1. The grave is not enchanted, nor at its gate
Is there a guard to ward away its inmates.

2. But within it lies a buried sanctity,
The sanctity of him buried in its expanse.

3. In the trustworthy grave lies one wrapped
Who may not be violated before his reckoning.

4. The throes of life assailed him, so he sought refuge
In death from its pangs.

5. In a retreat where calamities halt,
Paralyzed, and sink beneath its dome,

6. The reckless sinner it warns, recklessly,
And the weary it relieves of his weariness.

7. This is no place for the soul to choose but stillness;
Even if the body were not dust in its gown.

8. Leave the buried to sleep his fill,
On his bier, and beware of arousing his wrath.

9. His remains are sacrosanct, so treat them with propriety,
And propriety for yourself lies in respecting his veil.

10. He who violates graves and their occupants
Will inevitably suffer - such is part of his punishment.

11. If he escapes their poison and insects
He will not escape the wrath of the soil and its insects.

12. Though laid to rest, this deceased was a man of might;
No sword cast aside will lose its bite.

13. Would you deliberately allow yourself to be violated
And then be bewildered as to its cause?

14. He who dares plunge into the fray
Will be drowned in its waves.

15. To provoke the serpent in its burrow
Is to deliberately invite the venom of its mouth.

16. And to alarm the wolf in its den
Is to become prey to its claws and fangs.

17. Let Destiny's book decide what it may;
You are not hostage to its decisions.

18. Your fortune owes naught to its lucky birds
Nor your misfortune to the flaws of its crows.

19. No! Nor do its ponds ordain your fate.
Only He who gave its mirage its glitter.

20. The law of decay in the universe is immutable
Even if you cling to its stars and clouds.

21. Yet who decrees the despair of old age
Other than He who decrees the rapture of youth?

22. Alas! O apex of their pride
And validator of their lineages and pedigrees!

23. By God, I am not exultant at a calamity
That has stabbed knowledge deep in its essence.

24. Upon you has descended an eclipse that made you
Vanish between your rising and setting.

25. You aspired to immortality but indeed you have become immortal
Even if your life was lost in the quest for knowledge.

26. One whose name fills gatherings has not died,
Gifted by all creation with its admiration.

27. You did not cease delving into the valley of kings,
At the foot of its summit and the top of its slopes,

28. Until you landed upon a buried treasure
And broadcast the signs of its veil and wonders.

29. You ascended above the epochs triumphantly
And chronicled their past events.

30. And in history you discerned its greatest blemish
And appended to its many chapters.

31. With the valley you reached the highest celestial sphere
But trespassed upon an inhabitant of its valleys.

32. Had you just plundered all his treasure,
Possessions, food and clothes,

33. He would have pardoned you and not resented you.
But you deliberately violated his sanctity,

34. Is the mighty Pharaoh disgraced by his tomb
While he is glorious in his kingdom and ministries?

35. Before him, did you not see his courtiers
Armored with their weapons?

36. And you saw Anubis on his bier,
And Amon in his shrine.

37. Silent he lies, but silence declares
More than speech his meaning.

38. Time wearied of him but could not wear him down.
The light of his appearance continues to shine.

39. The soul hovers over his coffin
While the body is moist wood in its shroud.

40. Centuries have passed over him, yet he is as if
Yesterday he alighted there to the right of his mount.

41. You see sustenance exhaling from his food,
And his flask still sparkling with his drink.

42. As if in his palace, not his tomb,
Enthroned in glory upon his carpet.

43. Knowledge is his seer, death his guard,
And time his chamberlain.

44. Have patience, O sons of the Thames in your trespass!
For how much wrong can befall its perpetrators!

45. You stirred fear in the beasts of its wilds,
And panic among the creatures of its jungle.

46. You felled in the earth the thrones of its kings,
And in the heavens the rule of its birds.

47. You crushed the weak populace unjustly,
And fettered their necks cruelly.

48. So leave the shrouded to rest safely beneath the soil
After his struggle, after the length of his torment.