سَخَّرَ العِلمَ لِيَبني آيَةً

فَوقَ شَطِّ النيلِ تَبدو كَالعَلَم

He harnessed knowledge to build a monument

That appears like a flag over the Nile's shore

هِيَ ذِكرٌ خالِدٌ لَكِنَّهُ

عابِسُ الوَجهِ إِذا الذِكرُ اِبتَسَم

It is an eternal memory, however

Its face is sullen when memory smiles

كُلُّ ما فيها عَلى إِعجازِها

أَنَّها قَبرٌ لِجَبّارٍ حُطَم

Everything in it, in its miracles

Is that it is the grave of a tyrant broken

لَيتَهُ سَخَّرَ ما في عَهدِهِ

مِن قُوىً في غَيرِ تَقديسِ الرِمَم

If only he had harnessed what was in his era

Of powers, not in sanctifying ruins

مِن فُنونٍ أَعجَزَت أَطواقَنا

وَعُلومٍ عِندَها الفِكرُ وَجَم

Of arts that dazzled our minds

And sciences before which thought stops still

وَبَنانٍ مُبدِعاتٍ صَوَّرَت

أَوجُهَ العُذرِ لِعُبّادِ الصَنَم

And creative arts that depicted

The faces of excuses for idol worshippers

أَبدَعَت ما أَبدَعَت ثُمَّ اِنطَوَت

وَعَلى أَسرارِها الدَهرُ خَتَم

It created such wonders then folded away

And over its secrets time set a seal