دار البطالسة الكرام جلالًا

زالوا وهذا مجدهم ما زالا

O house of the Ptolemies, noble in grandeur,

They are gone, yet this glory of theirs has not gone.

هاتي امنحينا من خلودِك نفحة

فنقول فيك من الخلود مقالا

Come, grant us a breath of your immortality,

So we may speak of you in words of immortality.

واستفتحي باب الرموز تمدنا

بالسحر لفظًا صادقًا وخيالا

And open the gate of symbols, that they may furnish us

With magic—truthful speech and imagination.

إني وقفت لديك أرفع أخمصي

حذرًا وأخفض ناظري إجلالا

I stood before you, lifting the arch of my foot,

In caution, and lowering my gaze in reverence.

فحنيت رأسًا في وصيدك ما انحنى

من قبلُ إلا للإله تعالى

And bowed at your threshold a head that had never bowed

Before, save to God Most High.

وذكرت قومًا فيك لم يتهيبوا

إلا عروشًا ضخمة وظلالا

And I remembered people within you who feared

Nothing but mighty thrones and shadows.

أبقاك في فك الزمان مصونة

جيلان يبنيك الملوك وِصالا

You were kept safe within the jaws of time

By two generations, kings building you in succession.

لم يبصروا بك موضعًا لزيادة

إلا وزادوه علا وكمالا

They saw no place in you that could be augmented

Without adding to its loftiness and perfection.

غدروا ذوي القربى ودكوا دورهم

وتلاحقوا عمًّا إليك وخالا

They betrayed their kindred and razed their houses,

And pursued one another to you—paternal and maternal uncles.

واستنزلوا الأرباب فيك ليشهدوا

بين العباد تواثبًا ونزالا

And summoned the gods down within you to witness

Mortals springing upon one another and battling.

وضعوك أم رفعوك لما صوروا

فيك السلاح أسنة ونبالا

Did they debase you or exalt you when they depicted

Weapons within you—spearheads and arrows?

وتقحَّموا الحرم الجليل أم ابتغوا

زلفى لديه وقوة ونوالا

And did they storm the august sanctuary, or seek

Closeness there, and strength and bounty?

ضل الذين تطاولوا فتوهموا

أن الأوائل دونهم أفعالا

Those who grew haughty went astray, imagining

That the ancients were beneath them in their deeds.

حسبوا المعابد أرضها وسماءها

كونين عن حكم الطبيعة حالا

They deemed the temples, their earth and sky,

Two worlds removed from nature's rule.

هبطت من الملأ العلي فأصبحت

فيها الذئاب الضاريات سخالا

They descended from the host on high, so that

Within them ravening wolves became lambs.

ننسى العداوة والصداقة والهوى

فيها وننسى الخوف والآمالا

We forget enmity, friendship, and desire

Within them, and forget fear and hopes.

كذبوا فما تغني الأنام عبادةٌ

تذر القلوب فوارغًا أغفالا

They lied: worship does not benefit mankind

When it leaves hearts empty and heedless.

لا ربَّ إلا من يمالئ شعبه

عند الكريهة إن جفا أو مالا

There is no lord save one who sides with his people

In adversity, whether they turn away or draw near.

لا تعبدنَّ إذا أردت سيادة

ربًّا يعين الصيد والأنذالا

Never worship, if you desire sovereignty,

A lord who aids the noble and the base alike.

واعبد إلهًا يصطفيك بعونه

ويذيق خصمك ذلة ونكالا

But worship a god who singles you out for his aid,

And makes your foe taste humiliation and punishment.

من ظن أن ولاته كعِداته

عند الإله، فكيف يسعد حالا

Whoever thinks his allies are like his enemies

In God's sight—how can he live happily?

الناس يغتال القوي ضعيفهم

والدهر يغتال الفتى المغتالا

Among men, the strong murders the weak,

And time murders the murderous youth.

قهار كل القاهرين تقاصرت

عنه مكائد من طغى واحتالا

Vanquisher of all vanquishers; far too feeble

Against it were the schemes of those who tyrannized and plotted.

ذهبوا فما هوت الكواكب بعدهم

أسفًا وما نقص الثرى مثقالا

They departed, yet no stars fell after them

In sorrow, nor did the earth lose a grain's weight.

ملكَ الفراعنةُ الحماة وخلَّفوا

للملك أعلامًا بمصر طوالا

The pharaohs, the protectors, ruled and left

Lofty monuments to kingship in Egypt.

وخلا الأكاسرة البغاة كأنهم

عبروا بمدرجة الزمان رمالا

And the tyrannical Khosraus passed away, as though

They had crossed time's pathway as grains of sand.

ومضى البطالسة الكماة وهذه

مصر يزيد شبابها إقبالا

And the warrior Ptolemies passed away, while here is

Egypt, her youth growing ever more vibrant.

تتقوض الأوطان وهي كدأبها

من عهد نوح تربة ورجالا

Countries crumble, yet she remains as ever

Since Noah's time—soil and men.

عهدٌ على الله القدير وذمة

ألا تُضيم لها الكوارث آلا

A covenant upon God Almighty, and a pledge,

That calamities shall oppress no clan of hers.

فتجنبوا فيها القنوط وأجزلوا

قسط البنين معارفًا وخصالا

So shun despair within her, and make abundant

Her sons' share of learning and virtues.

والغيب أحلكُ من ظلالك ظلمةً

أبدًا، وأبعد من ذَراكِ منالا

And the unseen is deeper in darkness than your shadows,

Forever, and farther out of reach than your heights.

خلعوا ولا عجبٌ عليك سماته

أولست أنت للغزه تمثالا

They clothed you in its traits—no wonder:

And are you not yourself the image of its enigma?

لو لم يرُعنا للمهيمن هيكل

باقٍ يُجدُّ بقاؤه الأحوالا

Had no temple to the Guardian filled us with awe,

Enduring, its endurance renewing the course of things,

أخفى سرائره وأطلع فوقه

نورًا يزيد التائهين ضلالا

Hiding its secrets and raising above it

A light that makes the bewildered stray still farther,

ما شيَّد البانون ركن عبادة

كلا ولا شدوا إليه رحالا

Builders would never have raised a pillar of worship,

No, nor saddled their mounts to journey to it.

الدين باقٍ ما جهلنا سره

ولنبقينَّ بسره جُهالا

Religion endures so long as we do not know its secret,

And surely we shall remain ignorant of its secret.

عفَت المناسك في ذراك فجددي

نُسُكًا من الشعر الشريف حلالا

The rites have faded beneath your shelter; renew

A lawful rite of noble poetry.

قد كنتِ بالوحي الكريم كريمة

حتى بخلتِ فما أجبت سؤالا

You once were generous with noble revelation,

Until you grew miserly and answered no question,

إلا رسومًا في الرسوم نواطقًا

بالنصر أبلج والفتوح توالى

Save through images within images, proclaiming

Radiant victory and conquests in succession.

رُفعتْ لبطليموس يبسط فوقها

كفًّا تحوك من الرءوس حبالا

They were raised for Ptolemy, who spreads above them

A hand that weaves ropes out of heads.

يطأ الملوك كأنما تيجانها

أرض وما يخشى لها زلزالا

He treads upon kings, as though their crowns

Were earth—and he fears no quake beneath them.

وترى الجموع وهم ركوع تحته

قَصُروا من الخوف الذريع وطالا

And you see the multitudes, bowing beneath him:

They shrank with crushing fear, and he grew tall.

شأن الأنام قديمهم وحديثهم

من عز فيهم بالسيادة صالا

Such is mankind's way, ancient and modern:

Whoever gains sovereign might among them attacks.

والمُلك مغلوب عليه مالكٌ

متعفف لا يغلب الأقيالا

And sovereignty is wrested from a ruler

Who, self-restrained, does not subdue the princes.

يا دار بطليموس حسبك رفعةً

وصيانة بين البنَى وجمالا

O house of Ptolemy, enough for you is grandeur,

And preservation among buildings, and beauty.

حرص الزمان عليك وهو موكَّل

بالشامخات يحيلها أطلالا

Time has guarded you, though it is charged

With turning towering structures into ruins.

إنا لنرجوها ونوقن أنه

ما كان يومًا لا يكون محالا

We indeed hope for it, and know with certainty that

What once existed cannot be impossible.

وستستقل فلا تقولوا إنها

صمد الهوان بها فلا استقلالا

And she shall be independent; do not say that

Humiliation has taken hold of her, so there can be no independence.