1. I am silent, yet eloquence has not abandoned me,
Had it not been for your brother preceding me, I would have outdone him.

2. And I would have strummed the chords of hearts with a silent longing,
Every refined soul yearns to speak out.

3. So I sent into their mouths something like saliva,
And breathed into their ears a kind of incantation,

4. And I softened the harsh poetry until it could be desired,
And strengthened the softness until it could be feared.

5. I polished for the sights every scintillating
Dazzling star envied by stars in their brilliance.

6. They appear and leave every fascinated heart
Empty, and leave every enchanted mind empty.

7. And I have for your brother, yet determination did not drive me,
And though you arrived, I did not hasten towards the encounter.

8. You arrived while the world was hateful to me,
If only troubles had preceded you to me.

9. You resented me without cause, and yet
It is a cause worthy for me to resent.

10. Death grasped the hand of my brother, and I almost
Ran in its tracks, had it not been for God-consciousness.

11. My soul did not fear for me, rather
I feared that I would cry for the concerned friend.

12. I bid him farewell like the full moon,
And the full moon is not safe from being eclipsed.

13. And I hoped for his permanence, but
Death draws near the one it loves to remain.

14. I became like an eagle whose wing is cut off,
So it plummeted. Had the wing been unharmed, it would have soared.

15. Despairing of hope, so neither chained captive
Do I hope for freedom, nor am I fully released.

16. And I wore the trappings of blackness
Until I was dyed from head to toe in pervasive mourning.

17. And I scolded my eye from delighting in sights,
And I prevented my heart after him from throbbing.

18. I do not wrong the days for what they have reaped,
Do not feel secure that days will remain gathered.

19. Be however you wish, for I will not settle in bliss
After the beloved, nor fear a terrible end.

20. A year whose prosperity I forgot in its misfortune,
The night may veil the radiant crescent.

21. I have not forgotten the tyrant of kings, and how he fell
From his throne, and his captive did not climb.

22. The king stripped of kingship frightened and desolate,
Have you ever seen a barefoot king?

23. He did not cease to scorn prey until he became
One whose swords are not mentioned until they are unsheathed.

24. We have seen that when the Turk clamored boastfully,
Passion confused the Persian who was awestruck.

25. A memory stirs every still heart
Until it comes to love after it to love.

26. Why does the Nile have misfortune and it did not have
The flow of the Gulf or the Euphrates before?

27. If I do not defend the land of Egypt successfully,
The vicissitudes of time will finish me successfully.

28. What is wrong with it that it complains of its beauty fading,
When it used to adorn the East?

29. The hand of politics betrayed its covenant,
For politics does not uphold a pact.

30. They lied about Egypt and their words were believed,
Evil finds lies it can validate.

31. And they insisted we do not emerge
From one quandary until we encounter another.

32. They took us into every narrow valley,
Until we despaired that they would find a narrower one.

33. They prevented the press from airing our grievances,
They prevented the stars from clarifying and rising.

34. Had they been fair, they would have removed the shackles, for
The captive complains of captivity when it weighs heavy.

35. And they sought to steal the Canal but failed
In their endeavor, and God willed it would fail.

36. The Counsel presented the account but he would not have been
An accountant or examiner without politics.

37. Can our usurper be the one claiming
He has become our benefactor and almsgiver?

38. Oh children of Egypt, you are not her sons
Until you stand up to the engulfing affliction for Egypt.

39. If you protect her, you will preserve in your lineage
A remembrance that immortalizes glory in nights.