أَبَانَ مَوْلِدُهُ عَنْ طِيبِ عُنْصُرِهِ

يَا طِيبَ مُبْتَدَإٍ مِنْهُ وَمُخْتَتَمِ

His birth made the purity of his pedigree evident;

O how pure were his beginning and his end!

يَوْمٌ تَفَرَّسَ فِيهِ الْفُرْسُ أَنَّهُمُ

قَدْ أُنْذِرُوا بِحُلُولِ الْبُؤْسِ وَالنِّقَمِ

On that day the Persians intuited that they

Had been warned of looming misery and retribution.

وَبَاتَ إِيوَانُ كِسْرَى وَهْوَ مُنْصَدِعٌ

كَشَمْلِ أَصْحَابِ كِسْرَى غَيْرَ مُلْتَئِمِ

That night the throne room of Khusraw became cracked,

Khusraw’s people, too, crumbled, never to be restored.

وَالنَّارُ خَامِدَةُ الْأَنْفَاسِ مِنْ أَسَفٍ

عَلَيْهِ وَالنَّهْرُ سَاهِي الْعَيْنِ مِنْ سَدَمِ

The sacred fire, grief-stricken, breathed its last,

And the river [Euphrates] dried up out of worry.

وَسَاءَ سَاوَةَ أَنْ غَاضَتْ بُحَيْرَتُهَا

وَرُدَّ وَارِدُهَا بِالْغَيْظِ حِينَ ظَمِي

Sāʾa was saddened by its lake drying up;

The thirsty who went to drink there came back in a rage!

كَأَنَّ بِالنَّارِ مَا بِالْمَاءِ مِنْ بَلَلٍ

حُزْنًا وَبِالْمَاءِ مَا بِالنَّارِ مِنْ ضَرَمِ

As if the fire, from sorrow, took on the water’s wetness

And water assumed the fire’s quality of blazing.

وَالْجِنُّ تَهْتِفُ وَالْأَنْوَارُ سَاطِعَةٌ

وَالْحَقُّ يَظْهَرُ مِنْ مَعْنًى وَمِنْ كَلِمِ

There were jinn calling out, and dazzling lights

As truth was manifested in both word and reality.

عَمُوا وَصَمُّوا فَإِعْلَانُ الْبَشَائِرِ لَمْ

تُسْمَعْ وَبَارِقَةُ الْإِنْذَارِ لَمْ تُشَمِ

They were blind and deaf, so the glad tidings proclaimed

Went unheard, and the warning lightning-flash was not seen.

مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا أَخْبَرَ الْأَقْوَامَ كَاهِنُهُمْ

بِأَنَّ دِينَهُمُ الْمُعْوَجَّ لَمْ يَقُمِ

Even after the soothsayers had informed their peoples

That their crooked religion would not endure,

وَبَعْدَ مَا عَايَنُوا فِي الْأُفْقِ مِنْ شُهُبٍ

مُنْقَضَّةٍ وَفْقَ مَا فِي الْأَرْضِ مِنْ صَنَمِ

And even after their eyes saw meteors on the horizon

Plunging downwards, as idols were toppled on earth;

حَتَّى غَدَا عَنْ طَرِيقِ الْوَحْيِ مُنْهَزِمٌ

مِنَ الشَّيَاطِينِ يَقْفُوا إِثْرَ مُنْهَزِمِ

Until devils, routed, from the path of revelation,

Fled in the wake of those who had been overpowered.

كَأَنَّهُمْ هَرَبًا أَبْطَالُ أَبْرَهَةٍ

أَوْ عَسْكَرٌ بِالْحَصَى مِنْ رَاحَتَيْهِ رُمِي

Fleeing like the brave warriors of Abraha

Or the army pelted by pebbles thrown by his hand,

نَبْذًا بِهِ بَعْدَ تَسْبِيحٍ بِبَطْنِهِمَا

نَبْذَ الْمُسَبِّحِ مِنْ أَحْشَاءِ مُلْتَقِمِ

Cast by him after glorifying Allah in the palm of his hand,

As he who glorified his Lord was cast from the whale.