تبجح الاتحاديون وافتخروا

بأنهم غلبوا في كوتَ وانتصروا

The Unionists boasted and took pride

That they had won in Kut and were victorious

بثوا البشائر ما بين العشائر وال

أنباءَ بالبرق في المانيا نشروا

They spread the good news among the tribes and clans

And telegraphed the news to Germany

وانهم جندلوا عشرين الف فتى

قتلى وعشرين الفاً غيرها أسروا

That they had captured twenty thousand young men

Killed, and twenty thousand others taken prisoner

وانهم قذفوا الباقين منهُ الى

لج البحار ولم يبقوا ولم يذروا

And that they had thrown the rest of them into

The depths of the seas, leaving no trace

وانهم طهروا أرض العراق فما

باقٍ لعين الألى عاثوا بها أثرُ

And that they had cleansed the land of Iraq, so that

No sign remained of the mischief they had wreaked

يمثل هذي الاكاذيب افتروا ولكم

من قبلُ حيك على منوالها خبرُ

These lies they fabricated and boasted, yet how many times before

Had similar tales been spun for you

فأسرُ تنزند في كوت الامارة لم

يكن ليجديهم نفعاً لو افتكروا

That the prisoners in Kut the Emirate did not

Benefit, even had they remembered them

نسوا بهِ أو تناسوا ما أصابهمُ

من نحو تسعين يوماً ليتهم ذكروا

They forgot or ignored what had befallen them

For nearly ninety days, would that they recalled!

والربح في كوت لن يلقوا به عوضاً

لبعض ما في ربى أرمينيا خسروا

And the gain in Kut brought them no compensation

For some of what in Rebea Armenia they had lost

هناك كرت جيوش الروس توسعهم

ضرباً تطاير منهث فوقهم شررُ

There the armies of Russia routed them, striking

Blows from which sparks flew over their heads

في معمعان الشتا في اول السنة ال

جديدةِ افتجئوا وانتابهم ذعرُ

In Mamaikan in the winter at the start

Of the new year, they were taken by surprise and terror gripped them

كان الهجوم عليهم بالحقيقة من

أشدّ ما عرفوا من قبل واختبروا

The attack upon them was truly one of

The fiercest they had ever known or experienced

ان الطبيعة كانت في مظاهرها

نصيرة الروس حتى أنهم ظهروا

Nature itself was supporting the Russians so that they

Prevailed;

تبعقت هي بالسيل الغزير وهم

تدفقوا بالكماة الصيد وانهمروا

She unleashed a torrential flood while they

Surged like the tide and overwhelmed like a deluge

وبرقها بهر الابصار وامضهُ

والروس اذ ألهبوا بارودهم بهروا

Her lightning dazzled eyes and her thunder

Pealed as the Russians lit up their gunpowder

ورعدها طبق الآفاق قاصفهُ

والروس كالأسد رجوا الارض اذ زأروا

Her thunderclaps rocked the horizons while the Russians

Roared over the earth like lions

وقرها هرأ الترك الألى سلموا

من قاذفات سعيراً بردها سقرُ

And the hail of her meteors rained hellfire

Down on them like Russian shrapnel

وانصبّ مع ثلجها لما همي بردٌ

عليهم كرصاص الروس منحدرُ

And along with her snow descended a numbing cold

Upon them like Russian bullets cascading down

كلاهما عارضٌ طامٍ فكان اذا

لم يردهم مطرٌ أودى بهم مطرُ

Each was an incessant, overwhelming scourge so that

When the rain did not destroy them, the hail finished them off

لم يجدِ من شائك الاسلاك ما غرزوا

حول الحصون فلم يدفع به خطرُ

They found no refuge in the barbed wire fences they had planted

Around the fortresses, which proved useless

لانها بركام الثلج قد غمرت

وشوكها بات لا يخشى له ضررُ

For the snowdrifts had engulfed them

And their thorns no longer posed any threat

والروس ساروا الى تلك الحصون على

كسف الثلوج وبالاسلاك ما شعروا

And the Russians advanced on those fortresses over

The snowdrifts, oblivious to the wire

وكالبزاة تنزوا حولها وسعى

حمُاتها أن يصدُّوهم فما قدروا

And they descended on them like raiders while the garrisons

Struggled in vain to repel them

يا طالما حذروا هذا الهجوم واذ

جرى على غرةٍ لم ينفع الحذرُ

How often they had been warned of this attack! Yet when

It came unexpectedly, caution was of no use

ضاعت ارضروم منهم وهي واسطة ال

عقد الذي الروس في ارمينيا نثروا

They lost Ardahan, which was the knot

That in Armenia the Russians sought to sever

وعند ما حفظها أعياهمُ اعتزموا

على الفرارِ بما كانوا بها ادَّخروا

And when its defense exhausted them, they resolved

To flee with whatever they had hoarded there

ولم يكن ذاك في امكانهم وعلى

إِنقاذ أنفسهم ان امكن اقتصروا

But that was not within their power, and on

Saving themselves, if possible, they could only focus

ففرَّ مَن فرَّ منهم والأُلى عجزوا

عنه ولم يُصمهم سهمُ الردى أُسروا

So some of them fled, while those who failed

And were not struck down by the arrows of fate were captured

وربما استسهل الاتراك نكبتهم

لو كان في ارضروم الخطب ينحصرُ

Perhaps the Turks would have minimized their setback

Had it been confined to just Ardahan

لكنهُ قد تعدى ارضروم الى

طرابزون التي عن صونها قصروا

But it spread beyond Ardahan to

Trabzon, which they failed to defend

وحالوا حفظ بتليسٍ وَوَانَ فما

فازوا وكروا بارزنجان فانكسروا

And they attempted to protect Batumi and Van but

Were defeated, retreating to Erzurum

لكنهم حسبوا استرداد كوتَ من ال

غُزاة اعظم نصرٍ ساقه القدرُ

Yet they considered retaking Kut from the

Invaders a greater victory ordained by fate

ربحٌ يسيرٌ حقيرٌ عظَّموه وما

من قبله خسروا في جنبهِ احتقروا

A minor, insignificant gain they exaggerated, while ignoring

The major losses they had suffered before it

أنساهم فقدَهم ارمينيا وبهِ

تبجح الاتحاديونَ وافتخروا

Forgetting their loss of Armenia, they

Boasted about Kut and took pride