1. Not by the eyes that did not betray the Master of Qena and its minarets,
Nor by my heart that never indulged in thoughts of you in past or future,

2. Nor by my soul that never desired the arrows of your glances to pierce my heart,
Seeing the impossible in you.

3. Blame falls on me from all sides,
Yet none reaches me but whispers.

4. You are seduced by the slanderer, trusting him
Like a child paying heed to myths.

5. Arrows, when reaching their mark,
Have errors like successes.

6. The arrow your eyelids unleashed randomly
Fate insisted should go astray.

7. From my heart to mind to liver
To guidance, oblivion and passions,

8. To me, you are none but the gazelle
In her eyes and self, some say literally.

9. The king’s seal fulfills all needs
Your desired mouth fulfills all my needs

10. Tell him to perfect his love
You are haven for orphans and damsels

11. Welcome O cavalcade of highness and glory,
Caravan of prides and fortunes,

12. Welcome, settled or roaming,
God blessed you with greetings.

13. Still you rain down Egypt, flooding it
Rain is best when timely.

14. Your caravan marched from shore to land
As ancestors marched to end misery.

15. My Lord, wherever its procession went
For God’s banner in crowds’ hands,

16. If honored, they saw in its shade an honor
And met goodness with good intentions.

17. The Sa`id smiled, best revelry,
Renewing it with royal feasts.

18. How often its glories and graces
Showed nations’ glory and rulers’ determination.

19. In Egypt, people toured its field
As histories tell of ruins.

20. Until water flowed gold in its midst
Watering kingdoms never sated, regions never quenched.

21. Every table in creation crowded
Egypt behind them, feast maker

22. Why not live up to masters who were
Righteous strangers, by ancestors and nobles.

23. When praised, benefactors win it
Among us, nobles win blame

24. How great might Ismail be if fate
Granted him bliss in Egypt, impossible!

25. If others built what represented him
His glory represented in a mirror

26. A people who earn reward during life
And when dead are bid farewell with honors

27. Immortalized after as a good example
Remaining through ages a sign of reward

28. Were it not for outstanding individuals
The reasonable would live among the dead

29. So perpetuate your memory by achievements
And seek eternity by endeavor

30. My Lord, Egypt’s people now elated
Passing among them a cup of joy

31. The astrologer made claims dividing them
That they won’t see you, and will regret

32. When you returned, they knew
The astrologer’s aim in those rumors

33. Does ill appear or show guilt?
While your blessings are moons and halos

34. People asked with no rest
Does earth shrink or flow for unknown goals?

35. They feared for it and for its collapse
From what befalls them of arising

36. They refused permanence for the world and its people
When a day comes and goes, another rises

37. All extend for us ropes of mortality
And all after us subject to ropes

38. The star must have a day it declines
Though it grasps means to ascend the heavens