Shepherds & Fire (Translated Version)

Shepherds & Fire
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Euphrates tastes bitter, wherever its waters flow and go
And the wounded homeland is taken by its wounds to a tomb

Iraq has its tears, its candles
And it’s no secret that Iraq has a secret

Its parts are shattered
Its rivers fight each other

Are we really Arabs,
When we watch the perfidious swords of death kill Iraq?

Are we really Arabs,
When we hear sad news from Iraq?

Laws of war are offense and defense
And that victory is impossible for the perfidious

Destruction continues in this dilemma
Yet, how many a darkness end with the Dawn calls to prayer?

Hear ye! Whose led by greediness to our Iraq,
How could you?

Hear ye! Whose hands are filled with our blood,
We are so many!

Hear ye! Who doesn’t know our names,
We all have the same dark-skinned foreheads

Locusts have woven a gown of poverty
For our Iraq’s people

They came without any evidence,
But peoples have patience

And every strong and oppressor has an end,
Just like darkness, and its certain age

History taught those who read it,
That no oppression would last forever

History learned from those who write it,
That it is written in red letters

Iraq! O, Iraq!
You shining lighthouse of glory

We need a day in our history like the days of Badr war,
To teach those sitting on our chest, that Iraq will be free.



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Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoom
Prince of Dubai, UAE