كَم ذا يُكابِدُ عاشِقٌ وَيُلاقي
في حُبِّ مِصرَ كَثيرَةِ العُشّاقِ
How long must a lover suffer and endure,
When Egypt has so many lovers?
إِنّي لَأَحمِلُ في هَواكِ صَبابَةً
يا مِصرُ قَد خَرَجَت عَنِ الأَطواقِ
Truly, I bear within your love a passion—
O Egypt—that has burst all bounds.
لَهفي عَلَيكِ مَتى أَراكِ طَليقَةً
يَحمي كَريمَ حِماكِ شَعبٌ راقي
Alas for you! When shall I see you free,
Your sanctuary guarded by a noble, cultivated people,
كَلِفٌ بِمَحمودِ الخِلالِ مُتَيَّمٌ
بِالبَذلِ بَينَ يَدَيكِ وَالإِنفاقِ
Enamored of praiseworthy qualities, passionately devoted,
Lavishing sacrifice before you, giving without stint?
إِنّي لَتُطرِبُني الخِلالُ كَريمَةً
طَرَبَ الغَريبِ بِأَوبَةٍ وَتَلاقي
Noble qualities indeed enrapture me,
As an exile thrills at homecoming and reunion.
وَتَهُزُّني ذِكرى المُروءَةِ وَالنَدى
بَينَ الشَمائِلِ هِزَّةَ المُشتاقِ
The memory of chivalry and generosity stirs me
Among all virtues with a lover’s tremor.
ما البابِلِيَّةُ في صَفاءِ مِزاجِها
وَالشَربُ بَينَ تَنافُسٍ وَسِباقِ
Not Babylonian wine, for all the purity of its blend,
Nor drinking amid rivalry and competition,
وَالشَمسُ تَبدو في الكُئوسِ وَتَختَفي
وَالبَدرُ يُشرِقُ مِن جَبينِ الساقي
Nor the sun appearing in the cups and disappearing,
Nor the moon rising from the cupbearer’s brow,
بِأَلَذَّ مِن خُلُقٍ كَريمٍ طاهِرٍ
قَد مازَجَتهُ سَلامَةُ الأَذواقِ
Is sweeter than a noble, stainless character
Mingled with soundness of taste.
فَإِذا رُزِقتَ خَليقَةً مَحمودَةً
فَقَدِ اِصطَفاكَ مُقَسِّمُ الأَرزاقِ
If you are granted a commendable disposition,
The Apportioner of all provisions has chosen you.
فَالناسُ هَذا حَظُّهُ مالٌ وَذا
عِلمٌ وَذاكَ مَكارِمُ الأَخلاقِ
Among people, this one’s portion is wealth, another’s
Is knowledge, and another’s noble character.
وَالمالُ إِن لَم تَدَّخِرهُ مُحَصَّناً
بِالعِلمِ كانَ نِهايَةَ الإِملاقِ
Wealth, unless you store it fortified
By knowledge, ends in utter poverty.
وَالعِلمُ إِن لَم تَكتَنِفهُ شَمائِلٌ
تُعليهِ كانَ مَطِيَّةَ الإِخفاقِ
And knowledge, unless surrounded by virtues
That exalt it, becomes a mount to failure.
لا تَحسَبَنَّ العِلمَ يَنفَعُ وَحدَهُ
ما لَم يُتَوَّج رَبُّهُ بِخَلاقِ
Never suppose that knowledge profits by itself
Unless its possessor is crowned with character.
كَم عالِمٍ مَدَّ العُلومَ حَبائِلاً
لِوَقيعَةٍ وَقَطيعَةٍ وَفِراقِ
How many a scholar has stretched the sciences out as snares
For hostility, estrangement, and division;
وَفَقيهِ قَومٍ ظَلَّ يَرصُدُ فِقهَهُ
لِمَكيدَةٍ أَو مُستَحَلِّ طَلاقِ
And how many a people’s jurist has held his learning in reserve
For some intrigue, or for one seeking license to divorce.
يَمشي وَقَد نُصِبَت عَلَيهِ عِمامَةٌ
كَالبُرجِ لَكِن فَوقَ تَلِّ نِفاقِ
He walks with a turban erected upon him
Like a tower—but raised on a hill of hypocrisy.
يَدعونَهُ عِندَ الشِقاقِ وَما دَرَوا
أَنَّ الَّذي يَدعونَ خِدنُ شِقاقِ
They summon him when quarrels break out, never knowing
That the man they summon is discord’s intimate friend.
وَطَبيبِ قَومٍ قَد أَحَلَّ لِطِبِّهِ
ما لا تُحِلُّ شَريعَةُ الخَلّاقِ
And a people’s physician has made lawful for his medicine
What the Creator’s law does not permit:
قَتَلَ الأَجِنَّةَ في البُطونِ وَتارَةً
جَمَعَ الدَوانِقَ مِن دَمٍ مُهراقِ
Killing unborn children in the womb, and sometimes
Gathering petty coins from blood that has been shed.
أَغلى وَأَثمَنُ مِن تَجارِبِ عِلمِهِ
يَومَ الفَخارِ تَجارِبُ الحَلّاقِ
Dearer and more precious than the trials of his science,
On the day of boasting, are the barber’s experiments.
وَمُهَندِسٍ لِلنيلِ باتَ بِكَفِّهِ
مِفتاحُ رِزقِ العامِلِ المِطراقِ
And a Nile engineer spends the night holding in his hand
The key to the hammering laborer’s livelihood.
تَندى وَتَيبَسُ لِلخَلائِقِ كَفُّهُ
بِالماءِ طَوعَ الأَصفَرِ البَرّاقِ
His palm moistens or dries for humankind,
Dispensing water at glittering gold’s command.
لا شَيءَ يَلوي مِن هَواهُ فَحَدُّهُ
في السَلبِ حَدُّ الخائِنِ السَرّاقِ
Nothing turns him from his desire or holds him back;
In plunder he reaches the limit of traitorous thieves.
وَأَديبِ قَومٍ تَستَحِقُّ يَمينُهُ
قَطعَ الأَنامِلِ أَو لَظى الإِحراقِ
And a people’s writer whose right hand deserves
Its fingers severed—or the blaze of burning fire.
يَلهو وَيَلعَبُ بِالعُقولِ بَيانُهُ
فَكَأَنَّهُ في السِحرِ رُقيَةُ راقي
His prose toys and plays with minds,
As though, in sorcery, it were a sorcerer’s incantation.
في كَفِّهِ قَلَمٌ يَمُجُّ لُعابُهُ
سُمّاً وَيَنفِثُهُ عَلى الأَوراقِ
In his hand is a pen whose saliva drips
As poison, spat across the pages.
يَرِدُ الحَقائِقَ وَهيَ بيضٌ نُصَّعٌ
قُدسِيَّةٌ عُلوِيَّةُ الإِشراقِ
He strikes down truths while they are gleaming white,
Sacred and sublime in radiance,
فَيَرُدُّها سوداً عَلى جَنَباتِها
مِن ظُلمَةَ التَمويهِ أَلفُ نِطاقِ
Then sends them back blackened on every side,
Bound in a thousand bands of falsifying darkness.
عَرِيَت عَنِ الحَقِّ المُطَهَّرِ نَفسُهُ
فَحَياتُهُ ثِقلٌ عَلى الأَعناقِ
His own soul is stripped of purifying truth,
So his life weighs heavily upon people’s necks.
لَو كانَ ذا خُلُقٍ لَأَسعَدَ قَومَهُ
بِبَيانِهِ وَيَراعِهِ السَبّاقِ
Had he possessed character, he would have blessed his people
With his eloquence and his swift-running pen.
مَن لي بِتَربِيَةِ النِساءِ فَإِنَّها
في الشَرقِ عِلَّةُ ذَلِكَ الإِخفاقِ
Who will undertake the education of women? For it is
In the East the cause of this failure.
الأُمُّ مَدرَسَةٌ إِذا أَعدَدتَها
أَعدَدتَ شَعباً طَيِّبَ الأَعراقِ
The mother is a school: if you prepare her well,
You prepare a people of excellent stock.
الأُمُّ رَوضٌ إِن تَعَهَّدَهُ الحَيا
بِالرِيِّ أَورَقَ أَيَّما إيراقِ
The mother is a garden: if life-giving rain tends it
With watering, it puts forth leaves in glorious abundance.
الأُمُّ أُستاذُ الأَساتِذَةِ الأُلى
شَغَلَت مَآثِرُهُم مَدى الآفاقِ
The mother is the teacher of those master teachers
Whose achievements have filled the farthest horizons.
أَنا لا أَقولُ دَعوا النِساءَ سَوافِراً
بَينَ الرِجالِ يَجُلنَ في الأَسواقِ
I do not say: let women go unveiled,
Roaming among men throughout the markets,
يَدرُجنَ حَيثُ أَرَدنَ لا مِن وازِعٍ
يَحذَرنَ رِقبَتَهُ وَلا مِن واقي
Going wherever they wish, with no deterrent
Whose vigilance they fear and no protector;
يَفعَلنَ أَفعالَ الرِجالِ لِواهِياً
عَن واجِباتِ نَواعِسِ الأَحداقِ
Imitating the deeds of men, heedless
Of the duties proper to languid eyes.
في دورِهِنَّ شُؤونُهُنَّ كَثيرَةٌ
كَشُؤونِ رَبِّ السَيفِ وَالمِزراقِ
Within their homes their responsibilities are many,
As many as those of the wielder of sword and spear.
كَلّا وَلا أَدعوكُمُ أَن تُسرِفوا
في الحَجبِ وَالتَضييقِ وَالإِرهاقِ
Nor do I call upon you to go to excess
In seclusion, constriction, and oppression.
لَيسَت نِساؤُكُمُ حُلىً وَجَواهِراً
خَوفَ الضَياعِ تُصانُ في الأَحقاقِ
Your women are not ornaments and jewels
To be guarded in cases for fear they might be lost.
لَيسَت نِساؤُكُمُ أَثاثاً يُقتَنى
في الدورِ بَينَ مَخادِعٍ وَطِباقِ
Your women are not furnishings to be acquired
And kept in houses among chambers and storeys.
تَتَشَكَّلُ الأَزمانُ في أَدوارِها
دُوَلاً وَهُنَّ عَلى الجُمودِ بَواقي
The ages change their forms through all their cycles,
Passing through states, while women remain frozen in place.
فَتَوَسَّطوا في الحالَتَينِ وَأَنصِفوا
فَالشَرُّ في التَقييدِ وَالإِطلاقِ
Take a middle course between the two conditions, and be just:
For evil lies both in fettering and in unrestrained release.
رَبّوا البَناتِ عَلى الفَضيلَةِ إِنَّها
في المَوقِفَينِ لَهُنَّ خَيرُ وَثاقِ
Raise your daughters upon virtue, for it is
In both conditions the finest bond they can possess.
وَعَلَيكُمُ أَن تَستَبينَ بَناتُكُم
نورَ الهُدى وَعَلى الحَياءِ الباقي
And see that your daughters clearly discern
The light of guidance, while lasting modesty remains.
