1. من لي إذا ما استقل الركب أو سارَا

    وعن عيوني أبان الجار والدارا

    Who is there for me when the caravan sets out or journeys on,

    And removes the neighbor and the home from my sight?

  2. فإن تهتكت في آثارهِ شغفاً

    فليس ذلك في شرع الهوى عارا

    So if I cast off restraint in his wake, out of passion,

    That is no disgrace under love’s law.

  3. والله إني شج والعدل أجدر بي

    يا ليتهُ بالنوى والبعد ما جارَا

    By God, I am heartsick, and justice better befits me.

    Oh, would that he had not wronged me with separation and distance!

  4. وكنت آمل أن القلب يتبعني

    ما باله قد غدا في التيه سيّارا

    I had hoped that my heart would follow me;

    What ails it, that it has become a wanderer in the wilderness?

  5. فلا ملامة تعروني بصبوتهم

    فقد أقمت على شجواي أعذارا

    So let no blame assail me for my yearning for them;

    For I have established excuses for my sorrow.

  6. إن أظهر الجمع ما بي من جوايَ فقد

    أضمرتُه في سوادِ القلبِ إضمارا

    If the gathering reveals the anguish within me, I have

    Hidden it utterly in the heart’s dark core.

  7. وإن أطلوا دمي في بينهم هدراً

    فلستُ أطلب منهم بعدَ ذا ثارا

    And if they leave my blood unavenged in their parting,

    Then I seek no vengeance from them after that.

  8. ما كان ذنبيَ حتى ضيّعوا أملي

    وصبّحوا مدمعي في الأرضِ مدرارا

    What was my sin, that they destroyed my hope

    And made my tears stream upon the earth at dawn?

  9. لأشكُونّ لقاضي الحب مظلمتي

    عساه يرسل للمحبوبِ إنذارا

    I shall surely bring my grievance before love’s judge;

    May he send the beloved a warning.

  10. وإن أبيَ رحمتي في ظلِ ساحتهِ

    كلفته في الهوى عطْلاً وإضرارا

    And if he refuses me mercy in the shade of his courtyard,

    I shall charge him, in love’s cause, for loss and damages.

  11. لعل لي ناصفاً من ذاك ينصفني

    ويُصدر الحكم بالمأمولِ إصدارا

    Perhaps I shall have Nasif, a just man, to do me justice in that,

    And duly issue a judgment granting what I hope for.

  12. وذلك الشهم حفني من به حضرتْ

    كل المعالي وجلت فيه أنصارا

    That noble man is Hifni, in whom have gathered

    All lofty virtues, shining forth in him as allies.

  13. به الفضائلُ لا يحصى لها عدد

    يضيقُ عنها الفضا سمعاً وأبصارا

    In him are virtues whose number cannot be reckoned;

    Even the vast expanse is too narrow for them, in hearing and sight.

  14. يا كعبة الأرض يا من جَلّ منزلةً

    وأظهر العلمَ في الآفاقِ إظهارا

    O Kaaba of the earth, O you who rose to exalted rank,

    And made knowledge manifest across the horizons,

  15. بعزم باعك شادوا رتبةً عظُمت

    ومِن جداولها أجريت أنهارا

    Through the strength of your reach, they built a lofty station,

    And from its rivulets you sent rivers flowing.

  16. ما قلدوك بها إلاّ لتُورِثها

    من شيمةِ الفضلِ إحساناً ومقدارا

    They invested you with it only that you might endow it

    With beneficence and stature born of a virtuous nature.

  17. فإن حكمتَ فحقٌ ما تسطره

    ولا تنال به في الحي إنكارا

    For if you judge, what you write is just,

    And you meet no objection to it among the people.

  18. حاشاك تحرم مظلوماً مطالبهُ

    أو أن تعِير وفودَ اليسر إعسارا

    Far be it from you to deny a wronged man his claims,

    Or lend hardship to the envoys of ease.

  19. إن الحقوق لتُثني والعلومٌ بما

    حققت فيها لأهل العلم أعصار

    Indeed, law and the sciences praise what

    You have accomplished in them for the learned over the ages.

  20. لكنّ فضلك فيها قَد أناب لنا

    أزكى المعارف بنياناً وتذكارا

    Yet your excellence in them has deputed for us

    The purest learning, as an edifice and a memorial.

  21. فللصعيد هناء فالعدالة قد

    وافت إليه وقرّت فيه إقرارا

    So Upper Egypt has joy, for justice has

    Arrived there and settled firmly within it.