فَتى الشِعرِ هَذا مَوطِنُ الصِدقِ وَالهُدى

فَلا تَكذِبِ التاريخَ إِن كُنتَ مُنشِدا

O bard, here is the abode of truth and guidance

So do not falsify history if you are a chanter

لَقَد حانَ تَوديعُ العَميدِ وَإِنَّهُ

حَقيقٌ بِتَشييعِ المُحِبّينَ وَالعِدا

The time has come to bid farewell to the leader

It is right that lovers and enemies bid him farewell

فَوَدِّع لَنا الطَودَ الَّذي كانَ شامِخاً

وَشَيِّع لَنا البَحرَ الَّذي كانَ مُزبِدا

So bid farewell for us to the towering mountain

And walk with us to the sea that was turbulent

وَزَوِّدهُ عَنّا بِالكَرامَةِ كُلِّها

وَإِن لَم يَكُن بِالباقِياتِ مُزَوَّدا

And send him our utmost reverence

Even if he was not provisioned with eternal possessions

فَلِم لا نَرى الأَهرامَ يا نيلُ مُيَّداً

وَفِرعَونُ عَن واديكَ مُرتَحِلٌ غَدا

Why do we not see the pyramids collapsing, O Nile

And Pharaoh departing from your valley tomorrow

كَأَنَّكَ لَم تَجزَع عَلَيهِ وَلَم تَكُن

تَرى في حِمى فِرعَونَ أَمناً وَلا جَدا

As if you were not saddened by him and did not

See safety and stability in Pharaoh’s protection

سَلامٌ وَلَو أَنّا نُسيءُ إِلى الأُلى

أَساؤوا إِلَينا ما مَدَدنا لَهُم يَدا

Peace, even if we do wrong to the dearest ones

They have wronged us, we would not have extended a hand to them

سَنُطري أَياديكَ الَّتي قَد أَفَضتَها

عَلَينا فَلَسنا أُمَّةً تَجحَدُ اليَدا

We will fold the hands you extended to us

For we are not an ungrateful nation

أَمِنّا فَلَم يَسلُك بِنا الخَوفُ مَسلَكاً

وَنِمنا فَلَم يَطرُق لَنا الذُعرُ مَرقَدا

We felt safe so fear did not take its course

And we slept so terror did not disturb our slumber

وَكُنتَ رَحيمَ القَلبِ تَحمي ضَعيفَنا

وَتَدفَعُ عَنّا حادِثَ الدَهرِ إِن عَدا

You were kind-hearted, protecting our weak

And averting the vicissitudes of fate if they harmed

وَلَولا أَسىً في دِنشِوايَ وَلَوعَةٌ

وَفاجِعَةٌ أَدمَت قُلوباً وَأَكبُدا

If not for the sorrow in Dinshaway and anguish

And tragedy that saddened hearts and livers

وَرَميُكَ شَعباً بِالتَعَصُّبِ غافِلاً

وَتَصويرُكَ الشَرقِيَّ غِرّاً مُجَرَّدا

And your depiction of the East as a naked savage

And making the people zealously biased

لَذُبنا أَسىً يَومَ الوَداعِ لِأَنَّنا

نَرى فيكَ ذاكَ المُصلِحَ المُتَوَدِّدا

We would have felt sorrow on the day of farewell

For we see in you that reconciling reformer

تَشَعَّبَتِ الآراءُ فيكَ فَقائِلٌ

أَفادَ الغِنى أَهلَ البِلادِ وَأَسعَدا

Opinions diverged regarding you, one says

You enriched the people of the country and made them prosper

وَكانَت لَهُ في المُصلِحينَ سِياسَةٌ

تَرَخَّصَ فيها تارَةً وَتَشَدَّدا

And you had a policy with reformers

Where sometimes you were lenient, other times firm

رَأى العِزَّ كُلَّ العِزِّ في بَسطَةِ الغِنى

فَحارَبَ جَيشَ الفَقرِ حَتّى تَبَدَّدا

He saw all glory in enriching the people

So he fought the army of poverty until it scattered

وَأَمتَعَكُم بِالنيلِ فَهوَ مُبارَكٌ

عَلى أَهلِهِ خِصباً وَرِيّاً وَمَورِدا

And he provided you with the blessed Nile

Fertile, quenching, and purveying for its people

وَسَنَّ لَكُم حُرِّيَّةَ القَولِ عِندَما

رَأى القَولَ في أَسرِ السُكوتِ مُقَيَّدا

And allowed freedom of speech when

He saw speech bound and shackled in silence

وَآخَرُ لَم يَقصِر عَلى المالِ هَمَّهُ

يَرى أَنَّ ذاكَ المالَ لا يَكفُلُ الهُدى

Another did not focus only on wealth

He sees that wealth alone does not ensure guidance

فَلا يَحمَدُ الإِثراءَ حَتّى يَزينَهُ

بِعِلمٍ وَخَيرُ العِلمِ ما كانَ مُرشِدا

So he does not praise enriching

Unless adorned with knowledge, and the best knowledge guides

يُناديكَ قَد أَزرَيتَ بِالعِلمِ وَالحِجا

وَلَم تُبقِ لِلتَعليمِ يا لُردُ مَعهَدا

He calls out to you, you have aided with knowledge and proof

And did not leave any institute for education intact

وَأَنَّكَ أَخصَبتَ البِلادَ تَعَمُّداً

وَأَجدَبتَ في مِصرَ العُقولَ تَعَمُّدا

And you willfully made the country fertile

Yet willfully made minds barren in Egypt

قَضَيتَ عَلى أُمِّ اللُغاتِ وَإِنَّهُ

قَضاءٌ عَلَينا أَو سَبيلٌ إِلى الرَدى

You destroyed the mother of all languages, and that

Is ruin upon us or a path to demise

وَوافَيتَ وَالقُطرانِ في ظِلِّ رايَةٍ

فَما زِلتَ بِالسودانِ حَتّى تَمَرَّدا

You met your end under the banner of darkness

So you continued to rebel in the Sudan until you fell

فَطاحَ كَما طاحَت مُصَوَّعُ بَعدَهُ

وَضاعَت مَساعينا بِأَطماعِكُم سُدى

Just as your successor fell afterwards

And our efforts were lost due to your greed

حَجَبتَ ضِياءَ الصُحفِ عَن ظُلُماتِهِ

وَلَم تَستَقِل حَتّى حَجَبتَ المُؤَيَّدا

You obscured the light of journalism from its darkness

And did not have independence until you obscured the supported one

وَأَودَعتَ تَقريرَ الوَداعِ مَغامِزاً

رَأَينا جَفاءَ الطَبعِ فيها مُجَسَّدا

And deposited your farewell concealing ridicule

We saw the coldness of your nature embodied in it

غَمَزتَ بِها دينَ النَبِيِّ وَإِنَّنا

لَنَغضَبُ إِن أَغضَبتَ في القَبرِ أَحمَدا

You ridiculed the religion of the Prophet, and we

Will be angry if you angered Ahmad in his grave

يُناديكَ أَينَ النابِغونَ بِعَهدِكُم

وَأَيُّ بِناءٍ شامِخٍ قَد تَجَدَّدا

He calls out to you, where are the brilliant poets in your time

And which lofty constructions were renewed

فَما عَهدُ إِسماعيلَ وَالعَيشُ ضَيِّقٌ

بِأَجدَبَ مِن عَهدٍ لَكُم سالَ عَسجَدا

The days of Ismail and living straitened

Are more fertile than your days which flowed with misery

يُناديكَ وَلَّيتَ الوِزارَةَ هَيئَةً

مِنَ الصُمِّ لَم تَسمَع لِأَصواتِنا صَدى

He calls out, you appointed the ministry an assembly

Of the deaf who did not hear our voices echo

فَلَيسَ بِها عِندَ التَشاوُرِ مِن فَتىً

أَبِيٍّ إِذا ما أَصدَرَ الأَمرَ أَورَدا

It does not have among its members in consultation

An eloquent man who utters or enforces a decree

بِرَبِّكَ ماذا صَدَّنا وَلَوى بِنا

عَنِ القَصدِ إِن كانَ السَبيلُ مُمَهَّدا

By your Lord, what distracted us and bent us

Away from propriety, if the path was paved

أَشَرتَ بِرَأيٍ في كِتابِكَ لَم يَكُن

سَديداً وَلَكِن كانَ سَهماً مُسَدَّدا

You presented an opinion in your book which was not

Upright, but it was an arrow aimed straight

وَحاوَلتَ إِعطاءَ الغَريبِ مَكانَةً

تَجُرُّ عَلَينا الوَيلَ وَالذُلَّ سَرمَدا

And you tried to give the foreigner a status

That would bring upon us endless woe and humiliation

فَيا وَيلَ مِصرٍ يَومَ تَشقى بِنَدوَةٍ

يَبيتُ بِها ذاكَ الغَريبُ مُسَوَّدا

Woe to Egypt on the day it suffers with yearning

In which that foreigner spends the night empowered

أَلَم يَكفِنا أَنّا سُلِبنا ضِياعَنا

عَلى حينِ لَم نَبلُغ مِنَ الفِطنَةِ المَدى

Is it not enough that our lands were taken from us

While we had not yet reached the peak of awareness

وَزاحَمَنا في العَيشِ كُلُّ مُمارِسٍ

خَبيرٍ وَكُنّا جاهِلينَ وَرُقَّدا

And every proficient practitioner crowded us out of livelihood

While we were ignorant and dormant

وَما الشَرِكاتُ السودُ في كُلِّ بَلدَةٍ

سِوى شَرَكٍ يُلقي بِهِ مَن تَصَيَّدا

And what are the foreign corporations in every town

Except shares that enable the cunning to hunt

فَهَذا حَديثُ الناسِ وَالناسُ أَلسُنٌ

إِذا قالَ هَذا صاحَ ذاكَ مُفَنِّدا

This is people's discourse, and people are tongues

If this one spoke, that one refuted invigorated

وَلَو كُنتُ مِن أَهلِ السِياسَةِ بَينَهُم

لَسَجَّلتُ لي رَأياً وَبُلِّغتُ مَقصِدا

If I were of the politicians among them

I would have recorded an opinion and conveyed a purpose

وَلَكِنَّني في مَعرِضِ القَولِ شاعِرٌ

أَضافَ إِلى التاريخِ قَولاً مُخَلَّدا

But I am disposed to poetry, a poet

Who adds to history immortal words

فَيا أَيُّها الشَيخُ الجَليلُ تَحِيَّةً

وَيا أَيُّها القَصرُ المُنيفُ تَجَلُّدا

O venerable Elder, greetings

And O splendid palace, endure

لَئِن غابَ هَذا اللَيثُ عَنكَ لِعِلَّةٍ

لَقَد لَبِثَت آثارُهُ فيكَ شُهَّدا

If this lion is absent from you due to illness

His impact remains fixed in you eternally