قالوا تصبر قد يتوب الغادرُ

قبل الحسابِ وقد يحجّ الفاجرُ

They said, be patient, the betrayer may repent

Before Judgement, and the debauchee may go on pilgrimage

عجباً أينسىِ الغافلينَ هو أنهمُ

عما جَنتهُ ضغائنٌ وصغائرُ

How strange! The heedless forget that they

Will be held accountable for their grudges and petty faults

ايقامر المتسامحون بفكرهم

ان جاز أن يهب الثراءَ مقامر

Do the forgiving gamble in their thinking

That it's acceptable for wealth to be granted to a gambler?

أيخادعون مخادعاً إحسانُه

عبثٌ وأسخفُ ما حكاه مهاتُر

Do they fool the deceiver? His benevolence is

Futile, and more foolish than what old gossips relate

من مَّرغ الأدب اللبابَ جنونُه

وعلى يديه غدا الخرابُ العامرُ

Insanity has twisted the minds of the astute

And under his hands prosperity turned into ruins

وتحجرَ الشعرُ الكريم بنظمه

فشكت أذاهُ مَقاولٌ ومشاعر

And noble poetry turned to stone in his compositions

So that contractors and emotions complained of his harm

سَرقَ الروائعَ من مفاخرِ غيره

وأماتهَّن ولا يزال يفاخر

He stole the masterpieces of others' glories

And killed them, yet continues to boast

ما خفَّفَ الإثمَ الكبير سوابق

حاكى مقابحها وراح يكابر

Past misdeeds did not lessen the grave sin

He portrayed their ugliness and persisted in obstinacy

رُزءٌ تكَّررَ فالسفاهُة ملكها

إرثٌ على السفهاء وَقفٌ دائر

Mockery recurred, so foolishness owned it

An inheritance for fools, and a recurring endowment

شقيت بهم مصرُ الأسيفهُ حقبةً

طالت وكلُ بالغرور يجاهر

With them, ill-fated Egypt suffered an era

That was prolonged, and each one arrogantly declared

من كل أرعن مالهُ أو كيدهُ

سيفٌ على الأحرار صَلتٌ باتر

Every insolent one, his money or his schemes

A sword upon the free, a blunted blade

حتى أتى البطل الأشمّ كأنّه

تُّل الخرائبِ جَفَّ فيه النَّاضرُ

Until the gallant hero came, as if

He is the remover of ruins, drying the overflowing

فَرضَ الضريبةَ للسلامة من أذَّى

سُوَرَ التملق والتملقُ آسرُ

He levied a tax for protection from harm

He locked the gates of flattery, and flattery was captive

فتكاثر الغلمان حول سريره

مترنمين كما يشاء الساحر

So the youth multiplied around his throne

Chanting as the sorcerer wills

ومرتلين له الخشوع كأنّه

في كل شعوذةِ إمامٌ نادر

And singing to him submissively, as if

He is the greatest Imam in every magic

وهو الممثل كم يسئ ويشتكى

أنَّ المساء هو النبيلُ الطَّاهر

He is the actor, how badly he performs, and complains

That the evening is the noble, the pure one

جيلٌ من الأدباء ضُحىَ نَفعهُ

كيما تُعبَّقَ بالنفاق مجامر

A generation of literati, whose usefulness was lost

So that hypocrisy would be perfumed in gambling dens

تَخذَ السفيهُ من التبجح حُجَّةَ

للعبقريةِ وهو لاهٍ ساخر

The foolish took boasting as evidence

Of genius, while he is an absent buffoon

وَجنىَ كما يجني الوباءُ على الحجى

وعلى التفوّقِ سُمُّهُ المتطايرُ

And he reaped benefits like a plague upon the distinguished

And upon excellence flew its scattered poison

سَدَّ الطريقَ على مدى إبداهم

فالفُّن قبلهمو الفقيرُ الخاسرُ

He blocked the way throughout their duration

So art before them is the destitute loser

جَعلَ السياسةَ سُلَّماً لصعوده

ولكم تصاعد بالسياسة عاثر

He made politics a ladder for his ascent

Yet how many stumble in ascent through politics?

مَن ذا يعوّضهم وماذا يَرتَجىِ

إن غُيبوا يومَ الرثاءِ الشاعر

Who can compensate them, and what is hoped for

If they pass away on the day of the poet's elegy?

بل أى تكفير لجانٍ كافر

إن راحَ يبكى أو تباكي الكافر

What atonement for committees of unbelievers

If one who weeps or makes unbelievers weep goes away?

أسفى على وطني المذَال عَظيمهُ

يَشقىَ وينعمُ بالنفاق الصاغر

I lament for my greatly disgraced homeland

It suffers and enjoys the hypocrisy of the petty

والمخلص الحر الغيور مآله

نفىٌ تنوع أو مماتٌ جائر

And the fate of the sincere, free and zealous

Is either varied exile or unjust death

الظلم مهما زُينت الوانه

ظلمٌ وظلمُ الفكر عاتٍ عاهر

However injustice is adorned in its colors

It remains injustice, and injustice of thought is a shameless harlot

واذا تنكر للمواهب مُدَّعٍ

سفهاً وصفق للدعىِ القادرُ

And if it denies talents to a pretentious one

Out of foolishness, and claps for the claimant of ability

وغدا التصُّنعُ فوقَ كل أصالةٍ

واِلغُّر دان له الأبُّى الثائر

And pretentiousness became above all authenticity

And vileness submitted to the unyielding rebel

وَتخاذَل الأدباءُ يوم تعاونٍ

ومشى علهيم فاجرٌ وُمغامر

And the literati were cowardly on a day of cooperation

And a debauchee walked over them as a gambler

فالعدل ظلمٌ والمهانةُ ربُمَّا

هينت بهم ولقد تُهان مقابِر

So justice is injustice, and humiliation perhaps

Degraded them, and indeed graveyards were dishonored