1. The Unionists boasted and took pride
That they had won in Kut and were victorious

2. They spread the good news among the tribes and clans
And telegraphed the news to Germany

3. That they had captured twenty thousand young men
Killed, and twenty thousand others taken prisoner

4. And that they had thrown the rest of them into
The depths of the seas, leaving no trace

5. And that they had cleansed the land of Iraq, so that
No sign remained of the mischief they had wreaked

6. These lies they fabricated and boasted, yet how many times before
Had similar tales been spun for you

7. That the prisoners in Kut the Emirate did not
Benefit, even had they remembered them

8. They forgot or ignored what had befallen them
For nearly ninety days, would that they recalled!

9. And the gain in Kut brought them no compensation
For some of what in Rebea Armenia they had lost

10. There the armies of Russia routed them, striking
Blows from which sparks flew over their heads

11. In Mamaikan in the winter at the start
Of the new year, they were taken by surprise and terror gripped them

12. The attack upon them was truly one of
The fiercest they had ever known or experienced

13. Nature itself was supporting the Russians so that they
Prevailed;

14. She unleashed a torrential flood while they
Surged like the tide and overwhelmed like a deluge

15. Her lightning dazzled eyes and her thunder
Pealed as the Russians lit up their gunpowder

16. Her thunderclaps rocked the horizons while the Russians
Roared over the earth like lions

17. And the hail of her meteors rained hellfire
Down on them like Russian shrapnel

18. And along with her snow descended a numbing cold
Upon them like Russian bullets cascading down

19. Each was an incessant, overwhelming scourge so that
When the rain did not destroy them, the hail finished them off

20. They found no refuge in the barbed wire fences they had planted
Around the fortresses, which proved useless

21. For the snowdrifts had engulfed them
And their thorns no longer posed any threat

22. And the Russians advanced on those fortresses over
The snowdrifts, oblivious to the wire

23. And they descended on them like raiders while the garrisons
Struggled in vain to repel them

24. How often they had been warned of this attack! Yet when
It came unexpectedly, caution was of no use

25. They lost Ardahan, which was the knot
That in Armenia the Russians sought to sever

26. And when its defense exhausted them, they resolved
To flee with whatever they had hoarded there

27. But that was not within their power, and on
Saving themselves, if possible, they could only focus

28. So some of them fled, while those who failed
And were not struck down by the arrows of fate were captured

29. Perhaps the Turks would have minimized their setback
Had it been confined to just Ardahan

30. But it spread beyond Ardahan to
Trabzon, which they failed to defend

31. And they attempted to protect Batumi and Van but
Were defeated, retreating to Erzurum

32. Yet they considered retaking Kut from the
Invaders a greater victory ordained by fate

33. A minor, insignificant gain they exaggerated, while ignoring
The major losses they had suffered before it

34. Forgetting their loss of Armenia, they
Boasted about Kut and took pride