1. بعماد الدّين أضْحَتْ عُرْوَةُ الد

    دينِ مَعصوباً بها الفتحُ المبينْ

    Through Imad al-Din, the bond of faith has become

    that to which manifest victory is bound fast.

  2. وَاِستَزادت بِقَسيمِ الدَّولة ال

    قسمُ مِن إدحاضِ كيدِ المارِقينْ

    And through Qasim al-Dawla, there grew

    the shares gained by thwarting the renegades' schemes.

  3. مَلكٌ أسْهَرَ عيناً لم تَزَلْ

    هَمُّهَا تشريد هَمّ الرَّاقدين

    A king who kept an eye awake, which never ceased

    to care for dispersing the worries of sleepers.

  4. لا خَلَتْ من كَحَل النّصرِ فقد

    فقأت غَيظاً عُيون الحاسدين

    May it never lack victory's kohl, for it has

    burst the eyes of the envious with rage.

  5. كُلُّ يومٍ مَرَّ مِن أيّامِهِ

    فَهوَ عيدٌ عائِد لِلمسلمينْ

    Every day that passes among his days

    is a recurring festival for the Muslims.

  6. لو جرى الإنصافُ في أوصافِهِ

    كَانَ أَولاها أَمير المُؤمنينْ

    Were fairness observed in describing him,

    the fittest title would be Commander of the Faithful.

  7. ما رَوى الرّاوُونَ بَل ما سَطّروا

    مِثلَ ما خَطَّتْ لَه أَيدي السنينْ

    Narrators have never recounted, nor indeed written,

    the like of what the hands of years have inscribed for him.

  8. إِذ أَناخَ الشِّرْكُ في أَكنافِهِ

    بِمئي ألْفٍ ثَناها بمئينْ

    When polytheism encamped within his borders

    with hundreds of thousands, he repelled them with hundreds.

  9. وَقْعَةٌ طاحَت بِكَلبِ الرومِ من

    قِطعَةِ البَيْن إلى قَطعِ الوَتينْ

    A battle that hurled the dog of the Romans from

    separation's cut to the severing of his heart-vein.

  10. إِن حَمت مِصرٌ فَقَد قام لها

    واضحُ البرهان أنَّ الصِّينَ صِينْ

    If Egypt has defended herself, she has

    clear proof that China has been preserved.

  11. دَرَج الدَّهْرُ عليها مُعْصِراً

    لَم يُدنَّس بِمرام اللّائِمينْ

    Time passed over her, a maiden coming of age,

    unsullied by the designs of the reproachers.

  12. والرُّها لو لم تكن إِلّا الرُّها

    لكَفَتْ حشْماً لشكّ المُمْتَرينْ

    And Edessa, were she nothing but Edessa,

    would suffice to put the doubters' doubts to shame.

  13. هَمَّ قسطنطينُ أن يَفّرعها

    وَمَضى لم يحوِ مِنها قسطَ طينْ

    Constantine sought to scale her,

    but departed without obtaining even a portion of her clay.

  14. ولَكَمْ من ملِكٍ حاولها

    فتحلّى الحَيْنُ وسْماً في الجبينْ

    And how many a king attempted her,

    and doom became an adornment, a brand upon his brow.

  15. هيَ أُختُ النَّجْم إِلّا أنّها

    منه كالنّجم لرأي المُبْصِرينْ

    She is the sister of the star, except that

    beside him she seems low-growing grass to discerning eyes.

  16. مُنِيَتْ منه بلَيْثٍ قائدٍ

    بِعرانِ الذّلّ آسادِ العَرينْ

    She was beset at his hands by a lion leading

    the lions of the lair by the nose-rein of abasement.

  17. زَارها يَزأرُ في أُسْدِ وَغىً

    تُبدِّلُ الأُسْدَ مِن الزّأْرِ الأَنين

    He visited her roaring amid lions of battle

    who turn the lions' roaring into moaning.

  18. صَولَجوا البيضَ بِضَرب نثر ال

    هَامَ في ساحاتِها نَثر الكرين

    They swung the white blades like polo mallets, with blows scattering

    heads across her courtyards like polo balls.

  19. يا لها هِمَّةُ ثغرٍ أضحكتْ

    من بني القُلفِ ثغور الشّامتين

    What a frontier fortress's resolve! It made laugh

    the mouths of those gloating over the sons of the uncircumcised.

  20. بَرنَسْتَ رأسَ بُرنس ذِلَّةً

    بَعدَما جاسَت حَوايا جُوْسِلين

    You hooded a prince's head with humiliation

    after it had probed Joscelin's entrails.

  21. وسَرُوجُ مُذْ وَعَتْ أسراجَهُ

    فَرَّقَتْ جُمّاعَها عنها عِضِين

    And Saruj, since she received his saddles,

    scattered her assembled host away from her in bands.

  22. تِلكَ أقفالٌ رَماها اللَّه من

    عَزمهِ الماضي بِخَيرِ الفاتِحين

    Those were locks that God struck, out of

    His unerring resolve, with the best of conquerors.

  23. شامَ منهُ الشّام بَرْقاً ودْقُهُ

    مُؤمن الخَوفِ مُخيفَ الآمِنين

    Al-Sham glimpsed from him lightning whose rain

    allays fear and terrifies the secure.

  24. كم كنيسٍ كَنَسْتَ قد رامَها

    منه بعد الرُّوحِ في ظلّ السَّفين

    How many a church have you swept clear, already sought out

    by the soul's departure at his hands, beneath the shade of ships.

  25. دَنَتِ الآجالُ مِن آجالها

    فأَحَلَّتْهَا القَطا بَعدَ القَطين

    The appointed deaths drew near her herds

    and settled sandgrouse there after the inhabitants.

  26. ومنارٍ يجتلي صُلْبانهُ

    بَينَ بِيضٍ تَتبارَى في البرين

    And many a steeple, its crosses on display

    amid fair women vying in bracelets,

  27. قَرعَته البيضُ حتّى بَدّلت

    قَرعةَ النّاقوسِ تَثويبَ الأذين

    the white blades struck until they changed

    the bell's ringing into the muezzin's renewed call.

  28. بالقَسِيميّات مقسوماً لها الد

    دَهر في عَلْكِ لُجينٍ أَو لجين

    With the Qasimi blades, to which time is allotted

    for chewing silver or beaten leaf-fodder.

  29. سَلْ بها حَرّان كم حرّى سَقَتْ

    بَرَداً مِن يَوم رُدَّت ماردين

    Ask Harran about them: how many a burning heart they quenched

    with coolness since the day Mardin was restored.

  30. سَمَطْتَ أَمسَ سُمَيْسَاط بِها

    نَظْمَ جَيشٍ مُبْهجٍ لِلنّاظرين

    Yesterday you garlanded Sumaysat with them,

    an army's strung array, delighting onlookers.

  31. وَغَداً يُلْقَى على القدسِ لَها

    كَلْكَلٌ يدرُسُهَا دَرْسَ الدّرين

    And tomorrow there will be laid upon Jerusalem

    a breast of theirs, trampling her like dried grass.

  32. هِمَّةٌ تُمسي وتضْحى عَزمةً

    لَيسَ حِصنٌ إِنْ نَحَتْهُ بحَصِين

    An aspiration that, evening and morning, becomes firm resolve:

    no fortress it targets is secure.

  33. قُلْ لقومٍ غَرَّهُم إمهالُهُ

    سَتَذوقونَ شَذاهُ بَعدَ حين

    Tell a people deceived by his granting of respite:

    You will taste his sting in due time.

  34. إِنّهُ المَوتُ الَّذي يدركُ مَن

    فَرَّ منه مُشحاً للغافِلين

    He is death, which overtakes whoever

    flees from him, unyielding toward the heedless.

  35. وهو يُحْيي مُمْسكي عُرْوَته

    إنّها حبلٌ لِمَنْ تابَ مَتين

    Yet he gives life to those who grasp his bond;

    it is a stout rope for whoever repents.

  36. مَنْ يُطِعْ يَنْجُ وَمَن يَعْصِ يكن

    من غداةٍ عبْرَةً للآخَرين

    Whoever obeys is saved; whoever disobeys becomes

    by morning, a lesson for others.

  37. بِكَ يا شَمسَ المعالي رُدَّتِ الر

    روحُ في المَيْتَيْن من دُنيا وَدين

    Through you, O sun of high honors, there was restored

    the spirit to the two dead ones: worldly life and faith.

  38. أَقسَم الجَدّ بِأَن تَبقى لِكَيْ

    تَملِكَ الأَرضَ يَميناً لا يَمين

    Good fortune swore that you would live on, to

    possess the earth—an oath in which it does not lie.

  39. وتُفيضُ العَدلَ في أَقطارِها

    مُنْسِياً مُؤْلِمَ عسفِ الجائرين

    And pour out justice throughout its regions,

    making the pain of the oppressors' tyranny forgotten.

  40. لا تَزَلْ دارُكَ كَيفَ اِنتَقَلتْ

    كعبةً محفوفةً بالطّائفين

    May your house, wherever it moves, never cease to be

    a Kaaba surrounded by those who circle it.

  41. كُلُّ يَومٍ يَتَحلَّى جيدُهَا

    مِن نَظيمِ المَدحِ بالدُّرَّ الثّمين

    Every day its neck is adorned

    with precious pearls from strung verses of praise.

  42. كُلّما أَخلَصَ فيها دَعوَةً

    لَكَ قالَت أَلْسُنُ الخَلْقِ آمين

    Whenever someone offers there a sincere prayer

    for you, the tongues of creation say: Amen.