ما للحوادث تنئينا وتدنينا — Hifni Nasif

ما للحوادث تُنئينا وتُدنينا

وللزمانِ يعادينا ويُصْفينا

Why do events drive us away and draw us near,

and time oppose us and show us favor?

وللسياسة تبدي كل آونةٍ

من رقش أثوابها للناس تلوينا

And why does politics reveal, at every turn,

the changing colors of its patterned robes to the people?

والدهر ما باله حيناً تكدّرنا

صروفه وأويقات تُصافينا

And what ails fate, that at times we are troubled

by its turns, while at brief moments they befriend us?

يذيقُنا مرّةً ما مرّ مَطعمُه

ومرّةً كأسَهُ الشهديّ يسقينا

At one time it makes us taste what is bitter to the palate,

and at another gives us its honeyed cup to drink.

مظاهرٌ بهرتنا عند رؤيتها

وأجرت الدمع سيلاً من مآقينا

Scenes that dazzled us when we beheld them

and sent tears streaming from the corners of our eyes;

وملعب سُحرت فيه مداركنا

فشاهدت من مرائيه أفانينا

and an arena in which our perceptions were bewitched,

so they beheld its manifold spectacles.

لكنّ للغيب أسراراً محجّبة

عن العقول وإن تظهرْ لنا حينا

Yet the unseen holds secrets veiled

from our minds, though they may appear to us at times.

واللهُ يحدِث بعد العسر ميسرة

واليأسَ يُوليهُ من أفضالِهِ لينا

God brings ease after hardship

and, out of His bounty, softens despair.

والشيءُ يبلغُ بالتدريج غايته

والشهرُ إكماله عند الثلاثينا

A thing reaches its end by degrees,

and a month is complete at thirty days.

والحمد لله قد قرّت نواظرنا

وأقبلت نحونا الدنيا تهنّينا

Praise be to God: our eyes have found contentment,

and the world has turned toward us to congratulate us.

والأمر قرّ واسباب الفلاح بدت

لنا وفارقَنا ما كان يؤذينا

Affairs have settled, and the means of success have appeared

to us, while what once harmed us has left us.

وحقق الله ما كنا نؤمله

عوناص لنا وأماناً من أعادينا

God has fulfilled what we had hoped for:

aid for us and safety from our enemies.

وزارة شأنها جلب الصلاح لنا

وأن تشيّد في العليا مبانينا

A ministry whose purpose is to bring us well-being

and erect our edifices in the heights;

ومجلساً قام في إصلاح قابِلنا

وحالنا فنسينا أمر ماضينا

and a council that undertook to reform our future

and our present, so we forgot our past.

مَن مبلغٌ معشرَ النوابِ أنهمو

أحيوا بمسعاهمو الإصلاح والدينا

Who will tell the company of deputies that they

have revived reform and religion through their efforts,

وأنهم في قلوبِ الناس قد غرسوا

حبًّا تمكن في الأحشاءِ تمكينا

and that they have planted in the people's hearts

a love firmly rooted in their innermost depths,

وأنهم خلدوا الذكر الجميل لهم

ذكراً يباهي شذاهُ مسكَ دارينا

and that they have made their good name immortal—

a remembrance whose fragrance rivals the musk of Darin,

وأنهم مهدوا السبْلَ الصعاب لنا

ووطنوا العدل بين الناس توطينا

and that they have smoothed the difficult paths for us

and firmly established justice among the people,

وأنهم أطمعونا بعد ما يئست

منا النفوسَ وصدتنا أمانينا

and that they have given us hope after souls had despaired

of us, and our wishes had turned us away?

اليوم فليْنظر اللاحي لهيئتنا

وليسال العفوَ عما قاله فينا

Today, let the reproacher look at our condition

and seek pardon for what he said about us;

وليصحُ من سكرِهِ وليعرفنّ لنا

نزاهةَ العرض مما كان يرمينا

let him sober up from his drunkenness and acknowledge our

honor as unstained by the charges he cast at us.

وليلق من مجلس الشورى نجوم هدى

سارين في فلك العليا مجدّينا

Let him meet, in the Consultative Council, stars of guidance,

traveling by night in the sphere of greatness, striving earnestly.

يدري بأن كان لم يعتدْ مباشرةً

أو لم يكابد على الأعمال تمرينا

He will realize that he had not been accustomed to direct involvement

or endured arduous practical training;

إذنْ وربك يغدو وهو منبهرٌ

حتى يرى مصرَ في عينيه برلينا

then, by your Lord, he will go forth astounded,

until, in his eyes, he sees Egypt as Berlin.

لا أرجع اللهُ أياماً مررن بنا

أيام كنا نقاسي الظلم والهُونا

May God never bring back the days that passed over us,

days when we suffered injustice and humiliation.

كنا نساق بسوط الظلم تندبُنا

أحبابُنا وتنادينا ذرارينا

We were driven by the lash of injustice, mourned

by our loved ones, while our children called out to us.

أيام كانت ولاةُ الحوَر في سَعةٍ

وكان صاحبُنا الفلاحُ مسكينا

Days when the governors of tyranny lived in plenty,

while our companion, the peasant, was wretched.

وكم أتينا لهم نشكو ظلامتنا

وما وجدنا أميراً قط يُشكينا

How often we came to them complaining of our grievance,

yet never found a ruler who would redress it.

يقضي علينا بما يهوى ويُخصمنا

بأنه تابعٌ في ذاك قانونا

He would rule against us as he pleased, and silence our argument

by claiming that he was following a law in doing so.

فإِن رأى أنه مما يساعدنا

في الحكم يا قرب ما يلغى القوانينا

But if he saw that it would favor us

in judgment—how quickly he would abolish the laws!

فنحن نعرض والحكام تُعرض والأ

حكامُ تمرِض والدينار يَشفينا

We present our cases; the rulers turn away, and the

judgments sicken us, while the dinar heals us.

نظنهم يوم تقليد الأمارة أم

لاكاً ومن بعدُ نلقاهم شياطينا

We think them, on the day they assume office,

angels, but afterward we find them devils.

كأننا الآلة الصماء ليس لنا

من كدّنا غير أدهان تندّينا

As though we were a deaf machine, with nothing for us

from our toil but oils to moisten us;

أو أننا كُرةٌ تجري وليس لنا

حظ ولكن عصا الأيام تجرينا

or as though we were a rolling ball, with no

luck; instead, the stick of days drives us on.

ما ذنبنا غير أن الشرق منبتنا

وأنَّ ساحاته مأوى أهالينا

What is our sin, except that the East is our birthplace

and its lands are the refuge of our families?

فلتْحي أوطانُنا ولتحيَ أمتّنا

ولتحى نظارنا وليحى سامينا

Long live our homelands, and long live our nation!

Long live our ministers, and long live our Sami!

لتْحى نوابنا وليحي مجلسنا

وليحي حامي حمى مصر عرابينا

Long live our deputies, and long live our council!

Long live the defender of Egypt's sanctuary, our Urabi!

وجندُه الحر ولتحي السراة لهم

وليحى مِن جمعنا مَن قال آمينا

And his free army! Long live their noble leaders!

And long live whoever in our gathering said 'Amen'!