1. O you who come bearing weighty opinions
From the wise, their ships have sailed with them

2. Are you a messenger of your people, returned today,
To test and try us as an arbiter between the two parties?

3. Or a gentle master who came seeking
What you did not attain, though you were a harsh commander?

4. That which you conceal is worthless, as is its appearance,
For us the hidden and the open are equal.

5. Present to Egypt whatever their politics desired,
For neither fate nor time support you.

6. Egypt has a condition for all their conditions,
She has no alternative to it, nor price.

7. Return the injustices before making peace, if they were truthful,
Evil will not leave until rancor leaves.

8. It would be good if we approved its consequences,
If those who were exiled and imprisoned returned.

9. A right that its determined owner insisted upon,
Even if you and they thought it was impassioned.

10. Do they one day want us to love them,
While the one we love is far away, hostage?

11. How is the path to the soul's desires when
Sicily and Yemen have seized every desire?

12. They severed every great thing from their matters,
Where is your view regarding those Aden was shackled?

13. Are you addressing a people among whom
Is none they entrusted with what they hoped and trusted?

14. Come to them wearing any cloak you wish,
They bowed neither to the sword nor were infatuated with the flower.

15. For with the final matter, they and you,
If you do evil, they roar, and if you do good, they are silent.

16. They have nothing from you and you have nothing from them
Except what God and the homeland have ordained.

17. Do not apologize for what they think of people,
You are not responsible for what they did and guaranteed.

18. The freemen who endured the test deserve the excuse,
With all might—they neither disgraced nor weakened.

19. If you know the Nile valley's purpose,
Then whatever you initiate is good and beautiful.

20. No homeland can live without freedom,
Can a body live without its pulse?