وفى بمواعيده المقدم — أحمد الكاشف

وَفى بمواعيده المقدمُ

وبرَّ بإيمانه المقسم

The bold man kept his promises,

and the oath-taker was true to his faith.

وهزَّ الممالكَ في بأسها

وعزتها الأعزلُ الملهم

The unarmed, inspired man shook the kingdoms in their might

and in their glory.

شهدتكمُ فشهدتُ الغزاةَ

وما باشروه وما يمموا

I witnessed you, and thus witnessed warriors,

and what they undertook and what they sought.

وتابعتكم مطمئنَّ الضمير

وإني بعقباكمُ أعلم

I followed you with my conscience at peace,

and I know well what awaits you.

وكلُ مكانِ له تعملو

ن عيدُكمُ فيه والموسم

Every place for which you work

holds your celebration and festival.

وما كان في غضبي شبهةٌ

ولا ريبةٌ في الرضى عنكم

There was no uncertainty in my anger,

nor any misgiving in my approval of you.

وليس الهوى عندكمْ مَرجعي

ولكنه نصحيَ القيم

Whim is not my guide concerning you,

but rather my sound counsel.

وإِنَّ الذي لمتُهُ فيكمُ

هو اليومَ لي فيكمُ ألوَم

Indeed, the one I reproached concerning you

is today more reproachful toward me concerning you.

صبرتم على الدهرِ صبرَ الكرام

وفي كل يوم لكم مغرم

You endured Time with the patience of the noble,

with a fresh burden upon you every day.

وما أفضلَ المأزمَ الصعبَ لو

أتى بتجاريبه المأزم

How valuable the harsh ordeal would be, if

the ordeal brought its lessons!

وكلكمُ بطلٌ فاتحٌ

وعُدَّتُهُ قلبه والفم

Each of you is a conquering hero,

whose weapons are his heart and mouth.

وقوفُكمُ أنتمُ والزما

نُ يومُكمُ المفردُ المعلم

Your stand—you and Time—

is your unique, distinguished day.

تخلف إخوانكم عنكم

وما اختلفوا ساعة فيكم

Your brothers fell behind you,

but never differed about you for a moment.

فإن قاطعوكم وإن واصلوا

فأنتم همُ وهمُ أنتم

Whether they severed ties with you or maintained them,

you are they, and they are you.

لكم شملكم وهو أمن الزما

ن فيما أسر وما يَكتم

You have your unity, a safeguard against Time,

amid what it keeps secret and conceals.

وأحسنُ حال بها سرتمُ

وخير مآل به عدتم

In the finest state you went,

and with the best outcome you returned.

أخذتم من النزلاء المكوس

وفي كل دخل لهم مغْنم

You took taxes from the resident guests,

and every income of theirs brings a gain.

إيمسكها منهم الموسرونَ

ويدفع معسرنا المعْدِم

Do the wealthy among them withhold those taxes,

while our destitute poor man pays?

ومؤتمراً لامتيازاتهم

أم البحر مضطرباً خضتم

Was it a conference on their privileges,

or a turbulent sea that you plunged into?

وأولى بتلك القيود الثقا

ل أن تكسروها وأن تحطموا

Those heavy fetters deserved

to be broken and shattered by you.

وكانت هواناً لكم منهمُ

فصارت أماناً لهم منكم

They had been humiliation for you at their hands,

but became security for them offered by you.

ولولا رضَاكم بأثمانها

لما تركوها ولا سلموا

Had you not agreed to their prices,

they would neither have relinquished them nor yielded.

وغيرُ يسيرٍ لهم تركُها

سدىً وهي إِرْثُهمُ الأقدم

It was no easy thing for them to give them up

for nothing, when they were their oldest inheritance.

تخلوا من الحق عن جانب

وجاءهمُ الجانبُ الألزم

They relinquished one part of their rights,

and the more essential part came to them.

وتلك دعاويهمُ تنطوي

وتلك خصومتهم تحسم

Those claims of theirs are laid to rest,

and that dispute of theirs is resolved.

جزافاً تلقَّوا رحيبَ السماح

وما شئتمُ اليوم أن يحرموا

They received abundant generosity without measure,

and you did not wish them to be deprived today.

بأخلاقكم لا بما تكتبو

ن حسب الأجانب أن يحتموا

By your character, not by what you write,

foreigners have sufficient protection.

وليست ضماناتهم عندكم

سوى الجود ضاعفه المُنْعِم

Their guarantees with you are nothing

but generosity, redoubled by the benefactor.

ومن بركم بهمُ في البلا

دِ أن تحكموا بينهم فاحكموا

Part of your kindness to them in the land

is to judge between them: so judge.

إذا نزلاء الحمى أحسنوا

إلى أهله أصبحوا منهم

When guests of the protected land show kindness

to its people, they become one of them.

وتيه النزيل على مُنْزلي

هِ جرحٌ لأنفسهم مؤلم

A guest's arrogance toward his hosts

is a painful wound to their souls.

وكلُّ مكانٍ تولى الدخي

لُ بعض مقاليده يُهْدَم

Every place where an intruder controls

some of its keys to power is laid waste.

وواديكمُ جنّةُ العالمين

ولا يدخل الجنةَ المجرم

Your valley is the world's paradise,

and no criminal enters paradise.

ومن ساء ساقيه السلسبي

لُ عاد وأولى به العلقم

Whoever wrongs the one serving him Salsabil

turns back; bitter colocynth is fitter for him.

تريدونَ للضيف أن يستري

حَ والضيف من زادكم متخم

You wish the guest to rest,

though the guest is surfeited with your provisions.

معاملة الندِّ للندِّ لا

نزاع النقيضين ما شئتم

Treatment of equal by equal, not

the conflict of opposites, is what you wished.

وفوضى علائقهم بعدها

نظام العلائق أقررتم

After the disorder of their relations,

you established orderly relations.

وحرّمتمُ كل ما حلَّلوا

وحلَّلتمُ كلَّ ما حرموا

You forbade all that they permitted,

and permitted all that they forbade.

وقدرتمُ للحساب الأوانَ

فما أخَّروه وما قدَّموا

You fixed the time for reckoning,

and they neither delayed nor advanced it.

أتأبى سباعهم أن تلين

لمصرَ وقد أذعن الضيغم

Will their beasts of prey refuse to yield

to Egypt, when the lion has submitted?

وكم راض عاصيَكم إلْفكم

كما ألف الرائضَ الأرقم

How often familiarity with you tamed one who defied you,

as the speckled serpent grew accustomed to its tamer.

وخيرُ المواثيق ما في الخوا

نِ أطعمتموهم وما أطعموا

The best covenants are what is on the dining table:

what you fed them, and what they served.

وأولمتمُ من سجاياكمُ

وهم من سجاياهمُ أولموا

You made a feast of your own qualities,

and they made a feast of theirs.

وإن المنافع للجانبي

نِ في الخير بينهما أسهم

Indeed, the benefits for both sides

are shares in the good shared between them.

لكم لا لغيركمُ في البلا

دِ أن تقدروها وأن تقسموا

It is for you, not others, in the land,

to assess them and apportion them.

فلا ينزعُ الأرضَ مستثمر

ولا يسلب البيتَ مستخدم

No investor, then, may seize the land,

nor may an employer take away a home.

وما هي إلا حياة الغريب

توليتموها فأحسنتم

It is nothing but the stranger's life

that you took into your care—and you did well.

وإن الذي يدَّعي أنكم

له ظالمون هو الأظلم

Whoever claims that you

are wronging him is the greater wrongdoer.

وإن تابعوكم فأنتم لهم

وهم في حفاظكمُ أسلم

If they follow you, you are there for them,

and they are safer under your protection.

وإن كان أمس رحيماً بهم

فيومكمُ بهمُ أرحم

If yesterday was merciful to them,

your day is more merciful still.

وإن أنكر الضيفُ فضل الكرام

فهم في قطيعته أكرم

If the guest denies the bounty of the noble,

they are nobler still in severing ties with him.

دخلتمْ على العصبة المعقلين

لتستوثقوا ولتستعصموا

You entered the League among those seeking refuge,

to secure yourselves and seek protection.

هي اليوم محكمة العالمين

وفيها قضاؤكمُ المبرم

Today it is the world's tribunal,

and there your judgment is binding.

وكلكم وكلاء الشعوب

ومصرُ الحديثةُ من كلَّموا

All of you are representatives of the peoples,

and modern Egypt is the one they addressed.

وقد عظموكم وهمْ يعلمو

ن أنكمُ خيرُ من عظموا

They honored you, knowing

that you are the best of those they honored.

وجاراكمُ منهم المرتضي

وداراكمُ منهمُ المرغَم

The willing among them kept pace with you,

and the compelled among them humored you.

وأنتمْ إذا اقتتلوا حولكمْ

غداً لجراحاتهم بلسم

If they fight one another around you,

tomorrow you will be a balm for their wounds.

قضيةُ مصرَ على طولها

سلاماً كما بدأت تختم

Egypt's cause, despite its long course,

ends in peace, just as it began.

فما صال أحرارها بالحديد

ولا النار في حومة أضرموا

Her free men did not charge with iron,

nor kindle fire in the fray.

ولا خاضَ في نفعها الأولون

ولا ضرّج الآخرين الدم

Nor did the earlier ones plunge in for her sake,

nor did blood stain the later ones.

ومصر بأمَّتها فخمةٌ

وبالعدل أمتها أفخم

Egypt is majestic through her people,

and through justice her people are more majestic still.