غضبتم ورهيب منكم الغضب — Ahmed Al Kashef

غضبتمُ ورهيبٌ منكمُ الغضبُ

للحق ينزعه باغ ويستلبُ

You have grown angry, and fearsome is your anger,

for the right an aggressor wrests away and steals.

هل السياسة فن من قواعده

عند العتاة الدهاة الختل والكذب

Is politics an art whose principles,

for cunning tyrants, are guile and falsehood?

دعوهمُ وسجاياهم ومؤتمراً

للظلم ما قرأوا فيه وما كتبوا

Leave them to their natures, and to a conference

where all they have read and written serves oppression.

ورابطوا في المضيق الصعب وانتظروا

فيه وفودهم تترى وتنتدب

And stand guard in the difficult strait, and await

their delegations there, arriving in succession and presenting themselves.

وراءكم جيرة زالت خصومتهم

دأبتمُ في رضاهم مثل ما دأبوا

Behind you are neighbors whose enmity has ceased;

you have striven to please them, as they have striven to please you.

وهكذا بينكم يقضي الزمان بما

لم تقضه بينكم قربى ولا نسب

Thus time settles between you what

neither kinship nor shared descent could settle.

يا قادة الشرق حسب الشرق تكرمة

وحسبكم هذه الألقاب والرتب

O leaders of the East, the East has honor enough,

and these titles and ranks are enough for you.

إن الألى هربوا من بطشكم رجعوا

يطاولونكمُ من بعد ما نكبوا

Indeed, those who fled your crushing might have returned,

daring to challenge you after being struck down,

مستنجدين بمن أغراهمُ عبثاً

والذنب ما حملوا منه وما ركبوا

seeking help from those who incited them in vain;

and theirs is the guilt for what they shouldered and committed.

عودوا إلى البأس بعد اللين فهو لكم

قد يفعل البأس ما لا تفعل الخطب

Return to force after gentleness, for it is yours;

force may do what speeches cannot.

لاحق للشرق إلا في معاقله

والحق منقلبٌ في الغرب مغترب

The East has no right except within its strongholds;

while right is overturned, an exile in the West.

هل يملك الحكم في لوزان خصمكمُ

ودونه في سوى لوزان مضطرب

Does your foe hold the power of judgment in Lausanne,

when elsewhere than Lausanne turmoil bars his way?

ما كان كرزون بالموفي لأمته

ودون ما يبتغيه الهول والنوب

Curzon could not deliver for his nation,

while terror and calamities bar the way to what he seeks.

ما حجة الخصم والأيام تخذله

على كرام الضحايا بعد ما غلبوا

What case has the foe, when the days forsake him,

against noble victims after they have triumphed?

إن حاربوكم جميعاً حول موصلكم

تنازعوا دونها باغين واحتربوا

If they all wage war on you around your Mosul,

they will quarrel before it as aggressors and fight one another.

مازيتها الفائض الموفور غايتكم

لكنها الأهل والجيران والصحب

Its abundant, overflowing oil is not your aim,

but kinfolk, neighbors, and friends.

لم تألفوا أن ناسا في مساومة

من بين ما يأخذ الباغي وما يهب

You are not accustomed to people being bargained over,

among what an aggressor takes and what he gives away.

هل يرغب الكرد في استقلالهم زمناً

من بعدما ابتلت استقلالها العرب

Would the Kurds ever desire their independence,

after the Arabs have put their own independence to the test?

ليس النبيُّ بجدٍّ للألى انقلبوا

إلى المغير على مثواه وانتسبوا

The Prophet is no grandfather to those who turned

to the raider of his resting place and claimed descent.

وهم سبيل إلى البيت الحرام له

وهم إلى المسجد الأقصى له سبب

And they are his pathway to the Sacred House,

and they are his means of reaching al-Aqsa Mosque.

وخارجٍ عبد الدنيا كما عبدت

تلك التماثيل والأصنام والنصب

And many a rebel worshipped worldly life, as were worshipped

those statues, idols, and sacred stones.

في كل واد له عرشٌ بنته يدٌ

رضوانُها غضبٌ إحسانها تعب

In every valley he has a throne built by a hand

whose favor is wrath, whose kindness is hardship.

يكاد بالجالس المرتاب يقذفه

تنكُّر القوم والتعريض والشغب

It is nearly hurled away with its apprehensive sitter,

by the people's hostility, their veiled taunts, and unrest.

هل يخلع الطاعة العظمى ليملكه

من ذلك السلب الديباج والذهب

Does he cast off the highest allegiance to be ruled

by the brocade and gold of that plunder,

ويترك الملأ الأعلى إلى ملأ

كالصلِّ ينساب أو كالذئب ينسرب

and forsake the Heavenly Assembly for a company

that glides like an asp or slinks away like a wolf?

عندي لأنقرة نجوى الضمير ولي

في مكةَ الشبهات اليوم والريب

For Ankara I have my conscience's whispered words;

concerning Mecca today, I have suspicions and doubts.

تَهْوِي القلوب إلى البيت الحرام ولا

تَهْوَى قبيلاً على حراسه وثبوا

Hearts incline toward the Sacred House, but do not

love a tribe that sprang upon its guardians.

لم يشك جدباً ولا فقراً فتعوزه

من غير خالقه الأنواء والسحب

It never complained of drought or poverty, so as to need

rains and clouds from any but its Creator.

بدت سرائرُ خوّانين واشتهرت

وإن تنكَّر خوّانون واحتجبوا

Traitors' secrets have appeared and become widely known,

even though traitors have disguised themselves and hidden.

الطفل في المهد أزكى في عشيرته

من بالغ شقيت أمٌّ به وأب

An infant in the cradle is purer among his kin

than an adult who has brought misery to mother and father.

يا جيرة الترك والماضي لكم عظة

جافيتموهم وأغضوا بعد ما عتبوا

O neighbors of the Turks, the past is a lesson for you:

you shunned them, and they forgave after reproaching you.

فهم وأنتم سواء في معاملة

إن تبعدوا بعدوا أو تقربوا قربوا

They and you are alike in dealings:

if you draw away, they draw away; if you draw near, they draw near.

ولو خلت لكمُ أوطانكم لرضوا

لكنها لغزاة حولها ضربوا

Had your homelands been left solely to you, they would have been content,

but they belong to invaders who have pitched camp around them.

هل انشققتم أم استقللتمُ وإلى

حرية أم إلى رقٍّ بكم ذهبوا

Did you break away or gain independence—and toward

freedom or slavery have they led you?

فلو رجعتم إلى الحسنى لكان لكم

إلى صحابتكم رجعَى ومنقلب

So if you returned to goodwill, there would be for you

a return and a homecoming to your companions.

مهما طلبتم من النعمى لأنفسكم

فلن تزيدوا غداً عما لكم طلبوا

Whatever blessings you may seek for yourselves,

tomorrow you will not go beyond what they sought for you.

ودعوة لمعيد الشرق سيرته

ماجت دمشق بها واستأنست حلب

And a call for the one restoring the East to its former course:

Damascus surged with it, and Aleppo took heart.

سارت كأن أساطيلاً تشيعها

مثل الجبال عليها الجحفل اللجب

It traveled as though fleets were escorting it,

mountain-like, with a clamorous host aboard.

تجاوز الهند مرماها ورددها

خلف البحار دويُّ الرعد يصطخب

Its reach passed beyond India, and it was echoed

beyond the seas by thunder's clamorous roar.

إني لأشفق من يوم على دولٍ

يقضي الحديد عليها فيه واللهب

I fear for nations on a day to come,

when iron and flame will destroy them.

فلا يروَّع أقوام بما خسروا

ولا يمتع أقوام بما كسبوا

So let no people be terrified by what they have lost,

nor any people be gratified by what they have gained.

ويطلب المهل والزقوم طاغية

أمضَّهُ ظمأٌ أو عضَّه سغب

And a tyrant will seek molten metal and zaqqum,

tormented by thirst or bitten by hunger.

ممالك الشرق والإسلام تذكرة

فالشرق أسوان والإسلام ينتحب

Kingdoms of the East and Islam, heed this reminder:

for the East is sorrowful, and Islam sobs.

أين الأمانة والميثاق بينكمُ

والبيت منتهب والقدس مغتصب

Where are trust and covenant among you,

while the House is plundered and Jerusalem usurped?

مجد الرجال على مقدار ما بذلوا

من الدم الحر لا الدمع الذي سكبوا

Men's glory is measured by what they have given

of noble blood, not the tears they have shed,

ذوودا عن الوطن الغالي وعن شرف

بذل النفوس له بعض الذي يجب

in defense of the precious homeland, and of an honor

for which sacrificing lives is only part of what is owed.

ومن أراد حياة العز طيبة

فالأرض تحمله حراً أو الشهب

And whoever seeks a good life of honor,

the earth shall bear him free—or the shooting stars.

يا وافدَ الشرق جوَّاباً بلا سندٍ

في الغرب ينتظر العقبى ويرتقب

O envoy of the East, roaming without support,

waiting in the West, watching for the outcome:

مصير كل قبيل بعد جولته

ما خطه في فروقَ الفتيةُ النجب

the fate of every people, after its round,

is what the noble youths have written in Furuq.

فصل الخطاب لهم بعد القضاء غدا

في سائر الأمر جد القوم أو لعبوا

After the decree, the final word has become theirs,

in every matter, whether the people act in earnest or in jest.

أين السلام وأين العاملون له

وأنه أمل الأبرار والأرب

Where is peace, and where are those who work for it,

though it is the hope and desire of the righteous?

كلٌّ يمد وراء الغيب غايته

وليس يعلم ما يأتي به رجب

Each extends his goal beyond the unseen,

yet knows not what Rajab will bring.