ماذا أَصَبتَ مِنَ الأَسفارِ وَالنَصَبِ
وَطَيِّكَ العُمرَ بَينَ الوَخدِ وَالخَبَبِ
What did you gain from all the journeys and hardships,
And spending your life between pillow and blanket?
نَراكَ تَطلُبُ لا هَوناً وَلا كَثَباً
وَلا نَرى لَكَ مِن مالٍ وَلا نَشَبِ
We see you seeking neither ease nor abundance,
With no money or possessions to your name.
لا تُطعِمانِيَ أَنيابَ المَلامِ عَلى
هَذا العِثارِ فَإِنّي مَهبِطُ العَجَبِ
Do not let the jaws of blame bite me
For this failure, I descend from wonder.
وَدِدتُ لَو طَرَحوا بي يَومَ جِئتُهُمُ
في مَسبَحِ الحوتِ أَو في مَسرَحِ العَطَبِ
I wish they had cast me out the day I came to them
In the whale's prayer niche or the lion's den.
لَعَلَّ مانِيَ لاقى ما أُكابِدُهُ
فَوَدَّ تَعجيلَنا مِن عالَمِ الشَجَبِ
Perhaps what I endure would have appeased my wisher
And he would have wished to hasten us from this world of thorns.
إِنّي اِحتَسَبتُ شَباباً بِتُّ أُنفِقُهُ
وَعَزمَةً شابَتِ الدُنيا وَلَم تَشِبِ
I squandered a youth I should have spent
And a resolve the world made white but did not dye.
كَم هِمتُ في البيدِ وَالآرامُ قائِلَةٌ
وَالشَمسُ تَرمي أَديمَ الأَرضِ بِاللَهَبِ
How often I worried in the desert and the ruins slept
While the sun flung the earth's skin with flames.
وَكَم لَبِستُ الدُجى وَالتُربُ ناعِسَةٌ
وَاللَيلُ أَهدَأُ مِن جَأشي لَدى النُوَبِ
And how often I wore the night's gown when the dust slept
While the night was calmer than my sighing beside the fires.
وَالنَجمُ يَعجَبُ مِن أَمري وَيَحسَبُني
لَدى السُرى ثامِناً لِلسَبعَةِ الشُهُبِ
The stars wonder at my affair and think me
Beside thePleiades, an eighth to the seven planets.
لَكِنَّني غَيرُ مَجدودٍ وَما فَتِئَت
يَدُ المَقاديرِ تُقصيني عَنِ الأَرَبِ
But I am not auspicious, and the hand of fate
Keeps pushing me away from success.
وَقَد غَدَوتُ وَآمالي مُطَرَّحَةٌ
وَفي أُمورِيَ ما لِلضَبِّ في الذَنَبِ
I have risen while my hopes lie discarded
And in my affairs, confusion reigns supreme.
فَإِن تَكُن نِسبَتي لِلشَرقِ مانِعَتي
حَظّاً فَواهاً لِمَجدِ التُركِ وَالعَرَبِ
If my lineage to the East prevents me
From the Turks' and Arabs' glory, alas!
وَقاضِباتٍ لَهُم كانَت إِذا اِختُرِطَت
تَدَثَّرَ الغَربُ في ثَوبٍ مِنَ الرَهَبِ
It used to be when they were provoked
The West donned a robe of monasticism.
وَجَمرَةٍ لَهُم في الشَرقِ ما هَمَدَت
وَلا عَلاها رَمادُ الخَتلِ وَالكَذِبِ
And their ember in the East did not die out
Nor did the ashes of decadence and falsehood extinguish it.
مَتى أَرى النيلَ لا تَحلو مَوارِدُهُ
لِغَيرِ مُرتَهِبٍ لِلَّهِ مُرتَقِبِ
When will I see the Nile, its channels not sweetened
By anyone but those hoping in God and fearing Him?
فَقَد غَدَت مِصرُ في حالٍ إِذا ذُكِرَت
جادَت جُفوني لَها بِاللُؤلُؤِ الرَطِبِ
Egypt has reached a state that when mentioned
My eyelids overflow for it with moist pearls
كَأَنَّني عِندَ ذِكري ما أَلَمَّ بِها
قَرمٌ تَرَدَّدَ بَينَ المَوتِ وَالهَرَبِ
As if when I remember what befell it
I am a hyena, wavering between death and flight.
إِذا نَطَقتُ فَقاعُ السِجنِ مُتَّكَأٌ
وَإِن سَكَتُّ فَإِنَّ النَفسَ لَم تَطِبِ
When the prison bubbles, I lean
And when silent, still my soul is not content.
أَيَشتَكي الفَقرَ غادينا وَرائِحُنا
وَنَحنُ نَمشي عَلى أَرضٍ مِنَ الذَهَبِ
Does absence make us complain of poverty, going and coming
While we walk on land made of gold?
وَالقَومُ في مِصرَ كَالإِسفِنجِ قَد ظَفِرَت
بِالماءِ لَم يَترُكوا ضَرعاً لِمُحتَلِبِ
The people in Egypt are like a sponge that soaked up
The water, leaving no teat for the milker.
يا آلَ عُثمانَ ما هَذا الجَفاءُ لَنا
وَنَحنُ في اللَهِ إِخوانٌ وَفي الكُتُبِ
O house of Osman, what is this estrangement from us
When in God we are brothers and in scriptures?
تَرَكتُمونا لِأَقوامٍ تُخالِفُنا
في الدينِ وَالفَضلِ وَالأَخلاقِ وَالأَدَبِ
You left us to people contrary to us
In religion, merit, morals and manners.
