لمن ذلك الملك الذي عز جانبه — Ahmed Shawqi

لِمَن ذَلِكَ المُلكُ الَّذي عَزَّ جانِبُهُ

لَقَد وَعَظَ الأَملاكَ وَالناسَ صاحِبُه

Whose is that sovereignty whose flank is mighty?

Its master has indeed admonished kings and mankind.

أَمُلكُكَ يا داوُدُ وَالمُلكُ الَّذي

يَغارُ عَلَيهِ وَالَّذي هُوَ واهِبُه

Is the kingdom yours, O David, when sovereignty is what

He guards jealously, and what He Himself bestows?

أَرادَ بِهِ أَمراً فَجَلَّت صُدورُهُ

فَأَتبَعَهُ لُطفاً فَجَلَّت عَواقِبُه

He willed something through it; its beginnings were grave;

then followed it with kindness; its outcomes were glorious.

رَمى وَاِستَرَدَّ السَهمَ وَالخَلقُ غافِلٌ

فَهَل يَتَّقيهِ خَلقُهُ أَو يُراقِبُه

He shot and retrieved the arrow while creation was heedless;

so does His creation fear Him or remain mindful of Him?

أَيَبطُلُ عيدُ الدَهرِ مِن أَجلِ دُمَّلٍ

وَتَخبو مَجاليهِ وَتُطوى مَواكِبُه

Must the age's festival be canceled because of an abscess,

and its displays grow dim, and its processions be folded away;

وَيَرجِعُ بِالقَلبِ الكَسيرِ وُفودُهُ

وَفيهِم مَصابيحُ الوَرى وَكَواكِبُه

and its delegations return with broken hearts,

with mankind's lamps and stars among them;

وَتَسمو يَدُ الدَهرِ اِرتِجالاً بِبَأسِها

إِلى طُنُبِ الأَقواسِ وَالنَصرُ ضارِبُه

and Time's hand rise suddenly in its might

toward the arches' guy-rope, which Victory has pitched;

وَيَستَغفِرُ الشَعبُ الفَخورُ لِرَبِّهِ

وَيَجمَعُ مِن ذَيلِ المَخيلَةِ ساحِبُه

and the proud nation seek its Lord's forgiveness,

and he who trails pride's train gather it up;

وَيُحجَبُ رَبُّ العيدِ ساعَةَ عيدِهِ

وَتَنقُصُ مِن أَطرافِهِنَّ مَآرِبُه

and the lord of the festival be hidden at the hour of his festival,

and his ambitions dwindle at their edges?

أَلا هَكَذا الدُنيا وَذَلِكَ وُدُّها

فَهَلّا تَأَتّى في الأَمانِيِّ خاطِبُه

Behold, such is the world, and such is her love;

so why did her suitor not tread gently in his hopes?

أَعَدَّ لَها إِدوَردُ أَعيادَ تاجِهِ

وَما في حِسابِ اللَهِ ما هُوَ حاسِبُه

Edward prepared for her the festivities of his crown,

yet what he reckons is not in God's reckoning.

مَشَت في الثَرى أَنباؤُها فَتَساءَلَت

مَشارِقُهُ عَن أَمرِها وَمَغارِبُه

Their tidings traveled across the earth, and questions passed

between its eastern and western lands about their affair.

وَكاثَرَ في البَرِّ الحَصى مَن يَجوبُهُ

وَكاثَرَ مَوجَ البَحرِ راكِبُه

And those who traversed the land rivaled its pebbles in number,

and those sailing the sea rivaled its waves in number,

إِلى مَوكِبٍ لَم تُخرِجِ الأَرضُ مِثلَهُ

وَلَن يَتهادى فَوقَها ما يُقارِبُه

toward a procession whose like the earth had never brought forth,

nor will anything approaching it ever pass in state upon her.

إِذا سارَ فيهِ سارَتِ الناسُ خَلفَهُ

وَشَدَّت مَغاويرَ المُلوكِ رَكائِبُه

When he moves in it, the people move behind him,

and his mounts draw the valiant kings along.

تُحيطُ بِهِ كَالنَملِ في البَرِّ خَيلُهُ

وَتَملَأُ آفاقَ البِحارِ مَراكِبُه

His horses surround him like ants upon the land,

and his ships fill the horizons of the seas.

نِظامُ المَجالي وَالمَواكِبِ حَلَّهُ

زَمانٌ وَشيكٌ رَيبُهُ وَنَوائِبُه

The ordered array of displays and processions was unraveled

by a time swift in its reversals and calamities.

فَبَينا سَبيلُ القَومِ أَمنٌ إِلى المُنى

إِذا هُوَ خَوفٌ في الظُنونِ مَذاهِبُه

And while the people's path toward their hopes was secure,

suddenly it was fear, whose paths lay in conjecture.

إِذا جَاءَتِ الأَعيادُ في كُلِّ مَسمَعٍ

تَجوبُ الثَرى شَرقاً وَغَرباً جَوائِبُه

Then suddenly festivals reached every ear,

their tidings traversing the earth, east and west.

رَجاءٌ فَلَم يَلبُث فَخَوفٌ فَلَم يَدُم

سَلِ الدَهرَ أَيُّ الحادِثَينِ عَجائِبُه

Hope, which did not linger; then fear, which did not last:

ask Time which of the two events was among its wonders.

فيا لَيتَ شِعري أَينَ كانَت جُنودُهُ

وَكَيفَ تَراخَت في الفِداءِ قَواضِبُه

Ah, would that I knew where his armies were,

and how his cleaving swords faltered in his rescue;

وَرُدَّت عَلى أَعقابِهِنَّ سَفينُهُ

وَما رَدَّها في البَحرِ يَوماً مُحارِبُه

and his ships were turned back on their heels,

though his foe had never driven them back at sea;

وَكَيفَ أَفاتَتهُ الحَوادِثُ طِلبَةً

وَما عَوَّدتَهُ أَن تَفوتَ رَغائِبُه

and how events denied him a wish,

though they had never accustomed him to his wishes going unfulfilled.

لَكَ المُلكُ يا مَن خَصَّ بِالعِزِّ ذاتَهُ

وَمَن فَوقَ آرابَ المُلوكِ مَآرِبُه

Yours is sovereignty, O You who reserved might for Yourself,

and You whose purposes stand above the desires of kings.

فَلا عَرشَ إِلّا أَنتَ وارِثُ عِزِّهِ

وَلا تاجَ إِلّا أَنتَ بِالحَقِّ كاسِبُه

So there is no throne whose glory You do not inherit,

and no crown that You do not rightfully gain.

وَآمَنتُ بِالعِلمِ الَّذي أَنتَ نورُهُ

وَمِنكَ أَياديهِ وَمِنكَ مَناقِبُه

And I believe in science, whose light You are,

and from You come its benefactions, and from You its virtues.

تُؤامِنُ مِن خَوفٍ بِهِ كُلُّ غالِبٍ

عَلى أَمرِهِ في الأَرضِ وَالداءُ غالِبُه

Through it You grant safety from fear to everyone who masters

his affairs on earth, yet is himself mastered by disease.

سَلوا صاحِبَ المُلكَينِ هَل مَلَك القُوى

وَأُسدُ الشَرى تَعنو لَهُ وَتُحارِبُه

Ask the lord of the two kingdoms: did he master the forces,

though the lions of Shara bow to him and fight him?

وَهَل رَفَعَ الداءَ العُضالَ وَزيرُهُ

وَهَل حَجَبَ البابَ المُمَنَّعَ حاجِبُه

And did his minister banish the intractable disease?

And did his chamberlain bar the well-fortified door?

وَهَل قَدَّمَت إِلّا دُعاةً شُعوبُهُ

وَساعَفَ إِلّا بِالصَلاةِ أَقارِبُه

And did his peoples send forth anyone but supplicants,

and did his relatives help except through prayer?

هُنالِكَ كانَ العِلمُ يُبلي بَلاءَهُ

وَكانَ سِلاحُ النَفسِ تُغني تَجارِبُه

There science was proving its worth,

and was the soul's weapon, its experiments proving useful.

كَريمُ الظُبا لا يَقرُبُ الشَرَّ حَدُّهُ

وَفي غَيرِهِ شَرُّ الوَرى وَمَعاطِبُه

Its blades are noble; its edge approaches no evil,

and in other weapons lie mankind's evil and its ruin.

إِذا مَرَّ نَحوَ المَرءِ كانَ حَياتَهُ

كَإِصبَعِ عيسى نَحوَ مَيتٍ يُخاطِبُه

When it approaches a man, it is his life,

like Jesus's finger toward a dead man whom he addresses.

وَأَيسَرُ مِن جُرحِ الصُدودِ فِعالُهُ

وَأَسهَلُ مِن سَيفِ اللِحاظِ مَضارِبُه

And its action is gentler than the wound of rejection,

and its strokes are milder than the sword of glances.

عَجيبٌ يُرَجّى مِشرَطاً أَو يَهابُهُ

مَنِ الغَربُ راجيهِ مَنِ الشَرقُ هائِبُه

Strange that a scalpel should be hoped for—or feared—

by him whom the West hopes for, whom the East fears.

فَلَو تُفتَدى بِالبيضِ وَالسُمرِ فِديَةٌ

لَأَلقَت قَناها في البِلادِ كَتائِبُه

If a ransom could be paid with white swords and brown spears,

his battalions would have cast their lances across the lands.

وَلَو أَنَّ فَوقَ العِلمِ تاجاً لَتَوَّجوا

طَبيباً لَهُ بِالأَمسِ كانَ يُصاحِبُه

And if there were a crown above science, they would have crowned

a physician of his who was attending him yesterday.

فَآمَنتُ بِاللَهِ الَّذي عَزَّ شَأنُهُ

وَآمَنتُ بِالعِلمِ الَّذي عَزَّ طالِبُه

So I believe in God, whose majesty is exalted,

and I believe in science, whose seeker is honored.