بصحتك الدهر والعافيه — أحمد الكاشف

بصحتك الدهر والعافيهْ

تجد لدولتك الراجيهْ

Through your health, time and well-being

are renewed for your hopeful state.

تلقيت في مرض زائل

حنواً هو الحجة الباقيه

You received, in a passing illness,

an affection that is the enduring proof.

وما تشتكي بعدها علة

فقد كانت العلة الشافيه

And you will complain of no ailment afterward,

for that ailment was itself the cure.

ولو لم يداوِك طب الأساة

لنجتك نيتك الصافيه

Even had the physicians' medicine not healed you,

your pure intention would have saved you.

سلمت لنفسك والأمتين

ومملكة رحبة ناميه

May you stay well for yourself and the two nations,

and for a vast, flourishing kingdom.

وأصبح رأيك ملء البلاد

ورأي المكابر في ناحيه

And your view now fills the land,

while the obstinate man's view lies in a corner.

تناولت طائفة سهلة

لتمتلك الصعبة العاصيه

You took in hand an amenable faction

to gain control of the difficult, defiant one.

وإن لأسبابك المحكمات

نتائجها النضرة الآتيه

And your firmly established measures

have their fresh results yet to come.

ومن ملك الأنفس الطيبات

فقد أمن الأنفس الباغيه

And whoever wins the good souls

is safe from the rebellious souls.

ومن شك في الحق بعد العيان

فقد شك في عينه الرائيه

And whoever doubts the truth after seeing it firsthand

has indeed doubted his own seeing eye.

جزعت من الخلف بين الرجا

ل في مصر والمحنة الفاشيه

You grieved at the discord among the men

in Egypt, and at the spreading ordeal.

أفي حقلهم يتركون السباع

ويقتتلون على الساقيه

Do they leave the beasts of prey in their field

and fight one another over the waterwheel?

يعيب وزارتك الناقمو

ن وهي على ما قضوا قاضيه

The resentful criticize your ministry,

though it rules according to what they decreed.

وما هم عليها بمستنكرين

سوى أنها منهمُ خاليه

And they find nothing objectionable in it

except that it is empty of them.

لسلطانهم أم لدستورها

يثيرون أمتك الراضيه

Is it for their power, or for its constitution,

that they stir up your contented nation?

وما طلبوا الحكم باسم الجها

د إلا لدنياهم الفانيه

And they sought rule in the name of struggle

only for their fleeting worldly ends.

رعيت نصيبهمُ بينما

يضيعون دعواهم الواهيه

You safeguarded their share, while

they squander their feeble claim.

تولوا لأنفسهم هادمين

غضاباً على يدك البانيه

They turned away, destroying themselves,

furious at your building hand.

إذا ناوءوك وأنت المعين

فماذا أعدوه للطاغيه

If they oppose you, who are their helper,

then what have they prepared for the tyrant?

يقاضونك الآن ما صنته

رتاء غريمهم الداهيه

They now demand of you what you preserved

to appease their crafty adversary.

وعاد الرسول فكيف انتهت

إلى القوم رحلته الشاكيه

The envoy returned—how, then, did

his journey of complaint turn out for the people?

إباء على الخصم أم رجعة

إلى أنه الدولة الحاميه

Defiance against the adversary, or a return

to the view that it is the protecting state?

سعِ المرجفين وما أولوا

وصابرهمُ مرة ثانيه

Bear with the alarmists and what they have bestowed,

and endure them patiently once again.

فإنهمُ صحبك الأولون

وإن جاوزوك إلى الهاويه

For they are your earliest companions,

even if they pass beyond you into the abyss.

وإنك منهم لهم راحم

وإن أصبحوا الفئة الجافيه

And you are one of them, compassionate toward them,

even if they become the unkind faction.

وأنت على حالة مكره

هي العظة المُرَّة القاسيه

And you are forced into a situation

that is a bitter, harsh lesson.

وأولى بعزمك في الواديي

نِ حمل جبالهما الراسيه

And worthier of your resolve in the two valleys

is to shoulder their firmly rooted mountains.

عساه دلال عليك الذي

ترى أو مساومة خافيه

Perhaps it is fond presumption toward you that

you see—or covert bargaining.

أؤيد حزبك فيما أفاد

وأنصر شيعتك الهاديه

I support your party in the good it has done,

and champion your guiding followers.

وما كنت أحسب أن السلا

م حرب على الصحف الهاجيه

And I never thought that peace

was war upon the lampooning newspapers.

فلا وجد العيش في قومه

فتى بجراحهمُ الداميه

May no livelihood be found among his people

by a youth through their bleeding wounds.

جمعت من الدهر في قريتي

حياة الحضارة والباديه

I have gathered from time, in my village,

the life of civilization and of the desert.

أطل من الكون في موضعي

على كل رائحة غاديه

From my place in the universe, I look out

upon all that passes at evening and at dawn.

وأشهد في الأرض حكم السماء

وألقى مقاديرها الجاريه

And on earth I witness heaven's rule,

and encounter its unfolding decrees.

وما مبدئي في مهب الريا

ح سوق ولا أدبي عاريه

And my principle, exposed to the winds,

is no marketplace, nor is my writing borrowed.

وما أنا مستقبل في غد

جوائز أياميَ الماضيه

Nor shall I receive tomorrow

rewards for my days gone by.

ولو أنني أستغل الهوى

لكان وسيلتيَ الوافيه

And if I exploited passion,

it would be all the means I needed.

ولو أنني أتقاضى الجزاء

لكنت أميراً ولي حاشيه

And if I claimed recompense,

I would be a prince, with a retinue.

وإن لم أكن علماً في الحمى

فإني ضحيته الفاديه

Though I am no banner in the homeland,

I am its redeeming sacrifice.

فمن لي بعون على ما أريد

من الدعوة الحرة الداويه

Who, then, will help me in what I seek

of the free, resounding call?

لعلي أرى ألفة تجمع ال

قلوب على الغاية القاصيه

Perhaps I may see a harmony that unites

hearts around the distant goal.

وحسبيَ حرية الأمتي

نِ وهي المقدسة الغاليه

And the freedom of the two nations is enough for me,

and it is sacred and precious.