أشكو وأطمع أن تجيب سؤالي

وتقول ما سهر الرقيبُ سوى لي

I complain, hoping she will answer my plea,

and say, “The watcher has kept vigil for me alone.”

وإذا تناوم ناظري لخيالها

قالت سلاني واكتفى بخيالي

And when my eyes feign sleep for her phantom,

she says, “He has forgotten me, content with my phantom.”

واللَه ما مر الرقاد بناظري

يوماً ولا خطر السلوُّ ببالي

By God, sleep has never passed across my eyes,

even for a day, nor has forgetting crossed my mind.

وسوى بياض عوارضي ما راعها

فالشيب حربٌ للجمال الغالي

Nothing but my whitening whiskers frightened her;

for gray hair wages war on precious beauty.

أسفي على زمن الشباب فطالما

كانت تبلِّغني به آمالي

Alas for the days of youth! How often

my hopes then came within my reach!

حيث الصفا وجهٌ وجيهٌ والوفا

جيدٌ بياقوت المودة حالي

When serenity was a noble face, and fidelity

a neck adorned with the rubies of affection.

ونديمتي قمرٌ كأن كؤوسها

دررٌ تجود بجوهرٍ سيّال

And my cup-companion was a moon; her cups seemed

pearls bestowing a liquid jewel.

والخد ورديْ والذوائب سوسني

والثغر كاسي واللَمى جريالي

Her cheek was my rose, her tresses my lilies;

her mouth my cup, her lips' dark tint my red wine.

لم أنس زورتها بشرقيِّ اللوى

والساق خاليةٌ من الخلخال

I have not forgotten her visit on al-Liwa's eastern side,

her leg bare of its anklet.

والدمع يسفح للوداع فمدمعي

علقٌ وأما دمعها فلآلي

Tears streamed at farewell: my tears

were dark blood, while hers were pearls.

ما كان أطيب ليلتي وألذَّها

لو لم تجدِّد بالنوى بلبالي

How sweet my night would have been, how delightful,

had she not renewed my anguish through parting!

قالت وقد رأت احمرارَ مدامعي

عيناك ينفعها الكحال الجالي

She said, seeing the redness of my tearful eyes,

“Your eyes would benefit from cleansing kohl.”

لو أنصفت وصفت لها كحل الوفا

ونفت بأبعاد الجفا أوجالي

Had she been fair, she would have prescribed them fidelity's kohl,

and banished my fears by banishing estrangement.

للَه أيام الصبا ما كان أس

خاها بكل غريرةٍ مكسال

God bless the days of youth—how lavish

they were with every guileless, languid maiden!

بانت فما شاهدت ليلاً بعدها

أدهى وأدهم من ضحى الترحال

She departed; I have seen no night since

more dreadful and darker than departure's forenoon.

تنسى يدي قلمي وينساها الندى

إن مر غير خيالها بخيالي

May my hand forget my pen, and bounty forget my hand,

if any image but hers should cross my mind!

شيئان لا ينساهما الإنسان أي

يام الصبا ومديح بطرس غالي

Two things a person never forgets: the days

of youth, and the praise of Boutros Ghali.

فطنٌ تجرد للعلوم فقادها

قود الذلول بعزمه الرئبالي

Discerning, he devoted himself to the sciences and led them

as one leads a docile mount, with his lionlike resolve.

وأتى بتعداد النجوم يراعه

وبحصر قطر العارض الجلجال

His reed pen undertook to number the stars

and count the raindrops of the thundering cloud.

وغدت كميّات الدوائر بعد ما

أعيت سواه تعد بالمثقال

And the departments' totals, after

baffling everyone else, were reckoned to the mithqal.

سحر العقول بجوده وبيانه

فاكرِم بسحر زكاً وسحر نوال

He bewitched minds with his generosity and eloquence;

how noble the magic of purity, and the magic of giving!

تبدو الغيوب لدى لواحظ حذقه

غرراً مجردةً من الأشكال

Hidden things appear before his discerning gaze,

radiant, stripped of all obscurity.

فهو السراط المستقيم لطالب ال

نهج القويم وكعبةُ الآمال

He is the straight path for one seeking the

upright way, and the Kaaba of hopes.

بل بطرس الوقت الأمين وصخرة ال

حق المكين ونخبة الأبدال

Indeed, the faithful Peter of his age, and the rock of the

firmly established truth, the choicest of the saintly elect.

رجلٌ وحسبك أنه الرجل الذي

نجت البلاد به من الإقلال

A man—enough that he is the man through whom

the country was saved from impoverishment.

أحيى الندى وأمات بالكمد العدى

ونفى الصدى بسماحه الهطّال

He revived generosity and killed his foes with grief,

and banished thirst with his torrential bounty.

فكأن عيسى يوم ضم صليبه

ألقى إليه أعنة الأعمال

As though Jesus, the day he embraced his cross,

had handed him the reins of affairs.

مزج الشريعة بالسياسة مثلما

مزج اليراعة بالندى المتوالي

He blended religious law with politics, just as

he blended the reed pen with unceasing bounty.

وجلاهما لأُولي اليراعةِ توأماً

متجانسَ الأقوال والأفعال

And showed them to men of the pen as twins,

alike in words and deeds.

فتناولت منه المجالس حكمةً

سادت على الماضي بها والتالي

The assemblies drew wisdom from him,

and through it surpassed those past and yet to come.

نظر العزيز به فطانة يوسف

فأحلَّه منه المحلَّ العالي

Al-Aziz saw in him Joseph's discernment,

and gave him a lofty station beside him.

وأمده بالرتبة العظمى التي

ما نالها قيلٌ من الأقيال

And invested him with the supreme rank that

no prince among princes had attained.

فأفاد مجد القبط مجداً ثانياً

مترفعاً لثبيره المتعالي

Thus he added a second glory to the glory of the Copts,

rising toward its towering Thabir.

ته أيها الشهم الذي دفع العنا

عنا بفيلق فضله الصيّال

Exult, noble-hearted man, who drove affliction

from us with the charging army of his beneficence!

وافخر فإنك عن سميك وارث

فصل الخطاب وسطوة الأبطال

And take pride, for from your namesake you inherit

decisive speech and the might of heroes.

والناس حول ندى يمينك أرخت

نيل الهناء يمين بطرس غالي

And the people, around your right hand's bounty, marked the date:

“The Nile of bliss is Boutros Ghali's right hand.”