ومما الاتحاديون كانوا

أطاعوا فيه للالمان امرا

And among the deeds in which the Unionists had

obeyed a command from the Germans

اغارتهم على مصرٍ ففيها

يُسام الانكليز أذىً وضرَّا

was their assault on Egypt, where

the English would be subjected to harm and injury,

فتفلت مصر من يدهم ويمسي ال

طريق الى بلادِ الهند وعرا

so Egypt would slip from their grasp, and the

road to the lands of India would become hard to traverse.

كذا ظنوا وكان الظن هذا

عليهم كله إثماً ووزرا

Thus they thought; and this thought was

wholly sin and a burden of guilt upon them.

وانور في تعسفه تمادى

وظلَّ على ضلالته مصرّا

And Enver went ever further in his high-handedness,

and remained obstinate in his error.

عليه الغيُّ ران ومن فروق

اراه في الكرى اهرام مصرا

Delusion overwhelmed him and, from Faruq,

showed him Egypt's pyramids in his sleep.

فرام حياز مصر وان مصراً

لأمنعُ من جبين الليث قطرا

So he sought possession of Egypt, though Egypt

is surely a land more impregnable than a lion's brow.

بظلّ حماتها الممدود عزت

على من رامها فانصاع قصرا

Beneath her defenders' outspread shade, she was unassailable

to whoever sought her, and he was compelled to yield.

وعصبة انور اشتريت بمالٍ

عليها من سما الالمان درَّا

And Enver's band was bought with money

that poured upon it from the Germans' sky.

فباعتهم نفوساً ارهقوها

فكانت ارخص السلعات سعرا

So it sold them souls that they had overburdened,

so these were the cheapest of all wares.

وقد ولوا قيادتها جمالاً

وقالوا اشطر بها سيناءَ شطرا

And they had entrusted its command to Cemal,

and said, 'Cleave Sinai asunder with it,

وجزها قاذفاً بالجيش عبر ال

قناة ومصرض خذها مُستقرا

and cross it, hurling the army across the

canal, and take Egypt as your abode.'

فلباهم جمال في غرورٍ

وشمر للكريهة مزبئرَّا

So Cemal answered them in conceit,

and girded himself for battle, bristling.

وزج بجيشه في تيهِ سنا

يسام صدًى وإعياءً وحرَّا

And he thrust his army into Sinai's wilderness,

where it suffered thirst, exhaustion, and heat.

وظل الجيش يطوي البيد حتى

له خطُّ القناةِ بدا فكرا

And the army kept traversing the deserts until

the canal's line appeared to it, and it charged.

وحاول ان يجاوزها ولكن

سيوف حماتها دَحرتَهُ دحرا

And it tried to cross it, but

its defenders' swords routed it utterly.

وغشته القنابل من ثغور ال

مدافع فاتحاتٍ فيه ثغرا

And shells engulfed it from the mouths of the

guns, opening a breach in its ranks.

فسلم بعضه فنجا وبعض

قتيلاً أو جريحاً ثَم خرا

So some of it surrendered and survived, while some

fell there, slain or wounded.

وباقيه ادار لمصر ظهراً

وشمّر ذيله هرباً وفرّا

And the remainder turned its back on Egypt,

and hitched up its hem in flight, and fled.