تمضي بميثاق السلام وترجع — أحمد الكاشف

تمضي بميثاق السلام وترجعُ

ومصيرها فيما تريد وتصنعُ

You go forth with the covenant of peace and return,

And her destiny rests in what you will and do.

هذا لواؤك والعوالي شرَّع

تلقي التحية والمواضي لمَّعُ

Here is your banner, with the tall spears leveled;

You offer a salute, and the keen swords gleam.

ويكاد جيشك أن يطير حماسة

لو لم ترضْه بلابل لك تسجع

And your army would almost take flight with ardor,

Were it not tamed by nightingales warbling for you.

الأرض ممرعة لعودك نضرة

والجو مؤتلق به متضوّع

The earth is lush and verdant for your return,

And the air is radiant and fragrant with it.

مدت مواكبَها إليك مدائنٌ

كانت تبث حنينها وترجِّع

Cities have stretched their processions toward you;

They had been pouring out their yearning and echoing it.

عيد الجهاد إلى إيابك غانماً

زلفى تقرُّ بها البلاد وترفع

The festival of struggle, together with your triumphant return,

Is a tribute in which the land rejoices and is uplifted.

وأجل ما تلقى قلوب خشّعٌ

لجلال ذاتك لا رقاب خضّع

And the noblest thing you encounter is reverent hearts

Before your person's majesty, not submissively bowed necks.

زرت الممالك حافلات تقتني

منها حضارتها لمصر وتجمع

You visited thriving kingdoms, acquiring

Their civilization for Egypt and gathering it.

وأمد ركبك في الرحيل مباركاً

قدرٌ لأمرك مثل شعبك طيِّع

And your caravan was aided on departure, with blessings,

By a destiny as obedient to your command as your people.

صحبته حولك مصر في تاريخها

واستقبل القوم الزمان وشيعوا

Egypt, with her history, accompanied it around you,

And the people welcomed the age and bade it farewell.

إن كرَّموك فقد أتم جزاءهم

مما ملكت تفضُّلٌ وتبرُّع

If they honored you, their recompense was fully paid

By generosity and free giving from what you possessed.

وأتى الرواة بما أراح ضمائراً

كانت تحن إلى الرواة وتفزع

And the chroniclers came with what eased consciences

That had yearned for the chroniclers and sought refuge in them.

يطرون رفقك بالأحبة والعدى

والحرب أمس تهدُّهم وتصدع

They praise your kindness to loved ones and foes,

While war only yesterday was crushing and rending them.

صدقت نوى فيها امتحنت سرائراً

لمشوِّقين أبيت أن يتوجعوا

Separation proved true; in it you tested secret hearts

Of yearning souls, whom you refused to let suffer.

جددت فيها صحة هي صحة

للشعب وارتاح الفؤاد المولع

There you renewed your health, which is health

For the people, and the devoted heart found ease.

وكأنما شهد الذي شاهدته

من كان يقرأ عنك أمس ويسمع

And it was as though what you witnessed was seen

By whoever yesterday read and heard about you.

مثلتَ كل الشرق فيك فأذعن ال

باغي له وتواضع المترفع

You embodied all the East in yourself, so the

Aggressor yielded to it, and the haughty humbled himself.

وبلغت من دنياك خير متاعها

وأخذت تدرك أمَّتيك وتمتع

And you attained the best enjoyment your world affords,

And began to aid your two nations and bring them joy.

حق عليك لمصر كان قضاؤه

سبباً لما تنوي لمصر وتزمع

A duty you owed to Egypt, whose fulfillment was

A means to what you intend and resolve for Egypt.

أي الملوك ترى له العز الذي

لك منه تعطي ما تشاء وتمنع

Which king do you see possessing the might that

Is yours, from which you grant what you wish and withhold?

واديك وهو المدرك استقلاله

بسوى مدى آماله لا يقنع

Your valley, which has attained its independence,

Will settle for nothing short of its hopes' full reach.

وإذا القلوب على الرجاء تألفت

قويت على حمل الجبال الأذرع

And when hearts unite in hope,

Arms grow strong enough to carry mountains.

والعهد ليس على اللسان سجلُّه

لكنه ما تحتويه الأضلع

And a covenant's record is not on the tongue,

But is what the ribs enclose.

وكفالة الإنسان عند زمانه

ما يصنع الإنسان فيه ويزرع

And a person's surety before his age

Is what that person does and sows within it.

والمستعد لحقه المحتوم لا

يمضي على مهل ولا يتزعزع

And one prepared for his destined right does not

Advance at leisure, nor does he falter.

إن الذي أعيا القلوب مراسه

متأهبٌ للقاء ما يتوقع

Indeed, he who has wearied hearts contending with him

Is prepared to meet what he expects.

هل ينثني جبروته بعد الذي

وصلت إليه دماؤه والأدمع

Does his might bend after what

His blood and tears have attained?

ولع بذكرى أمسه مستوثق

باليوم فهو إلى غد متطلع

Devoted to the memory of his yesterday, confident

In today, he looks ahead to tomorrow.

سقت اليقين إلى نواحي أمة

لم يبق فيها من مريب موضع

You brought certainty to the quarters of a nation

In which no place for doubt remained.

أنت المعيد إلى الغضاب صوابهم

من بعد ما فقدوا الصواب وضيعوا

You restore sound judgment to the angry,

After they had lost sound judgment and squandered it.

ود النظير إلى النظير فلم يكن

للقوم إلا في جميلك مطمع

An equal's friendship for an equal—so there was no

Hope for the people except in your kindness.

ما حمَّلوك العهد وهو ممكن

إلا وأنت به الأعز الأرفع

They did not charge you with the covenant, attainable as it was,

Except when you were thereby the mightiest and most exalted.

وإذا همُ حرصوا عليك فإنما

حرصوا على ملك يضر وينفع

And if they are solicitous for you, it is only that

They are solicitous for a king who harms and benefits.

ومن التجاريب التي لهمُ إلى

أجل على مصر الشروط الأربع

And among their trials, lasting until

An appointed term, are the four conditions upon Egypt.

فإذا احترست لها فتلك سلامة

وإذا استهان الشعب فهي المصرع

And if you guard against them, that is safety;

And if the people take them lightly, they are the deathblow.

إنْ أكبر الوادي رزيئته التي

وقعت ففي يدك العزاء الأوقع

If the valley deems grave the calamity that

Befell it, in your hand lies the most effective consolation.

وإن اختفت شمس عن الوادي ضحَى

يومٍ فأنت لكل شمس يوشع

And if a sun vanishes from the valley in the forenoon

Of a day, you are Joshua to every sun.

ولئن مضى بطل فكل من اقتدى

فيها بذكراه أشد وأشجع

And though a hero has passed, whoever follows his example

There through his memory is stronger and braver.

أوصى إليك بحب مصر وشعبها

إرث الأبرِّ تزيده وتوسع

He bequeathed to you love for Egypt and her people,

The inheritance of the most devoted, which you increase and expand.

أهلاً بود غريمها إن لم يكن

بخفيَّةٍ يصل الوداد ويقطع

Welcome to her adversary's friendship, if he does not

Secretly bind and sever affection.

ترك العتاب ولج في أعذاره

وكأنه بك عائذ مستشفع

He abandoned reproach and persisted in his excuses,

As though taking refuge in you and seeking intercession.

لم تأب يوماً مصر من ذي قوة

عهد الحليف وأنها لا تخدع

Egypt has never refused from one of strength

An ally's covenant; and she is not deceived.

ما نقضه يوماً ولا إبرامه

في الأرض بالقَدر الذي لا يدفع

Neither its breach nor its making is ever

On earth a fate that cannot be resisted.

ما للبحيرة لا تجاوب سائلاً

عما رواه الخصم والمتشيع

Why does the lake not answer one who asks

About what the adversary and the partisan reported?

نبأ تهدد طامعاً في غنمه

وتناول السمع البريء يروع

A report threatened one eager for his gains,

And reached innocent ears, spreading terror.

أننازع الجار القديم الأمر أم

نشكو إلى الجار الجديد ونضرع

Do we dispute the matter with the old neighbor, or

Complain to the new neighbor and implore him?

ولعلها إحدى الأراجيف التي

أوحى الوشاة بخلقها وتذرعوا

And perhaps it is one of those false rumors

Whose fabrication the slanderers prompted and used as a pretext.

لا النيل عن مجراه منصرف ولا

ذاك المصب مُحوَّل والمنبع

Neither does the Nile turn from its course, nor

Are that mouth and the source diverted.

لو لم يقدره لمصر محيطه

ما كان للأنواء فيه موقع

Had its surroundings not destined it for Egypt,

The storms would have had no place in it.

فيض السماء فما يباع ويُشترَى

يوماً وأنت تكيله وتوزع

Heaven's outpouring—it is never sold or bought

On any day, while you measure it out and distribute it.

أحكمته خلف السدود خزائناً

وعدلت وهو جداول تتفرع

You secured it behind the dams as treasure stores,

And dealt justly as it branched into channels.

وضمنت للعمران منه نصيبه

والقفر يرقب قسطه والبلقع

You guaranteed settled lands their share of it,

While the wilderness and barren waste await their portion.

لك أن توفي أمّتيك رعاية

ولحكمك الملك الذي لا ينزع

It is yours to give your two nations full care,

And to your rule belongs a dominion none can wrest away.

هل تستريح من العناء ممالِكٌ

يوماً ويعصي مطلقيه المدفع

Can kingdoms rest from suffering

For a day, while the cannon defies those who fire it?

ما ضاقت الأرض العريضة بالذي

حملت وفي الأرض المروِّي المُشبِع

The wide earth has not grown too narrow for what

It bears; and in the earth is what quenches thirst and satisfies hunger.

إرث العباد المصلحين وخلدهم

وهي المجال الرحب وهي المرتع

The inheritance of righteous servants, and their immortality,

And it is the spacious field, and it is the pasture.

عرفوا الحياة فأمعنوا فيها ولو

وجدوا سوى الدنيا إليه أسرعوا

They knew life and delved deeply into it; had they

Found something other than this world, they would have hastened to it.

من فضل ما هم فيه من حرية

ما حصلوه من الوجود وأبدعوا

From the bounty of the freedom they enjoy

Comes what they have gained from existence and created.

لولا اقتداء الشعب منك بصالح

ما قومته شريعة ومشرِّع

Were it not for the people's emulating what is good in you,

No law or lawgiver would have set them straight.

المجد مكفول إليه تقوده

والجد تجبله عليه وتطبع

Glory is assured; you lead them to it,

And you mold them for diligence, imprinting it upon them.

اليوم ساجل جودك الفياض في

واديك نيلك وهو طلق مترع

Today your overflowing generosity was matched, in

Your valley, by your Nile, freely flowing and brimful.

طابت بعاصمتيك نفسك واستوى

لك فيهما المصطاف والمتربع

Your soul rejoiced in your two capitals, and equal were

For you in both, the summer retreat and the spring abode.

والشرق يرقب أن تزور ربوعه

والشرق أقرب من سواه وأتبع

And the East awaits your visiting its lands,

And the East is nearer than the rest, and more devoted.

وكأنما جدواك وهي دعاية

في كل ناحية خطيب مصقع

And it is as though your bounty, itself an appeal,

Were an eloquent orator in every quarter.

ملأ البلادَ العاملون وإنني

في العاملين الزاهد المتورع

Those who labor have filled the land, and I,

Among those who labor, am the self-denying, scrupulous one.

حسب الحمى والنيل أني فدية

لهما وحسبي منه ما أتجرع

It is enough for the homeland and the Nile that I am a ransom

For them both; and enough for me is what I sip of it.