1. I advance, for nothing is impossible to one who dares,
And achieve glory through it, for it is the most skillful achievement,

2. Every day the people witness its wonders,
Things no mind had ever imagined before.

3. Who would have imagined that birds would be followed
Across the sky by such finely crafted creations,

4. And that guiding them through the air
Would be jinn, Solomon's armies following them.

5. I wonder at eagles extending their wings in the sky, never
Aiming for the highest domes or branching out beyond them.

6. Tell the youth of Egypt, your time is one of heroes
With every daring goal belonging to them.

7. The pillar of kingdoms lies in their ambition and protection,
Not in delusions or tricks.

8. They give each people according to what they have achieved,
Never stinting anything if they excel.

9. What will you prepare after parliament for them
Once your best people assume power in the state?

10. The land has no expanse limiting you
And the sea has no breadth restricting you.

11. Will you rise up and catch up with them?
Those resting cannot catch up with the travelers.

12. Let not someone hastening to divide delight you,
The clippers seem light when they snip.

13. They have shown you the past, and what it exhumed
Of resentments that even the hyena never witnessed.

14. What business do the youth and the past have with them
When parties and factions pass decaying over them?

15. The youth are tomorrow, so guide them to a tomorrow
And the righteous mentor to its paths.

16. Do not let a father’s kindness prevent you
From doing what is unlike what they did.

17. Do not let the status they reached
Or the money they collected impress you.

18. What are status and money in life, even if good?
Just fleeting luck, to be regained.

19. Rally around the image of glory, unite
Around its statue, come together.

20. Show patience, with seriousness and action,
For patience benefits what impatience cannot.

21. And if you excel, then in knowledge and etiquette,
And in the crafts of an era whose people are artisans.

22. No people’s structure will stand unless
It rests on the pillars of the age from its corners.

23. The noble Makkah is free in his realms,
So do you see people benefiting from freedom?

24. How much in life resembles the desert, the two
Alike in the suddenness of demise.

25. Beyond each path in them is fate—
The soul knows not what will come and what will leave.

26. So you do not know, even if cautious, when
Its winds will blow or the predators appear.

27. You feel no safety upon waking from
Sudden storms, full of fear and panic.

28. You do not know, even if you try diligently,
When you will pitch tents or when depart.

29. You own nothing of the guide’s affair except
That no matter what, the guide must be followed.

30. What is life, even if deluding, except
A mirage shimmering over the desert?

31. I aspired beyond my sweet sixteen, with ambition
Seeking what content youth do not seek.

32. Heroism is just the soul pushing itself
Toward what will bring it praise, so it rushes forth.

33. It cares not if kinfolk, having reached
The sides of glory, fell or returned.

34. Traveler of the East, the deserts now know
That you are the lion, unafraid.

35. What have you encountered of deep sands, and
Of deserts tight on the walker, yet wide?

36. Have you passed people whose nature since Adam's days
Holds no malice or instinct?

37. Astounding that they bow to none but God,
And to none but God kneel.

38. How did Islam guide them and how were
The five prayers conveyed to them and the Friday sermon?

39. Egypt has praised you enough—you deserve it.
Do not shy from listening when you hear it.

40. Had the deserts praised you, you would have come to us
A king above other kings, honored and obeyed.