لا والقوام الذي والأعين اللاتي

ما خنت رب القنا والمشرفيات

No—by that stature and those eyes—

I have not betrayed the lord of lances and Mashrafi swords.

ولا سلوت ولم أهمم ولا خطرت

بالبال سلواك في ماض ولا آتى

Nor have I forgotten you, nor meant to, nor has it crossed

my mind to forget you, in the past or the time to come.

ولا أردت لسهم اللحظ في كبدي

ردا رأى لي في المستحيلات

Nor have I sought, for the arrow of your glance within my liver,

a repulse reckoned impossible for me.

ويذهب اللوم بي في كل ناحية

فلا يبلّغني إلا صُبابات

And blame carries me in every direction,

yet brings me only to ardent longings.

وأنت تطرب للواشي وتطمعه

كالطفل ألقى بسمع للخرافات

And you delight in the slanderer and encourage him,

like a child lending an ear to fables.

إن السهام إذا ما واصلت غرضا

كانت خواطئها مثل المصيبات

Indeed, when arrows keep assailing a target,

their misses are like their hits.

وسهم جفنيك ما أرسلته عرضا

أبى القضاء له إلا رميّات

And the arrow of your eyelids, whenever you loosed it by chance,

fate granted it nothing but targets:

فمن فؤادي إلى لبي إلى كبدي

إلى رشادي فإغفائي فلذاتي

so, from my heart to my mind to my liver,

to my sound judgment, then my slumber, then my pleasures.

وما الغزالة إلا أنت في نظري

بعينها ويقول البعض بالذات

And to my eyes, the gazelle is none but you—

its very self—as some would say, in essence.

وخاتم الملك للحاجات مطَّلب

وثغرك المتمنى كل حاجاتي

And the king's signet is sought to meet needs,

while your longed-for mouth is all I need.

فقل له يتمت في الحب مهجته

وأنت مأوى اليتامي واليتميات

So tell him: his soul has been orphaned in love,

and you are the refuge of orphan boys and girls.

أهلا بركب العلى والعز قاطبة

وفد المفاخر طرّا والسعادات

Welcome to the entire company of exaltation and glory,

the full delegation of glories and good fortunes.

ومرحبا بك في حل ومرتحل

وخصك الله منه بالتحيات

And welcome to you, at rest and on your travels,

and may God favor you with greetings from Himself.

ما زلت تظمئ مصرا ثم تمطرها

والغيث أفضل ما يأتي بميقات

You have kept Egypt thirsty, then rained upon her;

and rain is best when it comes at its appointed time.

مشت ركابك من ثغر إلى بلد

مشى الجدود إلى محو الشقاوات

Your mounts moved from a port to a town,

as good fortune marched to efface miseries.

وإن مولاي من سارت مواكبه

لراية الله في أيدي الجماعات

And indeed my lord, whose processions have gone forth,

is surely God's banner in the hands of the multitudes:

إن شرفوها رأوا في ظلها شرفا

واستقبلوا الخير نياتٍ بنيات

if they honor it, they find honor beneath its shade,

and welcome goodness, good intentions meeting good intentions.

يممت ثغر سعيد خير محتفل

تعيدها حفلات قيصريات

You made for Port Said, the finest gathering-place,

which imperial celebrations renew.

كم مثلت بمجاليها ورونقها

جد الشعوب وإقدام الحكومات

How often, in its displays and splendor, it embodied

the diligence of peoples and the enterprise of governments!

والقوم في مصر ما طافوا بملعبها

إلا كما شهد الغر الروايات

And the people in Egypt did not tour its arena

except as the naive watch plays,

حتى جرى الماء من أثنائها ذهبا

يسقى ممالك لا تَروىَ ودولات

until water flowed from within it as gold,

watering kingdoms and states whose thirst is never quenched.

فكل مائدة بالخلق حافلة

ومصر من خلفهم طاهي الوليمات

Thus every table is crowded with people,

and Egypt, behind them, is the cook of the banquets.

هلا بررنا بسادات لنا سلفوا

بِر الغريب بأسلاف وسادات

Why have we not honored the lords who preceded us,

as the foreigner honors forebears and lords?

إذا المدائح فاز المحسنون بها

فاز الكرام لدينا بالمذمات

When benefactors win praise,

the noble among us win reproach.

ما كان أعظم إسماعيل لو سلمت

له السعادة في مصر وهيهات

How great Ismail would have been, had

happiness remained his in Egypt—but alas!

إن شيدوا لسواه ما يمثله

فمجده فيه تمثيل بمرآة

If they erect for another a likeness of him,

his glory is represented in it as in a mirror.

قوم ينال جزاء السعي حيهمو

فإن قضى شيَّعوه بالكرامات

A people whose living receive the reward of their labor:

if one dies, they escort him with honors,

وصيروه مثالا بعده حسنا

يبقى مدى الدهر عنوان المكافاة

and after his death fashion a beautiful likeness of him,

to endure through the ages as an emblem of reward.

لولا مفاخر أفراد نعدّهمو

لعاش ذو العقل حيا بين أموات

Were it not for the glories of individuals we count,

a man of reason would live, alive among the dead.

فأحيِ ذكرك في الدنيا بمأثره

وأدرك الخلد في الدنيا بمسعاة

So keep your memory alive in this world through a memorable deed,

and attain immortality in this world through an endeavor.

مولاى مصر بنوها اليوم في طرب

تدار بينهم كأس المسرات

My lord, Egypt's sons are joyous today;

the cup of joys is passed around among them.

قال المنجم أقوالا فروّعهم

أن لا يروك فيقضوا بالندامات

The astrologer spoke words that terrified them:

that they would not see you, and would perish in regret.

حتى إذا عدت يا دنيا همو عرفوا

قصد المنجم من تلك الإذاعات

Until, when you returned, O world of theirs, they understood

the astrologer's purpose behind those announcements.

أيظهر النحس أم يبدو له ذنب

والسعد منك بأقمار وهالات

Can ill fortune appear, or its tail emerge,

while good fortune from you comes with moons and halos?

تساءل الناس حتى لا قرار لهم

أَتَقصر الأرض أم تجرى لغايات

People questioned one another until they could find no rest:

will the earth stop short, or run on toward its ends?

خافوا عليها والهتهم قيامتها

عما يمرّ عليهم من قيامات

They feared for it; its doomsday distracted them

from the doomsdays that pass over them.

أبي الإقامة للدنيا وساكنها

يوم يدول وضوء ذاهب آتى

The world and its dweller are denied permanence

by a day that takes its turn, and light that goes and comes.

كل يمدّ حَبالات الفناء لنا

والكل من بعدنا رهن الحبالات

Each spreads the snares of annihilation for us,

and all, after us, are captive to the snares.

لا بدّ للنجم من يوم يزل به

وإن تناول أسباب السموات

Every star must have a day on which it slips,

even if it grasps the cords of the heavens.