دنت الديار ودانت الأوطار

هذا المنار وهذه الأنوار

The homes drew near and the regions became close,

This lighthouse and these lights,

هذا المنار يلوح نجم هداية

للناظرين تؤمّه الأنظار

This lighthouse which shows a guiding star,

To onlookers whose sights it attracts.

والثغر وضاح المباسم باسم

للبشر في قسماته آثار

The eloquent mouth smiles with a smile,

In its features for mankind are traces.

فرح ببشرنا ببشر سروره

ان الخديو له به استقرار

With the news it brought us we rejoiced,

That the Khedive in it finds stability.

فاليوم نلثم من بنان يمينه

سحباء وارد فضهن غزار

Today we kiss its right hand,

Drenched clouds whose downpour is plentiful.

من كف فياض اليدين يمينه

يمن ويسراه ندى ويسار

From the palm of its generous hands,

Blessing and prosperity, help and gift.

ونشنف الأسماع من ألفاظه

دراغدت أصدافه الأفكار

And we wet our ears with its words,

In which thoughts were embedded like pearls in oyster shells.

ونرى منار الحق فوق جبينه

كالشمس ليس وراءها أستار

And we see the lighthouse of truth above its forehead,

Like the sun with no veils behind it.

نور تلألأ في جبين موفق

للحق في توفيقه أسرار

The light sparkled on the forehead of the successful one,

In his success are secrets to the right path.

مولاي قد سرنا بأمرك نبتغي

لرضاك ما تسمو به الأقدار

My Master, we were delighted with your order, we seek

What the mighty destinies allow, to please you.

نصل المغارب بالمشارق والسرى

بالسير لا ملل ولا إقصار

We bring the west and the east together, and Sirius

With strolling, no boredom and no shortfall.

ونَلُفَّ أذيال الأباطح بالرُّبى

تنتابنا الأنجاد والاغوار

And we wrap the expanses with well-being,

We roam the plains and the deserts.

لا البحر ذو الأمواج نخشى بأسه

يوماً وليس البر فيه نُضار

We don’t fear the harm of the tumultuous sea,

Nor is the land in it infertile.

البحر بر في رضاك بمن به

والبر من جدوى نداك بحار

The sea is fertile with the contentment of the one in it,

And the land from the usefulness of your aid is an ocean.

ومدى النهار صباح خير كله

بسعود جدّك والدجى أسحار

The daytime is a blessed good morning,

With your grandfather’s auspiciousness, and the nightfall is secrets.

نطوي البلاد بطيب ذكرك نشره

عبق ونفحة ريحه معطار

We perfume the countries with your good mention, its fragrance

Is aromatic, its blowing wind perfumed.

ونؤرّج الأرجاء باسمك مدحة

طابت بها الأسحار والاسمار

And we scent the regions with your name in praise,

Which delighted the dawns and the evenings.

يهتز حاضرها بحسن سماعها

طرباً ويخبر غائباً حضار

Its presence trembles in hearing its beauty,

In rapture, and informs the absentee gathering.

ويروح سامعها يميل بعطفه

ثملا كأن دارت عليه عُقار

And the listener leans intoxicated with tenderness,

As if wine circulated through him.

نغشى بها صدر النَديّ ندية

يحلو بها الإيراد والاصدار

With it we cover the breast of the praiser, our gift to him,

Sweetened by presenting and receiving it.

نتلو مديحك معلنين بنشره

جهر أفلا كتم ولا إسرار

We recite your praise proclaiming its dissemination

Aloud, not secretly or in concealment.

لا يعتري فحواه وصمة ريبة

تخشى ولا ردّ ولا استنكار

No blemish of doubt violates its contents,

Feared, rejected, or denied.

ثم امتطينا للسويد ركائباً

لا الركض يجهدها ولا التسيار

Then we mounted the steeds heading to Sweden,

Not exhausted by galloping or trotting.

تسعى على عجل إلى غاياتها

كالماء ساعر جريه تيار

They raced to their goals,

Like raging waters the current makes flow.

سرع الخطا لا السوط حل بجلدها

يوماً ولا شدّت بها أكوار

The whip did not touch their skin,

Nor were they tightened with girths.

نذر الرياح اذا جرين وراءها

حسرى طلائح جريهن عثار

When we raced behind them, the winds

Regretted, their blowing became disheveled.

سرنا بهن على العشيّ فأصبحت

في استكهلم وقد بدا الاسفار

With them we travelled by night and arrived

At Stockholm as dawn was breaking.

ولقيت صاحب تاجها في قصره

والوفد ثم بصحبتي نظار

And I met its crowned sovereign in his palace,

And the delegation was with me watching.

فدنا وصافح باليمين مردّدا

شكر الخديو يزينه التكرار

He approached and shook my hand repeating

Thanks to the Khedive, repetition adorning it.

فشرعت مقتصد أجاوبه بما

أرضاه لأقلُّ ولا إكثار

I began responding to him moderately

In what satisfies him, neither too little nor too much.

ونحوت مؤتمر العلوم أؤمه

بالوفد تهوى نحونا الأبصار

And I held the conference of science which

The delegation desires, sights set on us.

حتى إذا احتفل النديّ وأقبل ال

عظماء والعلماء والأحبار

Until the elite gathered, the great and the scholars and the learned came,

And the minister of his throne recited to him words that intoxicate

وتلا به أسكار رب سريره

قولا به لذوي النهى إسكار

Those of prohibition, and the orators all excellently responded,

Scattering pearls of poetry like rainfall streaming down.

وأجابه الخطباء كل محسن

يزرى بنظم الدرّ منه نثار

And I was called by name to speak, fulfilling

The duty of envoy and making faithfulness my motto.

ودعيت باسمي للمقال موفياً

حق الوفادة والوفاء شعار

I came forward, seizing the poem adorned

With your name my Master, splendid and dignified.

أقبلت أبتدر القريض يزينه

مولاي باسمك بهجة ووقار

Until the poetry was completed, hands came together applauding it,

And that was an expression of its praise.

حتى استتمّ الشعر فاصطفقت له الأيدي

وذاك بمدحه إشعار

And the sections branched out, stipulating

In each section the sciences a position.

وتشعبت شعب الفصول مقررا

في كل فصل للفنون قرار

So I sculpted those in the delegation with me,

The best section and my companions the finest.

فنحوت بالوفد الذين بصحبتي

خير الفصول وصحبتي أخيار

What courage and vigor their hearts contain,

A gathering excites them not, nor weakens them revelry.

ما فيهم وهل الفؤاد يهوله

حفل ولا واهي القوى خوّار

Each selected from the exhibition what he chose

To display, then a summary he picks.

كل أعد من المعارض ما اصطفى

للعرض ثمة جملة تختار

And he excelled in what he presented with eloquent

Speech obeying the purpose, aided by memory.

وأجاد فيما قد أفاد بمنطق

طوع المراد أمدّه استحضار

In the dialect of eloquent Arabic their pronunciation

Is free, and they in themselves are free.

في لهجة العرب الفصيحة لفظهم

حرّ وهم في نفسهم أحرار

In our discourse no pause emerged

Displayed, nor for our words denial.

لا في مقالة قائلينا وقفة

عرضت ولا لمقولنا انكار

Like rain pouring from a shining cloud,

Nearby lightnings, a torrential witness.

كالقطر جاد به غمام مبرق

داني الهيادب عارض مدرار

We say what we say, and every listener

Is hearing and understanding this clear speech.

نبدي الذي نبدي وكل مطرق

سمعاً ومنطق ذي المقال جهار

Until we complete the discourse as we wish

In a period I prepared for its measure.

حتى نتم كما نشاء القول في

أمد أعدّ لوقته مقدار

So their leader says: as for the researcher

In what he says and his words inquiry.

فيقول صاحبهم أما من باحث

فيما يقول وقوله استفسار

And the gathering applauds its admiration of what

We said, and joy appears among them.

وتصفق الحضار لاستحسان ما

قلنا ويظهر فيهم استبشار

Behold, they are your men, oh Master, and none

Does good to you but the excellent you choose.

ها هم رجالك أيها المولى ولا

من عليك ونعم من تختار

I do not seek praise for myself, that I

Boast of your ascension, not your enemies.

لا أبتغي مدحاً لنفسي أنني

بعلاك أفخر لاعداك فخار

These are the good traits of the one whose ascendant star assists you,

By whose fortune the destinies were brought into accord.

هذي محاسن بمن طالعك الذي

بسعوده قد ساعد المقدار

Then we turned back returning, with yearning for your protection driving us,

For the best protection, all of its justice safety,

ثم انثنينا راجعين يسوقنا

لحماك أشواق لهنّ أوار

And no place in it for injustice.

So grant well-being to Egypt and its people, that it sees through you

نأوى لخير حمى بعدلك كله

أمن وما للجور فيه جوار

The prospering of the sapling your right hand planted.

And grant safety to the progeny and family, all of them

فاسلم لمصر وأهلها ليرى بها

لنماء غرس يمينك استثماى

Good, and the family of the good is the finest.

To you my Master a deed on a night

واسلم لأنجال وآل كلهم

خير وآل الخيرين خيار

Whose eve melted into dawn.

Until the morning clothed it in the beauty of its face,

واليكها مولاي صنعة ليلة

لحق العشاء بوشيها الاسحار

And daylight dressed it in day.

حتى كساها الصبح رونق وجهه

حسناً وألبسها الضياء نهار