رددي يا وقائع الدهر شعري

واشرحي ما رويت وهو عظيمُ

Repeat my poetry, O events of time,

and explain what I recounted, for it is momentous.

وأعيدي إلى الصواب عقولاً

أعوزتها العظات والتقويمُ

And restore to sound judgment minds

that lacked admonition and correction.

أنا من ذَكَّر العبادَ فلم يُص

غوا إلى أن أتى النذير الأليم

I am the one who admonished the people, but they did not

heed until the painful warning came.

وتلاهوا عن المقادير حتى

حل فيهم قضاؤها المحتوم

They distracted themselves from the decrees of fate until

their inevitable judgment befell them.

شيعاً في البلاد ساروا وأحزا

باً وساوى الجهول فيها العليم

They went about the country in factions and

parties; there the ignorant equaled the learned.

واستحال الذي تآخى عليه

من منال وزيرها والزعيم

What they had joined as brothers to seek became unattainable—

the goal of its minister and the leader.

والذي كان منه عذر نسيمٍ

بات يلقى الملام منه نسيم

What had once been Nasim's excuse

now brings Nasim reproach.

جرب الحكم أهله فلكل

من أذاه نصيبه المقسوم

Rule has tested its people; each has

his allotted share of its harm.

والذي كان دأبه الحض والإغ

راء أمس ودأبه التنويم

The man whose habit was urging and

incitement yesterday now makes a habit of lulling to sleep.

واكتفى بالسلامة اليوم من كا

ن يقول الردى ولا التسليم

Today mere safety satisfies the man who once

said, 'Death rather than surrender.'

شغلته ولائم الصحب عن أع

بائه واستخفه التكريم

His companions' banquets distracted him from his

burdens, and honors turned his head.

والذي عنده له الأمس تحلي

لٌ له اليوم عنده تحريم

What yesterday, in his view, was

permitted is today, in his view, forbidden.

أين ما في الخريف كان تلقي

ه وماذا أعده المأزوم

Where is what was received in the autumn,

and what has the crisis-stricken man prepared?

مر ماضي المرسوم بالقدر الجا

ري ولم يأت بعده مرسوم

The former decree passed away with fate's onward

flow, and no decree has followed it.

وانتهى الموعد الخفي إلى من

في يديه التأخير والتقديم

And the secret appointed time has come down to the one

in whose hands lie postponement and advancement.

ولقد عاد من نواه الذي ير

جى ويخشى رحيله والقدوم

And indeed, back from afar has come the one whose

departure and arrival are both hoped for and feared.

فقد الشعب قادة الشعب من قب

ل ومن بعد فهو منهم يتيم

The people lost the people's leaders before

and after; without them, they are orphaned.

وتخلى عن الصحيح من الرأ

ي وراج الخبيث فيها السقيم

And they abandoned what was sound in

opinion, while corrupt, sick opinion gained currency there.

ما لصحف العشيرة اليوم تهوي

بالعداوات بينها وتهيم

What ails the community's newspapers today, plunging

into hostilities among themselves and wandering astray?

وترى كاتب الكريهة يحتج

جُ على كاتب الهوى ويلوم

And you see the hostile writer protesting

against the writer of passion and reproaching him.

عاب هذا سبيلَ هذا فكل

من أخيه مطارد مذموم

This one faulted that one's path, so each

is hounded and condemned by his brother.

لا إلى مبدأ ولا ليقين

ضج صوت لهم ولجّ رقيم

Not for a principle, nor from conviction,

did their voice clamor or their written page persist.

والذي يطلب إئتلافاً وشملاً

آثم في قضائهم مأثوم

And anyone who seeks accord and unity

is, in their judgment, a sinner, branded sinful.

أعلنوا كل ما أسروا فلم يب

ق لهم مبهمٌ ولا مكتوم

They proclaimed all they had concealed; nothing

remained obscure or hidden among them.

من أذى كاتبين عانتْ بلادي

ما يعاني من حاكم محكوم

From the harm of writers my country suffered

what a subject suffers at a ruler's hands.

لذَّة العيش يطلبون بأقلا

م مراض أولى بها التحطيم

They seek the pleasure of life with

diseased pens, fitter to be shattered.

والطعامُ المجلوب بالقول إفكاً

منه أولى بالقائل الزقوم

And food procured through lying speech—

zaqqum is fitter for the speaker than that.

ويح قومي من غالبٍ يدعى الإح

سانَ والعدلَ وهو عاتٍ ظلوم

Woe to my people from a conqueror who claims

benevolence and justice, though he is insolent and unjust.

يتمنونه حليفاً ليبقى

وهو فيهم مسيطر قيوم

They wish him to be an ally, so that he may remain,

while he dominates them as their overseer.

فرقتنا الأهواءُ فيه وقد عا

دتْ هموماً وما نهتنا الهموم

Our passions divided us over him, and have turned

into sorrows; yet sorrows have not restrained us.

وغداً بالزلازل الأرضُ تنهد

د وتهوي من السماء النجوم

And tomorrow, amid earthquakes, the earth will

collapse, and the stars will fall from the sky.

وتطيرُ البطاحُ وهي لهيبٌ

وتثور الرياحُ وهيَ سَموم

And the plains will take flight, all aflame,

and the winds will rage, a scorching blast.

ضاقت المدن بالدخيل الذي حل

لَ وماجت بالزاحفين التخوم

The cities are choked by the intruder who has

settled there, and the frontiers surge with advancing troops.

وطغى حولَها مغيرٌ جديدٌ

وبغى بينها مغيرٌ قديم

A new invader runs rampant around them,

and an old invader tyrannizes within them.

كيف يغشى رحابها الفاتحُ المق

بل من بعد ما احتواها المقيم

How can the approaching conqueror enter her broad spaces

after the resident one has taken possession of her?

وبأي الساحات يقتتل المف

ترسان الغرثان والمنهوم

And on which fields will the two predators fight—

the hungry and the ravenous?

ولمن تستمر سيناء والطو

ر مجازاً وتستقر السلوم

And for whom will Sinai and al-Tur remain

a passageway, and al-Sallum stand secure?

ومن المالك القناة وحدي

ها ومجرى السفين حيث يروم

And who will own the Canal and its two

banks, and the ships' course wherever he desires?

ودفاعٌ عن البلاد القوَى المل

أَى بها أم على البلاد هجوم

And are the forces filling the country a defense of it,

or an assault against the country?

غيرُ مغنٍ أنّا لقوم أخلا

ءُ وأنّا لآخرين خصوم

It avails us nothing that, to some, we are

friends, and to others enemies.

عرضةٌ نحن نحمل الهازم الأع

باء منها ويشتفي المهزوم

We stand exposed: we make the victor bear the

burdens of it, while the defeated takes revenge.

لا نرى في السلام والحربِ إلا

ما يراه المسخَّرُ المحروم

In peace and war we see nothing except

what the subjugated, deprived man sees.

وإذا ما احتمى من الناهب الإق

ليم بالناهب انتهى الإقليم

And if ever the land seeks refuge from a plunderer

with another plunderer, the land is finished.

ومن الممكنات بعدئذ أن

يخلفَ الإنكليزَ فيها الروم

And among the possibilities thereafter is that

the Romans may succeed the English there.

ما الذي يبتغي من الحرب من يو

قدها وهو هادمٌ مهدوم

What does he seek from war, the man who

kindles it, himself a destroyer and destroyed?

يحكم الناسَ بعد قتلهم أم

يستغلُ البلادَ وهي جحيم

Will he rule the people after killing them, or

exploit the country while it is a hell?

هل له في الوعيد ما يتقيه

بعد ما ضاع عنده التحكيم

Is there anything in threats that he would fear,

after arbitration has been wasted on him?

فعسى يعقل الذي جن بالحر

ب جزافاً ويبرأ المحموم

So may he regain reason—the one who went mad for

war without reckoning—and may the fevered man recover;

ويقي الخلقَ مدركوه خطوباً

هي أقوى مما جنى غليوم

and may those who apprehend him spare mankind calamities

greater than the havoc Guillaume wrought.