نزولك في القرى فضل كبير — Ahmed Al Kashef

نزولك في القرى فضلٌ كبيرُ

وفتح الخط بالعقبى بشيرُ

Your visit to the villages is a great kindness,

and opening the railway line heralds a happy outcome.

حديد من يديك امتدَّ فيه

ونار للحديد بها يسير

Iron stretched along it from your hands,

and fire by which the iron moves.

كأن صفيره نغم المغني

لركبك والدخان له عبير

As though its whistle were the singer's melody

for your retinue, and the smoke were perfume to them.

يقل الزائرين إلى مقامٍ

هو اليوم الخورنق والسدير

It carries visitors to an abode

that today is al-Khawarnaq and al-Sadir.

ضيوفاً في حماك غدوا وراحوا

وكلُّهمُ قبيلك والعشير

As guests in your protection they came and went,

all of them your own tribe and kin.

كأن أديم هذي الأرض لما

مشت فيها مواكبهم حرير

It was as though this earth's surface, when

their processions walked upon it, were silk.

تلاقوا ساعة في رحب دار

هي الدنيا وساعتها الدهور

They met for an hour in a spacious house

that is the world, whose hour is ages.

وجاءوا مهرجاناً فيه يتلو

ويشرح سورة الفتح الوزير

They came to a festival where he recites

and expounds the Surah of Victory—the minister.

نقيُّ الجو مصقول الحواشي

تظلله الخوافق والطيور

Its air is pure, its surroundings polished,

shaded by fluttering banners and birds.

رآه الغائبون بما تلقَّوا

من النجوى كأنهمُ حضور

Those absent saw it through what they received

of whispered talk, as though they were present.

مظاهرة لدولتك استحقت

وأنت لكل مصري ظهير

A well-deserved show of support for your government,

for you are every Egyptian's supporter.

تكاد إليك تستبق النواحي

وتنعطف الجداول والجسور

The regions almost race toward you,

and streams and bridges bend toward you.

وتنضج قبل موعدها ثمار

وتبسم قبل موعدها زهور

Fruits ripen before their appointed time,

and flowers smile before their appointed time.

وتصبح هذه الأكواخ مما

أنلت الزارعين هي القصور

And these huts become, through what

you have granted the farmers, palaces.

ولولا الحقل والفلاح فيه

لأقفرت المدائن والثغور

But for the field and the farmer in it,

cities and ports would lie desolate.

تريه حقه وهو الموفَّى

وترفع قدره وهو الأجير

You show him his due, and he is paid in full;

and raise his standing, though he is a hired laborer.

ولو يُجزَى بما صنعت يداه

لأصبح وهو في الوادي أمير

Were he rewarded for what his hands have wrought,

he would become a prince in the valley.

أتيت اليوم تكمل ما نواه

وأزمع أمس ندك والنظير

You came today to complete what was intended

and resolved upon yesterday by your peer and equal.

وحولك سبعةٌ وزراء صدقٍ

وإخوانٌ همُ المدد الطهور

Around you stand seven ministers of integrity,

and brothers who are untainted support.

تسير إلى المدى بهمُ قوياً

ويشرف مثل نيتك المصير

With them you advance, strong, toward the goal,

and the outcome is noble, like your intention.

هو الحزم الذي لا بد منه

لمصر لتستقيم به الأمور

It is the resolve that cannot be dispensed with

for Egypt, so that through it affairs may be set right.

وحسبك بعد تجربة وعلم

مراسك والعزيمة والضمير

Sufficient for you, after experience and knowledge,

are your seasoned skill, resolve, and conscience.

فهل للغاضبين عليك عذر

سوى ضغن تضيق به الصدور

Have those angry with you any excuse,

save rancor that constricts their breasts?

توالت مرجفاتهمُ وطالت

فأين وعيدهم لك والنذير

Their alarmist rumors followed one another and dragged on;

where are their threats against you, and their warning?

أخافوا أن تواريهم سجونٌ

فوارتهم من الخجل الخدور

Did they fear that prisons would conceal them,

so curtained chambers hid them out of shame?

فإن هم قاطعوك فليس فيهم

قويٌّ تتقيه ولا خطير

If they boycott you, there is none among them

strong enough for you to fear, nor anyone of consequence.

وكم قوم كثيرهمُ قليلٌ

وكم قوم قليلهم كثير

Many a people's many are but few,

and many a people's few are many.

أصابك ما أصاب سواكَ منهم

وليتك من خصومهمُ الأخير

You have suffered from them what others have suffered;

would that you were the last of their opponents!

وأنت بكل جهدهم محيط

وأنت بكل سرهم بصير

You are fully aware of all their efforts,

and see clearly into all their secrets.

وأصعب ما تعالج من رجال

شعورهم إذا اختل الشعور

The hardest thing you deal with in men

is their sensibility when sensibility goes awry.

ولو أمهلت صحفهم امتهاناً

لطار بهذه الصحف الفجور

Had you left their newspapers alone in contempt,

wickedness would have taken wing through those papers.

وبات رواتها وهمُ ذئاب

وبات الكاتبون وهم نسور

Their reporters would have become wolves,

and the writers would have become vultures.

ظفرت بأكثر الباغين شراً

وأنت على بقيتهم صبور

You have vanquished the most wicked aggressors,

and remain patient with the rest of them.

وما اعتبروا بما آلوا إليه

وهل تدري فتعتبر الصخور

Yet they took no lesson from what they came to;

can rocks perceive, and so take heed?

وظنوا أنه لا الدهر يجري

بما كرهوا ولا الدنيا تدور

They thought that time would never run

as they disliked, nor would the world turn.

مجانينٌ بحب الحكم حتى

تكاد عقولهم منهم تطير

Mad with love of rule, until

their wits almost fly out of them.

يريدون الزعامة وهو أمر

عليهم بعد عثرتهم عسير

They seek leadership, though that is a thing

hard for them after their stumble.

وهل بعد الشهور السود منهم

تعود إليهمُ تلك الشهور

And after the black months of their making,

will those months return to them?

يعللهم سفيرهمُ بما لا

يصدقه من الأمل السفير

Their envoy soothes them with hopes that

the envoy himself does not believe.

مهازل ليس يرضاها فقير

لعيشته وإن هلك الفقير

Farces no poor man would accept

for his livelihood, even if the poor man perished.

ومن جاءت غنائمه جزافاً

تولاه فطاح به الغرور

Whoever gains his spoils by chance,

conceit takes hold of him and brings him down.

هل الدستور للأهواء سوق

ليتَّجر المشاور والمشير

Is the constitution a market for whims,

where consulter and adviser may trade?

وهل هو بين أيدي الرهط ملهىً

كما يلهو بدميته الصغير

Is it a plaything in the hands of the clique,

as a little child plays with his doll?

فإن ثاروا عليك وأنت سلمٌ

فحجَّتُك القوية أن يثوروا

If they rebel against you while you are peaceful,

their very revolt is your strong argument.

وإن آبوا فأنت لهم شفيع

وإن تابوا فأنت لهم غفور

If they return, you are their intercessor;

and if they repent, you are forgiving toward them.

وما يرضيك ما تجني عليهم

نفوسهمُ وليس لهم مجير

Nor are you pleased by what is inflicted on them

by their own souls, with none to give them refuge.

وإن تك أزمة بالناس حلت

فأنت بحل أزمتهم خبير

If a crisis should befall the people,

you are skilled in resolving their crisis.

نصرتك يا ابن إقليمي وإني

لمثلك في رعايته نصير

I have supported you, O son of my province, and I

am a supporter of one like you in caring for it.

فخور أنت بي فيه وإني

على كل العباد بك الفخور

You are proud of me within it, and I

am prouder of you than all mankind.

أقر صنيعَك الملك المفدى

وأيد رأيك الشعب الغيور

The cherished king approved your deed,

and the zealous people endorsed your judgment.

وأنت بكل إعجاب خليق

وأنت بكل تكريم جدير

You are worthy of all admiration,

and deserving of every honor.