ثغور التهاني للعزيز بواسم — Salah Magdy

ثغور التهاني للعَزيز بواسمُ

وَأَيامه بيض الليالي مَواسمُ

The lips of congratulations smile for the Aziz;

and his days are bright, his nights festive seasons.

وَأَفنان أَدواح التمدّن غرّدت

بمصر عَلَيها للأنام حَمائم

And the boughs of civilization's great trees—there sang

in Egypt, upon them, doves for humankind.

فَأَما المَباني فَهيَ في حسن نَظمِها

بُروجٌ لأفلاك السَماء تُزاحم

As for the buildings, in their beautiful arrangement they are

towers that jostle the spheres of heaven.

وَفي الأَرض للأَبصار تَبدو كَواكب

مِن الغاز للبدر المُنير تنادم

And on earth, stars appear before the eyes,

gas-lit companions of the shining full moon.

وَأَما تقاسيم المِياه فنفعها

عَميم وَفيها للعباد مَراحم

As for the distribution of water, its benefit is

universal, and in it are mercies for the people.

وَمِنها بَساتين القُصور تَفتَّحت

مِن الوَرد بَعدَ الرَيِّ فيها كَمائم

And through them, in the palace gardens have opened

rosebuds, after watering there.

وَأَما المَيادين الَّتي قَد تجددت

وَلاحَت عَلَيها للفخار عَلائم

As for the squares that have been renewed,

and upon which signs of glory have appeared,

فأَشرفها السامي بذكر محمد

عليّ الَّذي هابَت لقاه الضَراغم

the noblest is the lofty one named for Muhammad

Ali, whom the lions feared to meet.

وَمِنها الَّذي في عابدين قصوره

لَها السَعد طُول الدَهر في مصر خادم

Among them is the one in Abdin, whose palaces

have fortune as their servant in Egypt for all time.

وَمِنها الَّذي في الأَزبكية زانه

بَهاء وَحلَّى ما حَواه مناظم

And among them is the one in Azbakiyya, adorned by

splendor, its contents graced by fine arrangements.

وَكَيفَ وِللتفريح فيهِ ملاعبٌ

بهنَّ سُرور للبرية دائم

And how could it be otherwise, with places of amusement within it,

where delight for humankind is everlasting?

وَقصر وليّ العَهد فيهِ كَأَنَّهُ

بِما حَولَهُ فَوق المَجرّة قائم

And within it, the crown prince's palace seems,

with all around it, to stand above the Milky Way.

وَفيهِ سرايات وَفيهِ حَدائق

وَفيهِ لإحياء الفُنون مَعالم

And within it are palaces, and within it gardens;

and within it, landmarks for reviving the arts.

وَفيهِ دُروب تَنتَهي بمنازل

بِها للقرى يَسعى نَزيل وَقادم

And within it are roads that lead to dwellings,

where lodger and newcomer go in search of hospitality.

وَهَيهات يُحصي بَعض ما فيهِ ناثر

وَيحصره بِالعدّ في النَظم ناظم

How far beyond a prose writer is counting even some of what it holds,

or a poet encompassing it by enumeration in verse!

وَفي الجيزة الغرّا أَجلّ سراية

بِهِ للملا في كل وَقت وَلائم

In radiant Giza stands the grandest palace,

where banquets for the people are held at every time.

وَمَيدانها الأَسنى وَقَد فاقَ بِالرضا

تشير إِلَيهِ بِالبَنان الرَواسم

And its most splendid square has surpassed all in favor;

swift-paced camels point toward it with their digits.

وَرَوض سرايات الجَزيرة لَم يَزَل

بِأَبدع ما قَد شيدته الخَضارم

The garden of the Gezira palaces has remained

among the finest works that great lords have built.

وَكُل مَكان في فَضاه عمارة

تسيل بمصر مِن سَماها الغَمائم

And everywhere within its expanse stands a building

from whose sky rain clouds stream over Egypt.

وَأَما أَخاديد الحَديد فَإِنَّها

قَد اِنتَشرت في القطر مِنها مَغانم

As for the iron tracks, indeed,

gains from them have spread throughout the country.

وَراجَت بِها بَعد الكَساد تجارةٌ

لَها اليُمنُ في ظل الأمان مسالم

Through them, trade has flourished after stagnation,

with good fortune dwelling peaceably under safety's shade.

وَقَد غرست في جانبيها بحكمة

لتوصيل أَخبار البَرايا قَوائم

And wisely planted along both sides of them are

poles for conveying the news of humankind.

وَأَما أَراضي مصر فهي جَميعها

لَها الخصب في هَذا الزَمان مُلازم

As for Egypt's lands, all of them

have fertility as their constant companion in this age.

وَفيها مِن الخلجان تجري جَداول

وَتَنساب في الوديان مِنها أَراقم

Within them streams run from the canals,

and serpents from them glide through the valleys.

وَفي مدّة التحريق من كل آلة

بخارية بالماء يصلح عادم

During the parching season, through every machine

powered by steam, the waterless are restored with water.

وَمِن دونها للحفظ في كل بقعة

جسور لتيار المياه تقاوم

And apart from these, for protection in every tract,

embankments resist the current of the waters.

وَفَوق المَجاري وَالمَساقي قَناطر

عَلى سطحها الأَعلى تجوز العَوالم

Above the channels and irrigation courses stand bridges,

across whose upper surface the peoples pass.

وَأَبوابها في الري تفتح تارة

وَتغلق طوراً إِن تراكم عارم

Their gates sometimes open for irrigation,

and sometimes close when a raging flood swells.

وعندَ انصراف الماء تنمو ببهجة

زروع عَلَيها لِلفَلاح مَراسم

When the waters recede, there grow in beauty

crops bearing the signs of prosperity.

وَيَجتمع المَحصول جَمع سلامة

وَتنهلّ في الأَمصار مِنهُ سَواجم

The harvest is gathered safe and sound,

and streams of it pour down upon the cities.

وَأَما مَنيعات الحُصون فقد غَدَت

مَدافعُها للراسيات تصادم

As for the impregnable fortresses, now

their cannons batter the firmly rooted mountains.

وَفي كامل الأَسوار مِنها مَزاغل

صَواعقها للمفسدين رَواجم

Throughout their walls are loopholes,

whose thunderbolts pelt the evildoers.

وَفيها رِجال كَالجِبال وَحَولَها

ليوثٌ وَمِن خَلف الليوث قَشاعم

Within them are men like mountains, and around them

lions, and behind the lions, great eagles.

وَأَما دواوين العَزيز فَإِنَّها

قد ارتفعت للعدل فيها دَعائم

As for the Aziz's offices, indeed,

pillars of justice have risen within them.

فمن أمّ ديوان المعية راجياً

رَفاهيةً فاضَت عَلَيهِ المَكارم

Whoever comes to the Office of the Royal Retinue, seeking

ease, has generous favors poured upon him,

وَقوبل مِنهُ في رياض نضيرة

بوافر خير بحرُه مُتلاطم

and is received there, in verdant gardens,

with abundant goodness, whose ocean surges.

لما أنه في دَولة المَجد وَحده

عَلى كُل ديوان رَئيس وَحاكم

For in the realm of glory, it alone

presides and rules over every office.

وَقَد أَذعَنَت للداخلية وَاِهتَدَت

بإرشادها أَعرابها وَالأَعاجم

And to the Interior have submitted, and found guidance,

through its direction, its Bedouins and non-Arabs.

وَعقلُ شَريفٍ وَهوَ نُورُ سَمائِها

لِأَحكامها مِن غَيهَب الوَهم عاصم

Sharif's mind, the light of its heaven,

guards its rulings against delusion's murky darkness.

وَفي نَفس ديوان الجِهاد صَرامة

تؤيدها عِندَ الخطوب الصَوارم

In the War Office itself is a resolve

supported by sharp swords in times of crisis.

وَصَولة أَبطال الجيوش شَديدة

عَلى مَن تصدّى لِلوَغى وَهوَ ظالم

The charge of the armies' heroes is fierce

against anyone who enters battle as an oppressor.

وَشاهينها في البر وَالبَحر دائِماً

عَلى هامة الأَعداء بِالحَتف حائم

And its Shahin, on land and sea, forever

hovers with death above the enemies' heads.

وَكل لديوان الخَزينة شاكر

عَلى صَرفه الأَموال فيما يُلائم

Everyone is grateful to the Treasury Office

for its spending money on what is fitting.

وَقَد أَبرَز الصدّيق فيهِ مَهارة

بِها كُل قَلب في الحَقيقة هائم

Al-Siddiq has displayed such skill within it

that every heart is truly enthralled by it.

وَإنشاء دِيوان المَدارس شاهد

عَلى أَن محيي دارس العلم حازم

The establishment of the Schools Office bears witness

that the reviver of faded learning is resolute.

وَأَن التَحلي بِالعُلوم فَضيلة

يَسود بِها منا نَبيل وَعالم

And that adorning oneself with knowledge is a virtue

through which a nobleman and scholar among us attain eminence,

وَيبلغ شأو العز تَحت إِدارة

مُباركة مِنها تَزول الطَلاسم

and reach the farthest bounds of honor under an administration

blessed, through which talismans dissolve.

وَيَنتَشر العرفان في مصر كُلِّها

وَيَهدم رُكن الجَهل بِالجَدّ هادم

Learning spreads throughout all Egypt,

and a demolisher, with diligence, tears down ignorance's pillar.

وَترفل في بُرد المَعارف فَتيةٌ

بِتعليمها وَجه المَكاتب باسم

Youths trail proudly in the mantle of learning;

through its teaching, the face of the schools smiles.

وَلا سِيَما في دَولة داورية

بِها غَيث إِسماعيلها مُتراكم

Especially under a Dawari administration,

where the rain of its Isma'il gathers in abundance.

وَلا شك أَن الخارجية أَصبَحَت

بتدبيرها في سيرِها لا تخاصم

No doubt the Foreign Office has become,

through its direction, unchallenged in its course.

وَمِنها بحدّي ذي الفَقار مضارب

لظهر محامي كل باغ قَواصم

From it, through Dhu al-Fiqar's two edges, come blows

that break the back of every rebel's defender.

وَكم نجحت في نَظم أَبهى مَدينة

لِديوان أَشغال المباني عَزائم

How often has the planning of the fairest city succeeded

through the resolves of the Office of Building Works!

وَكَم زادَ بِالأَوقاف نُور مَساجد

يصلِّي بِها ما شاء في اللَيل صائم

How much brighter, through the endowments, are the mosques

where one who fasts prays as long as he wishes at night!

وَأَرزاق بَيت المال مدّت لقبضها

عَلى موجب الشَرع الشَريف مَعاصم

To receive the public treasury's allotments, wrists extend

as noble sacred law requires.

وَناهيك أَن الضبط يمضي بيقظة

عَلى اللَوم فيها لَيسَ يُحمَدُ لائم

And it suffices that policing proceeds with vigilance;

no critic wins praise by finding fault with it.

وَفيهِ أَبو حفص لَهُ كسميِّه

مِن العَدل ما يُمحَى لَديهِ التفاقم

Within it is Abu Hafs, who, like his namesake, has

such justice that worsening strife is effaced in his presence.

وَحكمة ترتيب المَجالس أَنَّها

تُرَدّ بِها للعالمين المَظالم

The wisdom of organizing the councils is that

through them, wrongs are redressed for all people.

وَفي مَجلس الملك الخصوصي يَنتَهي

نجاز الَّذي ما أَنجزته المَحاكم

In the king's Privy Council is completed

the settlement of what the courts have not settled.

وَحسبُك تَشريفاً لَهُ أَن أَمره

لكل نزاع في المَصالح حاسم

It is honor enough for it that its command

settles every dispute among the departments.

وَأَن لَهُ مِن بَعض آراء راغبٍ

سيوفاً لَها في الصَعب لانت شكائم

From some of Raghib's opinions it possesses

swords before which the bridles of the unruly yield.

وَفي الحَق بِالأحكام يصدع حافظٌ

مَتى اِختَصم الأخصام ثم تَحاكموا

Hafiz proclaims judgments in accordance with truth

whenever litigants dispute and then seek adjudication.

وَعَن مَجلس النوّاب حدّث فإنه

مَنوط بِما فيهِ لمصر الغَنائم

Speak of the Council of Deputies, for

Egypt's gains depend upon what it contains.

وَأَفكارُ عَبد اللَه وَهوَ رَئيسه

عَلى رَوض تحسين البِلاد حَوائم

The thoughts of Abd Allah, its president,

hover over the garden of the country's improvement.

وَمصلحة التَفتيش وَهيَ جَسيمة

يحلّ بِها كُل المَشاكل راسم

The Inspectorate, weighty in importance,

has Rasim resolve every difficulty within it.

وَدائرة الذات الخديوية اِجتَبى

لَها مِن أُولى الأَلباب وَالعَزم قاسم

For the Khedivial Personal Office, he chose

Qasim from those endowed with intellect and resolve.

وَدائرة الأَنجال قد قام صادق

بتدبيرها بَينَ الوَرى وَهوَ صارم

And Sadiq has taken charge of the Princes' Office,

managing it among the people with firm resolve.

وَللكتب في دار الطِباعة رَونَق

بِتقليده في الخَط يَهتمُّ راقم

Books in the Printing House have a luster

that a copyist takes care to imitate in his script.

وَأَثنَت عَلى حسن اِستِقامة حالها

حُروف وَأَشكال حَوَتها ملازم

Their fine, well-ordered state is praised by

letters and marks contained in printed gatherings.

وَصحتها قامَت عَلَيها أَدلة

يعض عَليها بِالنَواجذ فاهم

Their correctness is supported by proofs

that a discerning reader grips with his molar teeth.

وَأَثنى عَلى حسني بِها في سُلوكه

حجازٌ وَشام وَالعِراق وَدارم

Husni's conduct there is praised by

the Hijaz, al-Sham, Iraq, and Darim.

وَلَو أَنَّني أَصبَحت كلي ألسناً

وَأَطلقتها في بَث ما هُوَ لازم

Even if I became all tongues,

and set them loose to proclaim what is due,

وَأَجريت في مضمار مدح أَبي الفِدا

سَوابق أَفراس لَهنّ قوادم

and set racing in the course of Abu al-Fida's praise

swift steeds furnished with flight feathers,

لقصرت عَن إحصاء بَعض مَناقب

بِها اشتهرت في الخافقين تراجم

I would fall short of counting even some virtues

through which biographies are renowned in East and West.

فَيا ملكاً أَحيا مآثر والد

لَهُ اِعترفت بالامتياز الملاحم

O king who revived the glorious deeds of a father

whose distinction the great battles acknowledged,

وَسارَ عَلى منوال جدّ تناسلت

بمصر لَنا مِنهُ صدورٌ أَكارم

and followed a grandfather's example, from whom sprang

noble leaders for us in Egypt;

وَأَنشأ في يَومين ما عَنهُ أَحجمت

مُلوكُ زَمانٍ عَهدُهُ متقادم

who built in two days what daunted

the kings of an age long past;

وَشيد أَركان الوراثة فازدهت

بِذلك أَوطان وسرّت أَناسم

who erected the pillars of succession, so that

homelands shone with pride and souls rejoiced;

وَلم يَبقَ للتسخير في برّ مصره

وَجود وزالت قَبل ذاكَ المَغارم

forced labor no longer has, in his Egypt's land,

any existence, and the levies had vanished before that.

تَفاخر بِملك أَنتَ إِنسان عَينه

بِدارٍ لَكَ التَوفيق فيها منادم

Take pride in a kingdom of whose eye you are the pupil,

in a land where success keeps you company.

وعش مَع بَنيك الأَكرمين مؤيداً

بِنصرٍ عَزيزٍ أَنفُ شانيه راغم

Live with your most noble sons, supported

by mighty victory, its hater's nose humbled in the dust.

فإِن الَّذي أَبدعته في هنيهة

عَلَيهِ يَسير ضعف ما عاشَ آدم

For what you created in a fleeting moment—

even twice Adam's lifetime would be little for it.

وَتاللّه لَولا أَنَّني قَد رَأيته

وَإِني ليقظان وَما أَنا نائم

By God, had I not seen it,

wide awake and not asleep,

لَكنت مع التقصير في وصف شطره

كَأَني لَدى مَن لَم يَعاينه حالم

I would, though falling short in describing half of it,

seem a dreamer to anyone who had not witnessed it.

وَلولاك ما نالَ الأَمانيّ مَوطن

لَهُ مِنكَ صَدرٌ خالص الودّ راحم

But for you, the homeland would never have attained its wishes,

having in you a heart of pure love and mercy.

وَلا رفعت لَولاك راية نصره

وَلا دفعت عَن ساكنيه العَظائم

Nor, but for you, would its banner of victory have been raised,

nor great calamities been driven from its inhabitants.

وَأَنتَ لَهُ نعم المَليك الَّذي بِهِ

سَما مُنذ ميطت عَن علاك التَمائم

You are for it the finest king, through whom

it has risen since the amulets were removed from your exalted self.

وفي الحلم والإقدام دونك أَحنَفٌ

وَعمرو وفى الإنفاق دونك حاتم

In forbearance and daring, Ahnaf falls below you,

and Amr; in spending, Hatim falls below you.

وَأَنتَ الإِمام العَدل وَالراشد الَّذي

لَهُ تسجد التيجان ثم العَمائم

You are the just imam, the rightly guided one,

before whom crowns prostrate themselves, then turbans.

وَأَنتَ الَّذي في مدح عَلياك قد صفَت

مبادى دَواوين الثَنا وَالخَواتم

You are he in praise of whose eminence have grown pure

the openings of the volumes of praise, and their endings.