1. A feast, but what delights me when
Hope has left the mournful captive?

2. With what praise can I congratulate
One who accepts no feast intercession?

3. What is mine if I have no place with you
And with these banners and battalions?

4. The Persian minister knew my status
In the state of composition and recital

5. And rewarded me, that stranger, when he saw
My dignity, composure, and struggle

6. Were it not for his love for you and his poetry
I’d never acknowledge him with favors

7. Livelihood is easy, and were it not for my pride
And manliness, I would be a racing steed

8. Your eminent poet did not emulate you
Nor did anyone in this valley

9. You still honor poetry and pay no heed
To equals among the nobles

10. Far, disturbed - were it not for their kindness
And affection they would be ascetics

11. They never ask you once for land grants
Content with little harvest

12. They sacrificed themselves for you and faced
Your oppressive foe at the appointed time

13. And for your remnant, were it not for them
Circumstances with them would have passed

14. They purified you of any partner and exalted
Your lineage above Ham's or anyone's offspring

15. They made their faces pages for their love
And the blackness of their eyes the finest ink

16. And give their country the good tidings of survival,
Life, and eggs still in the nests

17. They see your softness with newcomers even if you are harsh
In the duty of guest rights and visitors

18. So show kindness to the counselors of a humble nation
Still between arms and pillows

19. Poetry needs a helper and can sometimes
Do without critics

20. If you wish it is a trade
Like carpentry or smithery

21. And if you want it is revelation like
The Book sent down to a guiding prophet

22. Did Ishmael gain from his poets
What you gained in glories from yours?

23. Al-Wahhabi their minds and hearts
To build a kingdom and raise pillars

24. Will your roses be abundant and intertwining
With the purest petals pushed away?

25. Or will its doves depart from gardens
With the eagle perched therein and gone away?

26. Have you seen Egypt independent of them? They have
Nothing but the Sudan, the best equipment

27. If they miss their fortune in sermons still they
Hope for nothing from the dead land over there

28. Hotter than its deserts and sands
Is the longing of hearts and livers for you

29. The titled one cannot empty his purse
Of two dirhams nor his house of provisions

30. What dispositions in you altered my nature
And with what favor did you capture my leadership?

31. You thought me one of those you deprived
Who then pretended confusion and corruption

32. You granted and they scrambled and you prevented them
So they cursed there with eloquent tongues

33. Be however you wish, my obedience and consent
Are equal in closeness and distance

34. Poetry is but a sign for you elucidating
My example, traits, and righteousness

35. If I am absent the praise you approve and if
I attend the assembly of witnesses

36. May your Egypt delight in your festival and speak
Your finest prayer in anguish and vigil

37. I sat by it beyond finery and processions
The invalid's complaint and the crowds' crush

38. My confidentiality did not avail - my lament
Led me to thunderous rebuke

39. One who defied his punisher
Should not fear the gloating of rivals