1. They came upon you as tyrants and rebelled,
Yet you stood, with your mighty spirit,

2. They stormed your door until it was breached,
Leaving nothing but a hell churned by the storm.

3. When the events of its day are recounted,
The iron grows hot from its horror and fire.

4. If it were said: the heroes of eras - who are they?
Yours would be the glory and greatness.

5. If Homer returned with the magic of his singing,
And saw their epic battles and how they raged,

6. They who defend a besieged city,
Whose guards the walls have buckled over,

7. He would forget what he sang of Troy,
And be dazzled by them, strumming his lyre.

8. No epic was composed to describe their struggle,
Yet their blood made rivers flow.

9. A nation called to them from overseas -
He is their defender, keeping the floods at bay.

10. If asked about him, he is a knight of the arena
Whose track knew no lack of his leaping.

11. Or if you read his history, it is a page
Signed by his towering pride.

12. Or if you seek his grave, its place
Is where grass and flowers give shade,

13. Where snow buries him beneath its heap,
Where wind and rain strip bare.

14. He is an intention fulfilled in the land of its purpose
So a plant may grow or fruit ripen.

15. He is a wave melted into the sea of his being
That the tide may surge with his spirit.

16. On the shore the enemy halted across from him
Seeking to cross, but spears held him back.

17. He kept pushing back each battalion
Until the mighty legions faded away,

18. And he fell with the smile of victor on his lips
Avenged, with his hands, the score settled.

19. The iron and his might make sublime
A head crowned by the cave above.

20. O patroness of heroes – the defense did not waver
You stood, along with your free people.

21. Shall I say: children of frenzy or jinn?
Shall I say: gods, or the fates?!

22. They save you from the talons of crushing tyranny,
Heaved and tossed by water and ravines.

23. Lurking for rapine, wolves take cover
And trees flee their pathways.

24. He defeated its summer and winter –
Until your fierce winter took him.

25. Glory of cities and villages! Verily that
Which you perfected, minds are confounded by.

26. A wonder - are you a magical city,
Or a world ringed by mysteries?!

27. Perplexing roads where the lost are guided
And have no place for stillness.

28. Impassable to the enemy’s steps as though
Its stones were cast from mercury.

29. Homes built layer upon layer, as if
They were lairs for jinn in the blazing valley.

30. And you see Hell’s hordes at its doors -
Rooms grew too tight and walls gave way.

31. They battle with arms reddened to the elbows
As the ceiling crashes over their heads.

32. They vie over layers of rubble with their nails
Bloodied by its debris.

33. You kept standing against them until
Minds grew lax and sights wandered.

34. The killers recoiled, the archers’ hands froze,
The chisels jammed and walls came crashing down.

35. And the mighty fortress was sapped until
It was just a wall containing ruin.

36. The invaders pressed on and foretold:
That not a night or day would pass!

37. You swooped like a hovering eagle – they had
No escape from you or your talons.

38. Their hearts regarded you in fear and sighed
Frightened, while you are wine and the cupbearer!

39. Their cannons failed, their iron melted,
Amazing snow and searing heat.

40. O youths of Volgograd – the greetings of a poet
Whose limbs were enflamed by fervent verse.

41. A Nile valley boatman, though enticed
By wandering lost at sea.

42. Forever roaming confused with his sail -
Horizon casting him off and homeland rejecting him.

43. With you I elevated a splendid example
One day pointed to on high.

44. For Egypt’s youth – the builders of its life
And defenders if fortunes change,

45. With the likes of what you offered and sacrificed
Ages gain glory and lifespans grow cheap.

46. This is your city and that is its battle
A symbol for every heroism and every banner.

47. You brought each wondrous tale never celebrated
In its telling by any past age.

48. The world speaks of it and your making -
And generations and eras will speak!

49. A reality in existence or mythology -
That eternal mighty struggle?!