شكرتك في أجداثها الشهداء

وترنمت بثنائك الأحياء

The martyrs have thanked you in their graves,

And the living have sung your praise.

إن كان في تلك الجماجم ألسن

لم تبل فهي تحية ودعاء

If those skulls hold tongues

Not yet decayed, they offer greetings and prayers.

أو كان ينبت ف يالتراب محامد

نبت الثنا لك منه والإطراء

Or if praises could sprout in the soil,

Praise and acclaim would spring from it for you.

حبست يتامى دمعها وأرامل

لما تنقل في القرى البشراء

Orphans and widows held back their tears

When heralds of good news traveled through the villages.

وتقول كل حزينة في خدرها

ذهب القاسة وجاءنا الرحماء

And every grieving woman says in her secluded chamber:

"The cruel have gone, and the merciful have come to us."

فَمَن البشير إلى عظام في الثرى

دُفنت وطاف بها بِلىً وعفاء

Who, then, will bring good tidings to bones in the earth,

Buried and surrounded by decay and oblivion?

بكر القضاء مقرّبا آجالها

إن الحياة أو الممات قضاء

Fate came early, bringing their appointed ends nearer;

Indeed, life or death is fate's decree.

ما فات من بؤس البسوس وشؤمها

أحيت مساوئ عهده الورقاء

The bygone misery of al-Basus and her ill omen—

The gray dove revived the evils of that age.

طاحت نفوس في سبيل حمامة

دخلت عليها أيكها الغرباء

Lives were lost for the sake of a dove

Whose grove strangers had invaded.

كان الدفاع مذلة وجبانة

ليت المداره يوم ذاك نساء

The defense was humiliation and cowardice;

If only the advocates that day had been women!

سُرعان ما ختم الدفاع القول بل

سرعان ما قتلت به البراء

How swiftly the defense ended its plea—rather,

How swiftly the innocent were killed by it!

خلت العشية في السجون أسِرّة

يا ليتها للظالمين وِطاء

That evening, beds in the prisons stood empty;

Would that they were bedding for the oppressors!

هانت عليهم في سبيل رقيهم

مهج مضت مظلومة ودماء

Cheap to them, in pursuit of their advancement, were

Souls unjustly lost, and blood.

قد أسرفوا في حكمهم وتعسفوا

ما شاء ذلكمو العميد وشاءوا

They went to excess in their judgment and acted arbitrarily,

As that chief wished, and they wished too.

زرق الجلاليب الذين يحبهم

هم منه في حفر القبور براء

Those in blue gallabiyas, whom he loves,

Have no part in his digging of graves.

فعلت رعايته بهم ووداده

ما ليس تفعل بعضه البغضاء

His care for them, and his affection, have done

What hatred could not do even in part.

أمع المشانق رحمة ومودّة

ومع السياط صداقة ووفاء

Can mercy and affection go with gallows,

And friendship and fidelity with whips?

أسفرتَ عن فرج البلاد وأهلها

صبحَ الجلوس لك النفوس فداء

You shone forth with relief for the land and its people

On the morning of accession; may souls be your ransom.

العفو غُرتك السنية في الورى

والحلم شيمة ربك الغرّاء

Pardon is the splendid blaze upon your brow among mankind,

And forbearance is your Lord's illustrious trait.

لما بدت منك السعود تمزقت

تلك القيود وأُطلق السجناء

When good omens appeared from you, they were torn apart—

Those chains—and the prisoners were freed.

مولاى مصر تجملت وتزينت

لجلوسكم فكأنها الجوزاء

My lord, Egypt adorned and arrayed herself

For your accession, as though she were the constellation al-Jawza.

الكهرباء من القلوب سرت إلى

أرجائها فأضاءت الأرجاء

Electricity flowed from hearts into

Her reaches, lighting every quarter.

وإذا القلوب صفت لمالك رقها

شفّت ونوّرها هوى وولاء

And when hearts are sincere toward the master of their bondage,

They grow translucent, illumined by love and loyalty.

في كل مغدى موكب ومراحه

للنصر والفتح المبين لواء

At every procession's morning departure and evening return,

There is a banner for victory and manifest conquest.

حيت محياك الكريم شبيبة

مما غرست كريمة زهراء

A youthful generation saluted your noble face,

Noble and radiant, sprung from what you planted.

هي موئل الآمال ما إن جازها

للملك والوطن العزيز رجاء

It is the refuge of hopes; none passes beyond it—

No hope for the crown and the beloved homeland.

علمت بأن حقوق عرشك ف يالورى

حصن لمصر وعصمة ووقاء

It knew that the rights of your throne among mankind

Are Egypt's fortress, a safeguard and a shield.

وبأن سعيك كان سعى مجاهد

قد خانه الأعوان والنصراء

And that your striving was the striving of a fighter

Whom helpers and supporters had betrayed.

ودّوا مكانك للغريب إمارة

يأبى الغريب ونفسه السمحاء

They wished rule for the foreigner in your place;

The foreigner and his magnanimous soul refuse.

ورعية لك في الممالك بَرّة

غمرتهمومن بيتك الآلاء

And you have loyal subjects throughout the realms;

Blessings from your house have overwhelmed them.

فعلُ العرابيين فرّق بيننا

بئس الفَعال وقبِّح الزعماء

The deeds of the Urabists divided us;

Evil were the deeds; may the leaders be disgraced!

من كل مفقود الشعور مذبذب

في بردتيه نميمة ورياء

Each one bereft of feeling, wavering,

With tale-bearing and hypocrisy within his two cloaks.

إن كان منهم في البلاد بقية

فعلى البقية لعنة وبلاء

If any remnant of them remains in the land,

Upon that remnant be a curse and affliction.

يا دولة الأحرار ما جاملتنا

إلا وفيك مروءة وسخاء

O state of the free, you have never shown us courtesy

Save with honor and generosity in you.

الخير عند للسلام مؤمل

والعون منك يرومه الضعفاء

Good is hoped for from you in the cause of peace,

And the weak seek aid from you.

إن النفوس كما علمت حرائر

كذب الأولى قالوا النفوس إماء

Souls, as you know, are freeborn women;

Those who said souls were slave women lied.

والشعب إن مل الحياة ذليلة

هان الرجال عليه والأشياء

And if the people tire of a life of humiliation,

Men and things become worthless to them.

لو تقدرين على الحياة وردّها

قلنا عليك الرد والإحياء

If you had power over life and its restoration,

We would say: restoration and revival are your duty.

فاستغفري الله العظيم فإنما

لذنوبهم يستغفر العظماء

So seek forgiveness from Almighty God, for it is only

For their own sins that the great seek forgiveness.

عارٌ فظائع دنشواى وسُبّة

غسلتهما هذى اليد البيضاء

The atrocities of Dinshaway are shame and disgrace;

This white hand has washed them both away.