بين سمع الله والبصر

أنتِ يا محروسة النفر

Between God's hearing and sight

Are you, O Mahrousa, whose company is guarded.

استعدي في كلاءته

واخرجي في ذمة القدر

Make ready under His protection,

And set forth under fate's protection.

وأضيئي البحر واتّسمى

بحجول اليمن والغرر

And light the sea, and be adorned

With good fortune's anklets and white blazes.

ضاق بحر الروم عن ملك

زاخر في الحل والسفر

The Sea of the Romans is too narrow for a king

Overflowing, at home and on his travels,

يملأ الدنيا هدى وندى

شيمَتي عثمان أو عمر

Who fills the world with guidance and bounty—

The twin virtues of Uthman or Umar.

قد أخذنا الدهر منه رضى

لم يحاربنا ولم يجر

Through him we have won Time's favor;

It has neither fought us nor dealt unjustly.

ومشينا في مناقبه

فسبقنا كل مفتخر

And we have walked amid his noble deeds,

And so outstripped every boaster.

يا هلال الشرق حيث سرى

وسماء البدو والحضر

O crescent of the East, wherever you journey by night,

And sky of nomads and townsfolk,

وابن محيى الأرض من عدم

ومداوى الأرض من عسر

And son of him who brought the land to life from nothing,

And healed the land of hardship,

النقي الفضل من ريب

السليم الحلم من كدر

Whose virtue is untainted by suspicion,

Whose forbearance is free of murk:

كلما يممتَ منزلةً

بّشرت بالغيث والمطر

Whenever you made for a dwelling,

It received glad tidings of rain and showers.

قد رآك الغرب في كبر

ما رآك الغرب في الصغر

The West has seen you in maturity;

The West never saw you in childhood.

نلت بالميلاد من فطن

ما ينال الناس بالعمر

At birth you gained the insights

That others gain with age.

قصر رأس التين مزدحم

بوفود الملك والزمر

Ras al-Tin Palace is thronged

With royal delegations and crowds,

لوداع بعده لكما

خطوات الشمس والقمر

For a farewell, after which you two shall take

The strides of the sun and moon.

إن يوما ودعوك به

نبوىّ الفجر والأثر

Indeed, the day on which they bade you farewell

Is prophetic in its dawn and legacy.

قام دين في صبيحته

واستبان الرشد للبشر

A faith arose on its morning,

And right guidance became clear to humankind.

واستضاء العالمون نهى

بمبين الآى والسور

And the peoples were enlightened in mind

By lucid verses and surahs:

كلمات دون باهرها

في النُّهى الآيات في النظر

Words whose dazzling splendor

In the mind outshines the wonders seen by the eye;

سُلّم الدنيا وضرّتها

ونظام الناس والعصر

A ladder for this world and its co-wife, the hereafter,

And the order of humankind and the age.