فوق أرض الحمى وتحت سمائه — أحمد الكاشف

Upon the homeland's soil and beneath its sky,

I send congratulations throughout its reaches.

I lived to witness, at this stage of my life,

the aggressor's withdrawal and the furling of his banner.

And Egypt saw, on the day commemorating Ali,

his sovereignty return to his sons.

In her, what had perished and grown timeworn regained its life,

and the ailing found the blessing of recovery.

And history looked out from the balconies of

the ages, in its pride and pomp,

filling both horizons with fragrance and light

from its tales and its tidings.

The impregnable citadel almost set forth

in the forenoon of its feast, toward its heralds.

And it is Ali's most precious trust,

in the safekeeping of the righteous among his trustees.

And it is as though I see him on this

night, among the pure ones of his martyrs.

And it is as though I see his conquests today,

all together in a single hour of its evening.

How welcome the year that, after sixty years,

came to wipe away their misery with its joy.

The fates prepared its summer for

glory, goodness, and contentment in its winter.

And the pampered victor came in

fear, after his arrogance and defiance,

seeking the favor of the noblest one who accepts

reconciliation and the imposition of peace among his equals.

He neither made unjust accusations nor grew suspicious, but

among his resolute men was one to hold him to account.

Whoever's intention is generosity and

justice sees the enemy become one of his friends.

And it is a favor and a kindness to him

that he sees Egypt's people among his allies.

An ally's might is of no avail if

his covenant and the sincerity of his loyalty do not avail.

The Nile grew familiar with a nation that kept it safe

in its sources and throughout its reaches.

And from its two banks it supplied the world

with the fruit of its planting and the abundance of its water.

And the people settled their great cause

with their irrevocable judgment and decree.

With beating hearts, they came to salute,

in the banner's flutter, the spirit of their hope.

The valley united its people, and

its leaders' forces converged in its squares.

And toward what it desired, it was carried onward

by the precious drops of its tears and blood.

And the sacred valley drew from its

shepherd the means of its comfort and prosperity.

And the faithful shepherd trusted in the one who

strengthens its pillars and raises its edifice.

The people's ruler is the one who wins the hearts of

the people, not the one who wades through their entrails.

And once rule is firmly established,

justice guarantees its continuance and survival.

My verse is scant; yet, in my view, this day deserves

from it enough to fill the valley and all its expanse.

Illness kept me from the two duties owed to it,

and it is my excuse before the father of its poets.