1. The crown is the crown of glorious kings,
The embodiment of wisdom, resolve, and valor.

2. You have been granted it as an heir of forebears now gone,
So adorn yourself with its finest raiment to last,

3. And gird yourself with the sword which, if the voice
Of truth calls it, will never be sheathed.

4. You will find it the firmest weapon against the vile
And the firmest weapon for peace.

5. It belonged to your valorous grandfather when he laid the foundations of his kingdom;
Necks bowed down before him and every sword bowed before his.

6. With it he opened wide the gates of conquest,
his armies flying proud banners held high.

7. And today it comes to you polished and unblemished
after the blood-red patina has dried.

8. It is best for your judgment to manage its affairs,
and judgment can often render the sword superfluous.

9. Are you not the most worthy in virtue after
inheriting the noblest heritage?

10. Never! A scion can never measure up to an ancestor,
though moral perfection dwells in you.

11. A throne established whose construction took
a hundred years to complete,

12. You came to at the start of its independence,
with the council Its strongest pillar.

13. How honorable is the council to a king who sees
that the people must not be driven like sheep!

14. It draws hearts around you, and what brings hearts together
better than justice in governance?

15. You have sworn to it - your promise is honest -
so it is right to confirm it with oaths.

16. O moon of Egypt! Its crescent has never ceased
to marvel - your perfection before your time is full.

17. Kings gain wisdom through experience,
yet you seem to gain it through inspiration.

18. Those first fruits you displayed,
their splendor dazzled, though buds in their sheaths.

19. For we have seen in you every virtue
that reveals the future from behind the flimsiest veil.

20. Manners imbibed by souls to give them cheer
till they relax, not drugged by wine.

21. Their beauty fills eyes and illuminates
like flowers on a delicate, tender branch.

22. Generosity whose description is true
if likened to clouds or torrential rain.

23. It covers all regions, satisfied by what pours
forth from your clouds of bounty.

24. Clemency - though rashness lies in youth -
that sends the foolish back to their senses.

25. It mends rifts that undermine,
however many generations spawn them.

26. Whether innate or out of wisdom,
it makes mightiest rulers triumphant.

27. A faith that gives life meaning and protects it
from all shameful flaws we shun.

28. What blissful tidings it foretells for Egypt's pride
and the glory of Islam!

29. Knowledge you have tasted the sweetest springs of
and drunk your fill of what cures all ills.

30. It encompasses the noblest cultures, distilling
their most fragrant, exquisite extractions.

31. In spontaneity and meaning it leaves nothing out
that the sublime demands for perfect order.

32. The higher the source of its wisdom, the better
it mends flaws and bindsFast what is resolved.

33. You take up tasks however difficult,
for the sake of a principle above you.

34. You tackle vices to uncover their secrets,
ascertaining insights by conferring favor.

35. Far-sightedness in the highest offices
finds passage by shedding light and spurring on.

36. And, guiding the steeds of Bukhara, you rouse them
with the vision of the wise and daring of the ambling camel.

37. If they race, yours is the pride - all people of worth
are your stewards.

38. Or if you dare perils, you are their measure -
can perils be avoided by hanging back?

39. These are the virtues that as a youth made you
the wisest sovereign and imam.

40. A kingdom whose affairs are yielded to you
among realms, in the finest place.

41. Never shall those first fruits be forgotten
that flourished beyond imagination's vaulting ambitions.

42. To Western eyes your mastery first shone -
by God's wisdom shone that mastery.

43. The cub of Egypt visited the Franks
and they saw what thick gloom he would dispel.

44. So their kings and peoples greeted him
with their most prized treasures of honor.

45. They culled the first flowers of roses, trimming
their thorns for greetings and peace.

46. They poured with sweeter than a spring downpour
over pageants the eloquence of pens.

47. The marvels of adornment - how artistry's creation
and painters' genius outdid themselves!

48. Wonders over the range of sights, in beauty below,
and scenes at every step, sublime.

49. Spectacles never witnessed by listener or viewer -
the magnificent guest was gladdened and, in his spirit,

50. saw vistas beyond those before his eyes:
the Nile, the Pyramids loomed ahead.

51. What did he harbor, his concerns still remote?
Grandeur guarded him and his ward from vulgar mobs.

52. See him in museums asking about an exhibit
of their treasures from bygone days,

53. Or in shops on some personal errand,
where self-respect is not purchased with money,

54. Or in factories and farms investigating
the means of prospering his people.

55. A care dwelling in him for his nation’s revival
at every halt and sojourn.

56. No privation distracts him from his burdens
but the heart’s heat and spirit’s fervor.

57. That visit to parliament was no leisure trip -
it paved the way for hopes now bearing fruit.

58. Egypt’s pride encountered there
figures world powers had molded.

59. It uncovered the unknowns of destiny
and matched the strengths of minds there.

60. And your Lord granted victory to those who spoke
for Egypt, above all speech.

61. They broke shackles bound by expired causes
patched up, not made to last.

62. By her honor and independence
they escaped the grasp of tyrants.

63. Conquests were completed from when you took up
a dear land whose fortune none had shared.

64. Her holidays vied as if her risings
were dream-like respites from sleep.

65. Her dawns drowned her nights, shielding her
from darkness blanketing.

66. Her days competed with finery
as if brides adorned for their day.

67. But your accession is the utmost joy,
worthiest of grandeur and majesty.

68. The feast of crowns came like a singular bloom
succeeding that first bloom, equal in its marvelous laws.

69. Two holidays that declared openly
what had been whispered in proclamations.

70. How fine your return is, while yearning
for your radiant visage grips the land!

71. Eyes and hearts bore to you their fervent
welcome for your blessed, lofty arrival.

72. We were young together and played together,
finding joy pure, not base.

73. Our joking yielded delight
to those of taste sound and wise.

74. He donned the first down of youth
and that soft fuzz lent him prestige,

75. His beard lending him gravity
without diminishing his mildness.

76. Thus he passed through life's struggle,
plunging into gloom with persistence and resolve.

77. He withstands turmoil and suffers estrangement,
while refusing to bow down submissively to injustice.

78. He finds amusement however much he suffers,
and life has not been merely bleak.

79. Hardships beset him but never soured him,
nor made him forget his old smile.

80. News of your engagement enthralled the land,
for you were its caring, wise physician.