تأمل في الوجود وكن لبيبا

وقم في العالمين فقل خطيبا

Reflect on existence and be discerning,

And rise among mankind and speak as an orator

بفوز جنودنا الفوز العجيبا

بعيد الفتح قد أضحى قريبا

Of our soldiers' victory, that astonishing victory:

The far-off conquest has now drawn near.

لقينا في الزريبة يوم نصر

كيوم التل في تاريخ مصر

At the stockade we met a day of victory,

Like the day of al-Tall in Egypt's history,

يهيئ للبلاد جديد عصر

ويكفيها القلاقل والخطوبا

Preparing a new era for the country,

And sparing her upheavals and calamities.

فقم من طول نومك والغرور

وخذ بالحزن أو خذ بالسرور

So rise from your long sleep and delusion,

And take to sorrow, or take to joy;

فعار صرف همك عن أمور

ستأخذ من عواقبها نصيبا

For it is shameful to turn your concern from affairs

In whose consequences you will have a share.

بعثنا للدراويش السرايا

تصب على رؤوسهم المنايا

We dispatched detachments against the dervishes,

Pouring death upon their heads;

فجاءهم عذاب الله آيا

كما قد جاء قبلهم الشعوبا

Then God's punishment came to them as signs,

As it had come to peoples before them.

وكم من قبل قد عادوا وعدنا

وكم مال على هذا أبدنا

And how often before they returned, and we returned;

And how much wealth we squandered on this;

وجيش إثر جيش قد فقدنا

وكان القائد النحس الغريبا

And army after army we have lost,

And the commander was the ill-omened foreigner.

إلى أن قد مضى زمن التخلى

وصار الجوّ أصلح للتجلى

Until the time of abandonment had passed,

And the atmosphere grew more favorable for coming forth,

قصدناهم على ذاك المحل

وكان الفخ مكسيم المذيبا

We advanced on them at that place,

And the trap was Maxim, the melter.

فما للقطر لا يغدو فخورا

ولندن لا تجاوبه سرورا

Why, then, does the country not grow proud,

And London not answer it with joy?

أرى الجيشين قد ظهرا ظهورا

على غنم الزريبة لن يريبا

I see the two armies have won a triumph

Over the stockade's sheep that will admit no doubt.

وروتر من ذهول لا يخبى

يباهي الأرض في شرق وغرب

And Reuter, never flagging in his astonishment,

Boasts before the earth in east and west

بمن يزجي الجيوش ومن يعبى

ومن يسترجع القطر الخصيبا

Of him who sends forth armies and him who marshals them,

And him who wins back the fertile land:

بسردار البلاد ولا أبالي

إذا ما قلت كتشنر المعالي

Of the country's sirdar—and I do not care

If I say 'Kitchener of lofty deeds.'

سقى السودان أى دم ومال

ولم يبرح بعلته طبيبا

He watered Sudan with such blood and wealth,

And has remained a physician to its ailment.

لبثنا في التناوش نحو شهر

والاستطلاع من نهر لنهر

We spent about a month in skirmishing,

And reconnaissance from river to river;

وأتياس الزريبة ليس تدرى

بأن قد حيرت أسدا وذيبا

And the stockade's he-goats did not know

That they had bewildered a lion and a wolf.

ظنناها أعزّ من السحاب

وأمنع في الطوابي من عُقاب

We thought it more unassailable than the clouds,

And more impregnable in its forts than an eagle;

فجئناها بألوية صعاب

وجندنا الجنود لها ضروبا

So we came at it with formidable banners,

And mustered troops of various kinds against it:

بسود كانت الوثبات منها

وبيض لا تسل في الحرب عنها

With black troops, from whom came the charges,

And white troops—ask not about them in war—

وحمر لاقت الأعداء وجها

فكانت سهم راميها المصيبا

And red troops, who met the foes face to face;

So they were the unerring arrow of their archer.

طلعنا والصباح على الطوابي

بنار من جهنم لا تحابي

We advanced upon the forts with the dawn,

With fire from Hell that showed no favor;

ملكنا منهم قمم الروابي

وماء النهر والغاب الرهيبا

We wrested from them the hilltops,

And the river's water and the fearsome thicket.

رأونا قبل ما رأوا النهارا

فهبوا من مراقدهم حيارى

They saw us before they saw daylight,

So they sprang from their beds, bewildered;

فكنا الموت وافاهم جهارا

وهبت ريحه فيهم هبوبا

So we were Death, which came to them openly,

And its wind blew through them in gusts.

رصاص لا يغيض ولا يغيب

بعيد في مقاصده قريب

Bullets that neither dwindle nor vanish,

Far-reaching in their aim, yet close at hand;

كأن مسيله مطر يصوب

ولكن نقمة وردىً صبيبا

As though their flow were rain pouring down,

But vengeance and death pouring in torrents.

دككنا حصنهم حرقا وكسرا

وأفنيناهم قتلا وأسرا

We smashed their fortress, burning and breaking,

And wiped them out by killing and capture;

أخذنا العرش من محمود قسرا

وقد بل الأمير العنقريبا

We took the throne from Mahmoud by force,

And the emir had already wet the rope-bed.

نعم فتح رعاه الله فتحا

وقتلى هم له ثمن وجرحى

Yes, a conquest—a conquest watched over by God;

And dead men and wounded men were its price,

ومال طائل أصلا وربحا

بذلناه ولم نخش الرقيبا

And vast wealth, both principal and profit,

We spent it without fearing the overseer.

ولكن ما وراءك يا عصام

وبعد الحرب ما يأتي السلام

But what news do you bring, O Isam?

And after war, peace does not come.

فليت هياكلا درست تقام

فأسألها وأطمع أن تجيبا

If only ruined temples could be raised again,

So I might question them and hope they would answer!

بلى إن الحقيقة قد تجلت

وإن تك بالزخارف قد تحلت

Yes, the truth has become clear,

Though it has adorned itself with finery:

تولى عزنا الماضي وولت

بلاد الله سودانا ونوبا

Our bygone glory has departed, and away have gone

God's lands—Sudan and Nubia.

فيا سردار مصر لك الأيادي

فأنت لها المعين على الأعادى

So, Sirdar of Egypt, yours are the generous deeds;

For you are her helper against her foes;

وكل الناس بل كل البلاد

لسان بالثناء غدا رطيبا

And all the people—indeed, all the lands—

Are a tongue grown moist with praise.

فخذ من مالها حتى الوجودا

وجنِّد كيفما شئت الجنودا

So take from her wealth, even her very existence,

And muster soldiers however you wish,

وأنَّى شئت ضع منها الحدودا

شمالا في البسيطة أو جنوبا

And set her boundaries wherever you wish,

Northward on the earth or southward.

فها لَكَ في الحدود اليوم رجل

وفي الخرطوم أخرى سوف تعلو

Here, then, you have a foot on the frontier today,

And in Khartoum another will soon rise;

لأن السعد للقدمين نعل

ومن ذا يغلب السعد الغلوبا

For good fortune is a sandal for both feet,

And who can overcome all-conquering fortune?