1. We are weary, though the angry foe be not weary,
And though the time of trouble be not weary.

2. It hurries us on to misery when we desire it not,
And from our hopes it lags when we observe it.

3. We bear hearts around which the days storm
And at which events stab and catastrophes rage.

4. We desire the way to safety, yet the whole earth
Is filled with fear in the east and the west.

5. The peoples of the two worlds are in ferment,
While a people in the midst of calmness wishes for submission.

6. We have been thrown among a people whose hearts' sickness
Inflicts upon us what a warrior's swords cannot inflict.

7. Neither blood nor honor is forbidden,
Neither violence prohibited nor kindness obligatory.

8. He who does not desire havoc is led toward it
And goes reluctantly, though with a yearning soul.

9. He has obeyed the foe, not because he betrayed his people,
Rather because party strife restricted him.

10. They robbed him of wealth and family and took possession
Of the love and bounty that were his livelihood.

11. So he knows not whether there is room for him in the land
Or whether the horizons have closed in upon him.

12. He volunteered to face death, not out of courage,
But because he flees in fear from the fear of death.

13. Hunger's violence drives him on though he be doubly armed;
Spears push him from the rear, and likewise sharp swords.

14. When he turns his back the tongues attack him,
And when he comes to them, the weapons come in war apparel.

15. I pity a people made prey and a nation
Encircled by an army of oppression made victorious.

16. They make attack after attack upon it
And spy out its vulnerable points for the final assault.

17. By day it advances and attacks, while death's pangs
Drive it onward and calamities' chains pull it.

18. It has wrapped itself in black nights like months
Whose daughters are horrors ever lying in wait.

19. It moves slowly though disasters run fleetly
At its sides, while sorrows press hard behind.

20. We appeal to hearts that quiver so that the nights' misfortunes
And endless worries may shake them.

21. The guards' treason has destroyed us, and their cry:
"Congratulations to a people whose envoys have erred!"

22. They have shown us lands that have escaped the fate which has befallen you
And ended happily with their wants fulfilled.

23. Nations were annihilated despite their supreme struggle,
While a people at play has been destroyed.

24. You have put on the garb of peace, though to every nation
Belong some blood-smeared tatters.

25. So do not impugn it, O Sons of Egypt, as a blessing
Nor let a despoiler bring destruction to Egypt.

26. By my life! Souls have been corrupted by the corruption of position,
And no souls have been more corrupted than those of governors.

27. A man's qualities are sound until, when he attains
A position, defects creep over him.

28. We made agreements with the people, but they did not keep their word,
Nor did their pledges and promises prove sincere.

29. We and they are as though, in our hatred, we charge at each other
While outwardly we feign friendliness and amity!

30. We fear some of the critics and so avoid
Taking precautions against them, so confusion stalls the mind.

31. We both refrain from things that deprive the soul of its tolerance
Whether we are content or angry.

32. Countries that have been wronged by their own people
Are more deserving to be rid of foreigners!

33. From these countries they snatch each day some prey
Which their swords shred and their claws tear.

34. They are lions toward the weak, creeping foxes
When the strong young lion springs up.

35. We are tired of the life of humiliation, and humiliation
Accompanies him who rides upon it to death.

36. We demand, but the oppressors refuse
And we complain, but the guard of justice bars us from equity.

37. We have tasted harm from the peoples such as if harm like unto it
Were tasted, the sides of high mountains would flow with blood.

38. Had my withstanding been in high mountains,
Their peaks would not have stood firm.

39. Can the nights deal graciously with a people
So ill-treated by their nights rapidly fleeing?

40. We were patient, and that was the utmost limit of all patience.
So where are our hopes and where is deliverance?

41. No glory belongs to homelands if only
Battalions that drive them like battalions visit them.