وَجه القَضية مِن جِهادك مُشرقُ
وَعَلى جِهادك مِن وقارك رَونَقُ
The face of the Cause shines through your struggle;
and through your struggle it wears the luster of your dignity.
لِلّه قَلبك في الكُهولة إِنَّهُ
تَرك الشَبيبة في حَياءٍ تطرقُ
What a heart is yours in old age! Indeed,
it left youth abashed, with head bowed—
قَلب وَراء الشَيب مُتقد الصِبّا
كَالجَمر تَحتَ رَماده يَتَحَرَّقُ
a heart behind gray hairs, ablaze with youthful passion,
like an ember smoldering beneath its ashes.
أَقدَمتَ حَتّى ظلَّ يَعجب واجِماً
جَيش مِن الأَيام حَولك محدقُ
You pressed forward until there stood, struck dumb with wonder,
an army of days encircling you.
تِلكَ الثَمانون التي وَفّيتها
في نصفها عذرٌ لِمَن لا يَلحَقُ
Those eighty years that you fulfilled—
half of them would excuse anyone unable to keep pace.
لَكِن سَبقت بِها فَما لمقصّرٍ
سَبَب لمعذرة به يتعلّق
Yet you raced through them, leaving the laggard
no grounds for an excuse to cling to.
عَمّرتَها كَالدَوح ظاهر عَوده
صلب وَما يَنفك غَضاً يورقُ
You lived them like a great tree, its visible trunk
stout, yet ever tender, ever leafing.
وَطَني أَخاف عَلَيك قَوماً أَصبَحوا
يَتَساءلون مَن الزَعيم الأَليقُ
My country, I fear for you a people who have begun
asking one another: Who is the worthiest leader?
لا تَفتَحوا بابَ الشقاق فَإِنَّهُ
باب عَلى سود العَواقب مُغلَقُ
Do not open the door of dissension, for it is
a door sealed upon dire consequences.
وَاللَه لا يُرجى الخَلاص وَأَمرَكُم
فَوضى وَشَمل العاملين ممزقُ
By God, no deliverance can be hoped for while your affairs
are chaos and the ranks of those who labor are torn apart.
أَينَ الصُفوف تَنَسّقَت فَكَأَنَّما
هِيَ حائط دون الهَوان وَخَندقُ
Where are the ranks, arrayed as though
they were a wall and trench against humiliation?
أَينَ القُلوب تَأَلَّفَت فَتَدافَعَت
تَغشى اللَهيب وَكُل قَلب فَيلقُ
Where are the hearts that united and surged forward,
braving the flames, every heart an army?
أَينَ الأَكُفُّ تَصافَحَت وَتَساجَلَت
تَبني وَتَصنع لِلخَلاص وَتنفقُ
Where are the hands that clasped and vied with one another,
building, making, spending for deliverance?
أَما الزَعامةُ فَالحَوادث أُمُّها
تُعطى على قَدر الفِداء وَتُرزَقُ
As for leadership, events themselves give it birth;
it is granted and bestowed according to the measure of sacrifice.
يا ابنَ البِلاد وَأَنتَ سيد أَرضِها
وَسَمائِها إِنّي عَليك لمشفقُ
O son of the land—you who are lord of its earth
and its sky—I fear for you.
انظر لِعيشك هَل يسرك أَنَّهُ
وِردٌ يَغيض وَهجرة تَتَدفقُ
Look at your livelihood: does it please you that it is
a spring dwindling away while emigration pours forth?
ماذا يردّ الظلم عَنك أَحسرةٌ
أَم زَفرَةٌ أَم عَبرةٌ تَتَرقرقُ
What can repel oppression from you—a pang of regret,
a moan, or a tear trembling in the eye?
أَم بثُّك الشَكوى تَظن بَيانَها
سحراً وَحجَّتها الضحى يَتَأَلَقُ
Or do you pour out your grievance, imagining its eloquence
to be magic, though its proof shines bright as noon?
لا تَلجَأنَّ إِذا ظُلِمتَ لِمَنطق
فَهُناك أَضيع ما يَكون المَنطِقُ
When wronged, never take refuge in rhetoric:
there, rhetoric is at its most futile.
أَفضى الرَئيس إِلى ظِلال نَعيمه
وَاِرتاحَ قَلبٌ بِالقَضية يَخفق
The President has passed into the shades of bliss,
and a heart that beat for the Cause has come to rest.
آثاره ملءُ العُيون وَروحه
ملءُ الصُدور وَذكره لا يَخلقُ
His deeds fill all eyes, and his spirit
fills every breast; his memory never grows old.
Sol 5.6