1. Why do I feel such yearning violence within me
Only for Egypt, and naught else to which I'm tied

2. The wealth I gained there did not profit me
Nor did I rule, though generous and dignified

3. Does absence make me err, and error seem
Fine to me now, though once it horrified?

4. But for the envious, indeed, but for Hussein
My will had not been weak and terrified

5. This was my love, this was my son, his place
Was mapped in Egypt and in Syria's side

6. I owned such land that wearied my steeds' pace
Yet Fate decreed that we be tossed aside

7. O Killer of my heart, how can you wrest
Me from Reason's reins to Passion's tide?