الله في الخلق من صب ومن عانى

تفنى القلوب ويبقى قلبك الجاني

For God's sake, spare His creatures—the lovesick and those who suffer.

Hearts perish, while your guilty heart lives on.

صوني جمالك عنا إننا بشر

من التراب وهذا الحسن روحاني

Shield your beauty from us: we are mortals,

made of dust, while this beauty is spiritual.

أو فابتغي فلكا تأوينه ملَكا

لم يتخذ شركا في العالم الفاني

Or seek a celestial sphere to inhabit as an angel,

who has laid no snare in this fleeting world.

السرّ يحرسه والذكر يؤنسه

والشهب حوليه بالمرصاد للجان

Mystery guards him, and remembrance of God keeps him company;

and meteors around him lie in wait for the jinn.

ينساب للنور مشغوفا بصورته

منعّما في بديعات الحلى هانى

He glides toward the light, enthralled by its image,

blissful amid wondrous adornments, content.

إذا تبسم أبدى الكون زينته

وإن تنسم أهدى أى ريحان

When he smiles, the universe displays its finery;

and if he breathes, what fragrant basil he bestows!

وأشرفي من سماء العز مشرقة

بمنظر ضاحك اللآلاء فتان

And look down, radiant, from the heaven of glory,

with a captivating vision of smiling gleams.

عسى تكف دموع فيك هامية

لا تطلع الشمس والنداء في آن

Perhaps the tears streaming for you will cease:

the sun and dew do not appear at the same time.

يا من هجرت إلى الأوطان رؤيتها

فرحت أشوق مشتاق لأوطان

O you whose sight I forsook for the homelands,

I became the most yearning of all who long for home.

أتعهدين حنيني في الزمان لها

وسكبي الدمع من تذكارها قانى

Do you recall my longing for those lands through time,

and the crimson tears I shed at their memory,

وغبطيَ الطير آتيه أصيح به

ليت الكريم الذي أعطاك أعطاني

and my envy of the bird—I approach it and cry:

If only the Generous One who gave to you had given to me!

مُرى عصىّ الكرى يغشى مجاملة

وسامحي في عناق الطيف أجفاني

Bid obstinate sleep visit me as a courtesy,

and indulge my eyelids in embracing the apparition.

كفى خدودي من عينيّ ما شربت

فمثل ما قد جرى لم تأت عينان

My cheeks have drunk enough from my eyes;

for no pair of eyes has produced the like of what has flowed.

لئن ضننت فما لي لا أضنّ به

على الفناء سوى آثار وجدان

If you withhold, why should I not guard what is mine

against extinction—mere traces of feeling,

ومنطق يرث التاريخ جوهره

عن الزمان وعن عباسه الثاني

and words whose essence history inherits

from Time and from its Abbas the Second?

يا ابن النوال وما في الملك من كرم

ومن عفاف ومن حلم وإيمان

O son of bounty and all the generosity in kingship,

and of purity, forbearance, and faith,

هذى المفاخر لم تولد ولا ولدت

ولا رأى الناس شأنا كفء ذا الشان

these glories were not born, nor did they give birth;

nor have people seen a stature equal to this stature.

هام الأنام وسادات الأنام بها

وحرّك العصر أعطافا كنشوان

Humanity and its masters were enraptured by them;

and the age swayed its shoulders like one intoxicated.

ربَّ الصعيد ورب الريف ثب بهما

للفرقدين وطاول شأو كيوان

Lord of Upper Egypt and lord of the countryside, leap with both

to the two Farqad stars, and rival Saturn's reach.

سارت بمسعاتك الأخبار وانتقلت

بها الركاب وشاق القاصى الدانى

Reports of your endeavor spread and were borne

by the caravans; the distant stirred longing in the near.

تريد مصر بما تبدى حوادثها

ليعرف الناس حلمي هل له ثاني

Egypt wishes, through what her events reveal,

that people should know Hilmi: has he an equal?

فيا حوادث مهلا في نصيحتنا

فما تركت لنا لبا بعرفان

So, O events, be gentle in advising us:

for you have left us no mind with understanding.

وإن حلمي لتستكفي البلاد به

كالعين تمت معانيها بإنسان

Indeed, Hilmi is all the country needs,

like an eye whose qualities are perfected by its pupil.

لما بدا الشهر واستقبلت غرّته

لاح الهلال ولاح البدر في آن

When the month appeared and you welcomed its first day,

the crescent shone, and the full moon shone at once.

وقمت تسطع بالأنوار في أفق

بالمسلمين وبالإسلام مزدان

And you rose, blazing with light in a horizon

adorned with Muslims and with Islam.

كأنك البدر في غايات رفعته

لو كان للبدر كرسي وتاجان

As though you were the full moon at its greatest height,

if the full moon had a throne and two crowns.

فاهنأ مكانك واهنأ ما يلوح به

لرب يلدز من آثار إحسان

So rejoice in your station, and rejoice in what shines there:

marks of beneficence from the lord of Yildiz.

إذا الخلافة في أمصارها نهضت

رأت بمصركم روحا لأبدان

When the caliphate rises in its cities,

it sees in your Egypt a soul for bodies.

وإنها الدهرَ للإسلام مملكة

تزهو ممالكها منها بعنوان

And it is forever a kingdom for Islam,

whose realms glory in a title drawn from it.

أهدى الخليفة ما أهدى يبشرنا

أن الوداد بآساس وأركان

The caliph gave what he gave, bringing us glad tidings

that friendship has foundations and pillars,

وإن ما تشتكي الأوطان من أود

إلى صلاح بنعماه وعمران

and that the crookedness of which the homelands complain

is turning to rectitude and prosperity through his bounty.

قصرا على اللج لولا أن مهديه

عبد الحميد لقلنا قصر نعمان

A palace on the deep waters—were its giver not

Abd al-Hamid, we would call it Nu'man's palace.

يبيت من عزة البسفور صاحبه

على مكان من الدنيا وإمكان

Its owner passes the night, through the Bosphorus's grandeur,

in a station of worldly rank and power.

إذا الأكارم سنوا للندى سبلا

سننت أجملها يا فرع عثمان

When noble men lay down paths for generosity,

you lay down the fairest, O scion of Osman.

ودّ النجوم أبا ساسان والدهم

ومن بوالدك العالي بساسان

The stars wished Sasan's father were their father;

and who could compare your exalted father with Sasan?

يظل يسجع في الإسلام شاعركم

كان أيامه أيام حسان

Your poet keeps singing in rhyme within Islam,

as though his days were the days of Hassan.

ويشتهى الدولة العليا معززة

من الوئام بأنصار وأعوان

And he wishes the exalted state to be strengthened

through concord, with supporters and helpers.

وبالمعارف تعليها وتورثها

في الأرض بنيات فخر عند بنيان

And through learning you exalt it and bequeath to it

on earth, structures of glory whenever you build.

ركن الخلافة ضافي الذيل مدّعم

على السلام فعش للركن يا باني

The caliphate's pillar, with its flowing train, is buttressed

upon peace; so live for the pillar, O builder.