بلغت المدى المأمول فيما تجاهدُ

فهل وجد الأقران ما أنت واجدُ

You have reached the hoped for goal through your striving,

So have peers found what you have found?

وهل كان ما مكنت إلا ممهداً

لما أنت ناويه وما أنت قاصد

And was what empowered you anything but paving

The way for what you intend and what you aim for?

نأيت فكان الشوق فيما تركته

وكان الرضا فيما به أنت عائد

You came, so yearning was in what you left,

And contentment was in what you returned to.

وجاء من الأنباء ما قرب المدى

إليك وشاهدنا به ما تشاهد

And news came that brought the goal closer

To you, and we saw through it what you see.

وزرت الدهاة القادرين فرحبوا

كأنك بالوادي ومن فيه وافد

You visited the skillful leaders, so they welcomed

You as if you were in the valley and a new arrival to it.

تجدد ذكرى أربع بينهم خلت

وقد ألزمتك العهد تلك المعاهد

The memory of four who passed among them renewed,

And the covenant obliged you, those pacts.

تناولت فيه علمهم وهو عدة

لك اليوم تلقاهم بها وتجالد

You took their knowledge, and it is equipment

For you today as you meet them and fight.

وقد كان نخب الحب أفضل ما انتهى

إليك وأشهى ما احتوته الموائد

The elite of love was the best of what came

To you, and the most delicious of what the banquets contained.

مآدب ما شاقتك إلا وقبلها

شروط السلام المرتجى والقواعد

Feasts that did not burden you but rather

Came before them conditions of hoped-for peace and principles.

فما طبت نفساً بالذي أنت آكل

كما طبت نفساً بالذي أنت عاقد

So you did not please a soul with what you eat

As you pleased a soul with what you conclude.

طلعت عليهم بالأحاديث حرة

فلم تمس إلا وهي فيهم عقائد

You appeared before them with free conversations

Yet only touched what already were their creeds.

أقروا بما لا يستطيعون نقضه

وقد سكنت أسدٌ ونامت أساود

They acknowledged what they cannot refute

And so a lion settled and lionesses slept.

وردوا إليك الحق والحق غالب

ودهرك معوان وحظك صاعد

They returned the truth to you, and the truth prevails,

And your time assists you, and your fortune ascends.

وأحكمت في صحو النهار وسائلاً

ترامت بها تلك الليالي الرواعد

You determined at dawn means by which

Those stormy nights were pierced.

وضجت بما نلت الممالك كلها

وقد جل ما كابدته وتكابد

It roared with what you obtained, all the kingdoms,

Great is what you endured and struggled through.

وأكبرَتِ النصر الذي تستتمه

ولم ينتقل جيشٌ ولم يخطُ قائد

And you made greater the victory you perfect,

And no army deployed, and no leader marched.

وما البطل المغوار من مارس الوغى

ولكنه من مرنته الشدائد

Not the brave warrior who stirs up turmoil,

Rather it is one whose patience the adversities honed.

كسبت العدو العاقل اليوم بعدما

مضى زمن وهو المصرُّ المعاند

You gained today the rational enemy after

An era passed with him the stubborn opponent.

وصادقت من لو أدرك الناس كلهم

صداقته لم يبق في الأرض حاقد

And you befriended one whom if all people attained

His friendship, no hater would remain on earth.

سيخرج من كل المدائن جنده

وما هو مطرود وما أنت طارد

His armies will emerge from all cities,

And he is not expelled, and you are no chaser.

ومنك له حول القناة مضارب

بأمرك تُحمَى سُبْلُهُ والمراصد

And for him around the canal are your settlements

By your command, his roads and huts protected.

وحسبك ود الند منه وحسبه

مرافق في الوادي له وموارد

And suffice you the affection of the comrade, and suffice him

An accompanying guide in the valley, provider.

ولا صلح إلا صلحك العادل الذي

تساوت به للجانبين الفوائد

And no peace but your just peace in which

The benefits are equal for both sides.

أيخشَى على النيل الوفي سدوده

مريبٌ وقد آلت إليك المقالد

Does a doubter fear for the Nile’s dams

While power lies with you?

تصرِّفُه بين الشقيقين بعد ما

نبت بالشقيقين الخطوب النواكد

You regulate it between the twin siblings after

Hostilities sprouted between the twins.

فهل ترجع اليوم القرون التي خلت

فيشهد لابن اليوم جدٌّ ووالد

So will the passed eras return today

And so a son's ancestor and father testify for him?

هنالِكَ من تكريم قدرك ما هُنا

ينافس منك الأقربين الأباعد

Therefrom honoring your value not here

Rivals what your close and distant vie in.

ويرفعك الشعب الذي بك عزه

وفيك سجاياه وفيك المحامد

And the people whose might is through you exalt you,

In you their attributes, in you the praise.

ويحشد لاستقبالك الملك كله

وإن ليوم الفصل ما هو حاشد

And the whole kingdom masses to receive you,

For the day of decision has its crowds.

أتى يتلقى اليوم منك مصيره

وقد حملته أنفس وسواعد

It comes today to receive from you its fate

As you carried it, souls and arms.

ولو شمل الدنيا مرادك كله

لما كان في الدنيا مسود وسائد

And if your entire will encompassed the world,

Then the world would have no darkened, oppressed ruler.

قضى ملك الوادي على كلِّ مرجفٍ

فلم يبق مرتاب ولم يبق جاحد

The king of the valley judged every agitator

So no doubter remained, and no denier.

وأهداك ما أرضى العلى وهو عالم

بأنك إلا في هداياه زاهد

And he gifted you what pleases the Exalted, and He knows

That you are ascetic except in His gifts.

وكان لزاماً أن يرى ما رأيته

لدولته منه حسيب وناقد

And it was necessary that He see what you saw

For His state from Him the reckoner and critic.

أللغاضب الباغي عليك بقية

من العذر إلا أنه لك حاسد

Does the transgressor who aggresses you have any

Excuse left save he envies you?

تحملت عنه عزمه وهمومه

وساءك منه أنه لك كائد

You took on from him his determination and worries,

And it was evil from him that he schemed against you.

وظن جديد الأمر جاءك خاذلاً

فجاء جديد الأمر وهو المساعد

And the newly appointed thought you failed him

Yet the newly appointed came, and he is the aide.

ولم تجد العمال إلا كغيرهم

أماجد لاقاهم على الخير ماجد

And you found the workers only like others:

Glories met them in doing good as excelling.

تقربت منه كابراً وتقربوا

فما طال ميعاد ولا حال واعد

You drew near the elder humbly, and they drew near.

So neither term prolonged, nor state promised.

ومثلك إنساناً وجدت كبيرهم

فما هو عملاق ولا هو مارد

And the like of you as man found their greatest

Yet he is no giant nor demon.

إذا اختلفت آراؤهم في شؤونهم

فرأيهمُ في شأنك اليوم واحد

If their views differed regarding their affairs,

Their view of your matter today is one.

وقد فقد الرهط المكان الذي له

ولا يسترد الرهط ما هو فاقد

And the group lost the position it had

And no group reclaims what it lost.

وأغضبه ترك الفريسة فاعتدى

عليك وأعياه الذي أنت صائد

And the abandoning of prey enraged him, so he aggressed

Upon you, and what you hunt exhausted him.

تردد بين المسلكين فما به

لشيعته إلا الظنون الشوارد

He wavered between the two paths, so in it

For his partisans were only the straying assumptions.

يطيش به صبيانه في خلائهم

وتهذي به صحْف خساسٌ كواسد

His youth in their privacy lead him astray

And degrade him, vile newspapers, defamers.

أمن يتولى الحكم والحكم صالح

كمن يتولى الحكم والحكم فاسد

Is one who assumes rule but the rule corrupts

Like one who rules justly and properly?

ولو ذكر المحروم ما أنت زارع

لما فاته بعض الذي أنت حاصد

And if the deprived mentioned what you plant,

He would miss some of what you harvest.

ولو شئت للباغي المسيء عقوبة

لما فارقتْ تلك الرقابَ المقاود

And if you willed punishment for the transgressor,

Those summoned necks would not leave the swords.

وقد يجد الأعذار عندك مخطئٌ

إذا عدم الأعذار عندك عامد

But one in error may find excuses with you

When with you an intentional has no excuses.

تنبَّأتُ بالعقبى التي لك فضلها

وجاءتك مني بالغيوب القصائد

I prophesied the outcome which you excel in,

And it came to you from me in poems.

وإني بشير الملك والملك واثقٌ

بأنك في دست الوزارة خالد

And I am the herald of the kingdom, and the kingdom confident

That with you in power enduring.

وحكمك وهو الحق والعدل نافذ

وقدرك عند الشعب والعرش زائد

And your rule, as it is truth and justice, prevails,

And your destiny with people and throne ascends.