1. If you ask of me about Egypt, repository of villages,
And steadfastness of history and relics,

2. Then sunrise in Memphis and Thebes is evident,
Who would meet sunrise with denial?

3. With the night from Memphis and from its meadows,
A nose buried in the sands, a heathen.

4. The ages passed and its eyelids never met,
Night and day came upon it.

5. Time never weakened its arms, nor
Did the change of pouring rains and downpours affect it.

6. As if time, were it to rule a moment of violence,
Or was it not short-clawed.

7. And three faced time with lofty experience,
Proud throughout the flow of time.

8. It stood on the Nile, the old, olden,
Clothing it in the garb of pride, yet naked.

9. From every edifice, a pleasure in the soil,
Towering in the air like a hurricane.

10. The jinn in its sides, checkmated,
With wonders of architect and digger.

11. And the earth missing a trick to wrest it
From the trick of the crucified by the nails.

12. Those graves more concealed than the unseen, what
They hid from depths and treasures.

13. Kings slept there ages long,
Finding restful repose and peace.

14. Each like the people of the cave over his couch,
While time underneath the couch snarling.

15. The rulers of Egypt, conquerors of the world,
Given orbits like the moon.

16. Time tore their veil and removed them
After protection, like secrets are removed.

17. Alas, decay never touched their grandeur,
Except through hands too short to reach.

18. They were when time's glance aspired not to them.
Why were they exposed to viewers?

19. Had they tarried till Resurrection in their abode,
They would have stood before their Creator without dust.