1. أعيذك من شرّ الحوادث يا مصرُ

    فقد آن أن يزهو بأبنائك العصرُ

    I seek protection for you from the evil of calamities, O Egypt.

    For the time has come for the age to take pride in your sons.

  2. وتظهر للأيام منهم براعة

    يكون بها بين البلاد لك الفخرُ

    And their brilliance shall be revealed to the days,

    Through which glory among the lands shall be yours.

  3. وما أنت في جوزِ الفخار دعيةٌ

    ولكن قضاءٌ والليالي لها سِرُ

    And you are no pretender in the very heart of glory,

    But such is fate, and the nights have a secret.

  4. وتلك صروف في ظروفِ تقدمت

    لتأخيرنا حيناً فلا ردها الدهرُ

    And those were turns of fortune amid circumstances now past,

    To hold us back awhile—may time never bring them back!

  5. فإن كنتِ قد قصرت فيما مضى ففي

    طوالع الاستقبال ينتظم الأمرُ

    So if you have fallen short in the past, then in

    The dawns of the future, affairs will fall into order.

  6. وحسبك أن قد لاح فيك أئمة

    لهم في دواوين النُّهىَ النهْي والأمرُ

    And it is enough for you that leaders have appeared within you,

    Theirs, in the councils of reason, are prohibition and command.

  7. عُنوا باتباع المجد حتى عَلا لهم

    على المشتري قدرٌ وسار لهم ذكْرُ

    They devoted themselves to pursuing glory, until there rose for them

    A rank above Jupiter, and their renown spread.

  8. ومالوا إلى نشر المعارف والهدى

    ففاح على الأكوانِ من طِيبها نشرُ

    And they turned to spreading knowledge and guidance,

    So the scent of their perfume wafted throughout creation.

  9. وإن جحد الغر الجهول فخارهم

    فهذا دليل أن آثارهم غُرُ

    And if the naive ignoramus denies their glory,

    Then this is proof that their works are radiant.

  10. كتابٌ فريد من تآليف تدرسٍ

    إذا قِسْتَه بالدر يستحقَرُ الدرُّ

    A peerless book among the writings of Tadros:

    If you compare it with pearls, the pearls are deemed paltry.

  11. تخال إذا طالعته أنّ ما مضى

    من المر مشهود وهذا هو السحرُ

    You imagine, when you read it, that what has passed

    Of bitterness is before your eyes—and this is magic.

  12. وتنظر في أسجاعه حسنَ يوسف

    فيا حبذا في حسنهِ السجع والشعرُ

    And in its rhymed prose you behold Yusuf's beauty,

    So how lovely, in its beauty, are rhymed prose and verse!

  13. به تشحذ الأذهان والروح ترتوي

    بعذب مبانيه ويسترشد الفكرُ

    Through it minds are sharpened, and the soul drinks its fill

    Of its sweet phrasing, and thought finds guidance.

  14. فيا نبهاء القوم جدوا كتدرسٍ

    فما للفتى من دون آدابهِ قدر

    So, O gifted ones among the people, strive like Tadros,

    For a young man has no worth without his learning and refinement.

  15. وأحيوا بهذا العصر لهجة قومكم

    فليس على نسيانها يحسن الصبرُ

    And in this age revive your people's tongue,

    For it is not fitting to endure its being forgotten.