1. O land, vast as heaven,
The sea beat against rocks and scattered water.

2. Your crags adore kisses in the morning light
And exhale sweet breaths when evening comes.

3. Renewing vows, he placed his love
In your manifold rays and echoes.

4. Playing with tracing the sands as if
He were a soothsayer, divining news.

5. Depicting fancy’s subtlety, he forms
Of beauty’s art magic and allure.

6. He designed the shores with adornment
And shaped them into wondrous scenes.

7. With his feathers he lights the sky,
His feathers make the sky brighter,

8. Not brighter than his dawning places
A sun, nor lovelier of years and glow.

9. Indeed, nor is the starry night sky clearer,
Displaying the fullest moon or fairest heaven.

10. O Lord of native splendor, make it
A horizon warmer, an intense red sea.

11. As if it folded up the sky and unfurled
Flames and burst rocks into blood.

12. And for the Lord of the fragrant breeze, an invalid
I visited, and in it the pale night,

13. The waves danced under its rays
And the breeze pulled its gown to and fro,

14. Until when the stars blinked their eyes,
They inclined their hearing to you attentively,

15. Listening to the flautist under its banner
Composing, excelling in singing.

16. The nights of summer shook his enchanting voice,
Appeasing the shores and treading lightly on the water,

17. And stirred the wings of birds which circled
Lost in the horizon, pursuing echoes.

18. Scenes of beauties, O shores, which that sea
Artisan created for you as a storyteller,

19. So watch him on your crags as
The stranger returned to his protector loyally.

20. How long he beat against your rocks in his waves
Out of the love and loyalty he harbored,

21. Excuse him if he falters in speech
For he is the eloquent one, amazing orators.

22. So take his talk and listen to him -
How many inanimate things converse with the living!

23. Ask him how he spent the nights sleepless,
Without loved ones or enemies in you,

24. How many a night for you, O shores, he traversed
While terror filled the spaces around you,

25. And ships with towering citadels as if
They tread the clouds and descend the darkness.

26. They carried Egypt’s conquerors and landed
At the Nile, an army and banners from them.

27. If only he could, he would ward off their affliction from you
And make every ship’s timbers take flight,

28. Or if he possessed the power, he would marshal the darkness
And summon the meteorites and rally the winds,

29. Summon his nimble ships and they would come,
He would hurl at them fate and reverse destiny.

30. So recount the march of life and repeat
What was secretly of its news, and what was public.

31. And take from your past an example
And from the new, a lesson and hope,

32. Alas, shores of Egypt, and the world an abode
That yearns for you, morning and evening,

33. You conjured the dreams of spring, and they came,
You summoned fair summer, and it arrived,

34. Desiring you of the prime of time and its intimacy
Whatever you wished of life’s joy and well-being,

35. And tomorrow a gleam will shine on your brow
Eternity imprinting its brilliant markings,

36. It will tremble from it upon your shores a kiss
The breeze leaned in to listen, and withdrew shyly.

37. So welcome the beautiful summer, and prepare
For poetry in you a singing, inspiring companion,

38. And listen to the melody of imagination, reserve
For me above your waters a white rock,

39. And display the houris of paradise, unleash
The language of heaven, and inspire the poets.