أكرمت ظني واحترمت رجائي

وتعجلتْ يدك العسيرَ النائي

You honored my trust and respected my hope,

And your hand swiftly attained what was difficult and remote.

وأنلت بالسلمِ البلادَ وأهلها

ما لم ينله سواك بالهيجاء

And through peace you granted the country and its people

What no one else attained through battle.

وحملت وحدك مطمئناً آمناً

أعباء شعب ناء بالأعباء

Alone, assured and secure, you bore

The burdens of a people weighed down with burdens.

وإذا تفرد بالأمور مجربٌ

أغنته عن شورى وعن إفتاء

When a seasoned man takes sole charge of affairs,

He is spared the need for consultation or counsel.

الشرق يرقب ما تعد لأمة

ساءته في الضراء والسراء

The East watches what you prepare for a nation

That has troubled it in adversity and prosperity.

شغل الزمان شعوبه وأراحها

طيب الرسائل عنك والأنباء

Time has troubled its peoples, but they are comforted

By the welcome letters and news of you.

ماذا تقول لك الوفود وإنَّ ما

لهمُ صنعت لأبلغ الخطباء

What can the delegations say to you, when what

You have done for them is the most eloquent of orators?

يا مدرك المرضى بما تبغيه من

دور العلاج ومغنيَ الفقراء

O you who aid the sick through your pursuit of

Houses of healing, and who enrich the poor;

ومقوِّم الأخلاق في الوادي بما

دبَّرته من صحة وثراء

And who reform morals in the Valley through what

You have provided in health and prosperity;

وموَفَّيَ الأجراء عند ممول

ومملك ما حق للأجراء

And who secure workers their full dues from a financier,

And grant wage-earners ownership of what is rightfully theirs.

للعاملين اليوم لاستقلالهم

ما للضحايا أمس والشهداء

To those working today for their independence belongs

What belonged yesterday to the victims and martyrs.

والحق للعقبى فمن بلغ المدى

فهو الأحق بواجب الإطراء

Merit lies in the outcome; whoever reaches the goal

Is most entitled to the praise that is due.

ليس الخلود بناء تمثال على

قلق ولا ذكرى على ضوضاء

Immortality is not a statue raised on

Unsteady ground, nor remembrance amid clamor.

تبقى حياة السالفين بقاء ما

لهمُ على الآثار من خلفاء

The lives of those gone before endure as long as

They have successors following in their footsteps.

وأبر من سعة القلوب لميت

سعة الديار لسائر الأحياء

And kinder than room in hearts for one dead

Is room in homes for all the living.

والنيل تقسمه سخيّاً عادلاً

في كل معمور وكل خلاء

And you apportion the Nile, generous and just,

Throughout every inhabited place and every wasteland.

إن سال في الملح الأجاج زلاله

فقفارهم أولى بهذا الماء

If its clear fresh water flows into bitter brine,

Their deserts have a greater claim upon this water.

وإذا ارتوت صحراؤهم واستُعمِرَتْ

فالحزم هجرتهم إلى الصحراء

And when their desert is watered and made habitable,

Prudence lies in their migration to the desert.

أهلاً بميثاق السلام مقدماً

لك من رسول الرحمة الفيحاء

Welcome to the covenant of peace, presented

To you by the messenger of boundless mercy.

في الأمس جاء الأرض مطفئُ نارها

واليوم جاء محرِّمُ الشحناء

Yesterday the quencher of its fire came to earth,

And today came the one who forbids rancor.

هل ترتضي في عهده لك موضعاً

حتى تكون له من النظراء

Will you accept a place for yourself in his covenant,

So that you may be among his peers?

لا يضمن الإنسان حسن مصيره

حتى يكون الحكم للحكماء

No person can ensure a good outcome for himself

Until government rests with the wise.

ما عذر من يعصي الوزارة بعد ما

عزت عليه رياسة الوزراء

What excuse has one who defies the ministry after

The premiership has eluded him?

إن الذين أبوا عليك قيادهم

خسروا لديك مكانة الشركاء

Those who refused to yield you their reins

Have lost their standing as partners with you.

أشفقت من حرمانهم ورضيت أن

يقفوا أمامك موقف الرقباء

You shrank from excluding them and consented that

They should stand before you as observers.

يبكون بعد العزل عهدَ الحكم أم

يبكون عهد التيه والخيلاء

After dismissal, do they mourn their days of rule, or

Do they mourn their days of arrogance and vanity?

إن أغضبوك فلست منهم غاضباً

إلا لشمل ذاهب ووفاء

If they angered you, you are not angry with them

Except over unity and fidelity now lost.

ولئن تعاتبهم لما عاتبتهم

إلا بأمر واقع وقضاء

And even if you reproach them, you have not reproached them

Except through an accomplished act and a decree.

ولئن تؤاخذهم لما آخذتهم

إلا بما حملوا من الأسواء

And even if you call them to account, you have not done so

Except for the wrongs they have taken upon themselves.

لولاك والحزب الشديد على العدى

لقضوا على الأحزاب والزعماء

But for you and the party stern against the foes,

They would have put an end to the parties and leaders.

لو أنهم حرصوا على ميثاقهم

ما أرجفوا بسرائر الأمناء

Had they guarded their covenant,

They would not have spread rumors about the secrets of the trustworthy.

حتم تحديك المُصِرَّ على الأذى

من بعد عفوك عنه والإغضاء

You must challenge the one who persists in harm

After your pardon of him and your forbearance.

ما قيد الأقلام إلا خوف ما

تجني على الضعفاء والبرآء

Nothing restrained the pens except fear of what

They inflict upon the weak and innocent,

ووقاية الأعراض مما أسرفت

صحف الخوارج فيه والسفهاء

And safeguarding reputations against the excesses

In which the newspapers of rebels and fools indulged.

لم يفزع الدستور من أبنائه

إلا إلى آبائه الرحماء

The constitution sought refuge from its sons

Only with its merciful fathers.

يبلوهمُ بفراقه حتى إذا

جزعوا عليه أراحهم بلقاء

It tests them through its absence, until, when

They grieve for it, it comforts them with reunion.

عود النيابة والوكالة في غد

بتخيُّر النواب والوكلاء

The return of representation and delegated authority tomorrow

Lies in choosing representatives and delegates well.

لا تدفع الأعداء مصر بقوة

من قبل دفعك حجة الأعداء

Egypt will not repel her enemies by force

Before you refute the enemies' argument.

وإذا اتخذت إلى الجلاء وسيلة

فسياسة التجديد والانشاء

And if you choose a means toward withdrawal,

Let it be a policy of renewal and construction.

وإذا ظفرت بألفة الأهواء في

أمرٍ ظفرت بألفة الآراء

And if you achieve harmony of desires in

A matter, you have achieved harmony of opinions.

قالوا صديق للعدو وما لهم

بك عنده عادوا إلى الأعداء

They said, 'A friend of the enemy!' Yet what they have

With him is through you; they returned to the enemies.

أيهون يومئذ عليهم أن يروا

أعداءهم لهمُ من الشفعاء

Is it easy for them, then, to see

Their enemies among those interceding for them?

رجعوا إلى نعماك ينتحلونها

بعد الجحود بهذه النعماء

They returned to your bounty, claiming it as their own,

After denying this very bounty.

لم تسترح حتى اكتسبت سوادهم

بعد اكتسابك شيعة العقلاء

You did not rest until you won over their masses,

After winning a following among the wise.

فضل الصبور على ائتلاف رفاقه

فضل الصبور على أذىً وبلاء

The merit of a man patient in uniting his companions

Is that of a man patient under harm and affliction.

ولو استقاموا أسلموا لك بعدما

عرَّفتَهم منهم مكانَ الداء

Had they been upright, they would have yielded to you after

You showed them where their own ailment lay.

الصلح بينهمُ وبينك هيّنٌ

لو يسمعون نصحيتي وندائي

Reconciliation between them and you is easy,

If they would hear my counsel and my call.

ومن الأحب إليك مرجعهم كما

كانوا من القرناء والأكفاء

And you would dearly love their return as

They once were: companions and equals,

لترى جميع الجند تحت لواءِ

وترى كتابك كاملَ الأجزاء

So you may see all the troops beneath one banner,

And see your book complete in all its parts.

سيان طالب حقه بأناته

وطلوب هذا الحق بالغلواء

Alike are one who seeks his right with deliberation

And one who pursues that right with impetuous zeal.

ما زلت في قومي الغريب وليس لي

في القوم ما ألفوه للغرباء

I remain a stranger among my people, yet I have not

Among them what they customarily grant to strangers.

لو أنهم كانوا الغزاة حسبت في

غزواتهم نفسي من الأسراء

Had they been invaders, I would have counted, in

Their invasions, myself among the captives.

ولقد بلوت الحادثات فلم يسؤ

إلا جفاء من استغل ولائي

I have experienced calamities, and nothing has grieved me

But the coldness of one who exploited my loyalty.

ولو استطعتُ تركتُ فيهم مهجتي

وخرجت من أرضٍ لهم وسماء

If I could, I would leave my soul among them

And depart from their earth and sky.

ولو افتدت وطني دمائي من يد

عسراء حينئذ بذلت دمائي

And if my blood could ransom my homeland from a hand

So sinister, then I would give my blood.

إن كنت من شعراء مصر فإنني

أوفى الدعاةِ لمصرَ والسفراء

If I am one of Egypt's poets, then I am

The most faithful of Egypt's advocates and ambassadors.