أحرار مصر الأوفياء سلام — أحمد الكاشف

أحرارَ مصرَ الأوفياء سلامُ

لكمُ وعهد دائم وذمامُ

O faithful free men of Egypt, peace

To you, and an enduring pledge and bond of honor.

فارقتُمُ السجن الذي فيه لكم

عدد المآثر كانت الأيام

You have left the prison where, for you,

The days numbered as many as your noble deeds.

عودوا كما أمضى المهند صيقل

عزماً وعاود غيلَه الضرغام

Return like an Indian-steel sword honed by a polisher,

In resolve, and like the lion returning to his thicket.

طلب الغريم المال منكم فدية

وفِداكمُ الأرواح والأجسام

The adversary demanded money from you as ransom,

And souls and bodies are your ransom.

حرية الأقوام ليست سلعة

تبتاعها وتبيعها الأقوام

The freedom of peoples is not a commodity

That peoples buy and sell.

ولو ارتضيتم بالنضار شراءها

حالت نضاراً هذه الأهرام

And had you agreed to buy it with gold,

These pyramids would have turned to gold.

إطلاقكم إقرار خصمكمُ لكم

بالحق لا عفو ولا إنعام

Your release is your adversary's acknowledgment

Of your right—not a pardon, nor a favor.

كانت مكابرة فعادت عندكم

وهي امتثال منه واستسلام

It was obstinate denial, but before you it has become

Compliance on his part and surrender.

أينال منكم بعد وهو مساوم

ما لم ينل من قبل وهو لزام

Will he now gain from you by bargaining

What he failed to gain before, when pressing his demand?

ويجوز في شرف مساومة ولو

أمضى الحياة الحر وهي ضرام

And may honor be bargained over, even if

A free man were to spend his life in flames?

حسب المجاهد أن يبيت وبره

لذويه عند عدوه آثام

It is enough for the struggler to spend the night while his kindness

To his kin counts as sins in his enemy's eyes.

هل ينكر الحق المبين ويدعي

ما لم تجزه شريعة ونظام

Does he deny the manifest right and claim

What neither law nor order has sanctioned?

ويحرِّم القول الصريح مغالطاً

وجميع ما كسبت يداه حرام

And forbid plain speech through sophistry,

While all his hands have earned is unlawful?

لم يشفع الشفعاء فيكم مثلما

عذل الظلوم الحاسبون ولاموا

The intercessors' pleas for you did not match

The rebuke and censure of the oppressor by those who took stock.

سر الرفاق خلاصكم فكأنهم

عادوا إلى أوطانهم وأقاموا

Your deliverance gladdened the companions, as though they

Had returned to their homelands and settled there.

وكأنما التقت الجموع وضمهم

شمل وتمت غاية ومرام

And as though the multitudes had met and been gathered

In unity, and a goal and aspiration had been fulfilled.

نعم الثواب لأهل مصر نجاتكم

من بعد ما صلّوا لمصر وصاموا

How fine a reward your deliverance is for Egypt's people,

After they prayed and fasted for Egypt!

عيد له أعلام مصر خوافق

ولغيره من بعده أعلام

A festival for which Egypt's banners flutter,

And another, after it, will have its banners.

أزكى المقاصد والمطالب ما زكا

فيه دم ومدامع وكلام

The noblest aims and aspirations are those in which

Blood, tears, and speech are ennobled.

وإذا النفوس خلت إلى إيمانها

أضحت ومن لذاتها الآلام

And when souls are alone with their faith,

They come to find pain among their pleasures.

وطن تداركه جهادُ أعزةٍ

ومراس أبطال فليس يضام

A homeland saved by the struggle of noble men

And the prowess of heroes will not be oppressed.

قسم الفرائض بينهم فتكافأت

أعباؤهم وتساوت الأقسام

It apportioned duties among them, so evenly matched

Were their burdens, and equal were their shares.

ولقد جنت بعض الثمار بلادكم

وإلى الكمال الدأب والإقدام

Your country has indeed reaped some of the fruits,

And onward to fulfillment through perseverance and bold action.

الحق ما قضت السماء به لكم

لا ما قضاه مدفع وحسام

Right is what Heaven has decreed for you,

Not what a cannon and a sword have decreed.

يا حبذا الصلح العتيد وراءه

عهد كما شاء الحمى ووئام

O, how welcome the peace at hand, followed by

A pact as the homeland wished, and concord.

جمع الفريقين اليقين على الرضا

وانجابت الأحقاد والأوهام

Certainty united both sides in agreement,

And rancor and illusions were dispelled.