تلهَّفُ أمُّ المُسْبحينَ عَلَى

تلهَّفُ أمُّ المُسْبحينَ عَلَى

جَيْشِ ابنِ حربٍ بالحَرّةِ الفَشِلِ

جَيْشِ ابنِ حربٍ بالحَرّةِ الفَشِلِ

Umm al-Musabbiḥīn laments over

The mother of the rosary-tellers yearns for

the faltering army of Ibn Ḥarb at al-Ḥarrah,

The army of Ibn Harb at Al-Harrah's defeat

إذْ يُطرَحُونَ من سَنَمِ الطَّيْ

إذْ يُطرَحُونَ من سَنَمِ الطَّيْ

رِ تَرْقَّى لِقُنَّةِ الجَبَلِ

رِ تَرْقَّى لِقُنَّةِ الجَبَلِ

when they are hurled from the heights of birds

As they are flung from the pinnacle of glory

soaring toward the mountain’s peak.

Climbing to the peak of the mountain

جَاؤُوا بجيشٍ لو قِيس مُبْركُهُ

جَاؤُوا بجيشٍ لو قِيس مُبْركُهُ

ما كَانَ إلاّ كمفحَصِ الدُّئِلِ

ما كَانَ إلاّ كمفحَصِ الدُّئِلِ

They came with an army whose encampment, if measured,

They came with an army, if its valor was measured

would be no more than a weasel-like creature’s hollow—

It would be but as a handful of bran

عارٍ من النّصْرِ والثّراءِ وَمِنْ

عارٍ من النّصْرِ والثّراءِ وَمِنْ

أَبْطَالِ أهْلِ الَطْحَاءِ والأسَلِ

أَبْطَالِ أهْلِ الَطْحَاءِ والأسَلِ

bereft of victory and abundance, and of

Shameful in victory and wealth, and from

the champions of al-Ṭaḥāʾ’s people, and spears.

The heroes of nomads and weapons