1. Behold, dawn has emerged from her horizon,
Beware sleeping through the smile of her face.

2. It is a smile though dawn risen,
As camphor yet pearls.

3. When she smiles the sun loses all miracles,
And the sun resents the moon's joy.

4. She did not accept the black nights' braids,
Nor the crescent's victory over her.

5. She's envied for her breaths, desired for her glances,
So the envious one is musk, the desirous one wine.

6. Her glancing eyes contend with arrows,
She's taken a half and a half through her languor.

7. A sorceress whose charm preserved her mouth's smoothness
With a cup whose fragments are magic itself.

8. Musk was stirred when she visited unattended,
Jewels slept on her, not bred of dust.

9. Her glances are brief for excessive marveling,
Indian swords blunt next to her lashes.

10. Henna embraces her hands youthfully,
Not fearing what alarmed me: separation.

11. She had walked on him since he fell in love,
As if all her lovers had vowed to tread on him.

12. So do not deny her the henna. She's a branch
Whose tips are green leaves.

13. How many have asked, "Is she a meadow?"
I said, "A necklace of pearls around her neck is the stream."

14. Since I saw her, passion was revived,
Since I left her, patience was buried.

15. I wonder at the days' struggle between us,
When it passed what was, it did not settle.

16. Most gentle towards me in her love, and my humbleness,
Its manner confusion, yet through it my patience grew.

17. My eyes are tired studying her waist’s slenderness.
To rest them with a glance,

18. Wherein she’d gift me with life’s delight.
So do not despair, Oh heart, of attaining wishes,

19. Nor be astonished if it’s said, “Even stone can bloom.”
Yes, it is true. She has answered me and been kind.

20. So my burning is secret, and my tears overt.
Congratulations to Egypt, where dew has descended,

21. And good news to Egypt, for the sea has come to her.
Congratulations that God has eased her affairs,

22. So that no difficulty comes but ease follows.
Her Nile has come in timely fashion,

23. She cares not whether the rainfall was lean or generous.
The heart of the region has returned to its breast,

24. Without a heart, no breast would be created.
To her has come he who possesses might and bounty,

25. To her has come he who is beneficial and harmful.
A minister whose command princes follow,

26. Directing them with prohibitions and orders.
They flock or fly according to his presence.

27. If he disappears, they neither flock nor fly.
They showed his superiority by praising him,

28. And elevated his worth, so he gained prestige.
Nothing but armies eluded him,

29. Dragging with them what the land scarcely contains.
Were it not for hue, no difference between their weapons-

30. His banners white, their standards yellow.
He plunged into the land with them like a sea of retribution-

31. Their ways black, its waves red.
He crossed a path whose traversal horrifies the eagle,

32. Though he's the eagle of stars, not an eagle.
On it dawn breaks, and night after,

33. While one heart fears, another panics.
The winds fear roiling its dust,

34. Untouched by disgrace or capture.
He passed whilst unbelievers' skulls in dirt jostle,

35. Subdued by his faith when they sought to subdue it.
Before and behind, white tents and striped surround him,

36. Guarding him, whilst he guards them through recital and remembrance.
He returns to his scabbard like a sword to its sheath,

37. As though no triumph ever eluded that sword.
The nearest thing, after seeing him, is wealth,

38. The furthest, after seeing him, is poverty.
The most rousing thing from his fingers is glory,

39. The most frustrating, in praise of him, is thought.
No eloquent description fully conveys his essence,

40. No gratitude fully repays his favor.
If the Wise Remembrance contains his praise,

41. What can verse or prose for him compose?
If a house is said to boast his company,

42. It is but a small portion of his tremendousness.
The lofty one, praise is ennobled by his name,

43. And pride, on day of pride, prides in him above all.
No fault in his gift but that through it

44. The free are taught how to be enslaved.
People walked in his footsteps, stumbling,

45. Whilst before them blew the southern winds and rain.
If his constitution they share not his qualities,

46. No wonder the raven resembles the yellow one.
What a boon after we had suffered harm,

47. What mercy after we had met misery.
You brought spring in spring while ours,

48. Was a spring where the river, month, and flowers bloomed.
This rhyme has no peer in prose,

49. This paronomasia none skilled in verse can make.
Egypt's guidance returned when you returned,

50. Displacing evil, restoring forbearance, dream, nobility, and tradition.
My heart is chilled and refreshed by your nearness,

51. Where once there was a blaze before seeing you.
I rejoice above all people, for I

52. Imagined myself alive after you'd shrouded me in the grave.
You raised my pillar in my country and others,

53. So I gained a name and memory.
You made my hopes seem attainable though lofty,

54. And stifled those who deemed me easy prey though numerous.
So may you enjoy might and your enemies cower,

55. And the world obey while your life grows long.