قل للأُلى رقدوا والعدل يقظانُ
طار الكرى واستبان الأمرُ والشّانُ
Tell the dear ones to sleep while justice is awake
Destiny has taken flight and truth and rank are clear
ماذا ظننتم بها من قُوّةٍ صَدَقتْ
فللحوادثِ إقرارٌ وإذعانُ
What strength did you think it had that you believed it
Events now acquiesce and yield
تعلّموا الصّدقَ والإيمانَ وارْتدِعوا
إن كان يُعْجِبُكم صِدقٌ وإيمانُ
Learn truth and faith, recoil
If you find sincerity and faith pleasing
تكشّفَ العارضُ المرجوُّ وانقشعت
آمالكم فهي آلامٌ وأشجانُ
The expected misfortune was unveiled and your hopes
Are now sorrows and laments
لولا الجهالةُ ما حَيّاهُ مُختَبِلٌ
يرجو المحالَ ولا استسقاه ظمآنُ
If not for ignorance no raving fool would be alive
Hoping for the impossible, no thirsty man would beg for water
كلُّ السّحابِ جَهامٌ إن هُمُ انتظروا
رِيَّ الغليلِ وكلُّ السَّعْيِ خُسرانُ
All the clouds are useless if they wait
For abundant rain, all effort is loss
زَفُّوا البشائرَ للصِّبيان ما برحوا
حتّى دروا أنّهم في القوم صبيانُ
They announced good tidings to the boys before they knew
That among the people they are but boys
ماذا على مصرَ من همٍّ يُؤرّقُهم
إن بات عنهم أذاها وَهْوَ وَسْنانُ
What worry keeps them sleepless about Egypt
When its harm and vanity and idolatry have passed
ما مرَّ للحكم طيفٌ في وساوِسهم
إلا وَعاودَهم شَوقٌ وتَحنانُ
No phantom of power distracted their fancies
Without kindling in them yearning and infatuation
سلا المحبُّونَ فابتلَّتْ جوانحُهم
وما لهم عنه طولَ الدهرِ سُلوانُ
The lovers asked about him so their wings were tested
And they will never stop yearning for him
في كل جارحةٍ همٌّ يُطالعه
من كل جانحةٍ للغيظِ بُركانُ
In every limb a worry appears to him
From every wing hot lava of anger flows
يا قيسُ ويَحكَ ليلى عنك في شُغُلٍ
وأنت يا قيسُ صَبُّ القلب ولهانُ
Oh Qays, Layla is busy with other things, and you
Oh Qays, have a melting heart and are downcast
وارحمتا لكَ ضاعت في الغرام سُدىً
دُموعُ عينٍ لها سَحٌّ وتهتانُ
Your tears of pity are wasted in love
The tears of an eye that is ill and straying
لو في يدي رُقْيَةٌ أشفِي الصّريعَ بها
إذن شفيتُك إنّ النّاسَ إخوانُ
If I had a cure I would heal the fallen one with it
For people are siblings, they seek compassion
قومٌ مضى عهدُهم وانفضَّ مَلعبُهم
لا كان ذلك من عهدٍ ولا كانوا
A people whose time has passed, their playground gone
That was not an era, nor were they
يَغيظُهم بعد أن زالوا بباطلهم
ألا يكونَ لغير الحقِّ سلطانُ
Vexed after they had perished in their idle fancies
Falsehood has no power, only truth prevails
ما الحكمُ دستورُه عَدلٌ ومرحمةٌ
كالحكم دستورُه ظلمٌ وطُغيانُ
A just and merciful rule is not like
A rule whose ways are injustice and tyranny
ما غرّهم بابن محمودٍ أما علموا
أنّ الرئيس لمجدِ النّيلِ عُنوانُ
What deceived them about the son of Mahmoud? Did they not know
That the leader is the glory of the Nile's title?
ظنّوا الظنون ولجّوا في عَمايتهم
وفي الحوادث للأقوامِ تِبيانُ
They supposed and plunged into their blindness
Events reveal the truth to nations
العدلُ مرماه والميزانُ في يده
إن جار مُحتكِمٌ أو مال ميزانُ
Justice is his goal, the scales are in his hands
Whether a disputing neighbor or measuring scales
كاسٍ من الشرف العالي يُهيّجُه
مَن يدّعِي المجدَ زُوراً وهو عُريانُ
He who falsely claims glory cannot endure
A cup of lofty honor that excites him
ما زاده الحكمُ جاهاً إذ تقلَّدَهُ
الجاهُ مُنبسِطٌ والذّكر رنّانُ
Rule did not increase his prestige when he assumed it
Prestige overflowed and fame resounded
هي الكنانةُ تدعوه فيُدرِكُها
والخطبُ مُعترِكٌ والشّعبُ حيرانُ
Kinship calls him and he attains it
Speech contends and the people are confused
تهوِي سفينتُها غرقَى فيرفعُها
يجري بها وعوادي الدّهر طُوفانُ
His ship founders engulfed but he raises it
He sails it through the tempest of fate's vicissitudes
شيخُ السّياسةِ لا شيخُ الأُلى جَهِلوا
إنّ السياسةَ أنواعٌ وألوانُ
A shaykh of politics, not a shaykh of raving fools they mistook
For politics has types and colors
أُصليهمُ اللَّوْمَ ناراً ثم يمنعني
أَنْ ليس للقومِ ألبابٌ وأذهانُ
I blame them with fiery blame but then I'm stopped
Because the people lack minds and intellects
لا الحقُّ في رأيهم حقٌّ تدين له
شُمُّ الجباهِ ولا البُهتانُ بهتانُ
Truth in their view is no truth that foreheads bow to
Nor is falsehood manifest falsehood
القومُ مَوْتَى فإن كانت لهم صُحُفٌ
فإنّما هي أجداثٌ وأكفانُ
The people are dead, and if they have scriptures
They are but shrouds and winding sheets
أَلستَ تُبصِرُها سُوداً مُذمَّمةً
نُكْداً يُجلِّلُها خِزيٌ وخِذلانُ
Do you not see them gloomy, smeared in disgrace
Debased, clothed in shame and abandonment
يَعافُها كلُّ ذي لُبٍّ وتَمقُتُها
من جِلّةِ القومِ أبصارٌ وآذانُ
They are shunned by all with sense, detested
By the eyes and ears of all noble folk
يظلُّ يرقُبُ حُكمَ اللهِ في يدهِ
إن مسَّها من ذوي الألبابِ إنسانُ
He continues hoping to witness God's judgment befall them
If they are touched by one human with reason
خرائبُ الشُّؤمِ ما تنفكُّ ناعقةً
تبكي بأرجائها بُومٌ وغِربانُ
The ruins of ill fortune cry out
With owls and crows in all corners
زال العَمَى فإذا المعبودُ مِلْهَيَةٌ
من الدُّمَى وإذا المحسود شيطانُ
The blindness lifted, the worshipped are idols
Of bodies, the envied is Satan
سِرْ يا مُحمّدُ لا تُشغلك ضجّتُهم
هل يُشغِلُ اللّيثَ أن تهتاجَ جِرذانُ
Go in peace Muhammad, do not let their clamor distract you
Does a lion worry when mice squeak?
إنّا نَعُدُّكَ للجُلىَّ وأنت لها
كُفْءٌ إذا قلَّ أكفاءٌ وأقرانُ
We count you among the exalted, and you are their match
When peers and equals are few
ابنِ الحياةَ لشعبٍ هان جانبُهُ
إذ كلُّ شعبٍ له في العزّ بُنيانُ
Son of the living! Your people's flank has fallen
For each people has in glory a structure
الزرعُ حولك ذاوٍ والثّرى يَبِسٌ
والعبقريّةُ أنهارٌ وخُلجانُ
The crops around you are withered and the earth is barren
While genius is rivers and streams
كم دفّق العلم فيّاض البيانِ له
من العُقوق وسوءِ الصّنعِ سجّانُ
How the torrent of your eloquent knowledge poured
From the shackles of ingratitude and ill treatment
يا مُنصِفَ الشّعبِ مّمن كان يظلمه
أنصِفْ قُوىً غَالَها ظُلمٌ وعُدوانُ
O you who fair judged the people against their oppressors
Fair judge the country's forces that wrongdoing overwhelmed
قُوى البلادِ تُعينُ العاملينَ بها
وما لها من وُلاةِ الأمرِ أعوانُ
The country's forces assist those who work in them
While from their rulers they have no allies
هم عاقبونا بحرمانٍ وإن ضَمِنوا
رِزقَ الأُلىَ لم نَهُنْ يوماً كما هانوا
They punished us with deprivation, and even if they guaranteed
The livelihood of the people, we never despaired like they did
لا أكفُرُ اللهَ بعضُ البُؤسِ مَنقبةٌ
للفاضلينَ وبعضُ الرزقِ حرمانُ
The wretchedness of deprivation is a distinction
For the virtuous, and denial of sustenance a trial
الحكمُ عند ذوي الألبابِ أَربعةٌ
عزمٌ وحزمٌ ومعروف وإحسانُ
Rule in the view of the wise has four aspects
Resolve, discretion, kindness, and beneficence
