إِنّي وَجَدتُ أَباكَ إِذ أَتعَبتَهُ

إِنّي وَجَدتُ أَباكَ إِذ أَتعَبتَهُ

عَبداً يَنوءُ بألأَمِ الأَنسابِ

عَبداً يَنوءُ بألأَمِ الأَنسابِ

Indeed, I found your father, when you wearied him,

I found your father wearied, when you wearied him,

A slave staggering beneath the basest of lineages.

A slave bending ‘neath the burden of ancestry and birth.

أَلفَيتُهُ لَمّا جَرى بِكَ شأوُنا

أَلفَيتُهُ لَمّا جَرى بِكَ شأوُنا

حَطِمَ اليَدَينِ مكَسَّرَ الأَصلابِ

حَطِمَ اليَدَينِ مكَسَّرَ الأَصلابِ

I found him, when our pace carried you along,

I met him when our affair concerning you was stirred up:

With both hands broken and his backbones shattered.

With broken hands and smashed ribs.