شوطك الحاضر اقتبلت أوانه — أحمد الكاشف

شوطُك الحاضر اقتبلتَ أوانَهْ

وتخيَّرتَ للمدى فرسانَهْ

You have welcomed the hour of your present course,

and chosen its horsemen for the distance.

وتقدّمت للجهاد جديداً

في رجال تعودوا ميدانه

And you have advanced to the struggle as a newcomer

among men accustomed to its field.

دار هذا الزمان بالعقد والحل

ل وبالقرب والنوى دورانه

This age has revolved through binding and unbinding,

and through nearness and separation, in its cycle.

ما جرى ردّ راضيَ الحال غضبا

ن كما رد راضياً غضبانه

What happened made one content with his lot angry,

just as it made one angry with it content.

كان سر الأقدار عهدك حتى

أعلنته فأحسنتْ إعلانه

Your tenure was fate's secret until

it proclaimed it, and proclaimed it well.

وأتت تشرح الكتاب الذي أن

تَ من النور كاتبٌ عنوانه

And it came to explain the book whose

title you write in light.

اختياراً أو اضطراراً تقلد

صورة العبء كله وعيانه

By choice or compulsion, shoulder

the burden in its full form and visible reality.

وامض بالحزم والسداد وصرّف

ما توليتَ قيده وعنانه

And press on with resolve and sound judgment, and direct

what you have taken by its tether and reins:

دُولاً سادت الشؤون ليلقى

كل شأن ميعاده وضمانه

governments that have ruled affairs, so that

each affair may receive its appointed time and guarantee.

أنت من في قواه جالت مرامي

ه وساوى مراسه برهانه

You are one whose aims have ranged within his powers,

and whose experience has matched his proof.

لك في الحكم نية السلم كانت

غاية قبل أن ترى سلطانه

Peace is your purpose in governing; it was

your goal before you saw the power of rule.

وأحق الحكام بالطاعة العف

فُ ومن كان حزبه إحسانه

And the ruler most deserving of obedience is the virtuous,

and he whose party is his benevolence.

ومقيم الميزان في الناس عدلاً

يُكبرُ الناس بينهم ميزانه

And he who sets the scales justly among people—

the people honor his scales in their midst.

والذي مارس المعارك جوّاً

هو أدرى بصيده عقبانه

And he who has fought battles in the air

has acquainted his eagles with his quarry.

وحليف الجبار بعد خصام

هو أولى بدفعه عدوانه

And a tyrant's ally after a quarrel

is best placed to ward off his aggression.

وأجل الأبطال والأرض نارٌ

من حمى من لهيبها أوطانه

And the greatest of heroes, while the earth is aflame,

is he who shields his homelands from its blaze.

وإذا هادن الكريم كراماً

من أعاديه أصبحوا أعوانه

And when a noble man makes peace with noble men

among his enemies, they become his helpers.

ورواسي الجبال أيسر للإن

سان حملاً من حمله أضغانه

And the firmly rooted mountains are easier for a man

to bear than to bear his own grudges.

فاز من يطلب الوزارة لل

ه ويرجو نيابة وحصانه

He succeeds who seeks the ministry for God

and hopes for deputyship and immunity.

لم ينل عزة المناصب إلا

من أطالت بلاءه وامتحانه

No one has attained the honor of office except

one whose trials and testing it has prolonged.

منعت عصمة التجاريب فيها

أن تكون الخداعة الفتانه

The safeguard of experience in office has kept it

from becoming the deceitful seductress.

وإذا مكن الولاة مشيرو ال

ملك بالرأي مكنوا أركانه

And when the king's counselors strengthen the governors,

through counsel, they strengthen his pillars.

والصواب احترام آت لماض

مَهَّدَ المرتقَى له وأبانه

And what is right is a successor's respect for a predecessor

who prepared his upward path and made it clear.

وأبر الأخلاف من وجد الأس

لاف في كل صالح أقرانَه

And the most dutiful successor is he who finds his predecessors

his peers in every good undertaking.

وتعادي الحماة في الأزمة الكب

رى أمام الخطوب كل الخِيانه

And the defenders' mutual hostility in the great crisis

in the face of calamities is utter betrayal.

والأخ الحامل المعاذير أهل

من أخيه أن لا يرى هجرانه

And a brother who offers excuses deserves

not to see his brother abandon him.

ولسان الفتى هواه فإن تم

لكْ هواه فقد ملكت لسانه

And a man's tongue is his desire; if you master

his desire, you have mastered his tongue.

كل عتب لم يأت إلا لِعُتْبَى

لا تخَف ذكره ولا نسيانه

Any reproach made only to seek amends—

fear neither its mention nor its being forgotten.

والذي هابه الأباعد لا تس

لِبُهُ فرقة القريب أمانه

And he whom those far away fear is not robbed

of his security by a close one's estrangement.

ولقد يفقد الفتى عيشه الرغ

د ولا يفقد الفتى إيمانه

And a man may indeed lose his life of ease,

yet the man does not lose his faith.

فإذا مال جانب عنك فاترك

ه لنجواه وانتظر رضوانه

So if one side leans away from you, leave

it to its private counsel, and await its goodwill.

أين من ضجة الزمان بياني

بعد ما ردَّدَ الزمانُ بيانه

Where is my eloquence beside time's clamor,

after time has echoed its own declaration?

أنا من حاسب الرجال وأعطى

كل ندٍّ من جانبيه مكانه

I am one who has assessed men and given

every peer on either side his place.

أنا للمصلحين أبقى وأوفى

من قضى واجباً وأدَّى أمانه

I am, toward reformers, the most steadfast and faithful

of those who fulfilled a duty and honored their pledge.

أتجوع البلاد والنيل جارٍ

في رباها والمال ملء الخزانه

Can the country go hungry while the Nile flows

through its hills, and money fills the treasury?

وأمام الرعية الملك الصا

لح تلقى حنوَّهُ وحنانه

And before the subjects stands the righteous king;

they receive his tenderness and compassion.

حسبنا الطيبات منه وعقبى ال

أمر للّه وحده سبحانه

The good things from him suffice us; the final outcome

of the affair belongs to God alone—glory be to Him.