1. O honor's apogee - Joseph Saba has died
O honor of virtues in him and civility

2. O honor of emirate, ministry, dew
And valor, amiability, lineage and accounts

3. And to all the East an accomplished mentor
His loss has caused universal sorrow

4. What's Egypt's state without Joseph who hastened
By destiny's decree connections were severed

5. He was eulogized for his peerlessness
The shepherd of souls, bewilderer of minds

6. As if what inters him in the earth's belly
Was flung from the liver of the sky like a meteor

7. Died he whose life filled pages
With signs safekept in pottery scripture

8. Thereby he reached honor's summit and gained
The finest traits and won epithets

9. As minister he never when responding
To lions entered the jungle diffident

10. Many saw him as a mendacious illusion
Pursuing a path benefiting night and darkness

11. Until revelations exposed his essence
Not self-aggrandizing - he shunned all blame

12. As administrator gently handling affairs
He rectified flaws door-to-door

13. No matter the obstacles, he strived
Seeking success - cares not for hardship

14. Justly rewarded the deserving, chose
What's best for propriety - his discipline a deterrent

15. Thus under his rule Egypt's post
Became a marvel - who's seen its peer?

16. Alas, he who was there for his people
Turned to him in every tribulation

17. He was the star of their honor in darkness
Today the star of their honor has vanished

18. When elders weep his loss, the youth
After them and children also weep

19. Time has struck - it targeted and felled him
The heart of integrity and dew - a blow landed

20. When he passed we lost a glorious pillar
Whose qualities astounded all who heard

21. As if tongues of lightning in dirge
Struck hearts conveying bereavement

22. How could that brilliant mind nearing
This existence - was it merely a mirage?

23. How could that body housing the spirit
Whose life it built, become dilapidated?

24. That smile of pure heart's clarity
That splendor - greetings its repartee

25. That glance - he one whose gaze like a hunter's
Never dropped on a disliked or dreaded day

26. That beard luminous with blackness
Adorned by youthful whiteness interlaced

27. Those features - if anguish sprouts
It may find remorse and turn back

28. Those traits, knowledge, propriety
Beauty external and inner - all turned earth

29. Saba never wished to make enemies
And had plentiful comrades and loved ones

30. No vulgarity he uttered or pondered
Nor plotted matters gross or wicked

31. I think that with high office and position
No envy or envy from him came forth

32. Who doesn't transgress his conscience's bounds
Never fears people's judgement or doubts

33. I knew none as noble as Saba whose
Words and acts stirred no disapproval

34. When days passed his words remained
Sweet though some soured - his pure

35. Magnanimous despite people's wrongs
Not seeking reward or anticipating praise

36. No ambitious minister or moneyed man
Attained hopes by guile or deceit

37. Noble, lofty - and rare one who combines
Nobility and loftiness in manner

38. Assumes sincerity in all his deeds
As though a veil between them will lift

39. Firm on the right view - if mistaken
You find him remorseful and relenting

40. No duty's call left unheeded
Rushing to respond - he always obeyed

41. Through resolve he instilled awe
And fulfilled perfection - no jesting

42. He shed externals, saw matters' essence
In truth - with reason's vision surveyed

43. Knew no pretense, wouldn't satisfy
Lies - did all he could properly

44. Saw a lord's pretense on a real day
To be like a liar saying such and such

45. O day you have done to a nation
Bereaved - leave his family and comrades

46. Let tears flow - creation shakes with agony
The Nile would surge storm clouds if able

47. The visitors walk in his honor
Crowding streets - once wide now strait

48. As if around his bier an ardent sea
As if a ship cleaving waves sailing

49. No prince or dignitary but shed
Down his cheeks torrents flooding

50. No orphan or destitute wretch
Whose heart's sea didn't melt, flowing

51. My God - O sweetest camaraderie
How you quenched with love for him souls' thirst

52. Has this grove found company, its desolation ended
By the most righteous to it coming?

53. If I say "Depart not" - you're among us
But did you die - who will succeed the departed?