إذا ما زماني بالقنا والقواضب — Salah Magdy

إِذا ما زَماني بِالقَنا وَالقَواضب

عَليّ سَطا في مصر سَطوة غاضبِ

Whenever my fate, with spears and cleaving blades,

assails me in Egypt with an angry man's onslaught,

وَبارزني مِن غَدره وَهوَ جاهلٌ

لَقدري بِماش مِن ذَويه وراكب

and treacherously challenges me, ignorant

of my worth, with its own footmen and horsemen,

وَقَد حدّثته النَفس وَهيَ غَوية

بِنَصر عَزيز فيهِ هَضم لِجانبي

its misguided soul having promised it

a mighty victory that would abase my standing,

وَأَيقن أَني عاجز عَن لِقائه

وَأَنيَ ضاقَت بي عَليّ مَذاهبي

and certain that I am powerless to face it,

and that my paths have closed in upon me,

حَملتُ عَلى أَبطاله بِبَسالة

وَبَددَّتُهم في شرقِها وَالمَغارب

I charge its champions with valor

and scatter them across her east and the western lands.

وَلي مَعْه مِن عَهد الفِطام وَقائعٌ

بِأَيسرها تَبيضُّ سود الذَوائب

Since the days of weaning, I have fought it in battles

whose mildest turns black forelocks white.

فَكَيفَ بِما يَرجو يَفوز وَإِنَّني

صَبور عَلى الهَيجاء ماضي المَضارب

How can it gain what it hopes for, when I

am steadfast in battle, keen in my strokes?

وَلي صارم في حدّه الحَتف كامَنٌ

يَبلغني ما أَشتَهي مِن مَآرب

I have a sharp sword, with death lurking in its edge,

that brings me whatever aims I desire.

وَإِني أَنا المَنصور في كُل مَعركٍ

عَلى معتد بِالكُتب لا بِالكَتائب

I am the one victorious in every battle

against an aggressor, through books, not battalions.

وَبِالذُل لا أَبغي يَساراً وَلا بقا

وَلي العِز يَحلو فيهِ مُرّ المَشارب

I seek neither wealth nor survival through abasement;

honor is mine, and in it bitter draughts grow sweet.

فَدَعني بِلا مال أَعيش منزَّهاً

مَدى العُمر عَن نَقص وَأَدنى مَعايب

So leave me without wealth, to live unsullied

throughout my life, free of flaws and the slightest faults.

وَخَلّ وَضيع الأَصل يَركض بِخَيله

بِمضمار لَهو لاغتنام المَناصب

Let the lowborn man gallop with his horses

in an arena of amusement, to seize high posts.

أَلم يَدر أن الأَشقياء غِناهمُ

سَريعاً بِهِ تودى صروفُ النَوائب

Does he not know that the wealth of the wretched

is swiftly swept away by the vicissitudes of calamity,

وَأَن نَعيم الأَتقياء هُوَ الَّذي

يَكون عَلى طُول المَدى غَير ذاهب

and that the bliss of the godfearing is what

endures through time, never passing away?

أَبى اللَه أَني رَغبة في تَقدّمٍ

أَميلُ إِلى فعل الخَنا وَالمَثالب

God forbid that, from a desire for advancement,

I should turn to deeds of obscenity and disgrace,

وَأَخلع جِلباب التنسك وَالتُقى

وَمَن دُون هَذا الخَلع قطع التَرائب

or cast off the cloak of devotion and piety—

before such casting-off comes the severing of breastbones—

وَتَهدم بُنيان العَفاف دَناءة

بِها يَرفَع المَخفوض بَيت المَكاسب

or the edifice of chastity be razed by baseness,

by which the lowly man builds his house of gain,

وَأَنقض بَعد الشَيب عَهد صِيانة

وَإِنَّ اِبتِذال الحر شرّ المَصائب

or I should break, after gray hair, my covenant of integrity;

the debasement of the freeborn is the worst calamity.

وَأَرفض بعد الأَربَعين أَمانة

وَلِلمَوت أَولى مِن خِيانة شائب

Or cast aside trustworthiness after forty—

death is preferable to a gray-haired man's betrayal—

وَأَرغب عَما فيهِ لِلحَق نَصرة

إِلى باطلٍ شينٍ وَخيم العَواقب

or turn away from what champions the truth

toward disgraceful falsehood, dire in its consequences,

وَأَرحل عَن رُكن الخُمول وَلِي بِهِ

إِقامة ناءٍ عَن عدوّ وَصاحب

or leave my corner of obscurity, where I have

a home far from both enemy and friend.

وَما لي بِهِ أَبغي بَديلاً وَإِنَّهُ

كَصَومَعة في رَأس طودٍ لراهب

I seek no substitute for it, for it is

like a monk's hermitage atop a towering mountain.

وَلَو أَنَّني فيهِ يُخلَّى بِلا أَذىً

سَبيلي لَما زَحزحتُ عَنهُ رَكائبي

Had I been left there, unharmed,

to go my way, I would not have moved my mounts from there.

وَلَكن بِهِ تَنساب حَولي ضَئيلة

مِن الرقط في سرب لَها مِن عَقارب

Yet there a puny creature slithers around me,

one of the speckled snakes, amid its swarm of scorpions.

وَتَرقب مني بِالخَديعة غَفلةً

وَإِني لَيَقظان كَثير التَجارُب

It watches deceitfully for a moment of heedlessness in me,

while I am wide awake, seasoned by much experience.

وَتَنصب لي أَشراكها كَي تصيدني

عَلى زَعمِها في حالِكات الغَياهب

It sets its snares for me, to catch me,

as it imagines, in the blackest depths of darkness.

وَمن كل فَجٍّ تَقتفيني بِأَمرِها

شَياطينها في مهمهٍ وَسَباسب

From every mountain pass, at its command, I am tracked

by its devils through wilderness and barren plains.

وَأَعوانها تَنقضُّ في كُل لَحظة

عَليّ بِسَهم للمقاتل صائب

Its helpers swoop down at every instant

upon me, with an arrow that strikes the vital spots.

لَها الوَيل هَل أَخشى لقاها وَإِنَّها

لَها شبه في ضعفها بِالعَناكب

Woe to it! Should I fear meeting it, when it

resembles spiders in its weakness?

وَمِن عَجَب في السلم أَني بموطني

أَكون أَسيراً في وثاق الأَجانب

It is a wonder that, in peacetime, in my own land,

I should be a captive in foreigners' bonds,

وَأَن زَعيم القَوم يَحسَب أَنَّني

إِذا أَمكَنتني فُرصة لَم أُحارب

and that the people's leader should think that I

would not fight if an opportunity allowed me,

وَأَنيَ أَغضي عَن مَساوٍ عَديدة

لَهُ بَعضَها يَقضي بِخَلع المَناكب

and that I would overlook numerous faults

of his, some calling for shoulders to be wrenched from their sockets,

وَأضرب صَفحاً عَن مَخاز أَقلُّها

لَدى العدّ لا تحصى بدفتر كاتب

and turn away from disgraces, even the least of which,

when counted, no scribe's ledger could encompass.

أَأَتركها مِن غَير نَشر فَينطَوي

بِأَوطاننا فيها لِواء المحارب

Should I leave them unexposed, so that

the warrior's banner is furled there in our homelands?

وَهَل يجعَلُ الأَعمى رَئيساً وَناظِراً

عَلى كُل حَربيّ لَنا في المَكاتب

And should a blind man be made chief and overseer

of all our military men in the schools?

وَمن أَرضه يأتي بِكُلِّ ملوّثٍ

جَهول بِتَلقين الدُروس لِطالب

From his own land he brings every tainted wretch,

ignorant of how to teach lessons to a pupil.

فَيَمكث في مَهد المَعارف بُرهةً

مِن الدَهر مَغموراً بِبَحر المَواهب

He stays in the cradle of learning for a stretch

of time, immersed in a sea of gifts,

وَيَغتَنم الأَموال لا لِمنافع

تَعود عَلى أَبنائِنا وَالأَقارب

and amasses money, not for benefits

that might return to our sons and kinsmen.

وَلا يَنثني عَن مَصر في أَيّ حالة

إِلى أَهله إِلّا بملء الحَقائب

Nor does he leave Egypt, in any circumstance,

for his own people without his suitcases full.

فَما لي أَرى هَذا المَهين قَد اِعتَدى

وَدَبَّت أَفاعيهِ عَلى كُل ناجب

Why, then, do I see this contemptible man transgress,

his vipers creeping upon every gifted man?

وَبِالغُش وَالتَدليس سوّد وَجهه

وَبيّض عَينيه ببول الثَعالب

With fraud and deceit he has blackened his face

and whitened his eyes with foxes' urine.

وَمَدّ إِلى البُهتان وَالزور باعه

وَما صدّه لَومٌ وَلا عَتبُ عاتب

He has stretched his reach toward slander and falsehood,

undeterred by blame or any reprover's reproach.

وَلا قابل الإحسان إِلّا بضدّه

وَلا قامَ لِلعرفان قَط بِواجب

He has repaid kindness only with its opposite

and never once fulfilled the duty of gratitude.

وَكانَ لِأَبناء المَدارس قَبله

ضِياءُ عُلوم يَزدري بِالكَواكب

Before him, the pupils of the schools possessed

a radiance of knowledge that scorned the stars.

فَلما بَدا في أُفقهم وَهوَ مُظلم

تَوارى ذَكاهُم في خِلال السَحائب

But when he appeared on their horizon, dark himself,

their brilliance vanished among the clouds.

فَلا كانَ يَوم فاز فيهِ بِخدمة

وَقُوبِلَ مَع أَمثاله بِالرَغائب

May the day never have been when he gained a post

and, with his like, was welcomed with coveted favors,

وَأَصبَح في ثَوب الرَفاهة رافِلاً

وَقَد كانَ عَرياناً حَليف المَساغب

and came to trail luxuriantly in the robe of ease,

though once he had been naked, a companion of hunger.

وَكُل امرئ في الجَيش يَعلم أَنَّهُ

غبي ولا ينبيك مثل مراقب

Every man in the army knows that he is

a fool—and none can inform you like an observer.

ويا ليته ما كان يزعم أنه

خُلاصة أَرباب الفهوم الثَواقب

Oh, would that he had not claimed to be

the quintessence of men of piercing understanding,

وَأَن فُنون العَسكرية لَم يَكُن

بِها قَبلَهُ ما أَودَعت مِن غَرائب

and that the military arts had never contained,

before him, the marvels with which they were endowed,

وَأَن رِجال الحَرب لَولا سداده

لَكانوا سَواء مَع ذَوات العَصائب

and that, but for his sound judgment, the men of war

would have been no different from women in headbands,

وَأَن سِلاح الجَيش لَولا ما بَدا

بِأَحسَن سَبك في بَديع القَوالب

and that, but for him, the army's weapons would not have appeared

so finely cast in such wondrous molds.

وتاللَه لَولا أَنَّه في ذمامنا

لَباء بِما لاقى يَسار الكَواعب

By God, were he not under our protection,

he would suffer what Yasār al-Kawāʿib suffered;

وَصُلتُ عَلى الأَوباش أَبناء جنسه

كَصَولة ضرغام حَديد المَخالب

and I would assail the rabble, his own kind,

like the onslaught of a sharp-clawed lion,

وَأَجليتُهم عَما لنا مِن مَدارس

بِها لا تَرى مِنهُم سِوى كُل لاعب

and drive them from the schools that are ours,

where among them you see none but idlers,

وَأَنقذتُها إِن صادَفتني عِنايةٌ

إلهَيةٌ مِن كُلِّ غرّ مُشاغب

and rescue them, should I receive the care

of God, from every naive troublemaker,

وَنَزَّهتها عَن كُل ما فيهِ رَيبة

وَما فيهِ للتأخير أَدنى شَوائب

and purge them of everything tainted with suspicion

and anything bearing the slightest taint of backwardness.

رُويدك يا مَغرور لَيسَ بِضائر

لَنا مِنكَ في شَيءٍ مَقالةُ كاذب

Have patience, deluded man: no harm is done

to us in the least by a liar's words from you.

أَتنكر ما سُدنا به مِن مَعارفٍ

عَلى حاضر مِنكُم بِمَصر وَغائب

Do you deny the learning by which we have surpassed

those of you present in Egypt and those absent?

فَبينوا عَن الأَوطان فَهى غَنية

بِأَبنائها عَن كُل لاهٍ وَلاعب

Then leave our homelands, for they are self-sufficient

through their sons, needing no idler or trifler.

وَما أَنتُم أَهل لأَدنى رِياسة

عَلى مَن بِها مِن تُرْكِها وَالأَعارب

You are not fit for even the humblest authority

over the Turks and Arabs who live there.