1. Farewell, O most calamitous of adversities,
And welcome, O forthcoming joys.

2. The year has sufficed us with troubles from you,
Filling the world with lessons and admonitions.

3. Salvation beckons, so if we strive for it,
And find barriers in the way to deliverance,

4. Al-Buwayr could not be contained
By the besieging English troops with guns aimed.

5. The sky was too confined for it, blinded
By the smoke of blasting explosives.

6. So whoever sought to flee the heights
Was met by the chests of the swords.

7. And whoever surrenders, his vessel leads him
Like prey above the flowing blood,

8. To more misery than the Egyptians
When the plague strikes with its annoyances,

9. And were it not for the plague that befell Egypt
We would have preferred silence to complaints.

10. For three months it prevailed over it
And took the precious souls away.

11. Thousands whom, had we dispatched to war,
Would have returned with the spoils of victory.

12. And had it lingered slaying in every way,
It would have surged like the abundant seas.

13. I see the plague found a guarantee
To foil the schemes of the wicked ones.

14. So we did not lose what we lost
In the enlightened years that shone upon us.

15. And many a night I spent devoted, finding
Solace in worship and prayers.

16. When I dozed off, it startled me –
The screams of the bereaved weeping women.

17. One is a mother who lost her sons,
Another afflicted in her daughters.

18. This was my loyal neighbor,
That was one of the followers.

19. I imagine myself dead in the morning
When I see a corpse in the daybreak,

20. And a crazed one says I met at night
The circling demons of death,

21. With shining swords unsheathed
Like their blazing eyes aflame.

22. I said to them: “Begone from us!” and they blew
Fiercely like the gales of winter.

23. The horizon almost collapsed,
And I saw the stars plummeting down.

24. Yet the government was helpless to change it -
Where it lingered it found havens embedded.

25. And when chased away from one place,
It saw pillars firmly anchored.

26. It received aid from the locals against them –
Steadfast, not distinguishing friend from foe.

27. When they met the doctors, they took refuge
And indulged in evil suspicions.

28. They showed contempt for medicine
And thought it a lethal poison.

29. They said: “Leave us in our homes,
For death is in the hospitals.”

30. And we have, instead of you,
Cures and healers to treat us.

31. Were it not for the scholars’ heedlessness of them,
They would not have surrendered to overwhelming doubts.

32. When exhorted, they would say: “Seek help
Through patience and submit to calamities.”

33. You see there is no fleeing death,
So we scoff at medicine and healers.

34. As for contagion, even if they blame us,
It is but delusions of the bewildered souls.

35. And if it be a plague, we are protected
By the blessed Bukhari's incantations.

36. Our reliance is upon Allah
And the means that reach Him.

37. My rage increased only from anger
At the willful submission of the villages.

38. They sinned without fearing the complaints,
Or admitting to those disgraceful acts.

39. No rebel corrupted the innocent
And inflicted its people with dispersion,

40. More gently and kindly than you,
Destroying the transgressing germs.

41. Stern frowns that revived the lives
Of a people who see your satisfaction as life itself,

42. And were it not for the shade of your justice,
They would not have wished to live or feared the evil of death.

43. We see you with eyes filled with light
And hearts inhabited by love for you.

44. So we forget our loved ones laid to rest,
Treasures deposited in the graves.

45. Some of us drive others yearning
In your path, upon the road of righteousness.

46. And we lay down our cheeks in slumber
When they were sleepless with worries before.

47. The faces that were gloomy with what they had of beauty
When you were away became radiant when you returned.

48. Our hearts poured out glad tidings, made evident
By the glowing countenances.

49. And the once barren land you watered comes back to life
And shines with the smiling flowers.

50. We are plants your grandfather planted in lands
Where you have the finest boons, numbered as the plants.

51. It grew until filled with hope through you,
And brought good news of the sweetest fruits.

52. Excellent is your enduring loyalty, and excellent is
Your friendship with the Caliph among friendships,

53. Seen by Muslims as confirmed,
Bringing their hopes ever closer.

54. Your striving to please the King and inspire awe
In those who covet the land preserves the kingdom.

55. Your knowledge encompasses all directions,
Not just some areas.

56. Congratulations on seeing the valued crown
With your own eyes, and your privilege of grants.

57. He only gave you what your merits deserved –
Indeed, they are the highest merits!

58. And the best days are those that allowed
The finest Caliph the finest governorship.

59. My hope is to one day see the two Niles
Joined with the Tigris and Euphrates,

60. And the flag of the Sultan envelop in love
The hearts of his fragmented peoples.

61. The day his abundant basin is the place
Where his estranged servants' faces gather.

62. With this pride the wilderness rejoices,
And I am graced with congratulatory hymns.