بعدلك والاحسان والبأس تحكم — أحمد الكاشف

بعدلِك والاحسان والبأس تحكمُ

وإن جل ما تلقى وما تتجشَّمُ

By your justice, benevolence, and might you rule,

though great is what you face and what you undertake.

حملت الذي لا يحمل الخلقُ بعضه

وألزمت هذي النفس ما ليس يلزم

You bore what humanity cannot bear even partly,

and imposed on this soul what was not required.

وقد صدقت تلك اليمين التي مضت

وهذي يمين اليوم أوفى وأكرم

That oath of former days has indeed proved true,

and this oath today is more faithful and nobler.

وجئت بحد بين عصر مبارك

وعصر مضى وهو الكريه المذمم

You brought a boundary between a blessed age

and an age gone by, hateful and reviled.

تعيد إلى الوادي أمانته التي

حرصت عليها وهي أقوى وأقوم

You restore to the valley its trust, which

you guarded, now stronger and more steadfast.

فتوح قلوب لا فتوح معاقل

ظفرت بها والنصر بالرأي أعظم

Conquests of hearts, not conquests of fortresses,

you have won; victory through judgment is greater.

وليس حديد الجند ما أنت مالك

ولكنه العزم القوي المنظم

It is not the army's steel that you possess,

but strong, disciplined resolve.

تربصت حتى أعوز الناس منقذ

فكنت إليهم خير من يتقدم

You waited until the people lacked a deliverer,

then you were the best to step forward to them.

وسرت ولم تنكر مدى كل عامل

وأنت الموفِّي للأمور المتمم

You proceeded without denying any worker's scope,

and you bring affairs to fulfillment and completion.

وإنك باني الدار فيحاء فخمة

وأنت بسكناها على مصر تنعم

You are the builder of a spacious, stately house,

and by dwelling in it you bestow favor upon Egypt.

وجاءتك في نوابها وشيوخها

تشاورهم في نفعها وتكلم

She came to you in her deputies and senators;

you consult them on her welfare and speak with them.

وهم مصطفوك المنفذو ما رجوته

وأنت لما يرجونه مصطفيهم

They are those who chose you, carrying out what you hoped for,

and you choose them for what they hope for.

ثقاتٌ هُمُ مِن زَلَّةٍ لك عصمةٌ

وأنت لهم أرعى وأهدى وأعصم

Trustworthy, they safeguard you against a misstep,

and you are their best guardian, guide, and protector.

هو اليوم فيه استجمع الدهر كله

مقاليده تلقى إليك وتسلم

This is the day when all of time comes together,

its keys cast to you and surrendered.

رأى الملك المحبوب فيه مكانه

من الشعب وهو الآمل المتوسم

On it the beloved king saw his place

among the people, hopeful and discerning.

ولاقى على العهد الجديد حماته

وقد أكَّدوا العهد الجديد وأحكموا

Under the new covenant he met its guardians,

who had affirmed the new covenant and made it firm.

وألقى خطاب العرش وهو قواعد

لحكمك يوحيه إليك ويلهم

He delivered the throne speech, laying foundations

for your rule, imparting it to you and inspiring you.

وأنت له في خير أفعاله يد

وأنت له في خير أقواله فم

You are his hand in his finest deeds,

and his mouth in his finest words.

فما للغضاب الحاسدين تخلفوا

وقد شمل القطرين عيد وموسم

Why, then, have the angry and envious stayed behind,

when a feast and festive season have embraced both lands?

تعاموا عن الآفاق أم أنكرتهمُ

وشق عليهم أن يهونوا ويحرموا

Did they blind themselves to the horizons, or did the horizons disown them?

It pained them to be humbled and deprived.

وعادوا إلى الأقدار يتهمونها

فهل كلفتهم أن يثوروا ليهزموا

They turned again to the decrees of fate, accusing them.

Did fate command them to rebel, only to be defeated?

وطالت دعاويهم فلما انقضت سدى

عليك دعاويهم إليك تظلموا

Their claims dragged on; when they came to nothing,

their claims against you, they appealed to you for redress.

أيشكون ما يقضي الزمان به وهم

لأنفسهم منه أضر وأظلم

Do they complain of what time decrees, though they

do themselves more harm and injustice than time does?

يريدون منه المستحيل عليهم

ويجري كما شئت القضاء المحتم

They demand of it what is impossible for them,

while inevitable destiny runs as you wish.

قضوا ليلهم سهداً فلما تعذرت

أمانيهمُ ناموا نهاراً ليحلموا

They spent their night sleepless; when they could not attain

their hopes, they slept by day to dream.

وما استجمعوا للحكم إلا وسبْلهم

إليه الأذى والكيد والإفك والدم

Whenever they rallied for rule, their paths

to it were harm, intrigue, falsehood, and blood.

وكم بدّلوا من سنة وشريعة

وكم حللوا مستكبرين وحرموا

How many customs and laws they changed!

How often, in arrogance, they permitted and forbade!

وما يركبون الإثم إلا ليحكموا

وما يطلبون الحكم إلا ليأثموا

They commit sin only to rule,

and seek rule only to commit sin.

ولو حدَّثتهم أرضهم وسماؤهم

أحاديث زجر أوَّلوها وأبهموا

Even if their earth and sky spoke to them

words of rebuke, they would reinterpret them and obscure them.

ومن يتجاهل دفع ما هو سامع

فإن عصا الأيام نعم المترجم

Whoever feigns ignorance to ward off what he hears,

indeed, time's rod is an excellent interpreter.

مقاطعة أم عزلة حجبتهمُ

ومؤتمرات أم مآدب تولم

Was it a boycott or isolation that hid them away?

And are these conferences, or banquets being prepared?

وأين الصناديد الألى عقدوا على

مواعيدهم ميثاق أمس وأقسموا

Where are the stalwarts who bound

their promises by yesterday's covenant and swore an oath?

أولئك أبطال الزعيم وجنده

مشائيم يزجيهم إلى الشر أشأم

Those are the leader's heroes and his troops:

ill-omened men, driven toward evil by one still more ill-omened.

غزاة دروب حطموها وأحرقوا

وما علموا ما أحرقوه وحطموا

Raiders of streets they smashed and burned,

not knowing what they burned and smashed.

وعادوك فما أنت للملك صانع

ولولا تماديهم لأغضيت عنهم

They turned against you; what, then, will you do for the king?

But for their persistence, you would have turned a blind eye to them.

أمامهم الدنيا فهل يطلبون من

يديك اغتصاباً ما به تتكرم

The world lies before them; do they demand from

your hands, by force, what you give generously?

وما جهل الجارون خلفك عجزهم

ولكنهم يغرون من ليس يعلم

Those running behind you knew their own incapacity,

but they deceive those who do not know.

تحملت ما عدوا عليك وما جنوا

وأنت لهم مما جنوا متألم

You bore their assaults against you and their crimes,

while feeling pain for them over what they committed.

ولو وجدوا بعض الشقاء عذرتهم

ولكنهم أشقوا سواهم لينعموا

Had they known even some misery, you would have excused them,

but they made others miserable to live in comfort.

كأن الحمى والملك والشعب بينهم

متاع مشاع أو تراث مقسم

As though the homeland, sovereignty, and people were among them

common property, or an inheritance apportioned.

ستلقاهمُ يوم الحساب وإنهم

لأنفسهم أهجى وأعدى وألوم

You will meet them on the day of reckoning, and they

are their own harshest satirists, bitterest foes, and sternest reproachers.

ولست بخيلاً بالحياة عليهمُ

وأولى بمن يحيى ليطغى جهنم

You are not miserly in granting them life,

yet hell is fitter for those who live to tyrannize.

ولو كان ما لاقوه منك مقسماً

على الخلق لم يلبث على الأرض مجرم

Had what they met from you been divided

among all people, no criminal would have remained on earth.

تركتهمُ يستعجلون مصيرهم

وما لهمُ إلا الحديث المرجَّم

You left them to hasten their own fate,

and all they have is speculative talk.

وعادوا إلى الجبار يستعطفونه

بمن خدعوا وهو البغيض إليهم

They returned to the tyrant, seeking his compassion

through those they had deceived, though he is hateful to them.

وطال بأبواب الغريم وقوفهم

ولا بد يوماً أن يملوا ويسأموا

Long have they stood at their adversary's doors,

and one day they must tire and grow weary.

لحرية الوادي مضوا أم لقيده

وقهاره أم عونه اليوم يمموا

Did they go for the valley's freedom, or its fetters?

Did they seek its oppressor today, or its helper?

يشق على وجدانك الحر أن ترى

صديقك عوناً للطغاة وهمْ همُ

It pains your free conscience to see

your friend aiding tyrants, who remain what they are,

ويطلب ثارات لهم منك بعد ما

أخذتَ له ثاراتِه أمس منهم

and seeking vengeance for them against you, after

you took vengeance for him upon them yesterday.

نقيض يرائيه نقيض تعلَّةً

ويخفي الخنا هذا لهذا ويكتم

One opposite is flattered by another as a pretext,

and this one hides and conceals disgrace for that one.

بلوتهما ضدين هذا مكابرٌ

وهذا على ما فات يأسى ويندم

You tested both as opposites: this one stubbornly denies,

and that one grieves over what has passed and regrets it.

وما ائتلفا إلا ليختلفا هوىً

وهل يستوي يوماً غراب وقشعم

They united only to differ in desire;

can a crow and an aged vulture ever be equals?

وما الرهط إلا جانبٌ آن هدمه

وهادمه ذاك الأليف المرمم

The band is but a wing whose time for demolition has come,

and its destroyer is that familiar companion, its repairer.

كفى ما تراموا من معايبهم به

إذا ما أقمتَ البينات عليهم

The faults they hurled at one another are enough,

when you establish the proofs against them.

فما لزعيم الرهط من بعد ما افترى

عليك الذي لم يغنه راح يشتم

What ails the band's leader? After he fabricated

against you what availed him nothing, he turned to abuse.

يُصلِّي الضحى للكيد عمداً فإن خلا

إلى نفسه فهو الولوع المتيَّم

He deliberately performs the forenoon prayer to scheme; but when alone

with himself, he is obsessed and infatuated.

تسير المنايا خلفه وهو هازلٌ

ويرثي الضحايا وهو يسقي ويطعم

Death walks behind him while he jests,

and he laments the victims while serving drink and food.

وليس يبالي أن يرى النيل راجعاً

إلى منبعيه أو يميد المقطَّم

He does not care if he sees the Nile flowing back

to its two sources, or al-Muqattam swaying.

تعوذ بك الأوطان من أن تعيده

إلى حكمها للدهر فوضى ومأزم

The homelands seek refuge in you, lest you restore him

to govern them—chaos and crisis for all time.

وقد ترجع الموتى وليس بعائد

إلى الرهط يوماً عهده المتصرم

The dead may return, but never will return

to the band its vanished era.

حسمتَ الذي بين الأمير وعمه

من الخلف بعد الظن أن ليس يُحسم

You settled what lay between the prince and his uncle:

their dispute, after it was thought impossible to settle.

ووفقت بين الجانبين فأثنيا

عليك ولاقى الراحةَ المتبرِّم

You reconciled both sides, and they praised

you; the vexed one found relief.

وإن الذي نولته من منيله

لأضخم من سلطان أمس وأفخم

What you were granted by its giver

is mightier and grander than yesterday's authority.

تقدمت بالدستور في صَفَرٍ كما

يقدم بالأكفاء منك محرم

You advanced with the constitution in Safar, just as

Muharram, through you, advances with capable men.

وإن عتاد اليوم منك مبشر

بما يحمل المستقبل المتبسم

Your preparations today herald

what the smiling future will bring.

وإني سجلُّ الطيبات أعدها

مخلدة والشاعر المترنم

I am the record of good deeds, reckoning them

immortal, and the poet who sings.

وما ليَ في الدنيا سوى الحقِّ صاحبٌ

وما ليَ في الدنيا سوى الذكر مغنم

I have no companion in this world but truth,

and no gain in this world but renown.