1. The heights of glory you have risen to so young,
And to you it had long been destined to belong,

2. Passing from noble hand to generous hand
Like the Spirit of God after Moses the Kalim.

3. It made way for the Son of Mary when he came,
And the star gave way to the radiant moon.

4. A light succeeding a light - flowing bounties stream,
Guiding all and sundry with its cheerful beam.

5. Thus you are, O noble scions of the holy line,
Can the light of the stars be parceled or confined?

6. Where are the meteors set beside the sun’s clear shine
That sheds its lustre on the thread of life’s design?

7. I see a future loom out wondrously anew,
With a heading for us events will register true,

8. Muhammad was hope meteoric and bright,
While despair was an outcast shunned outright.

9. The houses of prayer and the buildings again
Shone as they did of yore in their charm and élan,

10. And all that was writ by the mind and the heart
Appeared on the horizons all nimble and smart.

11. I asked and was told a babe they would bear,
Whose feast-day in Egypt they would declare,

12. At once I recalled that before it took place,
And God hears our converse whenever we pace.

13. At the park of the Emirate the new moon of May
Rose and in its stations continued its stay,

14. All Egypt encompassed the crib and kept guard,
While the crib was a friend the whole world regarded.

15. To your generation, when it comes of age -
The people of glory and lofty courage -

16. I give the wise maxims the eloquent sages,
And offer my wisdom to the prudent of ages.

17. When you come, O era of luster and sheen,
And years flit away while youth grows between,

18. Go gently with them showing benign lenience,
And be to your roses a comforting presence.

19. O scions of the Emir when you come indeed,
And your grandsire allows what your hearts may need,

20. Take paths upwards - manifold ways and more -
And let your guide be religion strict and pure.

21. Cherish it, for all good lies in its care,
Seek it in the Book and the volumes that share

22. Its light. Not the law that the jurists prepare,
Nor forsake along with religion the secular arts.

23. Have faith in yourself in all of your affairs,
And be sure of what you believe, dispel your fears,

24. As if your faith were a debt or pledge revered;
For principle’s splendor is constancy versed.

25. And if you seek glories in the life of men,
Seek them with hard toil and a will to attain.

26. Take them with labors spirited and vibrant,
That rival the heavens in their majesty and grace.

27. If to war or to peace you are summoned to fare,
March before other men even would dare,

28. And be as the lion who comes from the fore,
Filling every vale with his echoing roar.

29. Be the people of mettle, of virtues endowed,
Do not wander forlorn, dispersed among the crowd.

30. Be as the bees, and let life be your flowers
That you roam gathering nectar in fruitful hours.

31. Do not covet the impossible glooms in wait,
Or lapse to neglect of the noble and great.

32. If they are slow coming have patience and faith,
As the prophets of old persevered and awaited.

33. Do not bow save to God and His supreme law,
Or suffer injustice, believing in fate.

34. Do not rest content with the least of the small,
When you cannot attain all that you hope for and more.

35. Neither despair, nor trust to chance in its course,
Assuming the future is governed by force.

36. With events there is only the Lord to decree,
And none who can know what the morrow will be.

37. Do not place hope in fools, though they spread and prevail,
Like sunlight sunk in the sodden dirt trail.

38. There its brilliance is wasted and comes to nothing,
For ignorance causes of goodness a dimming.

39. Pursue deliberation, reflect and appraise,
Do not rush matters, verify facts of each case.

40. Be like the lion attending the river to drink,
Not hasty to leave ere his thirst he can slake.

41. Know that this world is unfit for man's rest,
Be a guest, accepting what comes as your best.

42. Do not take pride in amassing your foes -
For most hostile people the most evil shows.

43. Let not your affection be cheapened or tampered,
Or your mildness permit you to suffer or be hampered.

44. Maintain balance, each extreme eschew,
You will satisfy neither familiar nor foe.

45. Pray with devotion, petition and fear,
Before fasting, abstain from sin during the year.

46. Do not think that God can be swayed to the bad,
Or that a hypocrite can elude what is sad.

47. Each harvest has its tax that is due,
The meaning of charity lies in alms that are true.

48. God does not need what we can accrue,
Nor takes from a soul beyond what is its due.

49. If you’re learned, act and apply what you know,
If you reign, govern justly, be upright and show

50. The way. If you’re an artisan, master your art,
Thereafter keep to your duties, fulfilled in each part.

51. Protect a language deserving our care,
The best signs of nationhood flourish in fair

52. Expression. A people not speaking its tongue,
Finds itself in its country resented and stung.

53. Have you not seen it take slight after slight,
Though when it was well, every bird would alight,

54. Singing over the East - while its folk day and night,
Stay silent, oppressed and consigned out of sight.

55. Teach it first to your children before all,
Leave aside empty claims to be modern and tall.

56. What good is affectation in life's carnival?
A mute youth has no merit that is not small.

57. Learn the parlance your contemporaries speak,
Let not your mother tongue languish antique.

58. Like the crow walking - his fill left behind -
Reached not the fresh or the late of its kind.

59. To your generation, when it is brand new
My son, from your father instruction is due.

60. But you have a model in him to pursue,
That leaves all minds baffled, none grasping its clue.

61. My advice that I offer is meant for your good,
I seek not through it your path be withheld

62. Rather, 'tis my utmost endeavor I would,
Usefully serve, and service is kindness that’s stood.

63. If taught my verse, my dear boy, learn it by heart,
Your father divines it, and knows every part.

64. Your grandsire was present when flowing my art,
I raced the ancients and led from the start.

65. You are our sons - the most glorious sight,
Your reign is their shelter, their shade, their light.

66. Why should we not hope that you'll make it right,
Each living because you live, standing upright?