1. O carrier of the Nile, when you reach Syria
Pay my greetings to the beloved ones and exonerate me from reproof

2. Those melodies contain a sincere love
And dear, honorable friends

3. Love bound us in pure ties
In a bond that defies the passage of time to undo

4. You see the Jordan embracing the Nile
And the Nile surging into the Jordan

5. The people of Syria and us
Are bound by an enduring covenant

6. We pledged time a tilted cup
That tricks drinking yet toys with the regretful

7. We sipped the nectar from its spout
And took turns quaffing the dregs cup by cup

8. We in the two lands are brethren in passion
Exchanging the two rivers' honey and poison

9. Alif clad us in its loftiness
With a lineage to dispel the darkness

10. Thus we rose among mankind as guiding lights
And shone in its regions as peace

11. Without what we are
The East's nations would be lifeless ruins

12. Without us
Time's bulk would be insignificant and lowly

13. We set order and chaos aright
And ruled time as elder and youth

14. A nation made to defy
The might of death and refuse to be cowed

15. We challenged Pharaoh amidst his reign
And built a lofty rule atop his crown

16. We marched on high, so when crowded
We vied with Aaron in honor and esteem

17. We shepherded empires in their armies
And conquered the mighty citadels

18. O people of arts, salute a banner
That will humble all banners if unfurled

19. When you recall the Alif dynasty
Forget not the elder Sheikh nor the crown

20. Boasting and empty claims are many
When one despairs of stability

21. A genius who defended its accounts
So geniuses shone resplendent

22. Dazzling the earth and climbing peaks
To illuminate comets or water the clouds

23. A state prideful of a protector
Whose people confer upon him leadership

24. Chaos roiled the East, so he set forth
To spread law and order within it

25. He dispatched leaders to its regions
To seize the farthest place by storm

26. When the army of ignorance mobbed
And stripped the army of God of its glory

27. The keen-nibbed writers marched into the fray
With epic tales of conquest to weary swords

28. Knowledge flowed from its pure spring
Healing the East's every malady

29. To obtain it is like the Fountain of Khezr
Immune to disease or poison's taste

30. In knowledge lies a sublime mystery
Whence we draw eternity and constancy

31. Hidden from the empty-minded tyrants
Who shook the lands with terror and resolve

32. Search the graves for their crowns
And ask the edifices and standing rocks

33. Do you see aught but pits
Vomiting their bodies and bones?

34. Fate's doubts ransacked their hoarded
Treasures, now rubble in the soil

35. To the usurper was made lawful at daybreak
What they had plundered illicitly

36. Many an army spent the night vigilant, fearing
Their keen blades even as they brandished them

37. False glory, lies, and hollow life
Beget but disease and venom

38. If you describe a kingdom's decay
Speak rather of fanciful dreams that seduce sleep