Poem by Sarah of Yemen, written in the 6th century

Source:

Quoted by Emily Taitz, Sondra Henry, and Cheryl Tallan, 'Sarah of Yemen', in The JPS Guide to Jewish Women: 600 B.C.E. to 1900 C.E. (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2003), p. 59., via:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_of_Yemen

The poem:

بنفسي أُمّةٌ لم تُفْنِ شبِأً * بذي حُرُضٍ تَعقّبُها الرِياحُ

كُهولٌ من قُرَيْظةَ اتلفتْها * سيوفُ الخَزْرَجيِّة والرماح

رُزدنا والرزيئةُ ذاتُ ثِقْلٍ * بَمُرّ لاملِها املاءُ القَراح

ولو أَربوا بامرهمِ لجالت * هنالك دونهم جَأوا رَداح

Romanised transliteration:

binfsi 'ummt lm tufn shbiaan

badhi hurud taeqqbuha alriah kuhwl min qurayzt atlftha

sywf alkhazrajyit walramah ruzdna walrzyyt dhat thiql

bamur lamliha amla' alqarah walaw 'arbu bamrhm lijalat

hnalk dunihim jau radah

English translation:

By my life, there is a people not long in Du Ḥurud, obliterated by the wind.

Men of Qurayza destroyed by Khazraji swords and lances,

We have lost, and our loss is so grave, it embitters for its people the pure water.

And had they been foreseeing, a teeming host would have reached there before them.