لك الأمر منتظر أم لنا

وعندك عقباه أم عندنا

Is the awaited decision yours or ours?

And does its outcome rest with you or with us?

وكيف تسير غداً نحونا

وكيف تدور غداً حولنا

And how will you proceed toward us tomorrow?

And how will you circle around us tomorrow?

وكيف الطريق إلى ما أرا

د من لك أوحى ومن لقّنا

And how is the way to what was desired

by whoever inspired you and whoever instructed you?

ملأت هنالك هذا الجراب

فأفرغ على القوم منه هنا

You filled this sack there;

so pour it out upon the people here.

وهات كما شئت فصل الخطاب

مسيئاً قضاؤك أو محسنا

And deliver, as you wish, the decisive pronouncement,

whether your judgment does harm or good.

وما هو إلا ضمير الزمان

تعود به بادياً بيننا

It is nothing but the conscience of the age,

with which you return, appearing among us,

وتشغل بعد الإياب القلوب

به والمسامع والأعينا

and, after your return, engross hearts

with it—and ears and eyes as well.

وتنفذ في مصر ما خطه

لمصر السجلُّ وما دونا

And carry out in Egypt what was written

for Egypt by the register, and what it recorded.

وتعطى المنافع طلابها

على أن تكال وأن توزنا

And give benefits to those who seek them,

on condition they be measured and weighed,

وتلقى ضمائرهم خلفها

إلى أن تباع وأن ترهنا

and find their consciences trailing after those benefits,

until they are sold and pawned.

فهذا أبيُّهمُ طائعاً

وهذا عزيزهمُ هينا

So here is their defiant man, obedient,

and here their mighty man, abased.

وكل مسوق بميعاده

يكاد يجيئك مستأذنا

And each is driven along at his appointed time,

almost coming to you to ask permission.

وتشهد في موطن إخوة

تعادوا فما عرفوا الموطنا

And in one homeland you witness brothers

turned enemies, who did not recognize their homeland.

فهم يترامون بالسيئا

ت لا بالسيوف ولا بالقنا

They pelt one another with insults,

not with swords or spears.

فغضبان يتهَّم المعرضي

ن عنه وعن رهطه بالخنا

An angry man accuses those who turn away

from him and his band of vileness.

تفرد وهو وراء الصفوف

يقول أنا الشعب وحدي أنا

He sets himself apart, behind the ranks,

saying: I am the people—I alone, I!

وينكر هيمنة الآخرين

وإن جاء بالخير من هيمنا

And he rejects the sway of others,

even if whoever held sway brought good.

ولا يرتضي ما بنى غيره

ولو كان حصن الحمى ما بنى

Nor does he approve of what another built,

even if what he built were the homeland's fortress.

كأن البلاد أبت نده

وجاءت به وحده معدنا

As though the country had rejected his equal

and brought him forth alone as a mine.

ومضطرب مائج صوته

بمصر ونجواه في لندنا

And a wavering man, his voice surging

in Egypt, and his whispers in London,

رأى في الشقاق تعلاته

فصار الشقاق له ديدنا

found his excuses in discord,

so discord became his habit.

وأظلم ظالمٍ المشتكي

إلى الأجنبي نأى أو دنا

And the most unjust wrongdoer is he who complains

to the foreigner, whether far or near.

ومن مكَّن الخصمَ من أهله

فللخصم من نفسه مكّنا

Whoever gives the adversary power over his people

gives that adversary power over himself.

وداهية راض أعداءه

وأرضى فأمَّن واستأمنا

And a shrewd man tamed his enemies

and pleased them, granting safety and seeking it.

وكوَّن سلطانه بالصنيع

فضاع الصنيع وما كوَّنا

He built his authority through favors,

but the favors and what he built were lost.

ولو شاء وهو القؤول الفعول

طوى الصحف واعتقل الألسنا

And had he wished—so active in word and deed—

he would have folded up the newspapers and imprisoned tongues.

أمالته علته فالتوى

ولو صدَّه جبل ما انثنى

His illness bent him, and he buckled,

though a mountain blocking him would not have made him bend.

ولما مضى ارتد أنصاره

وهم شر أعدائه مطعنا

And when he departed, his supporters defected,

becoming his worst enemies in their attacks.

وما زال يطمع في أن يعود

إلى ما استحال وما أمكنا

He still hopes to return

to what became impossible and could not be.

ومستخلف مطمئن السبيل

إلى ما أسر وما أعلنا

And a successor, assured of the path

toward what he concealed and what he declared,

مضى وسطاً بين حدّيه لا

عنيف المراس ولا لينا

went midway between his two extremes, neither

harsh in his dealings nor pliant.

لعل السفينة من بعد ما

تولى السفينة تنجو بنا

Perhaps the ship, after

he took command of the ship, will reach safety with us.

وصحف تضجُّ بما لا يليق

ولا يستفاد ولا يقتنى

And newspapers clamor with what is unseemly,

yields no benefit, and is not worth keeping.

وتروى من الدهر ما في الغيوب

كأن لها عنده مخزنا

They recount what lies hidden in time,

as though they had a storehouse in its keeping.

وتلقى النفاق من الجانبي

ن من شك فيها ومن أيقنا

And they find a ready market on both sides—

among those who doubt them and those who are convinced.

فهذا يطير بها مرجفاً

وذلك يعنو لها مذعنا

This one flies about with them, spreading rumors,

and that one bows to them, submitting.

وما كل متبعٍ مبدأً

يكون بمبدئه مؤمنا

Yet not everyone who follows a principle

believes in his principle.

وكم قلَّب الناس هذا الزما

ن للعيش فيه وكم كوَّنا

How often this age has turned people about

for life within it, and how often shaped them!

أولئك مرضى أداويهمُ

من الداء من بعد ما أزمنا

Those people are sick; I treat them

for their disease, after it has grown chronic.

وأحمل أعباءهم عنهمُ

إلى أن أشرَّد أو أُسجنا

And I bear their burdens for them,

until I am banished or imprisoned.

كأنيَ بينهمُ ما أتي

تُ إلا لأغضب أو أحزنا

As though I had come among them

only to grow angry or grieve.

ولو غسل الدم ذنب الزمان

غسلت لهم بدمي ما جنى

If blood could wash away time's sin,

I would wash away its wrongs for them with my blood.

ولو لم أقم بينهم شاعراً

لما ذقت هذا الأسى والعنى

Had I not lived among them as a poet,

I would not have tasted this grief and hardship.

ولو كنت بينهمُ تاجراً

لكان نعيمي وكان الغنى

Had I been a merchant among them,

I would have had ease and wealth.

عناء حملنا قديم التراث

إلى غدنا اليوم من أمسِنا

In hardship we have carried the ancient inheritance

today, from our yesterday into our tomorrow.

وما جرَّه سلفٌ قبلنا

سيُجزَى به خلفٌ بعدنا

And what predecessors before us brought about,

successors after us will pay for.

وما مدَّه شركاً بعضُنا

لبعضٍ تناولنا كلنا

And the snare some of us laid

for others has caught us all.

ونحن الذين دعونا الغريم

وجئنا به حكماً بيننا

We are the ones who summoned the adversary

and brought him as an arbiter among us.

يغرقنا بالمنى تارة

ويجمعنا تارة بالمنى

He drowns us in hopes at times

and gathers us with hopes at times.

وإن شاء سلَّط جنداً وإن

يشأ سلَّط الرصد المتقنا

If he wills, he unleashes troops; and if

he wills, he unleashes meticulous surveillance.

وقد يذكر الحق مستدرجاً

ليفتن من شاء أن يفتنا

He may invoke justice, luring others on,

to tempt whomever he wishes to tempt.

وما أمعن الفاتحون الغزا

ة في الأرض يوماً كما أمعنا

No conquering invaders have ever

gone so far across the earth as he has.

وقفنا وجاوزنا العالمُون

فيا ليتنا معهم ليتنا

We stood still, and the peoples of the world passed us;

oh, if only we were with them—if only!

وقد جرَّبت مصرُ أحزابها

فمن صان مصر ومن حصنا

Egypt has tried her parties:

who, then, has protected Egypt, and who fortified her?

وضاقت بمختلف الغارسين

وأين الظلال وأين الجنى

She has grown weary of the differing planters:

where is the shade, and where is the fruit?

أتدري فأسألها أيُّنا

شهيدُ قضيتها أيُّنا

Do you know? Then I ask her: which of us

is a martyr for her cause—which of us?

ومن هو فيها الزعيم العظيم

بما يجمع اليوم من شملنا

And who within her is the great leader,

by bringing our ranks together today?

ومن لا يفاوض ذاك الغري

م وهو كما هو في أرضنا

And who does not negotiate with that adversary,

while he remains as he is in our land,

ويضمن للشعب ما شاء من

أمانيِّه الشعب أن يضمنا

and guarantees the people whatever

of their wishes the people want him to guarantee?