الحكم آل إليك والسلطان — أحمد الكاشف

الحكم آل إليك والسلطانُ

والعدل فيما آل والإحسانُ

Rule and authority have passed to you,

And in what has passed to you lie justice and benevolence.

وأتى بيانك في نزاهته وهل

لك بعده غير الفعال بيان

Your declaration came forth in all its integrity; and is there

Any declaration for you after it but deeds?

اليوم ترتاح العباد من الأذى

ولكل أمر موعد وأوان

Today the people find relief from harm,

And every matter has its appointed time and season.

وتعود صحة ندك الأوفى بما

دبَّرتَه وأمده الإخوان

And your most faithful peer's health returns through what

You arranged and the brethren supplied him with.

أوحى إليك بما أراد وإنه

لمرادك المتأهب المعوان

He intimated to you what he wished, and indeed he

Is ready and ever helpful in fulfilling your wishes.

وجرت مقادير السماء بما انتهى

فيها إليه الظن والحسبان

And heaven's decrees unfolded according to what

Conjecture and reckoning had concluded about them.

عزل وتولية هما الخير الذي

شاءته مصر ووده السودان

Dismissal and appointment are the good that

Egypt wished for and Sudan desired.

عهد هو الفوضى وعهد بعده

هو عزة وكرامة وأمان

One era is chaos, and the era after it

Is might, dignity, and security.

ذهب الذين بغوا ولولا أنهم

فروا لفرت منهم الأوطان

Those who oppressed have departed; had they not

Fled, the homelands would have fled from them.

ومضى زمانهمُ وليس بمثل ما

حملته أنفسهم يجيء زمان

And their era has passed; no age bearing the like of what

Their souls bore will come.

بلوى شهور أم دهور منهمُ

كانت ورهطاً أم وباء كانوا

Was their affliction one of months or of ages?

And were they a band of men or a plague?

ونيابة تجري على الشهوات أم

نوب وشورى تلك أم طغيان

And was it representation governed by whims, or

Calamities? Was that consultation, or tyranny?

سلبوا البلاد ثمارها ونضارها

والشعب فيها جائع ظمآن

They stripped the land of its fruits and gold,

While its people were hungry and thirsty.

لم يأخذوا الكرسي حتى هالهم

من تحته الدوران والرجفان

No sooner had they taken the chair than they were terrified

By the whirling and shaking beneath it.

وتبينوا بعد المآثم فوقه

أن ليس فيه للبقاء ضمان

And after their misdeeds upon it, they realized

That it held no guarantee of their staying.

لو أنهم تركوه مختارين لم

تك هذه الحسرات والأحزان

Had they abandoned it willingly, there would not

Have been these regrets and sorrows.

هل كان ما انتحلوه من عذر سوى

عذر الجبان ولا يسود جبان

Was the excuse they falsely claimed anything but

A coward's excuse? And no coward can rule.

ولأزمة الدستور أم حرصاً على

تلك الغنائم ثارت العقبان

And was it over the constitutional crisis, or out of greed for

Those spoils, that the eagles rose?

وهو الذي جاءت به الأبرار أم

ما سنّه للفتنة الشيطان

And is it what the righteous brought, or

What Satan instituted to sow discord?

لا يصلحون له ولا يدَعونه

تُعنَى به الأكفاء والأقران

They are unfit for it, yet will not leave it

For the capable and their peers to tend.

إن كان في أيديهم عبثوا به

وإذا تخلوا عنه عز وهانوا

If it is in their hands, they play havoc with it;

And when they relinquish it, it gains honor and they are abased.

كسروا سلاسله ولم يك بعدما

دخلوا لغير قضائك الإذعان

They broke its chains, and after

They entered, there was submission only to your judgment.

ودعوه تضحية وليس أمامهم

في الدار جلاد ولا سجان

They called it a sacrifice, yet facing them

In the house was neither executioner nor jailer.

وتفرقوا يتخبطون وما لهم

في الأمر أبصار ولا آذان

And they scattered, floundering; they had no

Eyes or ears for the matter.

لو كان يدري ما جنوه باسمه

لهوى عليهم ذلك البنيان

Had it known what they committed in its name,

That edifice would have fallen upon them.

ما كان مؤتمراً ولكن مأتماً

عز التأسي فيه والسلوان

It was no conference, but a mourning assembly,

Where consolation and solace were hard to find.

ينعون فيه فرصة السوق التي

فيها الضمائر للغنى أثمان

There they mourned the market's opportunity, where

Consciences were the prices paid for riches.

باكينَ رابعةَ التجاربِ وهي لو

عقلوا على علاتهم برهان

Weeping over the fourth experiment, which, if

They had sense, would be proof of their failings.

يتوعدونك بالخيال وكم جرى

خلف الخيال أولئك الفرسان

They threaten you with fantasy; how often

Those knights have run after fantasy!

متحالفين على العسير وهل على

متيسّر صدقت لهم أيمان

Allied for a difficult undertaking—yet over

An easy one, did their oaths ever hold true?

إن قاطعوك فأنت عنهم في غنىً

وإن اعتدوا أعياهمُ العدوان

If they boycott you, you have no need of them;

And if they attack, aggression will wear them out.

من راح بالنيران يلعب لم يبت

إلا وقد علقت به النيران

Whoever goes playing with fire will not pass the night

Without the flames taking hold of him.

فليحدثوا في كل فجٍّ ضجة

إن لم تصبك يد ويسطُ لسان

So let them raise a clamor in every pass,

Provided no hand strikes you and no tongue assails you.

متهالكين فإن تجاوز عنهم

جندُ النظام ترامت الأبدان

Recklessly throwing themselves about; if

The forces of order overlook them, bodies fling themselves down.

لبلادهم كانوا هم القربان أم

لهمُ بلادهمُ هي القربان

For their country, were they the sacrificial offering, or

Was their country the sacrificial offering for them?

لبسوا ثياب المخلصين لها ولم

تخف الحقيقة هذه الألوان

They donned the garments of those devoted to it, but

These colors did not conceal the truth.

يا ويح شعب يستغل جُناتُهُ

إيمانَه فيضره الإيمان

Alas for a people whose wrongdoers exploit

Its faith, so that faith brings it harm!

يمشي وراء مشعوذين كما مشت

خلف الذئاب وضلت القطعان

It walks behind charlatans, just as

The flocks walked behind wolves and went astray.

ما كنت أحسب أن تعود كما مضت

أوثان مصر فتعبد الأوثان

I never thought they would return as of old—

Egypt's idols—and idols would be worshipped.

يتطلبون الحكم وهو هوىً ولو

هوت السماء وأقفر العمران

They seek rule, which is their passion, even if

The sky falls and the settled world becomes desolate.

ماذا تفيد الأكثرية شيعة

إن لم يكن لللأكثرية شان

What use is a majority to a faction

If that majority has no standing?

ما زاد يوماً في البلاد عديدهم

إلا وكل زيادة نقصان

Not once have their numbers grown in the land

Without every increase being a decrease.

شر السياسة ما يكون تجارة

فيها تساوى الربح والخسران

The worst politics is that which becomes a trade

In which profit and loss are equal.

عقبى عرابي أم مدى غاندي مضى

في الأرض يبغي ذلك الولهان

Was it Urabi's fate or Gandhi's reach that

That infatuated man went seeking through the land?

ويسير خلف مشيره وكأنه

فرعون سار أمامه هامان

And he walks behind his adviser, as though he were

Pharaoh, with Haman walking before him.

أرخيت أمس عنانه فطغى وهل

يرخَى لمفقود الصواب عنان

You loosened his rein yesterday, and he grew tyrannical; should

A rein be loosened for one bereft of sound judgment?

لهفي على الشهداء لم يدركهمُ

شيب وقد أغراهم الشبان

My grief for the martyrs, whom

Gray hair had not reached, and whom the youths had incited!

ضحوا بهم في المهرجان وما لهم

إلا هزيمة أمس والخذلان

They sacrificed them at the festival, and theirs is

Nothing but yesterday's defeat and abandonment.

عقبى العباد إذا تحكم فيهم

جهلاؤهم وتصرف الغلمان

Such is the fate of people when they are ruled

By their ignorant men, and boys wield power.

ما للأُلى الموت الزؤام شعارهم

عادوا وكل قواهم العصيان

What ails those whose watchword is swift, violent death?

They have returned, and all their strength is defiance.

وتقوَّلوا في العرش وهو القدس لم

يجرؤ على حرماته إنسان

And they spoke falsely of the throne, which is sacred; no

Person had dared violate its sanctity.

نبت الخطوب بهم فلما استيأسوا

نبت العقول وضاعت الأذهان

Calamities turned against them, and when they despaired,

Reason faltered and their minds were lost.

ما للغريم وكان أمس صديقهم

قد عاد وهو لعهدهم خوان

What ails the adversary, their friend yesterday,

Who has now become a betrayer of their covenant?

ألف المدائح وهو راض عنهم

والذم وهو عليهمُ غضبان

He was accustomed to praises when pleased with them,

And to censure when angry with them.

أغراهمُ فتوددوا وأنالهم

فتمردوا ونأى وصد فلانوا

He enticed them, and they courted him; he gave to them,

And they rebelled; he withdrew and turned away, and they softened.

وطوووا كتابهمُ وجاء كتابه

فيه لكل خبيئه إعلان

They folded up their letter, and his letter came,

In it, every hidden matter was made public.

وجرى رسولهمُ على عاداته

والإفك فيما اعتاد والبهتان

And their envoy kept to his accustomed ways:

Falsehood and slander were among his habits.

بعثوه بالشكوى إلى الجبار من

حكم الرفاق وإنها لَهوان

They sent him bearing a complaint to the mighty one about

The rule of their comrades—and it is surely humiliation.

يا ويلهم مستأثرين شعارهم

في الأرض نحن وبعدنا الطوفان

Woe to them, grasping all for themselves! Their motto

On earth is: 'We—and after us, the flood.'

لا يعرفون على العدو شجاعة

وهمُ على إخوانهم شجعان

They know no courage against the enemy,

Yet against their brethren they are brave.

دعهم وما ألفوه في ميدانهم

فعسى عليهم يلتوي الميدان

Leave them and their familiar ways in their arena;

Perhaps the arena will turn against them.

ولقد يردهمُ إلى غلوائهم

بعد التناهي المنع والحرمان

And they may indeed be driven back to their excess,

After it has ended, by prohibition and deprivation.

رد المظالم ما تعاقبهم به

إن كان عندك للعقاب مكان

Redressing wrongs is what you should punish them with,

If punishment has a place with you.

من لم تنبِّه بانتقامك ذكرَهُ

فمصيره الإغفال والنسيان

Whoever's name you do not revive through your vengeance

Is destined for neglect and oblivion.

وإذا همُ ضاقت نفوسهمُ أسىً

وسعتهمُ لك رحمة وحنان

And when their souls are constricted by grief,

Your mercy and tenderness will embrace them.

ولعل بعد الحرب صلحاً تلتقي

فيه القلوب وتذهب الأضغان

And perhaps after war there will be reconciliation, in which

Hearts meet and grudges depart.

أنت المقيم من الرجال بمرصد

حفظوه لليوم الرهيب وصانوا

You are the one among men stationed at a watchpost

They kept and safeguarded for the dreadful day.

ومعد ميزان الأمور ولم يكن

إلا لعدلك ذلك الميزان

And you prepare the balance of affairs;

That balance was for your justice alone.