أقول وقد أعيى الورى سدُّ ترعةٍ

وكفَّ يداً عن أمرها من لهُ الأمرُ

I say, when damming a canal had baffled all humankind,

and a hand strove against its affair—the hand of him who holds command—

وفاض عباب النيل عن جنباتها

كما فاض باللأواء نائلهُ الغمر

the Nile’s surging flood overflowed its sides,

just as his abundant bounty overflowed with pearls.

هو المذنب الجاني وقد رام خذلهُ

بكفٍّ من سحب أنملها نصر

It was the guilty offender; he sought to defeat it

with a hand of his whose fingertip-clouds are victory.

عجيب لمن يسعى إلى سجر مائه

براحته مع علمهِ أنها البحر

How strange that one should strive to swell its waters

with his palm, knowing full well that it is the sea.