Poem

Voice of Egypt

Before the BattleWho will grant me triumph pure and sanctified,

For water cannot quench the fire inside;I thirsted for the morning, freed from chain,

Send forth thy light to pierce my darkness' reign;Bring me a cup from thy own hand, sweet draught,

To quench my heart through all the years long passed;Bring me a cup whose wine I'll never tire,

Pour from the channel of my fragrant fire;Tyrants went astray — they knew not my complaint,

Did they perceive my hidden passion's faint?A covenant of refinement long did moan,

Who shall restore my joy and ease my own?Alas, how many nights I lived in pain,

Heeding no counsellor's reproach or vain;When I submitted to disaster's hand,

Youth rose and scattered all my languor's band;They shed their blood as cheap, that they might raise

The water of nobility through endless days;After the Battle

Light spread abroad and wrapped me in its ray,And swept away the slumber of dismay;

Ramadan approached, inviting us to cross,With vanguards of my saviour and my loss;

I saw triumph's procession march with scorn,With strength against excuse and warning born;

I stood beside the march and cried aloud,God guide you on the pathway of the proud;

Revolt — your revolt echoes my faith's own tone,The longing of a faithful heart alone;

Arise, blast Bar-Lev, their summit of deceit,And cut the evils of the dreamer's cheat;

Arise, cross Sinai, O our heroes bold,Sinai — Arab land since ages old;

God sent you as glad tidings to the throng,This is your Lord's message to right the wrong;

Destroy them — none among you is corrupt,Life ends in ecstasy, the cup held up;

How oft I cried Revolt — then enemiesSurprised with shells of slaughter and demise;

How long that night — and then my day appearedAs dark as night, with gloom that domineered;

I steal from sweet hopes' fragrance in the shade,And see glad tidings in the call they made;

I watch the free among their ranks advance,Bestowing on the world bright radiance;

Light upon light — no night remains in view,The angels came — our army's herald true;

Gabriel called: Advance, do not restrain,God is Islam's best helper, clear and plain;

Truth is your speech, your thought's own guiding star,Those who decreed triumphed by God's own power;

You are the essence of a nation blessed,Arabism's leaders in rebuilding's quest;

From every people comes a leader bold,Guarding the armies of the right untold;

You lived through unity, your ranks made one,O nation of all faiths and God's own sun.

Poetic Heartbeats