رحيل بعزم الفاتحين سعيد — أحمد الكاشف

رحيل بعزم الفاتحين سعيدُ

وعَودٌ بمجد الظافرين حميدُ

A fortunate departure with the conquerors' resolve,

and a praiseworthy return with the victors' glory.

طلعت على الوادي الخصيب ودونه

مواكبُ من آماله ووفود

You appeared over the fertile valley, before which

were processions of its hopes and delegations.

وسرتَ إلى السودان ترعى غراسه

وبالثمرات الطيبات تعود

And you journeyed to Sudan, tending its plantings,

and return with wholesome fruits.

تنافس فيك الجوُّ والبرُّ رغبة

فراق نزولٌ فيهما وصعود

Air and land vied eagerly for you,

so descent and ascent in them were a delight.

وتابعك النيلُ الوفيُّ وأومأت

إليك جسور فوقَه وسدود

And the faithful Nile followed you, and beckoning

to you were bridges and dams above it.

ومد إليك الساحلان رباهُما

وحيّاك ريفٌ فيهما وصعيد

And the two banks extended their hills toward you,

and Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt on them greeted you.

تعهدتَه مستكملاً خيرَ أهله

وزار الأوداءَ الكرامَ ودود

You tended it, making its people's welfare complete,

and a loving friend visited noble friends.

فكانت وجوه القوم تبيضُّ بهجةً

بما أنت راجيه لهم ومريد

So the people's faces brightened with joy

at what you hope for them and desire.

ففي كل نجد في غُدوِّك موسمٌ

وفي كل سهل في رواحك عيد

On every highland, a festival marks your morning journey,

and on every plain, a feast marks your evening journey.

ولو لم تجئهم طائرَ الركبِ لانثنت

إليك جبال وانطوت لك بيد

Even had you not come to them as the caravan's bird, there would have bowed

mountains toward you, and deserts would have folded themselves for you.

حملتَ إليهم من يد المَلِكِ الندى

وشارفتَ أقصى المُلْكِ وهو مديد

You carried to them bounty from the King's hand,

and approached the farthest reach of the realm, vast as it is.

وأشهدَهُ فيهم مطافك ما سرى

إليه به برقٌ وسار بريد

And your tour among them showed him what had sped

to him by telegraph and traveled by courier.

وكادت تعود اليومَ كلُّ قبيلةٍ

له دولةٌ مما لمصرَ يشيد

And today every tribe nearly became once more

a realm of his, through what he builds for Egypt.

وتمَّ له سلطانُهُ في ربوعهم

كما ودَّ آباءٌ له وجدود

And his sovereignty in their lands was made complete,

as his fathers and forefathers had wished.

علائقُ إخوان وأسباب جيرة

أعادتْ قديمَ العهد وهو جديد

Bonds of brotherhood and ties of neighborliness

restored the ancient covenant, fresh once more.

فهم يرسلون الماء فيضاً مباركاً

وإنا لحراسٌ له وورود

For they send the water, a blessed flood,

and we are indeed its guardians and those who come to drink.

جمعتَ بني الوادي على ما أعزه

وأكبرَ بيضٌ ما صنعتَ وسود

You united the valley's sons around what strengthened it,

and white and black people admired what you had done.

وجاءتك بالأحزاب نجواك فالتقت

وما بينها إلا لمصر عهود

And your private counsel brought the parties to you, and they came together,

with nothing between them but pledges to Egypt.

فكل فريق للفريق مؤيِّدٌ

وكل زعيم للزعيم نديد

So every faction supports the other,

and each leader is his fellow leader's peer.

ولم تبتدر بالرأي حتى دعمتَه

ببأسك في الميدان وهو شديد

Nor did you advance your counsel until you had reinforced it

with your might in the field, formidable as it is.

فكل مكان فيه حصنٌ ومعقلٌ

وفي كلِّ فجٍّ قادةٌ وجنود

For every place has a fortress and a stronghold,

and in every pass are commanders and soldiers.

ثبت بواديك المنيع وحوله

ممالكُ شتّى تلتوي وتميد

You stood firm in your impregnable valley, while around it

diverse kingdoms writhed and swayed.

تساوى جميعُ الناس في أزماتها

فما في مضيق سادةٌ وعبيد

All people became equal amid their crises,

for in dire straits there are neither masters nor slaves.

إذا ما أتى في الليل وعدٌ مبشِّرٌ

أتى من نذيرٍ في الصباح وعيد

If a cheering promise comes in the night,

a threat comes in the morning from a herald of warning.

وإن طلعتْ في العالم الشمسُ ساعةً

تلتها بروقٌ ساعةً ورعود

And if the sun rises over the world for an hour,

lightning flashes and thunderclaps follow it for an hour.

فلا طاعة في الأرض إلا لشرِّ ما

قضتْ بينهم نارٌ به وحديد

On earth, obedience is given only to the worst of what

fire and iron have decreed among them.

تعادوا وما يدرون في الأرض نازعوا

ليستعمروا أم نازعوا ليبيدوا

They turned against one another, not knowing whether they fought on earth

to colonize, or fought to annihilate.

وما كنت أدري أن أبناءَ آدمٍ

نسورٌ وحيتانٌ همُ وأسود

I never knew that the children of Adam

are vultures and whales, and lions.

وقد أصبح الإنسان وهو مثقَّفٌ

أضرَّ من الشيطان وهو مريد

And man, though cultured, has become

more harmful than the Devil, rebellious as he is.

وإني لأخشى الحربَ في الأرض كلِّها

فتسمى وما للعالمين وجود

And I fear war throughout the whole earth,

so it would be named, though the world's peoples would be no more.

ومن أوقد النيران في الحيِّ عامداً

فقد بات للنيران وهو وقود

And whoever deliberately kindles fires in the neighborhood

has indeed become fuel for the fires himself.

وما الأرضُ للتنكيل والفتكِ مُهِّدَتْ

ولكنها للعيش وهو رغيد

Nor was the earth laid out for cruel punishment and slaughter,

but for a life of ease.

وما خلق اللّه الهواءَ ودونه

شروط على استنشاقه وقيود

Nor did God create the air with barriers before it—

conditions on breathing it, and restrictions.

وما بسط الخلاقُ أرزاق مَعشرٍ

ليعدوَ جبارٌ عليه عنيد

Nor did the Creator spread out a people's sustenance

for an obstinate tyrant to assail them.

وما ساد شعبٌ بالكريهة والأذى

ولكنه بالصالحات يسود

No people has achieved supremacy through warfare and harm,

but through good deeds it achieves supremacy.

وإن مواثيقَ الشعوب مرافقٌ

فما هي كُتْبٌ تنطوي وعقود

And the covenants of nations are sources of benefit;

they are not mere documents folded away and contracts.

ولو ذهبوا بالرفق في الأرض أصبحتْ

تمدُّ لهم أطرافَها وتزيد

And had they gone gently upon the earth, it would have

stretched its edges out for them and grown wider.

ولو أمنوا فيها العداوةَ بينهم

لزالتْ تخومٌ بينهم وحدود

And had they been secure from enmity between them on it,

the frontiers and boundaries between them would have vanished.

ومن أين للعمران هودٌ وصالحٌ

إذا عبثتْ عادٌ به وثمود

And where can civilization find Hud and Salih,

when ʿAd and Thamud wreak havoc upon it?

فهل تعدِل الأقدار أم أنا حالم

وتلك أمانيٌّ خلتْ ووعود

So will the fates be just, or am I a dreamer,

and those but vanished hopes and promises?

فيا رجل الوقت الذي من ضميره

لمصرَ عليه حاكمٌ وشهيد

So, O man of the hour, from whose conscience

Egypt has a judge and witness over you:

حليفكَ من ساويته وكلاكما

مفادٌ بما أبرمتماه مفيد

Your ally is the one you have treated as an equal, and both of you

benefit from what you both concluded, and confer benefit.

وأنت بما دبَّرته في طريقه

رقيب على ما في الغيوب عتيد

And through what you have planned along its course,

you are a ready watcher over what lies unseen.

وحسبك من فاروق أنك عنده

لكل صنيع محسن ومجيد

And enough for you from Farouk is that, in his eyes,

you do good and excel in every deed.

وما الحكم إلا عبءُ قومٍ حملتَه

وأن الذي فوق الوطيد وطيد

Governance is only a people's burden that you have shouldered,

and what rests on a firm foundation is firm.

وما أنت معتز به اليوم فيهمُ

وأنت لهم بالنفس فيه تجود

Nor do you glory in it today among them,

while you give your very self for them in its service.

ومن ضمن العقبى له من زمانه

تساوى قريبٌ عنده وبعيد

And whoever has secured his ultimate outcome from time

finds the near and the distant equal.

وإني لعونُ المصلحين أُجلُّهم

بشعريَ في الأمصار وهو خلود

And I am indeed a helper of reformers; I honor them

with my poetry throughout the cities—immortality itself.