إن لم أقف حيثُ جيش الموت يزدحمُ

فلا مشت بِيَ في طُرقِ العلا قدمُ

If I do not stand where the army of death crowds,

Then my feet have not walked the paths of glory.

لا بدَّ أن أتداوى بالقنا فلقد

صبرتُ حتَّى فؤادي كلّه ألم

I must heal myself with the spear, for indeed

My heart has been patient until it was all pain.

عندي من العزم سرٌّ لا أبوحُ به

حتَّى تبوحَ به الهنديّة الخُذم

I have a secret will that I do not reveal

Until the Indian swords reveal it.

لا أرضعت لي العلا ابناً صفو درَّتِها

إن هكذا ظلَّ رُمحي وهو مُنفطمُ

Glory did not suckle me as a pure son whose pearls

Would drip if my spear remained bent like this.

إليةً بضبا قومي التي حَمِدت

قدماً مواقعَها الهيجاءُ لا القِممُ

To my tribe whom I praised, their feet - not their peaks -

Were the place of glorious feats.

لأحلِبنَّ ثدي الحرب وهي قناً

لِبانُها من صدور الشوسِ وهو دمُ

I will suckle the breast of war, which is a spear

Whose milk is from the chests of the brave and is blood.

مالي أُسالم قوماً عندهم تِرتي

لا سالمتني يدُ الأيَّام إن سَلِموا

Why should I make peace with a people whose weakness

Does not make me safe if they are at peace?

مَن حامِلٌ لوليّ الأمرِ مألكةً

تُطوى على نفثاتٍ كلها ضَرم

Who bears the banner of the Commander

That is folded over breaths that are all embers?

يا بن الأُلى يُقعِدون الموتَ إن نهضت

بهم لدى الروعِ في وجه الضُبا الهِممُ

O son of exalted ones, they make death sit

When you rouse it before the terrified faces of the resolute.

الخيلُ عندك ملَّتها مرابطها

والبيضُ منها عَرى أغمادَها السأمُ

Your horses are ready for battle when called

And the whites of them have shed their scabbards out of boredom.

هذي الخدور ألا عدَّاءَ هاتكةً

وذي الجباه ألا مشحوذةً تسم

These are the warriors! See their attacking determination

And their furrowed brows as they press on!

لا تطهرُ الأرضُ من رجسِ العدى أبداً

ما لم يَسِل فوقها سيل الدمِ العرم

The land will never be cleansed of the filth of the enemy

Unless a flood of copious blood flows over it.

بحيثُ موضع كلٍّ منهم لك في

دماه تغسِله الصمصامةُ الخذمُ

So that wherever each of them is, you wash him

In his blood as the Indian swords wash him.

أُعيذ سيفَكَ أن تصدى حديدتهُ

ولم تكن فيه تُجلى هذه الغِمم

I advise you not to deflect your sword from striking

Unless you see these clouds in it.

قد آن أن يمطرَ الدنيا وساكِنها

دماً أغرَّ عليه النقعُ مرتكم

It is time for the world and its inhabitants

To be rained on with blood made red by stirring it up.

حرَّان تدمغ هامَ القومِ صاعقةٌ

من كفِّه وهي السيفُ الذي علموا

Flaming lightning bolts will strike the heads of the people

From his palm - it is the sword they knew!

نهضاً فمن بظُباكم هامهُ فلقت

ضرباً على الدين فيه اليومَ يحتكم

Rise up! So whoever of you meets his skull being split

By a blow for the sake of religion today - it will judge him.

وتلك أنفالُكم في الغاصِبينَ لكم

مقسومةٌ وبعينِ الله تُقتسم

And those are your spoils in the usurpers against you,

Divided by the eye of God they are divided.

جرائم آذنتهم أن تعاجلَهم

بالانتقام فهلاّ أنت منتقم

Their crimes have told you to hasten punishing them -

So will you not take revenge, O avenger?

وإنَّ أعجب شيء أن أبثَّكها

كأَنَّ قلبك خالٍ وهو مُحتدم

And the strangest thing is that I inform you of them

As if your heart is empty while it is raging!

ما خلتُ تقعد حتَّى تُستثارَ لهم

وأنتَ أنت وهم فيما جنوهُ همُ

I have not sat still until roused for their sake,

While you - you! - and they are in what they have committed!

لم تُبقِ أسيافهم منكم على ابن تقًى

فكيف تُبقي عليهم لا أباً لهمُ

Their swords did not leave behind the son of a pious man,

So how can you leave behind for them a father or mother?

فلا وصفحِكَ إنَّ القوم ما صفحوا

ولا وحلمكَ إنَّ القومَ ما حلموا

No! By your clemency - the people have not been clement!

And no! By your forbearance - the people have not exercised forbearance!

فَحملَ أُمك قدماً أسقطوا حنقاً

وطفل جدّك في سهمِ الردى فطموا

The one who carries your mother's foot and dropped it in hatred

And your grandfather's infant with the arrow of misfortune they weaned!

لا صبرَ أو تضعَ الهيجاءُ ما حملت

بطلقةٍ معها ماءُ المخاضِ دمُ

Patience has no more endurance, or else the resolute

Will not stand firm with a bullet alongside the waters of childbirth that are blood!

هذا المحرّم قد وافتك صارخةً

ممَّا استحلُّوا به أيامهُ الحُرمُ

This sacred month has come to you screaming

At what they considered permissible in its sacred days.

يملأنَ سمعكَ من أصوات ناعيةٍ

في مسمع الدهر من إعوالها صمم

It fills your hearing with wailing voices

Whose continuous mourning in the ears of time is deafening.

تنعى إليك دماءً غاب ناصرُها

حتَّى أُريقت ولم يرفع لكم علم

It mourns to you blood whose protectors were absent

Until it was shed and no banner was raised for you.

مسفوحةً لم تُجب عند استغاثتِها

إلاَّ بأدمع ثكلى شفَّها الألمُ

Shed without answering the cry for help

Except with the tears of bereaved women filled with pain.

حنَّت وبين يديها فِتيةٌ شَرِبت

من نحرها نُصبَ عينيها الضُّبا الخُذمُ

Maidens have grieved, and before them are youths who drank

From their slaughter the cups of their eyes, the Indian swords.

مُوسّدين على الرمضاءِ تنظرهم

حرَّى القلوب على ورد الردى ازدحموا

Lying on the hot ground, they look upon them,

Their flaming hearts crowded upon the roses of calamity.

سقياً لثاوينَ لم تَبلل مضاجِعَهم

إلاَّ الدماءُ وإلاّ الأدمُعُ السجم

Watered only by blood, and only by tears of sadness,

Consumed by their patience beneath the resolve generously.

أفناهُمُ صَبرهم تحت الضُّبا كرماً

حتَّى قضوا ورداهم ملؤه كرمُ

And wading into the abundant, billowing sea of death

Whose waves are the whites along with the skulls, churning.

وخائضينَ غمار الموت طافحةً

أمواجُها البيضُ بالهاماتِ تَلتطمُ

They walked to war like preying beasts

So they contended with death in it and the spear was bent.

مشوا إلى الحرب مشي الضارياتِ لها

فصارعوا الموتَ فيها والقنا أُجمُ

There is no shame the day of children being killed

With patience, by resolute women whose feet did not stand firm.

ولا غضاضة يوم الطفِّ أن قُتلوا

صبراً بهيجاء لم تثبت لها قدم

For war - you know that if they die in it, indeed

The swords, not the resolves, have died in it.

فالحرب تعلم إن ماتوا بها فلَقَد

ماتت بها مِنهم الأسيافُ لا الهِممُ

I mourn them for the sheaths of the horses, if they are ridden,

Their heads have not curbed the horse’s determination to gallop.

أبكيهم لعوادي الخيل إن ركبت

رؤسها لم تكفكف عزمَها اللجم

And for the swords - for when death is the opponent

In their sharp edges, it and the souls contend.

وللسيوف إذا الموت الزؤامُ غدا

في حدِّها هو والأرواحُ يختصِمُ

Perplexed women whose eyes

Were frightened the next morning when they swooped down upon their shelters.

وحائراتٍ أطارَ القومُ أعيُنَها

رُعباً غداة عليها خِدرَها هَجموا

They were in a place where their people had encamped around them

A canopy whose domain was made inviolable by their glory.

كانت بحيثُ عليها قومُها ضربت

سُرادقاً أرضُهُ من عزِّهم حرمُ

It is almost as if, out of awe, even the angels would not circulate around it

If they were not servants.

يكاد من هيبةٍ أن لا يطوفَ به

حتَّى الملائكُ لولا أنَّهم خَدمُ

So she was exposed before the hands of the people, distraught,

Taken captive with no one in whom she can seek refuge.

فغودرت بين أيدي القوم حاسرةً

تُسبى وليس لها مَن فيه تَعتصِمُ

Yes - she twisted her neck in blame, calling out

To her people, and her desolation filled with embers.

نعم لوت جيدَها بالعتب هاتِفةً

بقومِها وحشاها ملؤه ضَرمُ

She complained of them since the hands of the enemy differed

Over her belongings, but who can help her against them?

عجَّت بهم مُذ على أبرادها اختلفت

أيدي العدوِّ ولكن مَن لَها بِهم

She called out - and oh, their distance from her, reproaching

Them - and oh, if only they were deaf to her reproach!

نادت ويا بُعدهم عنها مُعاتِبةً

لهم ويا ليتهم من عتبها أمم

My exalted people, their feet were tied

To zeal - they were not oppressed or exploited.

قومي الأُلى عُقدت قِدماً مآزرُهم

على الحميَّة ما ضِيموا ولا اهتضموا

My covenant with them is that glory is their nature;

They do not age, and aging is the antithesis of glory.

عهدي بهم قِصرُ الأعمارِ شأنهمُ

لا يهرمون وللهيّابة الهرم

What is wrong with them? Their forms have not vanished.

They drew near - and elegant form has carried us.

ما بالُهُم لا عَفت منهم رسومهُم

قرُّوا وقد حملتنا الأنيقُ الرسم

O you who travel on the steeds of determination, load them

With a care that squeezes the ribs and resolutions.

يا غادياً بمطايا العزم حمّلها

همًّا تضيق به الأضلاع والحُزم

Stop by the living ones from Amr al-Ala and rest

Where the might and generosity have settled.

عرِّج على الحيِّ من عمرو العلى وأرح

منهم بحيثُ اطمأنَّ البأس والكرم

And rouse a protector from them; it is not in their nature

That one who does not raise the banner in battle is their son.

وحيّ منهم حماةً ليس بابنِهمُ

مَن لا يرفُّ عليه في الوغى العلم

The satiated, for whom the birds of the sky are a feast, and for them

Is the blessing of the neighbor among them - the inviolable one testifies to it.

المشبعين قِرًى طيرَ السما ولهم

بمنعة الجار فيهم يشهدُ الحرم

And the Hashimites - and all the people know

That either a guest or a sword has what they have crushed.

والهاشمينَ وكلُّ الناسِ قد علموا

بأنَّ للضيف أو للسيف ما هشموا

Slaughterhouses of war, you see in every land

Their slain by their swords - the pelting rains have not swept them away.

كماةُ حربٍ ترى في كلّ باديةٍ

قتلى بأسيافهم لم تحوها الرجم

It is as if every muddy puddle were their house, and in it

Were their family members - the beasts - or their guests - the insects.

كأَنَّ كلّ فلاً دارٌ لهم وبها

عيالها الوحش أو أضيافها الرُخم

Take a position with them that makes hearts boil

With the fury of blame, and ask what is wrong with them.

قِف منهم موقفاً تغلي القلوبُ به

من فورة العتب واسأل ما الذي بهم

Have the resolves of eminent ones dried up, or rather,

Has the zeal cooled down from them, or have the dispositions died?

جَفَّت عزائمُ فهرٍ أم تُرى بَردت

منها الحمية أم قد ماتت الشيم

Or, did it not find my biting blame penetrating in its talk

So that the coals of my mouth's speech have crumbled?

أم لم تجد لذعَ عتبي في حشاشتها

فقد تساقَطَ جمراً من فمي الكلم

Where is the gallantry? Or where is the preservation?

Does the honor of lineage and generosity now refuse?

أين الشهامة أم أين الحفاظ أما

يأبى لها شرفُ الأحسابِ والكرم

Their free women are taken captive while children watch, distraught,

And they were not wearing the dust of death as a veil!

تُسبى حرائرها بالطفّ حاسرةً

ولم تكن بغُبار الموت تلتثمُ

For whom are the loosing of the horses prepared if they refrain

From a stance in which the inviolable was violated?

لمن أُعدَّت عتاقُ الخيل إن قعدت

عن موقفٍ هُتكت منها به الحرم

So what is your excuse, O Fahrs, that you do not shine

With the whites striking or with the dark-skinned crumbling?

فما اعتذارُكِ يا فهرٌ ولم تثبي

بالبيض تُثلم أو بالسمر تنحطم

Yes, your women have shaken you with blame

While you are in a slumber beneath the soil, decaying.

أجل نساؤكِ قد هزَّتكِ عاتِبةً

وأنتِ من رقدةٍ تحت الثرى رمم

So let your neck turn away from you today, disappointed,

For your singing has not prevented the pelting you with stones.

فلتُلفت الجيدَ عَنك اليوم خائبةً

فما غناؤكِ حالت دونكِ الرجم