1. ما كل رزء مثل رزئك يا حسن

    رزء جسم للمعارف والوطن

    Not every calamity is like the loss of you, Hasan:

    a grievous loss to learning and the homeland.

  2. كنا على ثقة بعودك سالما

    عالى الذرى متزودا من كل فن

    We were confident you would return safe and sound,

    lofty in the heights, provisioned with every art,

  3. فتبث أفكارا وترشد أمة

    ما كان أشفقها عليك وما أحن

    to spread ideas and guide a nation—

    how solicitous it was for you, and how tender!

  4. لكن رجعت وما رجعت بسالم

    بل ضمك التابوت في طي الكفن

    But you returned, and did not return safe;

    rather, the coffin enclosed you in the shroud's folds.

  5. حملتك أجنحة البخار كرامة

    لسكينة التابوت مذ كان السكن

    The wings of steam carried you in reverence

    for the coffin's stillness, since it became your dwelling.

  6. ما هكذا كان المؤمل أن أقو

    ل ولا تجيب وأنت قس في اللسن

    This was not what was hoped: that I should speak,

    and you not answer, though you are a Quss in eloquence.

  7. ما كان في الحسبان عودك هكذا

    أبدا ولا طول الفراق لكن يظن

    Your return like this was not in our reckoning,

    ever, nor a long separation—yet one conjectures.

  8. أين العلوم واين هاتيك النهى

    أين الصفات النر والخلق الحسن

    Where is the learning, and where is that wisdom?

    Where are the radiant qualities and the good character?

  9. بالله في أي البقاع تركتها

    من غير موصوف تئن من الحزن

    By God, in which lands did you leave them,

    without anyone to embody them, moaning with grief?

  10. قم يا شهيد العلم حدث رفقة

    ماتوا لموتك في المواطن والعطن

    Rise, martyr of learning; speak to companions

    who died at your death, in dwellings and at the watering ground.

  11. لما ظعنت وما ظعنت لهين

    قلنا الهمام إلى المعالى قد ظعن

    When you departed—and not for anything trivial—

    we said, 'The valiant man has set out toward lofty honors.'

  12. نروي حديث الفضل عنك مسلسلا

    ومعنعنا في مكرماتك عن وعن

    We transmit the account of your excellence in an unbroken chain,

    and trace your noble deeds through 'from' and 'from.'

  13. قد كنت مأمولا لخدمة أمة

    تسعى لصالحها وتصلح ما وهن

    You had been counted on to serve a nation,

    striving for its welfare and mending what had weakened.

  14. قد كانت الآمال فيك قوية

    فالدهر حاربها وأظهر ما أكن

    The hopes placed in you had been strong,

    but Time fought them and revealed what it had concealed.

  15. أبناء مصر تفتتت أكبادهم

    حزنا وقل الصبر وازداد الشجن

    The livers of Egypt's children were shattered

    with grief; patience dwindled and sorrow increased.

  16. حقد الزمان على البلاد مهذبا

    فاغتاله تبا لحقدك يا زمن

    Time begrudged the land its cultivated man,

    so it slew him treacherously—damn your spite, O Time!

  17. أسفا عليك أخا المعالي والهدى

    ألذا ارتحلت إلى أربا يا حسن

    Alas for you, brother of lofty honors and guidance!

    Was it for this that you traveled to Europe, Hasan?

  18. يا رحلة ساءت وساء مصيرها

    قلبت لنا بعد الصفا ظهر المجن

    O journey that went ill, and whose outcome went ill,

    you turned the shield's back toward us after goodwill.

  19. لا كان فجرك قد تبدى يومه

    يوم الكآبة والمساءة والمحن

    Would that your dawn had never been! Its day appeared:

    a day of gloom, distress, and ordeals.

  20. توفيق حدثني فإنك صادق

    حسن وعدل في الحديث ومؤتمن

    Tawfiq, speak to me, for you are truthful,

    good and upright in your telling, and trustworthy.

  21. ماذا جرى حتى تركت أحبة

    حفظوك في سر الفؤاد وفي العلن

    What happened, that you left loved ones

    who cherished you in the heart's secrecy and in the open?

  22. بالله من حضر احتضارك للردى

    وسقاك ماء أو هداك إلى السنن

    By God, who attended your agony as you faced death,

    and gave you water, or guided you to the prescribed rites?

  23. بالله من كان المحدث وقت ذا

    بالله من ذا قد طلبت ومن ومن

    By God, who was speaking at that time?

    By God, who was it you called for—and whom, and whom?

  24. كانت لمنعاك البيوت مآتما

    والناس قد ضجوا ومدمعهم هتن

    At the news of your death, homes became places of mourning,

    and people cried out, their tears pouring down.

  25. هل كمبرتش قد اعتراها ما اعترى

    مصرا وأهليها وفيها الخطب رن

    Did Cambridge suffer what afflicted

    Egypt and its people, as the calamity rang out there?

  26. لا والذي أدمي القلوب لفقده

    ما كمبرتش كأهل مصر في الغبن

    No—by him whose loss made hearts bleed,

    Cambridge is not like Egypt's people in their loss.

  27. يا من له المجد الأثيل ومن له

    فضل سما هام الثريا للقنن

    O you who possess deep-rooted glory, and whose

    excellence rose above the Pleiades' heads toward the peaks,

  28. نبكى شمائلك التي فاقت على

    من في الحواضر والبوادي قد قطن

    we weep for your qualities, which surpassed

    those of all who dwelt in towns and desert lands.

  29. من ذا نعتزى في الفقيد وكلنا

    أهل وقربى في العلوم وفي المهن

    Whom shall we console for the departed, when all of us

    are family and kin in learning and the professions?

  30. لكن نعزى الفضل فيه واهله

    وعموم أبناء المعارف والوطن

    Yet we offer condolences to excellence and its people for his loss,

    and to all the children of learning and the homeland.

  31. حسن عليك من المهيمن رحمة

    وجزاك في دار العلى أعلى سكن

    Hasan, may mercy from the Guardian be upon you,

    and may He reward you with the highest dwelling in the abode on high.