1. If only justice governed love's decrees,
The Copts would not have dared to rule the Arabs.

2. Yet they inscribe their laws on tablets white,
And at their edges set their seal and dot.

3. By men who know how steadfastly to bear
The wounds of war, as if from their first breath

4. Molded of sheer and ductile steel they were,
In whom no fear of death engenders dread.

5. Else why do they still till the fertile plains,
Furrow the meadows, tap the spring's sweet draught,