1. لعمرك ما الخدود ولا السوالفْ

    بأبهجَ من ليالينا السوالفْ

    By your life, neither cheeks nor necks

    Are more delightful than our bygone nights.

  2. ولا ميس العواطف من غزالٍ

    يعادل حسن هاتيك العواطف

    Nor does the sway of a gazelle's supple curves

    Equal the beauty of those affections.

  3. كفى تلك الليالي أنَّ دمعي

    لذكراها من الأجفانِ واكفْ

    It is enough for those nights that my tears

    Stream from my eyelids at their remembrance.

  4. ليالٍ كنتَ بدراً في دجاها

    سنا علياكَ للأبصار خاطف

    Nights when you were a full moon in their darkness,

    The radiance of your eminence dazzling the eyes.

  5. نروح لفضلك السامي ونغدو

    وظِل حماك للفضلاء وارفْ

    We go at dusk to your lofty generosity, and at dawn,

    While your shelter's shade spreads wide for the worthy.

  6. فكم لك من مطالعَ عاليات

    وفي نادي البلاغة من مواقفْ

    So many lofty ascents are yours,

    And so many stands in the assembly of eloquence!

  7. فمن لي بالوصول إلى فَروق

    ودون وصولها جوب التنائف

    Who, then, will help me reach Faruq,

    With trackless wastes to cross before reaching it?

  8. ومن لي أن تضيء بأفق مصر

    وترشدنا الطرائق والطرائف

    And who will grant me that you shine on Egypt's horizon,

    And guide us to the paths and the novelties,

  9. وتدعو للهداية مَن تعالوا

    بتالد مجدهم عن كل طارفْ

    And call to guidance those who exalted themselves

    Through their inherited glory above all newly won glory;

  10. ومن شطوا عن الحق اعتسافا

    وهاموا في دياجير السفاسفْ

    And those who recklessly strayed far from the truth,

    And wandered in the deep darkness of trivialities?

  11. أصخْ سمعاً فإن القوم ضلوا

    وجاروا في غوايتهم طوائفْ

    Lend an ear, for the people have gone astray,

    And, in their delusion, have strayed as factions.

  12. تغالَوا في تهتكهم وتاهوا

    وغرتهم أمانيُّ الوظائفْ

    They went to extremes in their shamelessness and lost their way,

    And hopes of positions deluded them.

  13. وقد تركوا المحافل واستهانوا

    وخروا سجداً تحت الملاحفْ

    And indeed they have abandoned the assemblies and shown disdain,

    And fallen prostrate beneath the coverlets.

  14. تغيرت المناهي بالملاهي

    وبدلت المعارف بالمعازفْ

    Prohibitions have been exchanged for amusements,

    And learning has been exchanged for musical instruments.

  15. أهذا ما يريد الله منا

    ب نجعلكم على أرضٍ خلائف

    Is this what God wants of us

    In saying, 'We make you successors on earth'?

  16. أمور في مواردهن عار

    وأسوأ من مواردها المصارف

    Affairs whose sources hold disgrace,

    And whose outlets are worse than their sources.