علمت بالقلم الحكيم — Ahmed Shawqi

عَلَّمتَ بِالقَلَمِ الحَكيمِ

وَهَدَيتَ بِالنَجمِ الكَريمِ

You taught with the wise pen,

and guided by the noble star.

وَأَتَيتَ مِن مِحرابِهِ

بِأَرِسطَطاليسَ العَظيمِ

And from his sanctuary you came

with great Aristotle,

مَلِكِ العُقولِ وَإِنَّها

لَنِهايَةُ المُلكِ الجَسيمِ

king of minds—and that, indeed,

is the summit of mighty sovereignty.

شَيخُ اِبنِ رُشدٌ وَاِبنِ سي

نا وَاِبنِ بَرقَينِ الحَكيمِ

Master of Ibn Rushd and Ibn Sina,

and of Ibn Barqayn the sage;

مَن كانَ في هَديِ المَسي

حِ وَكانَ في رُشدِ الكَليمِ

who followed the guidance of the Messiah

and the right guidance of Moses, God's interlocutor;

وَغَدا وَراحَ مُوَحِّداً

قَبلَ البَنِيَّةِ وَالحَطيمِ

morning and evening he affirmed God's oneness,

before the Kaaba and the Hatim.

صَوتُ الحَقيقَةِ بَينَ رَع

دِ الجاهِلِيَّةِ وَالهَزيمِ

Truth's voice amid the thunder

of pagan ignorance and its rumbling,

ما بَينَ عادِيَةِ السَوا

مِ وَبَينَ طُغيانِ المَسيمِ

between the onslaught of grazing herds

and the tyranny of their herdsman.

يَبني الشَرائِعَ لِلعُصو

رِ بِناءَ جَبّارٍ رَحيمِ

He builds laws for the ages

with a mighty, merciful builder's craft,

وَيُفَصِّلُ الأَخلاقَ لِل

أَجيالِ تَفصيلَ اليَتيمِ

and sets out ethics

for generations, like the setting of a peerless pearl,

في واضِحٍ لَحبِ الطَري

قِ مِنَ المَذاهِبِ مُستَقيمِ

along a clear, broad path,

straight among the schools of thought,

وَرَسائِلٍ مِثلِ السُلا

فِ إِذا تَمَشَّت في النَديمِ

and in treatises like choice wine

as it courses through a drinking companion.

قُدسِيَّةُ النَفَحاتِ تُس

كِرُ بِالمَذاقِ وَبِالشَميمِ

Holy in their fragrances, they intoxicate

by taste and by scent.

يا لُطفِ أَنتَ هُوَ الصَدى

مِن ذَلِكَ الصَوتِ الرَخيمِ

O Lutfi, you are the echo

of that melodious voice.

أَرجُ الرِياضِ نَقَلتَهُ

وَنَسَختَهُ نَسخَ النَسيمِ

You conveyed the gardens' fragrance

and reproduced it as the breeze does.

وَسَرَيتَ مِن شَعبِ الأَلَم

بِ بِهِ إِلى وادي الصَريمِ

You journeyed by night from Olympus's ravine,

bearing it to the valley of al-Sarim.

فَتجارَتِ اللُغَتانِ لِل

غاياتِ في الحَسِبِ الصَميمِ

So the two languages raced

toward the highest goals, in genuine nobility of lineage:

لُغَةٌ مِنَ الإِغريقِ قَي

يِمَةٌ وَأُخرى مِن تَميمِ

an excellent language from the Greeks,

and another from Tamim.

وَأَتَيتَنا بِمُفَصَّلٍ

بِالتِبرِ عُلوِيِّ الرَقيمِ

And you brought us a work adorned

with unminted gold, its inscription sublime.

هُوَ ضِنَّةُ المُثري مِنَ ال

أَخلاقِ أَو مالُ العَديمِ

It is the rich man's treasured store of

virtues, or the poor man's wealth.

مَشّاءَ هَذا العَصرِ قِف

حَدِّث عَنِ العُصُرِ القَديمِ

O Peripatetic of this age, stop;

tell of the ancient age.

مَثِّل لَنا اليونانَ بَي

نَ العِلمِ وَالخُلُقِ القَويمِ

Portray for us Greece between

learning and upright character.

أَخلاقُها نورُ السَبي

لِ وَعِلمُها نورُ الأَديمِ

Its morals are the light of the path;

its learning is the light of the earth.

وَشَبابُها يَتَعَلَّمو

نَ عَلى الفَراقِدِ وَالنُجومِ

And its youth learn

under the Farqad stars and the stars.

لَمَسوا الحَقيقَةَ في الفُنو

نِ وَأَدرَكوها في العُلومِ

They touched truth in the arts

and grasped it in the sciences.

حَلَّت مَكاناً عِندَهُم

فَوقَ المُعَلِّمِ وَالزَعيمِ

It held a place among them

above the teacher and the leader.

وَالجَهلُ حَظُّكَ إِن أَخَذ

تَ العِلمَ مِن غَيرِ العَليمِ

Ignorance is your lot if you take

knowledge from one who does not know.

وَلَرُبَّ تَعليمٍ سَرى

بِالنَشءِ كَالمَرَضِ المُنيمِ

And many a teaching has crept

through the young like a sleep-bringing disease.

يَتَلَبَّسُ الحُلُمُ اللَذي

ذُ عَلَيهِ بِالحُلُمِ الأَثيمِ

The pleasant dream becomes confused,

for him, with the sinful dream.

وَمَدارِسٌ لا تُنهِضُ ال

أَخلاقَ دارِسَةَ الرُسومِ

And schools that fail to uplift

morals have their traces effaced.

يَمشي الفَسادُ بِنَبتِها

مَشيَ الشَرارَةِ بِالهَشيمِ

Corruption walks through their seedlings

as a spark moves through dry brush.

لَمّا رَأَيتُ سَوادَ قَو

مي في دُجى لَيلٍ بَهيمِ

When I saw the mass of my people

in the gloom of a pitch-black night,

يُسقَونَ مِن أُمِّيَّةٍ

هِيَ غُصَّةُ الوَطَنِ الكَظيمِ

being given illiteracy to drink—

a choking lump in the grief-stifled homeland's throat—

وَسُراتُهُم في مُقعِدٍ

مِن مَطلَبِ الدُنيا مُقيمِ

and their notables seated,

settled in the pursuit of worldly gain,

يَسعَونَ لِلجاهِ العَظي

مِ وَلَيسَ لِلحَقِّ الهَضيمِ

striving for great prestige,

and not for trampled rights;

وَبَصُرتُ بِالدُستورِ يُز

هَقُ وَهوَ في عُمرِ الفَطيمِ

and I saw the constitution being slain

while still of a weanling's age,

لَم يَنجُ مِن كَيدِ العَدُو

وِ لَهُ وَمِن عَبَثِ الحَميمِ

it escaped neither its enemy's schemes

nor the meddling of its intimate friend.

أَيقَنتَ أَنَّ الجَهلَ عِل

لَةُ كُلِّ مُجتَمَعٍ سَقيمِ

You became certain that ignorance is the ailment

of every ailing society.

وَأَتَيتُ يا رَبَّ النَثي

رِ بِما تُحِبُّ مِنَ النَظيمِ

And I came, O master of prose,

with the verse you love,

أَحزِ اِجتِهادَكَ في جَنى

الثَمَراتِ لِلنَشءِ النَهيمِ

to reward your diligence in gathering

fruits for hungry youth,

مِن رَوضَةِ العِلمِ الصَحي

حِ وَرَبوَةِ الأَدَبِ السَليمِ

from the garden of sound learning

and the hill of wholesome literature:

العاشِقينَ العِلمَ لا

يَألونَهُ طَلَبَ الغَريمِ

those who love knowledge and never

slacken in pursuing it, like a creditor,

المُعرِضينَ عَنِ الصَغا

ئِرِ وَالسِعايَةِ وَالنَميمِ

turning away from petty matters,

from slander and tale-bearing.

قَسَماً بِمَذهَبِكَ الجَمي

لِ وَوَجهِ صُحبَتِكَ القَسيمِ

I swear by your beautiful philosophy

and the fair face of your friendship,

وَقَديمِ عَهدٍ لا ضَئي

لٍ في الوِدادِ وَلا ذَميمِ

and by an old bond, not slight

in affection nor blameworthy:

ما كُنتَ يَوماً لِلكِنا

نَةِ بِالعَدُوِّ وَلا الخَصيمِ

You were never, on any day, toward Kinana

an enemy or an adversary.

لَمّا تَلاحى الناسُ لَم

تَنزِل إِلى المَرعى الوَخيمِ

When people traded insults, you did not

descend to the unwholesome pasture.

كَم شاتِمٍ قابَلتَهُ

بِتَرَفُّعِ الأَسَدِ الشَتيمِ

Many an insulter you have met

with a grim-faced lion's aloof dignity.

وَشَغَلتَ نَفسَكَ بِالخَصي

بِ مِنَ الجُهودِ عَنِ العَقيمِ

And you occupied yourself with fruitful

efforts rather than barren ones.

فَخَدَمتَ بِالعِلمِ البِلا

دَ وَلَم تَزَل أَوفى خَديمِ

Thus, through knowledge, you served the country,

and have remained its most faithful servant.

وَالعِلمُ بَنّاءُ المآ

ثِرِ وَالمَمالِكِ مِن قَديمِ

And knowledge is the builder of noble achievements

and kingdoms, since ancient times.

كَسَروا بِهِ نيرَ الهَوا

نِ وَحَطَّموا ذُلَّ الشَكيمِ

With it they broke the yoke of humiliation

and shattered the bondage of the bit.