1. سَكَنَ الظَلامُ وَباتَ قَلبُكَ يَخفِقُ

    وَسَطا عَلى جَنبَيكَ هَمٌّ مُقلِقُ

    Darkness grew still, while your heart spent the night throbbing.

    And a troubling care assailed your sides.

  2. حارَ الفِراشُ وَحِرتُ فيهِ فَأَنتُما

    تَحتَ الظَلامِ مُعَذَّبٌ وَمُؤَرَّقُ

    The bed was bewildered, and I was bewildered in it; so you two

    Are beneath the darkness: one tormented, the other kept awake.

  3. دَرَجَ الزَمانُ وَأَنتَ مَفتونُ المُنى

    وَمَضى الشَبابُ وَأَنتَ ساهٍ مُطرِقُ

    Time passed, while you were bewitched by hopes,

    And youth departed, while you were heedless, head bowed.

  4. عَجَباً يَلَذُّ لَكَ السُكوتُ مَعَ الهَوى

    وَسِواكَ يَبعَثُهُ الغَرامُ فَيَنطِقُ

    How strange that silence pleases you amid love,

    While passion rouses another, and he speaks.

  5. خُلِقَ الغَرامُ لِأَصغَرَيكَ وَطالَما

    ظَنّوا الظُنونَ بِأَصغَرَيكَ وَأَغرَقوا

    Love was made for your two smallest—heart and tongue—and how often

    They harbored suspicions about your two smallest, and went to extremes.

  6. وَرَمَوكَ بِالسَلوى وَلَو شَهِدوا الَّذي

    تَطويهِ في تِلكَ الضُلوعِ لَأَشفَقوا

    They accused you of forgetting love; yet had they witnessed what

    You hide within those ribs, they would have pitied you.

  7. أَخفَيتَ أَسرارَ الفُؤادِ وَإِنَّما

    سِرُّ الفُؤادِ مِنَ النَواظِرِ يُسرَقُ

    You hid the heart's secrets; yet

    The heart's secret is stolen from the eyes.

  8. نَفِّس بِرَبِّكَ عَن فُؤادِكَ كَربَهُ

    وَاِرحَم حَشاكَ فَإِنَّها تَتَمَزَّقُ

    For your Lord's sake, relieve your heart of its anguish,

    And have mercy on your innermost being, for it is being torn apart.

  9. وَاِذكُر لَنا عَهدَ الَّذينَ بِنايِهِم

    جَمَعوا عَلَيكَ هُمومَهُم وَتَفَرَّقوا

    And recall for us the days of those who, by departing,

    Heaped their cares upon you, and scattered.

  10. ما لِلقَوافي أَنكَرَتكَ وَلَم تَكُن

    لِكَسادِها في غَيرِ سوقِكَ تَنفُقُ

    Why have the rhymes disowned you, when they never

    Sold, for lack of demand, in any market but yours?

  11. ما لِلبَيانِ بِغَيرِ بابِكَ واقِفاً

    يَبكي وَيُعجِلُهُ البُكاءُ فَيَشرَقُ

    Why does eloquence stand at a door other than yours,

    Weeping, so overtaken by tears that it chokes?

  12. إِنّي كَهَمِّكَ في الصَبابَةِ لَم أَزَل

    أَلهو وَأَرتَجِلُ القَريضَ وَأَعشَقُ

    I, like your sorrow, have never ceased, in ardent love,

    To take my pleasure, improvise verse, and love.

  13. نَفسي بِرَغمِ الحادِثاتِ فَتِيَّةٌ

    عودي عَلى رَغمِ الكَوارِثِ مورِقُ

    My soul is youthful despite misfortunes;

    My bough is leafy despite disasters.

  14. إِنَّ الَّذي أَغرى السُهادَ بِمُقلَتي

    مُتَعَنِّتٌ قَلبي بِهِ مُتَعَلِّقُ

    Indeed, the one who incited sleeplessness against my eye

    Is unyielding; my heart is attached to him.

  15. واثَقتُهُ أَلّا أَبوحَ وَإِنَّما

    يَومَ الحِسابِ يُحَلُّ ذاكَ المَوثِقُ

    I made a pact with him not to disclose it; only

    On the Day of Reckoning will that covenant be dissolved.

  16. وَشَقيتُ مِنهُ بِقُربِهِ وَبِعادِهِ

    وَأَخو الشَقاءِ إِلى الشَقاءِ مُوَفَّقُ

    And I suffered from him, in his nearness and his distance,

    And misery's brother finds success in misery.

  17. صاحَبتُ أَسبابَ الرِضا لِرُكوبِهِ

    مَتنَ الخِلافِ لِما بِهِ أَتَخَلَّقُ

    I embraced the ways of contentment, because he rode

    The back of opposition to the character I cultivate.

  18. وَصَبَرتُ مِنهُ عَلى الَّذي يَعيا بِهِ

    حِلمُ الحَليمِ وَيَتَّقيهِ الأَحمَقُ

    And I endured from him what defeats

    The forbearing man's forbearance, and what the fool shuns.

  19. أَصبَحتُ كَالدَهرِيِّ أَعبُدُ شَعرَهُ

    وَجَبينَهُ وَأَنا الشَريفُ المُعرِقُ

    Like a materialist, I have come to worship his hair

    And his brow, though I am a nobleman of ancient lineage.

  20. وَغَدَوتُ أَنظِمُ مِن ثَنايا ثَغرِهِ

    دُرَراً أُقَلِّدُها المَها وَأُطَوِّقُ

    And I began to string, from the front teeth of his mouth,

    Pearls to adorn the oryx with necklaces and collars.

  21. صَبري اِستَثَرتَ دَفائِني وَهَزَزتَني

    وَأَرَيتَني الإِبداعَ كَيفَ يُنَسَّقُ

    Sabri, you stirred my buried treasures and shook me,

    And showed me how artistry is arranged.

  22. فَأَبَحتَ لي شَكوى الهَوى وَسَبَقتَني

    في مَدحِ عَبّاسٍ وَمِثلُكَ يَسبِقُ

    So you allowed me to lament love, and outstripped me

    In praising Abbas; one like you takes the lead.

  23. قالَ الرَئيسُ فَما لِقَولٍ بَعدَهُ

    باعٌ تَطولُ وَلا لِمَدحٍ رَونَقُ

    The chief has spoken; no utterance after him

    Has a long reach, nor does any praise have luster.

  24. شَوقي نَسَبتَ فَما مَلَكتُ مَدامِعي

    مِن أَن يَسيلَ بِها النَسيبُ الشَيِّقُ

    Shawqi, you sang of love; I could not command my tears

    To keep that stirring love-verse from flowing through them.

  25. أَعجَزتَ أَطواقَ الأَنامِ بِمَدحِهِ

    سَجَدَ البَيانُ لِرَبِّها وَالمَنطِقُ

    You surpassed mankind's capacities in praising him;

    Eloquence and speech prostrated themselves before their lord.

  26. لَم تَترُكا لي في المَدائِحِ فَضلَةً

    يَجري بِها قَلَمي الضَعيفُ وَيَلحَقُ

    You two left me no remnant in the poems of praise

    With which my feeble pen could run and catch up.

  27. نَفسي عَلى شَوقٍ لِمَدحِ أَميرِها

    وَيَراعَتي بَينَ الأَنامِلِ أَشوَقُ

    My soul yearns to praise its prince,

    And my reed pen, between my fingertips, yearns still more.

  28. ماذا أَقولُ وَأَنتُما في مَدحِهِ

    بَحرانِ باتَ كِلاهُما يَتَدَفَّقُ

    What can I say, when you two, in praising him,

    Are two seas, both now pouring forth?

  29. العَجزُ أَقعَدَني وَإِنَّ عَزائِمي

    لَولاكُما فَوقَ السِماكِ تُحَلِّقُ

    Inability has kept me seated, though my ambitions,

    But for you two, would soar above al-Simak.

  30. فَليَهنَئِ العَبّاسُ أَنَّ بِكَفِّهِ

    عَلَمَينِ هَزَّهُما الوَلاءُ المُطلَقُ

    So may Abbas rejoice that in his hand

    Are two banners set waving by absolute loyalty.

  31. وَليَبقَ ذُخراً لِلبِلادِ وَأَهلِها

    يَعفو وَيَرحَمُ مَن يَشاءُ وَيُعتِقُ

    And may he remain a treasure for the country and its people,

    Pardoning, showing mercy to whom he wills, and granting freedom.

  32. عَبّاسُ وَالعيدُ الكَبيرُ كِلاهُما

    مُتَأَلِّقٌ بِإِزائِهِ مُتَأَلِّقُ

    Abbas and the Great Feast—each of them

    Shines, with a shining counterpart facing him.

  33. هَذا لَهُ تَجري الدِماءُ وَذا لَهُ

    تَجري القَرائِحُ بِالمَديحِ وَتُعنِقُ

    For this one blood flows, and for that one

    Poetic gifts flow in praise and race ahead.

  34. صَدَقَ الَّذي قَد قالَ فيهِ وَحَسبُهُ

    أَنَّ الزَمانَ لِما يَقولُ مُصَدِّقُ

    He spoke truly who spoke of him; it is enough for him

    That time confirms what he says:

  35. لَكَ مِصرُ ماضيها وَحاضِرُها مَعاً

    وَلَكَ الغَدُ المُتَحَتِّمُ المُتَحَقِّقُ

    Egypt is yours—its past and present together,

    And yours is the inevitable, assured tomorrow.