بكى الشرق يا خير الصدور الاعاظم

عليك بمنهل الدموع السواجم

The East wept, O finest of grand viziers,

for you with a torrent of streaming tears.

أصابت سهام الحتف غرة وجهه

فعاد بوجه كاسف اللون قاتم

Death's arrows struck his radiant brow,

and he was left with a face of dim, somber hue.

نعيت إليه فاتحالت ربوعه

مصابا ومادت أرضه بالمآتم

Your death was announced to him, and his lands became

a scene of affliction; his earth swayed with mourning gatherings.

الا ان سيف الامة اليوم غاله

حمام فلا ابتلت يمين بقائم

Indeed, the nation's sword was struck down today

by death—may no right hand ever again grasp a sword-hilt!

وقد غاب ذاك الليث عن غاب عزه

على حين اردى كل ليث ضبارم

That lion has vanished from the thicket of his might,

when he had felled every mighty lion.

لئن أوحشت منه عرينة مجده

لقد رزئت منه بمردى الضراغم

Though the lair of his glory lies desolate without him,

it has indeed lost in him the slayer of lions.

أصابوه في سلم واعظم آفة

على البطل المغوار غدر المسالم

They struck him in peace; and the greatest scourge

of the fearless hero is betrayal by one at peace with him.

يعدون قتل المصلحين غنيمة

وما هو الامن اجل المغارم

They count the killing of reformers a prize,

yet it is nothing but one of the gravest losses.

فان يك قد أودى فان ليومه

جوى باقيا بين الحشى والحيازم

So if he has perished, the day of his passing brings

an abiding heartache between the vitals and the breast.

وان يك قد أودى فقد عاد فائزا

بحسن مباديه وحسن الخواتم

And if he has perished, he has emerged victorious

through his noble beginnings and noble endings.

تحمل أعباء الوزارة ناصحا

يدبر أمر الملك تدبير حازم

He bore the burdens of the ministry with sincere counsel,

directing the realm's affairs with a resolute man's foresight.

فنعم وزير السيف يعطيه حقه

إذا ارعشت كف الجبان بصارم

What a fine minister of the sword, giving it its due,

when a coward's hand trembled with a keen sword in it!

ونعم وزير السيف والقلم الذي

تمج ثناياه سمام الاراقم

And a fine minister of the sword and of the pen whose

teeth spit forth the venom of speckled serpents.

مضى اليوم من كانت تشير بنانهم

إليه فقد عادوا بعض الأباهم

Gone today is the man their fingers once pointed

toward; now they have taken to biting their thumbs.

فمن لمذاكي الخيل يلبسها الوغى

ومن للعوالي الراعفات اللهاذم

So who is there for the mature steeds, to clothe them in battle?

And who for the tall lances, blood-dripping and keen?

ومن لثغور المسلمين يحوطها

ويكلؤها من كل باغ مهاجم

And who will guard the Muslims' frontiers

and protect them from every lawless attacker?

أواسطة العقد الذي حاز عقده

به جوهراً ما حازه عقد ناظم

O central jewel of the necklace, whose strand gained

in you a gem no bead-stringer's necklace ever held!

فقدناك محمود المساعي مهذبا

من العيب لم تتبعك لومة لائم

We have lost you, praiseworthy in your endeavors and purged

of fault; no reproacher's blame ever followed you.

وفي كل ناد من مديحك والثنا

نسيم رياض أو شميم لطائم

And in every gathering, from praise of you and acclaim,

comes a garden breeze or the scent of perfume-laden caravans.

ويا أيها الناعي المعاتب من مضى

نعيت ولكن بالقوافي الاثائم

And O elegist who reproaches the departed,

you announced his death, but in sinful rhymes.

وان مقاما قد نزوت لنيله

منيع الذرى لا يرتقي بالسلالم

And the station you have leapt to attain

has unassailable summits that no ladders can reach.

عتبت على محمود شوكت ناقما

وما ضر محمودا ملامة ناقم

You reproached Mahmud Shawkat in resentment,

but a resentful man's blame did Mahmud no harm.

فدع منقذ الأوطان والفاتح الذي

له شهدت اعداؤه بالمكارم

So leave alone the savior of homelands, the conqueror whose

enemies testified to his noble deeds.

وقل سالكاً نهج الحقيقة إننا

فقدنا عظيما ناهضاً بالعظائم

And say, following the path of truth, that we

have lost a great man who rose to mighty undertakings.

تناسيت آثارا له ومساعياً

أضاءت نجوماً في الليالي الغواتم

You chose to forget his achievements and endeavors,

which shone as stars in the dark nights.

وكان له يوم أغر محجل

يقيم له التاريخ اسنى المراسم

And his was a day, white-blazed and white-footed,

for which history stages the most splendid ceremonies.

ألم يكشف الكرب الذي ضيق الفضا

على أمة باتت بقبضة ظالم

Did he not dispel the anguish that narrowed all space

for a nation that lay in a tyrant's grip?

فشيد صرح العدل مذ هد سيفه

على يلدز الشماء صرح المظالم

He built the edifice of justice when his sword demolished

the edifice of oppression at lofty Yildiz.

الم يبعث الحرب العوان مغامراً

بعزمة مرهوب السطا والعزائم

Did he not unleash renewed war, taking risks

with the resolve of one feared for his assaults and determination?

به الجيش قد اثرى عديداً وعدة

يراع بها قلب الجيوش الخضارم

Through him, the army grew rich in numbers and equipment

that struck terror into the heart of vast armies.

ولكن تولى أمره غير أهله

فنام وما البلقان عنه بنائم

But those unfit for it took charge of its affairs,

so it slept, though the Balkans did not sleep where it was concerned.

وهل كان بالتدبير مقتل ناظم

فتعزي إليه ظالماً قتل ناظم

And was Nazim's killing the result of a plot,

that you unjustly attribute Nazim's killing to him?

ولو لم يقاومهم لما ورد الردى

ولكنه لم يأل جهد المقاوم

Had he not resisted them, he would not have met his death,

but he spared no effort in resistance.

فعارض سيل الانقلاب مخاطراً

بتيار ذاك الحادث المتفاقم

So he opposed the flood of revolution, risking himself

in the torrent of that worsening event.

الم ترهم لم يقتلوا الصدر كاملا

وقد كان فيهم مصدراً للجرائم

Did you not see that they did not kill Grand Vizier Kamil,

though he had been a source of crimes among them?

على ان اخذ الثار قد حال دونه

حوادث لا تخفى على كل عالم

Yet the taking of vengeance had been thwarted

by events hidden from no informed person.

وان هو لم يمنع تعاطي سياسة

فلذت مجانيها وطابت لطاعم

And if he did not prevent the pursuit of a policy,

so its fruits were sweet and pleasant to the eater,

فذاك بناء قد تأسس قبله

ومن بعده اعيى على كل هادم

then that was a structure founded before his time,

and after him it defied every demolisher.