أَصابَ المُجاهِدُ عُقبى الشَهيدِ
وَأَلقى عَصاهُ المُضافُ الشَريد
The mujahid attained the rank of martyr,
And cast off his staff, dispossessed and exiled.
وَأَمسى جَماداً عَدُوُّ الجُمودِ
وَباتَ عَلى القَيدِ خَصمُ القُيود
His enemy, inertness, became inanimate,
While he who had freed the fettered spent the night fettered.
حَداهُ السِفارُ إِلى مَنزِلٍ
يُلاقي الخَفيفَ عَلَيهِ الوَئيد
Exile urged him on to an abode
Where the blithe spirit meets the woeful corpse.
فَقَرَّ إِلى موعِدٍ صادِقٍ
مُعِزُّ اليَقينِ مُذِلُّ الجُحود
So he came closer to a trustworthy appointment-
The meeting that confirms certainty and humbles denial.
وَباتَ الحَوارِيُّ مِن صاحِبَيهِ
شَهَيدَينِ أَسرى إِلَيهِم شَهيد
Thus the disciple spent the night between two martyred companions-
Martyrs to whom a martyr flowed gently between arms and shoulders.
تَسَرَّبَ في مَنكِبَي مُصطَفى
كَأَمسِ وَبَينَ ذِراعَي فَريد
So blessed be your grave that hoarded treasures,
Observed rights, and kept covenants!
فَيا لَكَ قَبراً أَكَنَّ الكُنوزَ
وَساجَ الحُقوقَ وَحاطَ العُهود
Indeed, they sheathed in you the sharpest sword;
O grave, have you a scabbard more faithful than they?
لَقَد غَيَّبوا فيكَ أَمضى السُيوفِ
فَهَل أَنتَ يا قَبرُ أَوفى الغُمود
Three creeds in one hollow
That pound mountains and raze iron to dust;
ثَلاثُ عَقائِدَ في حُفرَةٍ
تَدُكُّ الجِبالَ وَتوهي الحَديد
They sat and became a sturdy foundation
Upon which the splendid structure was erected.
قَعَدنَ فَكُنَّ الأَساسَ المَتينَ
وَقامَ عَلَيها البِناءُ المَشيد
Do not forget the favors of yesterday-
Lo! Yesterday is the foundation of existence.
فَلا تَنسَ أَمسِ وَآلاءَهُ
أَلا إِنَّ أَمسِ أَساسُ الوُجود
Were it not for decay in the corners of tombs
No antiquity would manifest itself to be renewed.
وَلَولا البِلى في زَوايا القُبورِ
لَما ظَهَرَت جِدَّةٌ لِلمُهود
Whoever seeks the qualities from their treasure,
Let them know that creed is an ancient treasure,
وَمَن طَلَبَ الخُلقَ مِن كَنزِهِ
فَإِنَّ العَقيدَةَ كَنزٌ عَتيد
Learned through steadfastness or constancy-
The coolness of men, and the passion of the ardent.
تَعَلَّمَ بِالصَبرِ أَو بِالثَباتِ
جَليدُ الرِجالِ وَغَيرُ الجَليد
Hounded by politics from youth,
The hounded one deserves to take his rest.
طَريدَ السِياسَةِ مُنذُ الشَبابِ
لَقَد آنَ أَن يَستَريحَ الطَريد
You encountered its wiles,
And nothing contrives cunning like politics.
لَقيتَ الدَواهِيَ مِن كَيدِها
وَما كَالسِياسَةِ داهٍ يَكيد
You took on what no soul can endure
And exceeded the utmost effort.
حَمَلتَ عَلى النَفسِ ما لا يُطا
قُ وَجاوَزَتِ المُسَتَطاعَ الجُهود
You were tossed into the fire like pure gold
And exiled like the unique pearl.
وَقُلِّبتَ في النارِ مِثلَ النُضا
رِ وَغُرِّبتَ مِثلَ الجُمانِ الفَريد
Do you remember when you were under the banner
Of the prophet, eminent in status, restraining the multitudes?
أَتَذكُرُ إِذ أَنتَ تَحتَ اللِواءِ
نَبيهَ المَكانَةِ لِجَمَّ العَديد
When you looked upon the two banks,
Perhaps the countryside beckoned to you and the floodplains stirred;
إِذا ما تَطَلَّعتَ في الشاطِئَينِ
رَبا الريفُ وَاِفتَنَّ فيكَ الصَعيد
The wind shook your shoulders
And the earth slid from the jostling throng.
وَهَزَّ النَدِيُّ لَكَ المَنكِبَينِ
وَراحَ الثَرى مِن زِحامٍ يَميد
Missives pouring with elegant prose
And making one forget the epistles of Abdel Hamid.
رَسائِلُ تُذري بِسَجعِ البَديعِ
وَتُنسي رَسائِلَ عَبدِ الحَميد
The elders of sanctuaries know them like hadith
While the youth memorize them like chanting.
يَعيها شُيوخُ الحِمى كَالحَديثِ
وَيَحفَظُها النَشءُ حِفظَ النَشيد
Why then did events deny them?
The passage of time and the passing of generations?
فَما بالُها نَكِرَتها الأُمورُ
وَطولُ المَدى وَاِنتِقالُ الجُدود
The people forgot the recent past;
Will its narratives have someone to repeat them?
لَقَد نَسِيَ القَومُ أَمسِ القَريبَ
فَهَل لِأَحاديثِهِ مِن مُعيد
They say: What business has Abou Nasser
With the Turks or the Indians?
يَقولونَ ما لِأَبي ناصِرٍ
وَلِلتُركِ ما شَأنُهُ وَالهُنود
Why take on the concerns of kin
And the concerns of distant people?
وَفيمَ تَحَمَّلَ هَمَّ القَريبِ
مِنَ المُسلِمينَ وَهَمَّ البَعيد
So I said: How does it harm you
If the Muslims have a rightly-guided leader?
فَقُلتُ وَما ضَرَّكُم أَن يَقومَ
مِنَ المُسلِمينَ إِمامٌ رَشيد
Do you think it too much they have one
When the ancients left heirs to the iron?
أَتَستَكثِرونَ لَهُم واحِداً
وَلّى القَديمُ نَصيرَ الحَديد
He strove to reconcile hearts
And did not return to the guidance of the Revered Book.
سَعى لِيُؤَلِّفَ بَينَ القُلوبِ
فَلَم يَعدُ هَديَ الكِتابِ المَجيد
He tightened the bonds of religion in his land
And called the unbelievers to God.
يَشُدُّ عُرا الدينِ في دارِهِ
وَيَدعو إِلى اللَهِ أَهلَ الجُحود
And the people, even beyond the wastelands,
Have preachers who sing and missionaries who guide.
وَلِلقَومِ حَتّى وَراءَ القِفارِ
دُعاةٌ تُغَنّى وَرُسلٌ تَشيد
May God reward a beneficent king
Merciful of heart and kind of vein,
جَزى اللَهُ مَلكاً مِنَ المُحسِنين
رَؤوفُ الفُؤادِ رحيمُ الوَريد
As if eloquence in his days
Was like the sciences in the shade of the Rightly Guided,
كَأَنَّ البَيانَ بِأَيّامِهِ
أَوِ العِلمَ تَحتَ ظِلالِ الرَشيد
Healing the wounds of the generous
And seeking them out in the corners of exile.
يُداوي نَداهُ جِراحَ الكِرامِ
وَيُدرِكُهُم في زَوايا اللُحود
He sheltered your family from their time
And showed them favor in terrible tribulation.
أَجارَ عِيالَكَ مِن دَهرِهِم
وَجامَلَهُم في البَلاءِ الشَديد
The orphaned girl under his care
And he wiped away the tears of the orphan boy.
تَوَلّى الوَليدَةُ في يُتمِها
وَكَفكَفَ بِالعَطفِ دَمعَ الوَليد
Greetings Abou Nasser in the dust
That makes the dust envy the meadows.
سَلامٌ أَبا ناصِرٍ في التُراب
يُعيرُ التُرابَ رَفيفَ الوُرود
You went far and the mail between us grew distant;
Can there be mail between the living and the dead?
بَعُدتَ وَعَزَّ إِلَيكَ البَريدُ
وَهَل بَينَ حَيٍّ وَمَيتٍ بَريد
Yes, between us are the messengers of memories
And the past that haunts and the tears that flow,
أَجَل بَينَنا رُسلُ الذِكرَياتِ
وَماضٍ يُطيفُ وَدَمعٌ يَجود
And thoughts-if life has tamed them-
Still loiter in the valley of annihilation.
وَفِكرٌ وَإِن عَقَلَتهُ الحَياةُ
يَظَلُّ بِوادي المَنايا يَرود
Yes, between us is the perpetual saddle-wood
Though its rider does not return.
أَجَل بَينَنا الخُشُبُ الدائِباتُ
وَإِن كانَ راكِبُها لا يُعود
Time has passed as it followed after tears,
Established in governing the deserts.
مَضى الدَهرُ وَهيَ وَراءَ الدُموعِ
قِيامٌ بِمُلكِ الصَحارى قُعود
How often it has borne downpours that pour
And how often it has nurtured creeping insects!
وَكَم حَمَلَت مِن صَديدٍ يَسيلُ
وَكَم وَضَعَت مِن حِناشٍ وَدود
I conjure you by death-will you tell me:
Are you wretched in it or happy?
نَشَدتُكَ بِالمَوتِ إِلّا أَبَنتَ
أَأَنتَ شَقِيٌّ بِهِ أَم سَعيد
And how can the stranger be called a man
A guest of forebears, lodging at ancestral homes?
وَكَيفَ يُسَمّى الغَريبَ اِمرُؤٌ
نَزيلُ الأُبُوَّةِ ضَيفُ الجُدود
How can it be said of the neighbor of ghosts
The neighbor of endings, the one and only?
وَكَيفَ يُقالُ لِجارِ الأَوائِ
لِ جارِ الأَواخِرِ ناءٍ وَحيد
