جدد لمصر شبابها المأمولا

وأعد لها أفراح إسماعيلا

Renew for Egypt her hoped-for youth,

and restore to her the joys of Isma‘il.

وأَرِحْ بيمن المهرجان وسعده

قلباً بكل عظيمة مشغولا

And soothe, with the festival's blessings and good fortune,

a heart preoccupied with every great affair.

وتَلَقَّ من دار الخلافة شاكراً

وفداً يحيّي عرشك المحمولا

And gratefully receive from the seat of the caliphate

a delegation saluting your throne borne aloft,

مستقبلاً من كل إقليم له

بالتهنئات الغاليات رسولا

welcoming from every province of its realm

a messenger bearing precious congratulations.

زلفى يقر بها العباد وموسم

عال تقدمه الربيع جزيلا

A favor in which the people find contentment, and a festival

exalted, preceded by a bountiful spring.

عرس الإمارة عرس مصر وأهلها

والنيل إذ جارى نداك النيلا

The princely house's wedding is the wedding of Egypt and her people,

and of the Nile, when your bounty rivaled the Nile.

فرح العزيز ببنته مجلوة

فرح البلاد برغدها موصولا

The ruler's joy in his daughter, unveiled as a bride,

is joined to the country's joy in its prosperity.

اللّه زان كرائماً أنجبتها

بالصالحات فزادها تجميلا

God adorned the noble daughters you begot

with virtues, adding to their beauty:

الكابرات مخايلاً وشمائلاً

والطاهرات منابتاً وأصولا

lofty in bearing and character,

and pure in stock and ancestry.

خير البنات أبوَّةً وأمومةً

خير النساء بنوة وبعولا

The best of daughters in paternal and maternal descent,

the best of women in offspring and husbands.

أهدى الأمير إلى فروقَ نبيلةً

منه وأهدى الصدرُ مصرَ نبيلا

The prince gave Faruq a noblewoman

of his own house, and the grand vizier gave Egypt a nobleman.

عقدوا على النعمى لنائلها ضحىً

وأتت بموكبها إليه أصيلا

At forenoon they wedded Bliss to the man who won her;

and in late afternoon she came to him with her procession.

زَفُّوا الرفاء إلى الوفاء وإنما

زفوا إلى الملك الكريم بتولا

They led concord in bridal procession to fidelity; in truth,

they led a virgin bride to the noble angel.

الشعب أوفد بالولاء سراتَه

واللّه أوفد بالرضى جبريلا

The people sent their notables in loyal homage,

and God sent Gabriel in approval.

يلقى على العَلَوِيِّة الزهراء ري

حانا ويهدي التاج والإكليلا

He scatters over the radiant Alawi lady sweet

basil, and offers the crown and the wreath.

سالت ضروب الحيِّ وهو مكبِّرٌ

زمراً تسابق للنعيم سيولا

All ranks of the people streamed forth, proclaiming God's greatness,

in throngs, racing toward bliss like torrents.

يا بنت خير أبٍ وحسبك عدله

فينا على استقلال مصر دليلا

O daughter of the best of fathers—his justice suffices you,

among us, as proof of Egypt's independence.

يا أخت خير أخ وإن لمصر في

غده ضميناً بالنجاة كفيلا

O sister of the best of brothers—Egypt has in

his future a guarantor, a surety of deliverance.

حياك جيش أبيك وهو مدجج

فكأنه متأهب ليصولا

Your father's army saluted you, fully armed,

as though poised to charge.

غنتك في ميدانه أعلامُه

خفقاً وغنتك السيوف صليلا

Its banners sang to you upon its parade ground,

with their fluttering, and its swords sang to you with their ringing.

إن سار هذا الركب من قصر إلى

قصر فقد أخذ القلوب سبيلا

If this procession has traveled from one palace to

another, it has taken hearts for its road.

ستمر بالمدن المواكب سمحة

غرّاً وتجتاز العباب ذلولا

The processions will pass graciously through the cities,

radiant, and traverse the surging sea, made tame,

وتؤمُّ عاصمة الخلافة نضرةً

والحصنَ حراً والخليج صقيلا

and head for the radiant capital of the caliphate,

and the fortress, free, and the gulf, gleaming.

يستقبلون جلالك استقبال من

يرعى لجدّك عهده المسئولا

They will welcome your majesty with the welcome of one

who keeps his binding covenant with your grandfather.

يتذكرون جهاده وفتوحه

وصنيعه والطيبات الأولى

They remember his struggle and his conquests,

his good deeds and his former benefactions,

متوسمين وزهر روضك بينهم

عصراً كما ترجو البلاد وجيلا

foreseeing, with your garden's blossoms among them,

an age and a generation such as the country hopes for.

لم تتركي صرحاً هنا متعالياً

إلا لتمتلكي هنالك غيلا

You did not leave a towering palace here

except to possess a lion's thicket there,

وتجدّدي نعماً تساير أنعماً

لأبيك في تلك المواطن طولى

and renew blessings that match the favors

of your father, so great in those lands.

وفت الليالي للبلاد وإنما

وفَّى المدين غريمه الممطولا

The nights have kept faith with the land; it is but

a debtor repaying his long-delayed creditor.

وتدارك النصر المبين جوانحاً

كادت تثور ضغينة وغليلا

And manifest victory rescued hearts

that almost erupted in rancor and burning resentment.

وترقَّبَ السلم البهيج دعاته

والصلح عند أباته مقبولا

Its advocates awaited joyous peace,

and reconciliation accepted by those who had rejected it.

أَرْضَيْتَ يا عباس كل موحد

وأعنت هذا المشرق المخذولا

You have pleased, O Abbas, every believer in God's oneness,

and aided this forsaken East.

أيقظته وبعثت فيه حياته

ورفعت عبئاً عن بنيه ثقيلا

You awakened it and restored its life within it,

and lifted a heavy burden from its sons.

لو كان في أمرائه ما فيك من

حزم لجاز مدى أخيه عجولا

Had its princes possessed what you have of

resolve, it would swiftly have surpassed its brother's reach.

حسب الخليفة من صِلاتك أن يرى

لك في حماه سليلة وسليلا

It is enough for the caliph, among your gifts, to see

a daughter and a son of your line within his domain:

بطلاً يرد إلى الخلافة مجدها

ويقود جيش الملك والأسطولا

a hero restoring the caliphate's glory,

and leading the realm's army and fleet.

أعلنت للقوم الأمانيَّ التي

نعمت نفوسُهُمُ بها تعليلا

You proclaimed to the people the hopes

in which their souls had found delightful consolation.

وهمُ أصحُّ عقيدة من أن يروا

في مصر غيرك نائلاً ومنيلا

And their conviction is too sound for them to see

in Egypt anyone but you receiving and bestowing favors.

إن الذي هبط البلاد تعده

ضيفاً وإن طال المنى ونزيلا

Indeed, you deem the man who came down into the country

a guest, however long his hopes endure, and a lodger.

يتلو الرعيةُ في جبينك آيةً

مشروحةً لا تقبل التأويلا

Your subjects read upon your brow a verse,

clearly explained, admitting no reinterpretation.

لم يعلموا نجواك حتى أصبحوا

أزكى الشعوب خلائقاً وعقولا

They did not learn your secret counsel until they became

the purest of peoples in character and intellect.

إن أصبحوا خير القبائل مالكاً

فلأنت خير المالكين قبيلا

If they have become the best of tribes in their sovereign,

you are surely the best of sovereigns in your people.

أمنوا الخطوب وطالما هزَّتهمُ

هزّ الجريح حسامه المفلولا

They are safe from calamities that so often shook them

as a wounded man shakes his chipped sword.

أزلفت تهنئتي وحسبي أن أرى

حَكَماً لديك وشاهدين عدولا

I have brought forward my congratulations; it is enough for me to see

an arbiter beside you and two witnesses, all upright,

يتداركون الشاعر المطبوع من

أغلاله والمخلصَ المجبولا

who rescue the born poet from

his fetters, and rescue the man whose sincerity is inborn.