نبأ حرك آلاما ووجدا

في بقايا أنفس تحمل ادا

News stirred pains and longing

in the remnants of souls bearing a grievous burden.

بين شك ويقين لم تجد

فيه من ميل إلى التفنيد بدا

Between doubt and certainty, they found

no alternative to inclining toward denial.

لا تيه أو هي قد أدركت

وقعه في نزعه أخذا وردا

No bewilderment—or had it already grasped

its impact in its wrenching, taking and returning?

لا ظبا البيض ولا حز المدى

منه في تمزيقها أقطع حدا

Neither the edges of gleaming swords nor the slicing of knives

have a sharper edge than it in tearing them apart.

حال ما بين فؤادي ونهى

ثائرا يختز في ما يلقى مجدا

It intervened between my heart and reason,

raging, piercing into whatever glory it encountered.

نزل الأمر فهل أعددت صبرا

وطغى الحزن فهل مسيت جلدا

The calamity descended—have you prepared patience?

And sorrow overflowed—have you become steadfast?

ما لنفسي من صديق كالأسى

يصدق الوعد ولا ينكث عهدا

My soul has no friend like sorrow,

which keeps its promise and breaks no covenant.

قلت إذا لطف من أحلامه

وهنا أوسعت من يهواك صدا

I said, when gentleness came from his dreams:

'And here you lavished rejection on the one who loves you.

رب ذكرى كلما شط النوى

برحها ينسيك أحبابا وعهدا

Many a remembrance, whenever separation grows distant,

makes you forget loved ones and old bonds through its torment.

أحد الأمرين إما أنت خدني

مكرما أو لازما بي يتعدا

One of two things: either you are my companion,

honored, or clinging to me and overstepping;

أو فراق وسلاف الموت أحلى

موردا لي منك أو أصدق ودا

or separation—and death's choicest wine is sweeter

as a draught for me than you, or truer in affection.'

فرمى السهم فاصمى وله

غرض الرامي ولي أن أتصدى

He shot the arrow and killed outright; his is

the archer's aim, and mine is to stand in its path.

أي سهم مزق الموت به

أكبد أحرى وأي الناس أردى

What arrow was it with which death tore

worthier livers—and which man did it lay low?

يوم قالوا مات سعد ضعضعوا

أرسخ الاعلام والأوتاد هدا

The day they said, 'Sa'd has died,' they shook

the most firmly rooted mountains and stakes, shattering them.

وطغى الوادي نحيبا وهمى

غيث دمع أزعج الأفلاك رعدا

The valley overflowed with sobbing, and there poured

a rain of tears whose thunder disturbed the celestial spheres.

هزة في الشرق والغرب ضحى

لم تدع للشمس عند الصبح رأدا

A tremor in East and West at forenoon

left the sun no first light at dawn.

جزع الشرق على الشمس أسى

خط للافاق للأنجم لحدا

The East grieved for the sun in sorrow

that traced a grave for the stars across the horizons.

أخذت عهدا مع النجم فما

ينجلي إن لم يجد في الأفق سعدا

She made a pact with the star: it will not

shine forth unless it finds Sa'd upon the horizon.

أتراها في صعود أخذت

موثقا في المرتقى ألا تردى

Do you suppose that, in ascending, she took

a solemn pledge upon the ascent not to fall?

كم تدهدى بين طيات الفضا

كالكرى والدهر باق لا يدهدى

How often she tumbles through the folds of space

like balls, while Time remains and never tumbles.

قرأت من حكمت الغيب سطور

وانطوت في فطرة الخلق عبدا

Lines were read from the wisdom of the unseen

and folded into creation's nature, in servitude.

لم يمت سعد ولكن هزة

غادرت خضراء وادى النيل جردا

Sa'd did not die, but a tremor

left the verdant land of the Nile Valley bare.

لم يمت سعد ولكن ضربة

برءت من تهمة القتل عمدا

Sa'd did not die, but a blow

was absolved of the charge of deliberate murder.

لم يمت سعد ولكن وثبة

مهدت في الخلد للراحل مهدا

Sa'd did not die, but a leap

prepared a cradle in immortality for the departed.

لم يمت سعد ولكن حمرة

لمست جسم أبي الهول فقدا

Sa'd did not die, but a redness

touched the Sphinx's body with loss.

حمرة إذ سودت بيض الدمى

أحرقت منها الشوى وجها وخدا

A redness that, when it blackened the pale statues,

burned their outer flesh—face and cheek.

ويلة الموت الذي عاجله

مستبدا لم يصارع مستبدا

Woe to death, which swiftly overtook him,

a tyrant that never wrestled a tyrant.

نجم سعد كلما قالوا خبا

في ثراه ملأ الآفاق وقدا

Sa'd's star, whenever they said it had dimmed

in his burial earth, filled the horizons with flame.

بعث التعليم روحا ويدا

أن خبا في حادث أوراه وندا

He revived education in spirit and hand;

if it dimmed in a mishap, he rekindled it—[final word unclear].

وحمي العدل خطيبا مدرها

عرف الواجب والحق فأدى

And he defended justice as an eloquent orator and champion,

knew duty and right, and fulfilled them.

ونضاه فيصلا يسطع نورا

قاطع الضربات لا يهمل حا

And he unsheathed it as a decisive blade shining with light,

cutting in its blows, neglecting no [word incomplete].

ينسج الأبراد بردا للتقى

ضافي الذيل وللأوطان بردا

He weaves cloaks: a cloak for piety,

with an ample hem, and a cloak for the homelands.

وبني الشورى دروعا سردة

بيد داود أو أبدع سردا

And he built consultation into interlinked coats of mail,

by David's hand, or more ingeniously interwoven.

حاطها من عابث أن يأتمر

برداها بشبا الأقلام بردا

He shielded it from a meddler plotting

its ruin, filing him down with the sharp points of pens,

بدفاع يمل البيد رجالا

وهجوم يملأ البطحاء جردا

with a defense that fills the deserts with men

and an attack that fills the broad plain with sleek horses.

يركب الصعب إلى أمثاله

لا إلى الراحة إلا حين أودى

He rides hardship toward hardships like it,

not toward ease, except when he perished.

ترسل السهم ويلقى مثله

ليس بالكرار أن لم يلق ندا

You send an arrow, and he meets its like;

he is no returning attacker unless he meets a peer.

لا أرى سعدا سوى أعماله

فانشدوا فيها إذا مصرا وسعدا

I see Sa'd only in his deeds;

seek in them, then, Egypt and Sa'd.

فارق الدنيا إلى منزلة

تتعالى كبرة عن أن تحدى

He left the world for a station

that rises in greatness beyond being challenged.

هبطت من أرفع فيها العلا

فهى أوجه من سما الأرض استردا

It descended from the loftiest heights there;

so it is more honored than earth's heaven, reclaimed.

وتعالت نفسه في خلدها

وتعالى في الثرى جسما ولحدا

And his soul was exalted in its immortality,

and he was exalted in the dust, in body and grave.

قدك يا دهر فكم أم لها

أمل نالته من عندك عندا

Enough, Time! How many a mother had

a hope that met stubborn refusal at your hands!

أنت للناس أب خير همو

مقرف من شرهم أخبث ولدا

You are a father to the best of people,

a tainted offspring of their worst, the vilest child.

من يقاضيك ومن لم يحتكم

لك يستعدى بك الخصم الألدا

Who sues you? And whoever does not seek judgment

from you calls upon you against the most obstinate foe.

دورة الأرض على أقطابها

كالرحى طحنا وكالمنجل حصدا

The earth's rotation around its poles

is like a millstone grinding, and a sickle reaping.

تتذى منا رفاقا ودما

لا يزال الدهر منها يتردى

It feeds upon our companions and our blood,

which Time never ceases to wear as a cloak.

أضمرت كيدا فما تقنع أخذا

من أعاليها ولا تقبل ردا

It concealed a plot, and is not content with taking

from its heights, nor does it accept a return.

أسرعت في سيرها سعدا ونحسا

ليتها دارت بنا عكسا وطردا

It hastened in its course through good fortune and ill;

if only it revolved with us backward and forward.

ما عليها لو ونت فاستروحت

حيلة أن يسترد الشرق سعدا

What harm if it slackened and took a breath,

as a means for the East to recover Sa'd?

سرحة الوادي التي من أمها

مستظللا أم بعد ألغى رشدا

The valley's spreading tree, which whoever sought

for shade approached after casting sound judgment aside,

هبطت من جنة الخلد على

شاطيء النيل فطابت فيه خلدا

descended from the garden of immortality onto

the Nile's bank, and thrived there forever.

ألبستها الشمس من آصالها

حللا فانبسطت بانا ورندا

The sun clothed it from its late afternoons

in robes, and it spread out as moringa and laurel.

سلب الإكليل منها زهرة

يتباهى والدراري منه حردى

The crown stole a blossom from it

and boasts, while the bright stars rage against it.

يصبح الناس جموعا حولها

أو فرادي يسبق الأشياخ مردا

People come in the morning in crowds around it,

or singly, elders outstripping beardless youths.

يتساقون الأحاديث التي

هي كالراح وأحلى منه وردا

They pass around tales

that are like wine, and sweeter to drink.

أنعش الناس مراح عندها

وهداهم في دياجي الظلم مغدى

Evening repose beside it revived the people,

and a morning journey guided them through oppression's darkness.

هي ظل لندامي روضة

نبتت شوكا على العادي ووردا

It is shade for drinking companions, a garden

that grew thorns against the aggressor, and roses.

كان ظلا كلما امتد له

أمل في الشدة النكراء مدا

He was a shade that, whenever a hope reached toward him

in dreadful hardship, spread farther.

إن طغى في الشرق سيل جارف

في عوادي الغرب لاقى منه سدا

If a sweeping torrent overflowed in the East

amid the West's aggressions, it met a dam from him.

أطمع الغاصب في استعباده

أمته في كيدها الغاصب جدا

Did the usurper covet enslaving

his nation, so earnest in plotting against the usurper?

إن في الوادي خلايا نحلها

دوايا يقذف دون الصاب شهدا

In the valley are hives whose bees

are inkwells, pouring honey rather than bitter sap.

جن باستقلاله واهتجاجه

حب سعد لا هوى هند وسعدى

It ran mad with his independence and fervent agitation:

love of Sa'd, not passion for Hind and Su'da.

كنت فيهم فيلقا في فيلق

قائدا للنصر قد أعددت جندا

Among them you were a legion within a legion,

leading to victory, having prepared troops.

كنت قسا في أياد ذائد

عن حمى الدستور والنيل المفدى

You were Quss in Iyad, a defender

of the constitution's sanctuary and the cherished Nile.

تبعث النور فتستعبد حرا

ضارى الوثبة أو تطلق عبدا

You send forth light and enslave a free man,

fierce in leaping, or set a slave free.

مصرت عدنان فيك مضرة

في نزار واصطفت منك معدا

In you, Adnan was made Egyptian, as was Mudar

within Nizar; and Ma'add was chosen from you.

فإذا شئت ملأت الأفق زهرا

وإذا شئت ملأت الأرض جندا

So, if you wished, you filled the horizon with blossoms,

and, if you wished, you filled the earth with troops.

يا نجوم الأرض تبكي فلكا

كان فيها من نجوم الأفق أهدى

O stars of earth, mourning a celestial sphere

that was among them more guiding than the horizon's stars!

قد توارى فتوارت خلفه

لا نرى أو ان عين الشمس رمدا

He vanished, and they vanished behind him;

we cannot see—or indeed the sun's eye is inflamed.

وهوت يوم هوى فانكدرت

لم نجد من بعده سلوى فبعدا

And she fell the day he fell, and darkened;

after him we found no solace—away, then!

كيف لا تقضي وقد قالوا قضى

وهو بالتيجان والأملاك يفدى

How could she not perish, when they said he had died,

when crowns and kings would be offered to ransom him?

يا دموع الشرق فيضى انهرا

عند بحر لأنني جزرا ومدا

O tears of the East, pour forth as rivers

beside a sea—for I am ebb and flow.

هل ترى الشرق وهل أدرك سرا

كان كالصارم إرهاقا وغمدا

Do you see the East, and has it grasped a secret?

It was like a keen sword, in its oppression and its sheathing;

راشدا أو ناهضا أو قاصرا

عند رأى الغرب لا يبلغ رشدا

mature, rising, or still a minor,

in the West's opinion, it never reaches maturity.

إذ توارى يوم نفي ما توارى

وتبدى يوم عود ما تبدى

When he vanished on the day of exile, he did not vanish;

and when he appeared on the day of return, he did not appear.

يحتبى كالليث أني يحتبى

في عرين البيت يستقبل أسدا

He sits with knees clasped, lion-like, wherever he sits,

in the house's lair, receiving lions.

يبتغي حرية المشرق طرا

من مغير لازم غال تعدى

He seeks the freedom of the entire East

from a persistent, overbearing invader who transgressed.

مصر يا مصر وما أحلاك ذكرى

عند طير الروض والأدزهار تندى

Egypt, O Egypt, how sweet you are in remembrance

among the garden's birds and dewy flowers!

ما على قومك ان صار لهم

سيد الأحرار من أجلك عبدا

What blame is there upon your people if, for them,

the master of free men became a slave for your sake?

صفحة التاريخ والمجد التي

سكر الدهر بها وصفا وحمدا

The page of history and glory that

made Time drunk with description and praise

تصفع القائل عنها مرجفا

اننا نعبد بعد الله فردا

slaps the alarm-monger who says of it

that 'we worship a single man after God.'

وسلوا التاريخ والحق الذي

أعطيت أو أخذت في الحق جهدا

And ask history, and the right which

you gave or won through striving for justice.

بالغوا في طمسها نشرا وطيبا

وابتغوا من قتلها حلا وعقدا

They went to extremes to efface its fragrance and sweetness,

and sought, through killing it, both unbinding and binding.

ولدتها حرة وثابتة

بوأتها عند بيض الهند مهدا

You gave birth to it free and steadfast

and provided it a cradle beside gleaming Indian swords.

ألزمتها الحق والدين الذي

لم يبح للحر أن يرتد عبدا

You bound it to truth and the faith that

never permitted a free man to revert to slavery.

يا صروحاً أخذ العز سنا

بالعوالي والصفاح السمر عهدا

O towers, glory took splendor

as a pledge, by lofty lances and dark sword-blades.

كم فقدنا منك في هذا الحمى

كابرا عز على العلياء فقدا

How many we have lost from you in this protected land:

a great elder whose loss was grievous to the heights.

وبكينا خادرا مستوثبا

فيك يوم الحرب كالضاري وأعدى

And we wept for a lion in its den, poised to spring,

within you on the day of battle, like a fierce beast, and fiercer.

غاب سعد فملأوا الغاب ظبى

واملأوا الأدغال أشبالا وأسدا

Sa'd vanished, so they filled the forest with sword-edges;

and fill the thickets with lion cubs and lions.

يا شباب النيل يا أسد الشرى

العوالي لم تكن تجلى لتصدى

O youths of the Nile, O lions of al-Shara,

lofty lances were not polished to rust.

أقسموا أن تقتدوا أو تأخذوا

بالذي أبقاه من دين ومبدا

Swear to follow his example, or hold fast

to what he left behind of faith and principle.

خير يومى مصر يوم أنجبت

بطلا يبنى لها عزا ومجدا

The better of Egypt's two days was the day she bore

a hero who builds honor and glory for her.

عبرة الزائر قبرا سنة

بعده قد أصبحت فرضا يؤدى

A visitor's tear at a grave was a customary observance;

after him it has become a duty to be fulfilled.

طوفوا من حوله واستلموا

ركنه ثم أخشعوا وفدا فوفدا

Circle around him, and touch

his corner; then bow humbly, delegation after delegation.

والزموا الصمت عسى أن تسمعوا

حكمة من صمته نعشا ولحدا

And keep silence, that perhaps you may hear

wisdom from his silence, in bier and grave.