وَلَم يَكُ دونَ الحُكمِ مالٌ وَلَم تَكُن

قُواهُ مِنَ المُستَرخِياتِ الضَعايِفِ

No wealth stood in the way of judgment, nor were

its strands among those slack and feeble.

وَلَكِنَّها شَزراً أُمِرَّت فَأُحكِمَت

إِلى عُقَدٍ تُلوى وَراءَ السَوالِفِ

Rather, crosswise they were twisted and drawn tight,

into knots coiling behind the sides of necks.

يَقولونَ لَمّا أَن أَتاهُم نَعِيُّهُ

وَهُم مِن وَراءِ النَهرِ جَيشُ الرَوادِفِ

They said, when word of his death reached them,

while they stood beyond the river, an army of reserves:

شَقينا وَماتَت قُوَّةُ الجَيشِ وَالَّذي

بِهِ تُربَطُ الأَحشاءُ عِندَ المَخاوِفِ

“We are stricken; the army’s strength has died, and he

by whom the entrails are bound fast whenever terrors come.”

فَإِن يَكُنِ الحَجّاجَ ماتَ فَلَم تَمُت

قُرومُ أَبي العاصي الكِرامِ الغَطارِفِ

Yet if al-Hajjaj has died, there have not died

the noble, lordly chiefs of Abu al-As;

وَلَم يَعدَموا مِن آلِ مَروانَ حَيَّةً

تَمامَ بُدورٍ وَجهَهُ غَيرُ كاسِفِ

nor have they lacked, from the house of Marwan, a serpent

whose face—full moons at perfection—is never dimmed.

لَهُ أَشرَقَت أَرضُ العِراقِ لِنورِهِ

وَأومِنَ إِلّا ذَنبَهُ كُلُّ خائِفِ

Through him Iraq’s land shone radiant with his light,

and every frightened man was made safe—except where his own guilt condemned him.