِ مَنْ لَوْ تأمّلَ صارِمي

رأى المَوْتَ يَرْنو نَحوَهُ منْ شَباتِهِ

I am deterred by him from one who, if he looked at my sword,

Saw death inclining toward him from its sharpness.

فأعْرَضَ عنهُ بعْدَما سابَقَ الرّدى

إليهِ غَداةَ الرَّوْعِ صدْرُ قَناتِهِ

But he turned away after fate had outstripped

In the morning at dawn, the chest of its scoop.

وغادَرَني نِضْوَ الهُمومِ بمَنْزلٍ

تَعيبُ الحُبارى شُبْهَةً في بُزاتِهِ

He left me the brightness of worries in a position

That the ignorant impugn in its separation.

فثِبْ يا عُبَيدَ اللهِ وثْبَةَ ماجِدٍ

أُعيرَ المَضاءَ السّيْفُ منْ عَزَماتِهِ

So rise, O servants of God, with the rising of the glorious,

Whose sword was borrowed for his determination.

ولا تَحْسَبَنَّ المالَ مما يَروقُني

فقِدْماً سَمَوْنا للغِنى منْ جِهاتِهِ

Do not think wealth pleases me,

For we have transcended, thanks to Him, its aspects.

ولي همّةٌ تَهْفو إِلى كلِّ سُؤْدَدٍ

تَفرّعَ آبائي ذُرا هَضَباتِهِ

I have an ambition that aspires to every lofty seat

My forefathers branched out in its plateaus.

وتَبْغي لديْكَ الانتصارَ من امرئٍ

إذا عُدَّ مَجْدٌ كانَ في أخرَياتِهِ

It seeks your victory over a man

Whose glory, if reckoned, was among its ruins

وآباؤُهُ مَنْ تَعْرفونَ مِنَ الوَرى

ولولا التُّقى عرَّفْتُكُمْ أمَّهاتِهِ

And his forefathers are those you know among mankind

And were it not for piety, I would have made his mothers known.

ومُلْتَحِفٍ بالأمْنِ مَنْ أنتَ جارُهُ

ولوْ كان آسادُ الشّرى منْ عُداتِهِ

Clinging to security is he who is your neighbor

Even if the lions of evil are his comrades.

فراعِ حُقوقَ الفَضْلِ فيَّ ولا تُقِلْ

عَدوّاً رَماني بالأذى عَثَراتِهِ

So heed the rights of virtue regarding me and do not

Say an enemy who harmed me with his stumbling.

ودونَكَ شِعْراً إنْ فضَضْتَ خِتامَهُ

تضوَّعَ ريحُ الشّيحِ بينَ رُواتِهِ

Below you is poetry which if you unseal its conclude

The winds of Šīḥ will roar in its transmission.

وألْبَسْتُ دَهْراً أنتَ مالِكُ رِقّهِ

بهِ غُرَراً يَلْمَعْنَ في صَفَحاتِهِ

I clothed an epoch you own its submission

With gems that sparkle across its expanse.

فَيا قائِليهِ لوْ بَلَغْتُم بهِ المَدى

عَرَفْتُمْ مَنِ المَسْبوق في حَلَباتِهِ

So, O you who recited it, had you reached the goal with it

You would have known who was foremost in its arenas.

وأيُّ فَتًى ما بينَ بُرْدَيَّ حَطّهُ

خُطوبٌ تُشيبُ الطِّفْلَ عنْ نَخَواتِهِ

And which gallant between the two Abī province

Has events that would turn a child grey because of his inexperience of them.

ولَسْتُ وإنْ كانتْ إليَّ مُسيئَةً

أذُمُّ زَماناً أنتَ مِنْ حَسَناتِهِ

I am not, even if he wrongs me,

One who blames an era for your merits.

سَبَقُ بَنيهِ في قَوافٍ أرُوضُها

فلا تَجْعَلَنّي عُرْضَةً لِبَناتِهِ

Its people preceded in vanguards I train

So do not make me a target for its daughters.