1. O convoys of the Nile astir with life
The villages and towns surge with hundreds

2. Ask the Nile about your independence
Then walk as captives or fettered men

3. Let them convene and bring it to you
Drop by drop conveyed always to you

4. Did they appoint it for village notables
Or did they appoint it for a destitute people

5. They buy cotton with their independence
And sell the inheritance of their sons

6. A deal for the Nile its traces
The cry of the miserable and the frown of the sorrowful

7. O slaves of money, do you have a gallant
Who could stop money from the hands of usurpers

8. Or see that if they covet souls
The blows of the people are in trustworthy arms

9. Gather the money into the hands of usurpers
And beget sons for subjugators

10. Have you seen a nation live on
What you face as the life of the secure