1. Today is the festival of the wretched suffering one,
And today is the festival of the humbling indulged one,

2. Two festivals where we know not which of the two
Has more lowliness of the self-righteous or joy of the destroyer

3. People's fortunes are apportioned except that
None has a fortune in life like that of the indulged one

4. Blessed are you O Simeon, verily of the dew
There is that which no calculator's reckoning can evaluate

5. Blessed are you O son of Salim, so delight and rejoice
In the beauty of your fortune in your life and resign

6. For half a century a group of dignitaries
Willed in their people the founding of this school

7. With the certainty that benevolence does not
Attain its goals if it is not organized

8. How excellent is beneficence when it is dispensed
In its aspect the dispensing of wise judgment

9. They trod the straight path and in the
Ways of integrity there is no path more upright

10. They volunteered donating with their wealth
And their time, nobility and sheer generosity

11. Whoever is given plenty of sustenance by his Master
Is stingy with the dinar or the dirham?

12. Many were the frowning faces that met their call
Initially and their souls did not grow weary

13. They were patient and no struggle made them
Grim-faced like the grimness of that struggle

14. Taking on the most resolute of matters for
Their souls though their souls did not tire

15. Their call spread so their appeal returned
With a response, the credit is to the first movers

16. And constancy built its structure until it became
The hope of the suffering with its majesty

17. The presidents succeed each other and those who
Outline their policies in the outlined approach

18. Assembled in a charitable organization, the pride
Of the pillar through it like the pride of its affiliate

19. It brought together the people of zeal and dew
The people of wisdom and conclusive discourse

20. From an observatory endowed with which a sanctuary
Was made and refuge for the destitute and the shelter-seeker

21. And contributor to good fulfilling his share
Who throws the excuses of misery with arrows

22. And the beautiful striving from which aid is derived
For a neglected orphan girl or a widow

23. And the praiseworthy defense against dignities which
The cruelty of fate violated, blemished

24. They persisted supporting the struggle and their
Resolve is shared and the march is one of progress

25. Anticipating the calamities of the world with what
They were given of the wisest, most prudent opinion

26. By the virtue of what they did, every arising
Need was met for each resolute one

27. They built with what was in their capacity a hospital
For curing the sick and the disabled

28. And they cared about spreading knowledge at a time
Which for whoever does not learn became a war against him

29. And they forestalled violations against honor that
The violations of an age implicate in wrongdoing might befall it

30. Many are their celebrated deeds and were I
To detail them they would be long and the description incomplete

31. And had I to enumerate the first ones they benefited from
News of the numbers would escape the counter

32. And that I enumerate the first ones they freely gave
I would list what the letters of the lexicon encompassed

33. But in our affections their names
Flow, their memory flows like blood

34. Alas, gratitude cannot fully reward the merits
Of the openly generous or the discreet among them

35. For merit is the loftiest goal if it remains hidden
And merit is the finest example if it is known

36. O throngs whose attributes
Reflect the radiance of humankind for the distinguished

37. Is there in seasons the like of what you find
In the soul of the joys of this season?

38. Your gathering alone is sufficient glory that
It be seen from it the shine in the sublime place

39. Magnify with this chosen patriarch
A lord of high station, venerated

40. Builder of the new to the extent of what
The efforts of a person and renovator of the ruined can achieve

41. He combined eloquence in his virtues and
Left the echo to the eloquence of the speaker

42. May his Creator keep him well and keep chosen ones
Among them he is like the full moon among stars

43. Religion and world showed them favor
Not equaled in a gathering more majestic and benevolent

44. Nobility, beloved one, and whoever emulated you
Of latecomers in time and early movers

45. In God's mercy the early ones gave freely for them
A paradise and whoever shows mercy to the poor is shown mercy

46. And in His preservation the remaining ones gained blessings
Repeated for what they previously gave of blessings

47. As for the conclusion, holding to it is a wish
We forever repeat so it is sweet in the mouth

48. O Egypt, O land of tolerance and dew
Last and empower me among the kingdoms and greatest be

49. And may your people live, the benevolent, and gain
Of the goodness of life the most plentiful spoils