Canst thou swim in blood, when thou art not familiar with the warfare of (brave) men?—
کی توانی کرد در خون آشنا ** چون نه‌ای با جنگ مردان آشنا
For the pounding noise made by fullers is banal in comparison with the clang of (swords when) smiting necks (on the battle-field).
که ز طاقاطاق گردنها زدن ** طاق‌طاق جامه کوبان ممتهن
(There thou wilt see) many a headless body that is (still) quivering, many a bodiless head (floating) on blood, like bubbles.
بس تن بی‌سر که دارد اضطراب ** بس سر بی‌تن به خون بر چون حباب
In war, hundreds of death-dealing (heroes) are drowned under the legs of the horses in (a sea of) death.
زیر دست و پای اسپان در غزا ** صد فنا کن غرقه گشته در فنا
How will wits like these (of thine), which flew away from (fear of) a mouse, draw the sword in that battle-line?3775
این چنین هوشی که از موشی پرید ** اندر آن صف تیغ چون خواهد کشید
’Tis war, not (a matter of) supping wheat-broth (hamza), that thou shouldst turn up thy sleeve to sup it.
چالش است آن حمزه خوردن نیست این ** تا تو برمالی بخوردن آستین
’Tis not (like) supping wheat-broth; here (on the field of battle) eye the sword! In this battle-line one needs a Hamza of iron.
نیست حمزه خوردن اینجا تیغ بین ** حمزه‌ای باید درین صف آهنین
Fighting is not the business of any faint-heart who runs away from a spectre (hallucination), like a (flitting) spectre.
کار هر نازک‌دلی نبود قتال ** که گریزد از خیالی چون خیال
’Tis the business of Turks (Turkán), not of (women like) Tarkán. Begone! Home is the place for Tarkán: go home!”
کار ترکانست نه ترکان برو ** جای ترکان هست خانه خانه شو
Story of ‘Iyádí, may God have mercy on him, who had taken part in seventy campaigns against the infidels and had always fought with his breast bare (unprotected by armour), in the hope that he might become a martyr; and how, despairing of that, he turned from the Lesser Warfare to the Greater Warfare and adopted the practice of (religious) seclusion; and how he suddenly heard the drums of the holy warriors, and the fleshly soul within him urged him violently to take the field; and how he suspected (the motives of) his fleshly soul in desiring this.
حکایت عیاضی رحمه‌الله کی هفتاد غزو کرده بود سینه برهنه بر امید شهید شدن چون از آن نومید شد از جهاد اصغر رو به جهاد اکبر آورد و خلوت گزید ناگهان طبل غازیان شنید نفس از اندرون زنجیر می‌درانید سوی غزا و متهم داشتن او نفس خود را درین رغبت
‘Iyádí said, “Ninety times I came (into battle) unarmed, that perchance I might be (mortally) wounded.3780