ما كانَ مُنكَسِر اللواء لطَيرة

ما كانَ مُنكَسِر اللواء لطَيرة

تَخشى وَلا أَمر يَكونُ مُزيّلا

تَخشى وَلا أَمر يَكونُ مُزيّلا

The banner was not broken by some omen

The banner's breaking was not due to an ill omen

Never broken in defeat is he

you might fear, nor by an event destined to bring it down;

that you fear, nor to anything that would cause dismissal.

Who fears not what may come to be

لَكِنَّ هَذا الرُمحُ أَضعَف ركنَه

لَكِنَّ هَذا الرُمحُ أَضعَف ركنَه

صِغَر الولايَة واستَقلَّ الموصلا

صِغَر الولايَة واستَقلَّ الموصلا

but this spear had its mainstay weakened

But this spear's strength was weakened

Yet now this spear is frail in hand

by the province’s smallness, and deemed Mosul too little.

by the smallness of the governorship, and it deemed Mosul too small.

Small is the state, lost is the land