جاء الجواب فأعلنوه سلاما

وأتى الرضا فتقبلوه كراما

The answer has come; proclaim it as peace.

And approval has come; receive it with honor.

واتلوا على الأهرام ما عادت به

أمناء مصر تمكنوا الأهراما

Recite to the pyramids what they brought back,

Egypt’s faithful delegates, steadfast as the pyramids.

واسقوا ثراها الطهر دمع سروركم

تشفوا غليلاً للثرى وأواما

Water her pure soil with your tears of joy;

Quench the soil’s thirst and burning need.

حسمت سياستكم خصاماً كنتمُ

فيه أعف تغاضباً وملاما

Your diplomacy settled a dispute in which you

Were most restrained in anger and reproach.

وأتى الغريم الضخم بعد مراسه

يعطي ويأخذ موثقاً وذماما

The mighty adversary came, after his hard dealings,

Giving and taking, bound by pledge and honor.

وجرى على حلو التجمل قادر

كم راح نسراً واغتدى ضرغاما

Though able to do so, he chose gracious conduct;

How often he went forth an eagle and became a lion.

هم أحسنوا الأعذار حتى قاربت

فضل الصفوح رعاية ومقاما

They offered gracious explanations until they nearly matched

The generous forgiver in care and standing.

واستأذنوا ليصافحوكم بينما

أيدي الخطوب بغيركم تترامى

They asked leave to shake your hands while

The hands of calamity struck at others.

وهم استزاروكم فزار دهاتكم

أقرانهم بالبيّنات عظاما

They invited you to visit, and your statesmen visited

Their eminent counterparts with clear proofs.

ولربما زاروا البلاد فأمعنوا

من بعد ما زاروا البلاد لماما

And perhaps they will visit the country at length

After having visited it only briefly.

أهلاً بود الأقوياء وأنهم

أضحوا بعهد الأقوياء قياما

Welcome the friendship of the strong, for they

Have become faithful to the strong one’s covenant.

أحسنتم بدء الخطاب لهم وما

أولاكم أن تحسنوه ختاما

You began your address to them well; how fitting

That you should end it just as well.

شهدوا رجاء نفوسكم فتمهلوا

حتى رأوه صبابة وغراما

They witnessed the hope in your hearts and waited

Until they saw it was longing and love.

ورأوكم أزكى مُنىً ومدامعاً

ومنازعاً وعواطفاً وكلاما

They saw you purer in hopes and tears,

In inclinations, feelings, and words.

وتلوا على آفاقكم ووجوهكم

هذي السطور الغرَّ والأرقاما

They read across your horizons and your faces

These bright lines and figures.

ورأوا ممالأة النفوس أجل من

أن يملكوا بالقوة الأجساما

They saw that winning hearts was greater than

Possessing bodies by force.

وتلمسوا بجميلهم وصنيعهم

ما بات يعيي النار والصمصاما

Through kindness and their deeds they sought

What fire and the sword could not achieve.

وخلت ظنونٌ بين مصر وبينهم

كانت لها ولهم أذىً وسقاما

Suspicions between Egypt and them disappeared;

They had brought harm and sickness to both sides.

وكفى من الخصم الغضوب الجهم أن

يلقاكمُ متهللاً بساما

It is enough that the stern, angry adversary

Meets you cheerful and smiling.

رأت البلاد اليوم وهي عزيزة

علم البلاد يفاخر الأعلاما

Today the country, honored, saw

Its flag vie proudly with other flags.

وغدت سماؤكمُ أظلَّ وأرضكم

أزكى وأطيب مشرباً وطعاما

Your sky grew more sheltering, and your land

Purer, with sweeter drink and food.

ورأى عياناً صادقاً آماله

من كان أمس يظنها أحلاما

He saw his hopes come true before his eyes

Who yesterday had thought them dreams.

عقبى حمدتم عندها طول السرى

وغفرتمُ من أجلها الآثاما

An outcome for which you praised the long night journey

And forgave the wrongs for its sake.

من قبل ولسون التمسناها ولم

نحمل إليها مدفعاً وحساما

Before Wilson, we had sought it, and we did not

Carry a cannon or sword to obtain it.

ما كنت أعلم قبل ذلك أن من

عدد النجاح الصبر والآلاما

Before this, I did not know that among

The ingredients of success were patience and pain.

الشرق والإسلام في شغل وما

نلتم يريح الشرق والإسلاما

The East and Islam are preoccupied, and what

You have gained brings comfort to the East and Islam.

هذا نصيبكمُ من الحسنى وما

أولى العراق بمثله والشاما

This is your share of good fortune; how deserving

Iraq and Syria are of the same.

صحّت سرائركم فما لاقيتمُ

في مطلب ريباً ولا إبهاما

Your intentions were sound, so you encountered

Neither doubt nor confusion in your demand.

ووقفتمُ للحق موقفه فلا

عنتاً رأوا منكم ولا استسلاما

You took your stand for right, and they saw

Neither obstinacy nor surrender in you.

ورددتموه إلى ذويه بحجة

بيضاء لا هبة لا إنعاما

You restored it to its rightful owners with a clear

Argument, as neither a gift nor a favor.

ووفوا بما نذروا وما وعدوكمُ

والكون ممتلىء دماً وضراما

They fulfilled what they pledged and promised you

While the world was filled with blood and flames.

وإذا همُ أمنوكمُ أذنوا لكم

أن تصحبوا الأعراب والأعجاما

And once they trusted you, they permitted you

To keep company with Arabs and non-Arabs.

ولربما نجوى غريب صاحب

تنسي الفتى الأخوال والأعماما

Perhaps the intimate words of a foreign friend

Make a young man forget his maternal and paternal uncles.

ومبشرين ومنذرين استفتحوا

غلق القلوب وهذبوا الأفهاما

Bringing glad tidings and warnings, they opened

Closed hearts and refined understanding.

تتلو جيوشهم عقائدهم كما

يتلو الجهاد الوحي والإلهاما

Their armies follow their convictions, just as

Struggle follows revelation and inspiration.

نسجوا نظاماً للشعوب اجتاحها

زمناً وسنّوا للشعوب نظاما

They fashioned an order for peoples they had overrun

For a time, and laid down a system for peoples.

ومضى إلى الأمد السحيق مغالياً

من فك سلسلة وشق نظاما

He went to a far extreme

Who broke a chain and disrupted an order.

لو جاهدوا في الأرض عاماً سادساً

لاستبدلوا غير الأنام أناما

Had they fought on earth for a sixth year,

They would have replaced mankind with another mankind.

يا أقدر الأحرار ألسنة لدى

فصل الخطاب وخيرهم أقلاما

You freest of people, most able in speech

When judgment is called for, and finest with pens.

هذي شروطهمُ مفصلة فلا

إكراهكم ملكوا ولا الإرغاما

Here are their terms, set out in detail; they held

No power to coerce or compel you.

جاءت بها وكلاء مصر تواركاً

للناقدين النقض والإبراما

Egypt’s representatives brought them, leaving

The critics free to reject or ratify.

للأكثرين رضاهمُ ولمن أبى

عذر الذي طلب البعيد فهاما

For the majority there is their approval; for those who refuse,

There is the excuse of one who sought distant aims.

لا بد من شاك ومن متظلّمٍ

حرصاً على ما جاء واستتماما

There must be someone who doubts and someone who complains,

From concern for what has come and a wish to complete it.

من كان ذا حق مبين عندكم

فضمانه أن تملكوا الأحكاما

Whoever among you has a clear right,

Its guarantee lies in your holding authority over decisions.

وإذا تسلمتم أمانة واثق

كانت حراستكم لها إلزاما

And if you receive a trusting person’s charge,

Guarding it becomes your obligation.

والنيل موف للبلاد فلو جرى

في غير واديه لعاد غماما

The Nile supplies the country; if it flowed

Outside its valley, it would return as clouds.

وثق الشقيق من الشقيق فما يرى

عدل اشتراكهما أذى وخصاما

Brother trusted brother, seeing

No harm or strife in their fair sharing.

لا تأخذوا منه نصيب سواكمُ

فاللّه قدر ماءه أقساما

Take no share of it beyond your own;

For God apportioned its water into shares.

ولو استحال على الجديب نصيبه

يوماً لكان على الخصيب حراما

And if one day the parched were denied his share,

It would be forbidden to the well-watered too.

دل احتراس القوم أنكمُ غداً

أوفى رضاً ووسائلاً ومراما

The people’s caution showed that tomorrow you will have

Fuller satisfaction, better means, and a greater aim.

ورعاية الميثاق ضامنة لما

أدركتموه زيادة ودواما

And keeping the covenant guarantees that what

You have attained will increase and endure.

والحكم في حق الشعوب فما نرى

للحكم إلا المصلح المقداما

Rule belongs among the rights of peoples; we see

No one fit to rule but the reformer who acts boldly.

أكرم بمصر حليفة لهم غداً

ولمن تحاشى ضيمها وتحامى

How honored Egypt will be as their ally tomorrow,

And as an ally to whoever avoids and resists wronging her.

وإذا تبادلت الشعوب ثمارها

فعلام تقتتل الشعوب علاما

If peoples exchange their fruits,

Why should peoples fight? Why?

والأرض أولى أن تكون مرافقاً

وحدائقاً للناس لا آجاما

The earth deserves to be a place of shared use

And gardens for people, not thickets.

أمفخمين لمصر أبطالاً بما

حملوا وما أدوا لمصر فخاما

Do you honor Egypt’s heroes for what

They bore and did for Egypt with titles of honor?

اليوم يلقى أجره المصدوق من

صلّى لموطنه الكريم وصاما

Today the truthful one who prayed

And fasted for his noble homeland receives his reward.

يعطى وساماً وفد مصر ورتبة

كلٌّ ويأخذ رتبة ووساما

Egypt’s delegation is given medals and ranks;

Each receives a rank and a medal.

فادعوا إلى الفرض المقدس وحده

وإن اختلفتم حوله أنغاما

So call people to the sacred duty alone,

Even if your voices differ around it.

وخذوا نصيبكمُ من الدنيا التي

أضحت أشد تنازعاً وزحاما

And take your share of a world that

Has grown more contentious and crowded.

وخذوا من الأيام ما هو واقع

متربصين وطالبوا الأياما

Take from the days what is at hand,

Stay watchful, and ask more of the days.

يا دولة عادت ومملكة علت

للدهر ما أحرزت هذا العاما

O restored state and kingdom raised high,

May what you won this year last through the ages.

سيصير للتيجان تاجك زينة

ويصير شعبك للشعوب إماما

Your crown will become an ornament among crowns,

And your people a leader among peoples.

ويعود ذا جيش وأسطول حمى

يحمي السلام ويحفظ الأقواما

It will again have an army and a protecting fleet

To defend peace and safeguard peoples.

هذا هو الفتح الأجل مآثراً

من فتح رمسيس وإبراهاما

This is a conquest nobler in its deeds

Than the conquests of Ramses and Ibrahim.