Sol 5.6

  1. Your recovery, for Egypt, O light of her eyes,

    is her own recovery from illness and sorrow.

  2. You are the life of all who dwell throughout her land,

    the very pupil of the realm’s eye amid her strongholds.

  3. And when, upon his recovery, I congratulate the realm of

    Khedive Saʿid—her foremost man and faithful guardian—

  4. I congratulate glory, good fortune, and serenity

    on the health of this sovereign, her mainstay;

  5. on the health of the best of men, the son of her sovereign,

    protector of the sanctuary of her letters and arts;

  6. reviver of virtue’s traditions through giving and munificence,

    and the noblest sovereign, vigilant over her affairs;

  7. Egypt’s defender against her foes, possessed of a resolve

    of his without which she could no longer stand.

  8. May Ṭayr al-Saʿd continue to ply the Nile,

    watched by His Highness with his own eyes.

  9. And may Fayrūz, Miṣr, and Zaynab continue

    to carry him onward, with delight upon their decks.

  10. And may joy never cease for the soldiers aboard them,

    at his radiant presence, whether they speed or lie still.

Sol 5.6