1. We heard, but would that we had not heard!
We benefited, but truly we did not gain.

2. Though the honored vizier is our pride,
He now turns from us for no reason.

3. When he sought to reduce the years we served,
Of a livelihood for one who strove so hard,

4. In the courts where we toiled night and day
Doing all that we were capable of.

5. And when told that we'll be compensated
With coins to erase our tribulation,

6. It's but a trifle, without any doubt,
After all we previously laid down.

7. We missed promotion, and were it not
For abasement, we would have risen high.

8. With injustice, they halved our salary,
Denying us what was rightfully ours.

9. To what end is patience, when we suffer
All these wrongs that have caused us such grief -

10. Callous injustice and docked years
From a lifetime of service we gave.

11. In hardships, we sought aid from you before,
And in times of adversity found strength.

12. We gained what we wanted and got
What made us equal to any task.

13. Why then condemn us to ruin, when
Others disobeyed while we complied?

14. I swear by good faith and loyalty true,
Never strayed we from what was right.

15. No life of disgrace after honor's milk
From its teat we suckled and were sustained.

16. After forty years of service, would you
Repay us with what now we have heard?

17. How can you approve denying us years
Of rule we enforced and injustice we quelled?

18. Your justice, we know, is never unjust.
Nor your judgment which we have witnessed.

19. Exert then your powers to set right
Our condition - redress and redeem us!

20. For in foreign lands there is livelihood
For those who served their homeland with us.

21. This is the need of us all, so hasten
With swift justice in word and in deed.