1. A demolished temple in which wisdom lines
Were inscribed, now covered by years

2. Or a drawing in an abandoned tavern
Where cups lie scattered about

3. The wind blew over it, revealing faded lines
As if they were the traces of an ant trail

4. Or lines of sand made by a finger
On an ancient slab of stone

5. The tomb is weathered and eroded
Its guest is the dust of the earth

6. At night the darkness falls pondering
Like a black man lost in the ether

7. The stars flutter mercifully
Like an eye peering from behind the veils

8. When the Nile flowed by it cried out
Its waves swollen with affliction, almost roaring

9. Genius wailed in shock and grief
Bereft, it wept and lamented over it

10. Saying, I saw it shunned by the zealous
Its grave a desolate, dusty pit

11. The winds bound its limbs with reeds
Plaiting them on either side

12. From its shrouds they made a crown
Which the breeze tapped and plucked at

13. While eternal misery leaned down
Lording in the sanctuary of loss

14. They held a drunken feast over its dust
Where jinn of the wasteland danced and drank

15. O grave, beneath these tablets lies a poet
Whose misfortune gushed forth through history

16. He passed through life but no ear listened
To his melody, no eye looked upon him

17. His melodies were but laments
Echoed by one perplexed in the night

18. Or a stifled teardrop paused
On the brink of an eyelid, unable to fall

19. Or an imprisoned prayer in a burning breast
Whose fervor was obscured in the gloom

20. Or a whisper lost in the forest
Snuffed out by the desolate darkness

21. A world of oblivion was his cradle
In it his forsaken grave was dug

22. His inheritance after death is a fool
Who rants madly from the pulpit

23. And singers chant meaningless verse
O grave, spare us such offspring of genius

24. Quiver in fright, and prostrate yourself!
Begone, and chant toward it in exaltation

25. Do not despair, here lies immortality
Its secret safe from all minds and thoughts

26. Do not think that domes of marble
With cypress and verdant branches

27. Are nobler than a forgotten pit
That hides a genius in its depths

28. Time passes, bones crumble to dust
Yet glory shines from the soil

29. This is your child, forgotten monument
For whom the ages trembled in the pulse

30. In the festival of the immortal
His words are scented breaths on eternity's lip

31. The pyramids gathered in his memory
Had time not eroded them, all souls would gather to him

32. In every shrine and minaret they built
His melody is chanted and repeated

33. A poetry that melts chains if recited
In their shade, from its fervor they melt

34. He shook the South with fiery revolt
Boiling the silence of the ode, igniting it

35. The tyrants dreaded it, it marches on
Like death, unhalting and undelayed

36. Who dares to resent its echo in envy?
For it drips with the blood of martyrs

37. At Dunashwai it has an eternal echo
That shakes time with its fervent throbbing

38. The gallows bowed down in dread of its scream
The tyrant startled by its shuddering

39. If it could speak it would cry out
"A plot against Egypt, perfidy beyond forgiveness!"

40. Though their might is arrogant and haughty
God and the dear nation are greater

41. Awaken, Nile lover, dawn is confused
The shores empty, the waves silent

42. Yearning, the dew unquenched in its thirst
Longing, the waves unstirred in their depths

43. Seeking the one whose songs were its praise
Who cried at dusk, roaring with ecstasy

44. Where is the dew, the torrent of song
Whose tune, pure of sin, brings rapture?

45. Where are the birds at dawn, enchanted
By song, given voice by spring's bloom?

46. From a poet who stole the dawn and broadcast it
A melody that trills through the countryside

47. He plucked no strings nor played a flute
The banks were as a flowered lute in his hands

48. He had a passion for Egypt and a tremor in his heart
His love carved channels through it like a torrent

49. And an ardor that made the Orient another heart
Beating in his breast, sensitive to wounds

50. Ask Hoda Shaarawi how his verses shook her
Casting off her veil in excitement

51. March on with torch lit, and if opposed
Bandage the wounds of your opponent and heal

52. Listen to the hymn of the cedars in Lebanon
A gentle song to enrapture and render unconscious

53. The dancing maids with flying hair
Swaying with the return of melody, perfumed

54. Shading by the island’s shadows, his tunes
Strummed the pines and left them as rubble

55. His voice traveled to the new world
Bringing rapture to the diaspora there

56. And the exile among them nearly wept
Remembering the beloved homeland

57. Ask about him on the Day of the Imam
Clarity streaming from its pages

58. It raced to the holy tomb, its heart
Gushing with grief like the rocky fountains

59. Yesterday he taught it patience in sorrow
Now calamities pour down, how can it endure?

60. It cried: O awakener of Islam, arise!
Without you the East staggers crippled

61. Its minarets nearly toppled over
Its call to prayer wailing, its pulpits crumbling

62. O flash of perfection that shone forth
A stream cascading from the holy bier

63. It surged in the strings of his poetry
Humbly concealing the blaze, veiling it

64. The awe of glory makes it tremble and shy
To bare the breath of passion, smothering it

65. The first flame in a darkened valley
Its halo lit by his smallest glow

66. A heart suckled by the Nile's dew
In the cradle, its cavern sanctified and pure

67. When he sings for Egypt you'd think it was the morning breeze
Dancing over the meadows at dawn

68. And when he rages for her you'd imagine her meadows
Churning with tumult, the still pools stirred

69. Madly in love with homelands, beneath his tongue
A spring gushing forth, in his soul, gardens

70. In Egypt madness is the greatest wisdom
Inspired by the law of loyalty, commanding it

71. Arise, O reproacher of nations, calling out
If their gardens have turned to stone

72. Poetry, if your people forget you in ingratitude
The Nile on the Day of Pride will remember

73. You brought joy to the grieving exiles
With your sudden music, heralding hope

74. They despair, while the wounds of time lie buried
Like secrets in a heart that won't reveal

75. You revived their pain yet I never saw you happy
But ingratitude is expected of offspring...