وَيلٌ لِفِلجٍ وَالمِلاحِ وَأَهلِها

وَيلٌ لِفِلجٍ وَالمِلاحِ وَأَهلِها

إِذا جابَ دينارٌ صَفاها وَفَرقَدُ

إِذا جابَ دينارٌ صَفاها وَفَرقَدُ

Woe to Filj and al-Milah and their people,

Woe to the paralytic man, and sailors, and their folk,

When Dinar and Farqad cut through its smooth rock—

When a gold coin makes the surface foam and darkness fall

مِصَكّانِ قَد كادَت تَشيبُ لِحاهُما

مِصَكّانِ قَد كادَت تَشيبُ لِحاهُما

وَآخَرُ مِن نوبِ المَدينَةِ أَسوَدُ

وَآخَرُ مِن نوبِ المَدينَةِ أَسوَدُ

Two hard-hitting men whose beards have nearly turned gray,

Two [men] whose beards had almost turned white with effort

And another, a black man from the Nubians of Medina,

And another was from the blackness of the city's core

وَمَرَّ كَمُردِيِّ السَفينَةِ مَتنُهُ

وَمَرَّ كَمُردِيِّ السَفينَةِ مَتنُهُ

يَظَلُّ الصَفا مِن ضَربِهِ يَتَوَقَّدُ

يَظَلُّ الصَفا مِن ضَربِهِ يَتَوَقَّدُ

And a spade whose shaft is like a ship’s punting-pole:

He passed like a ship’s master guiding its hull

The smooth rock keeps blazing from its blows.

Leaving the surface aflame from his battering strikes