جهاد بما ترضى انتهى لا كما تأبى

وعاد سلاماً ما تجشمته حربا

The struggle ended to your liking, not against your will,

and what you undertook as war became peace.

تعال بما أديته من أمانة

وهات كما شئت الوثائق والكتبا

Come with the trust you have discharged,

and bring, as you please, the documents and the books.

وأشرف على الوادي بما نلت آخذاً

له في نفوس القوم سبلَك والركبا

Look out over the valley with what you have won, taking

your paths and caravans through the people's souls for its sake.

وفصِّل لهم في عيدهم بك أمرهم

ودعه حديثاً في محافلهم عذبا

Explain their affairs to them at their festival in your honor,

and leave it as sweet discourse in their gatherings.

تناوله من ثغرِك الجوُّ عاطراً

وطيره شرقاً وسيره غربا

The air took it, fragrant, from your lips,

and sent it flying eastward and carried it westward.

غوادٍ به منك الرياحُ روائحٌ

إليك ولولا الصيفُ لانعقدت سحبا

The winds bear it from you at dawn, returning at dusk

to you; but for summer, they would have gathered into clouds.

دعاك ولباك الحليف وحسبه

وحسبك صنعاً أن دعاك وأن لبى

Your ally called you and answered your call; enough for him,

and enough for you as a deed, that he called you and responded.

أخذت كما أعطيت قسمة عادل

وما كان غير الحق بينكما كسبا

You took as you gave, apportioning like a just man,

and nothing but what was right was gained between you both.

وجاءك بالأمن الذي جئته به

وقد ملأ الأقطار أقطابها رعبا

He brought you the security you had brought him,

while their leading powers had filled the lands with terror.

وما هذه قربى دم لك عنده

ولكنها الجدوى الأجل من القربى

This is no bond of blood you share with him,

but a benefit more exalted than kinship.

وأولى بمن حالفته أن تعده

بغابك ليثاً ريِّضاً لك لا ذئبا

It is more fitting to regard the one you have allied with

as a lion in your forest, tame to you, not a wolf.

رفعت بهذا كلفة العهد بينه

وبينك حتى صار متَّسعاً رحبا

You lifted thereby the burden of the pact between him

and you, until it became broad and spacious.

ولو لم تملِّك مصر ميعاد نقضه

لكان جميل العاقدين له ذنبا

Had you not granted Egypt control over the date of its annulment,

the good deed of the two who concluded it would have been a sin.

ولو لم تحمِّله لها بعض عبئه

لمادت غداً من حمله كله كربا

And had you not made him bear some of its burden for her,

she would stagger tomorrow in anguish from bearing it all.

ومن ملك التعديل بالود والرضى

فقد ملك التبديل في حينه غصبا

Whoever has power to amend through friendship and consent

has power to replace it, in due course, by force.

وسيان في نيل المنى إن تيسرت

معالجُها خطواً وطالبُها وثبا

And equal in attaining wishes, if they are attainable,

are one who pursues them by steps and one who seeks them by leaps.

سموت فما أبقيت في الأرض حيلة

لمن يضع الأستار دونك والحجبا

You soared, leaving no earthly stratagem

for anyone who sets screens and veils in your way.

وعاد إلى الإيمان في رونق الضحى

بنعمة ما أدركت من ظنه خطبا

And he returned, in the radiance of midmorning, to faith

in the blessing of your achievement—he who had deemed it a calamity.

ولو ساير الأيام في مصر أهلها

لعادت إليها اليوم أحزابها حزبا

Had Egypt's people kept pace with the times,

her parties would today have returned to her as one party.

ولو أنصفوا أوطانهم وهي أمهم

تلاقوا جميعاً حول أمهم حبا

Had they done justice to their homelands, their mother,

they would all have gathered in love around their mother.

وما يتوقى السيف والنار مشفق

كما يتوقى سمعيَ القذف والسبا

No fearful person shuns sword and fire

as much as my hearing shuns slander and abuse.

لعل الكلام الشاغل الآن بعضهم

أمامك باقي العتب تُتبعه العتبا

Perhaps the talk now engrossing some of them

is lingering reproach before you, which you answer with reproach.

فيدرك بأساً عقل من شاب منهمُ

ويدرك عقلاً منهم بأس من شبّا

Then the mind of their gray-haired gains strength,

and the strength of their young gains reason.

ومعجزة إرضاؤك الناس كلهم

ولا بد بين الناس من فئة غضبى

And pleasing all the people would be a miracle;

among the people there must be an angry group.

غنيت بخصب الخلق عن كل حاجة

وكل الغنى أن تملك الخلق الخصبا

The fertility of your character has freed you from every need,

and all wealth lies in possessing a fertile character.

كفاك متاعاً في الحياة وراحة

عناؤك في الدنيا لإسعادك الشعبا

Enough for you as enjoyment and rest in life

is your toil in this world to bring the people happiness.

وحسبك أجراً عن عباد أعنتهم

على حدثان الدهر إرضاؤك الربا

And enough reward for you for the servants you aided

against time's vicissitudes is your pleasing the Lord.

بروحك لطفاً لا بجسمك قوة

بلغت المنال الضخم والمطلب الصعبا

Through your spirit's gentleness, not your body's strength,

you attained the immense goal and the difficult aim.

ولم تتخذ فيما أردت وسيلة

ولا عدة إلا ضميرك واللبَّا

For what you sought, you used no means

or equipment except your conscience and your intellect.

ولو كنت تجزَى في جهادك صحة

على قدر نجواك امتلكت بها الشهبا

Had you been rewarded with health for your struggle,

in proportion to your inward communion, you would have possessed the shooting stars through it.

تواضعت في عقباك حتى قسمت ما

لنفسك بين القوم من شرف العقبى

You were humble in your success, until you shared what

was yours of the outcome's honor among the people.

ولم تسترح من مصر حتى تناولت

سياستك الأبطال جيرانها العربا

Nor did you rest from Egypt's affairs before

your policy reached the heroes, her Arab neighbors.

لعلك في إنجادهم مالك يداً

كما أنت في إنجادهم مالك قلبا

May you have a hand to come to their aid,

as you have a heart to come to their aid.

فما حولهم غير الحنان عليهم

وقد ذهبت أوطانهم وهمُ نُهبا

For around them there is nothing but compassion for them,

while their homelands are lost and they are left as prey.

بقيت إلى أن أدركت ما بلغته

حياتي فطالت في محامده حقبا

I lived on until what you attained was witnessed by

my life; it stretched for ages amid its glories.

وأنت الزعيم الصب بالمجد كله

وما زلتُ بالحسنى لك الشاعر الصبا

And you are the leader enamored of glory in all its fullness,

and I remain your poet, enamored of goodness.

وصحبك أحرار الحمى لا تراهمُ

وتشهدهم إلا لنجدته صحبا

Your companions are the homeland's free men; you never see them

or witness them except as comrades in coming to its aid.