Learn from Ali the purity of action
Know the Lion of Truth to be clean of dishonesty

In war he came upon a champion
Quickly he unsheathed his sword and charged

He threw spit unto Ali's face
The pride of every prophet and every crown

He spat on the face that the moon's face
Prostrates before it in the prostration chamber

In time, Ali threw that sword
He brought sloth upon that war

The warrior was confused by this action
And of the mercy and forgiveness in an unlikely place

He said: "You pulled a sharp blade on me
What made you cast it aside, and leave me be?

What did you see better than my body?
That made you loose in my hunt

What did you see that your anger subsided so?
That it sparked in your eyes and then was gone

What did you see? That for me, from its reflection
In heart and body, a fire was ignited

What did you see better than existence and the universe
That was better than life and gave me life?"

In courage, you are the Lord's Lion
In chivalry, who knows who you are?

--

O Ali, whose existence is wisdom and a penetrating sight!
Tell us a sniff of what you've seen

The blade of your forbearance has kerfed our life
The water of your knowledge has cleansed our soil

Tell us again, I know that these are His secrets
Of He Whose work is to kill without a sword

--

Tell us again, O well-hunting falcon of the Throne!
That what you have seen this time of the Maker

Your eye has learned the understanding of the Unseen
The eyes of those present is stitched close

--

Open the secrets, O Ali Murtadha!
O he who, after the bad judgement, is the good judgement!

Either you say that which your wisdom has found
Or I will say that which has shone upon me

It came upon me from you, why are you keeping it hidden?
You give light like the moon, without speech

However if the moon's disc comes to speak
It will bring the night wayfarer to the path faster

--

Because you are the gate to that city of knowledge¹
Because you are a ray of the Sun of Forbearance

Be open, O gate! For the seeker of the gate
So that from you the skin can reach the core

Be open, O gate of Mercy! Forevermore
O court of "There is none comparable unto Him"

--

He said: "Command, O Commander of the Faithful
So that life can move inside the body like an embryo

--

Tell us again, O falcon with the spread wings!
He who has learned with the King and His servants

Tell us again, O phoenix-consuming falcon of the king!
O he who breaks armies in himself! Not with an army

You are a single nation, one and a hundred thousand
Tell us again, O he whose falcon I seek!

In the field of wrath, what is this mercy for?
Whose way is it to give the dragon assistance?"

He (Ali) said: "I strike the blade for the Truth
I am a servant of the Truth, not an agent of the body

I am the Lion of the Truth, not a lion of desire
Let my actions be proof for my religion

I am the arrow that was not thrown by myself in war²
I am like a blade, and the striker is sunlight

I have taken my clothes for the way
All besides the Truth I have considered as void

I am a shadow, my elder is the sunlight
I am not His curtain, rather I open the curtains

Because my blade is full of jewels for joining together
I will resurrect, not kill, in war

Blood will not cover the jewel of my blade
When has wind ever moved my cloud?

I am not a straw, I am a mountain of forbearance and patience and generosity
When has the storm ever managed to move a mountain?

Whoever has been moved by the wind is naught but a straw
Because a contrary wind is itself enough

The wind of wrath and the wind of lust, the wind of greed
Will take the one who is not a person of prayer

I am a mountain and my existence is a foundation laid by Him
And if I become like a straw, the wind that takes me is remembering Him

My desire does not move lest by His wind
There is naught but love of the One as my leader

Wrath is a king over kings, and for me a slave
I have bound wrath under a frenum

The blade of my forbearance has cut the head of my wrath
The Truth's wrath has come upon me like mercy

I am drowned in the Light, even though my roof is destroyed
I have become a garden, even though I am the "Father of Dust"³

Because there came a reason during war
I saw that hiding the blade was right"

--

Speaking with people more than this is not good
The stream does not have the capacity to contain the sea

I speak lowly, in the capacity of minds
It is not wrong, this is the work of messengers

--

I will stop, because if this speech goes on longer
What is the liver? For it will be a blood drinker

These livers have not become blood, it is not of difficulty
It is of neglect and preoccupation and misery

It will become blood the day its blood is of no use
Become blood, when blood has still not been cast away*

--

"Come in, I have opened the door for you
You spat but I gave you presents

I give the insolent such things
How will I lay my head beside those who take wrong steps?

Then what do I give the loyals? You shall know
Treasures and estates that last forevermore"

--

If you make a mask of yellow glass
You will see the light of the sun as yellow

Break that yellow and dark glass
So that you can tell between the dust and the man

Around the horseman, there is much dust
You thought the dust was the man of Truth

--

The Commander of the Faithful said to that young man
That: "During the fight, O champion!

Because you spat in my face
My self moved and my temperament was ruined

It was half for the Truth and half for desire
Assigning partners to the Truth is not right

You are created by the Hand of my Master
You are of the Truth, you are not the result of my actions

Break the Truth's created pattern only by order of the Truth
Hit the Companion's glass only with the Companion's stone"

--

This speech has become greatly mired in dust
The water has gone opaque, leave it at the well

Until God makes it clear and good again
He Who has made it dark, can make it clear again

Patience will bring your wishes, not haste
Be patient, and God knows that which is virtuous

--

General notes:

Lion of God, Commander of the Faithful, Lord's Lion and etc. are all titles of Ali ibn Abi Talib. Lion of God (Asad al-Allah) was given to him for his great courage, and Commander of the Faithful (Amir al-Mu'minin) was his title when he was the caliph.

Other notes:

¹A reference to the hadith in which the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) has said "I am the city of knowledge, and Ali is its gate"

²"The arrow I shot was not shot by me" is a reference to how everything he does is not because he is, personally, doing those things, but only doing everything because God wills it

³"Father of Dust" or "Abu Torab" was one of his titles during his caliphate as, despite the power he had and the wealth he could have had, Ali always chose to live an exceedingly simple life, on par with that of the poorest Muslims of the time, and ate only dry barley bread for the most part.

*These are all metaphors for emotional and desirable pain/ecstasy that comes from knowing a great truth, especially about a great man/existence. The reluctance is because not everyone has the capacity to bear such things. The last two parts are basically advising to enable such a thing to happen for you (e.g. through spiritual growth) before it's too late and you lose that chance forever (e.g. the Final Judgement).