وأقبل الأمن بآلآئه

فكل نفس بالرضا تشعر

And security came with its blessings;

so every soul feels contentment.

كأنما الأمن ربيع له

في كل ما مد به مظهر

As though security were a springtime that has

a manifestation in all that it spreads.

فحيث يخفى عبق فائح

وحيث يبدو غصن مزهر

Where it hides, a fragrance wafts;

and where it appears, a branch blooms.

والدهر في أثنائه باسم

والعيش في أفيائه أخضر

Time smiles within its embrace,

and life is green beneath its shade.

وللمنى من راحه مورد

وللغنى عن ساحه مصدر

For hopes, its palm is a watering place,

and wealth springs from its grounds.

ما أبهج السلم وتبشيره

وغبطة الخلق بما بشروا

How joyful peace and its glad tidings are,

and people's delight at the news they received!

قد نافس الأيام لكنه

نافسه اليوم الذي نحضر

It has rivaled other days, yet

this day we attend has rivaled it.

فكاد لا يدري محبوكم

أي السرورين هو الأوفر

Those who love you could scarcely tell

which of the two joys was greater.

سلوا الأولى تفتن أنواركم

أما نسوا أن الدجى مقمر

Ask those whom your lights enchant:

have they not forgotten that the darkness is moonlit?

سلوا الأولى تعجب أزهاركم

ورد الربى أم وردكم أفخر

Ask those whom your flowers delight:

are the roses of the hills or your roses finer?

وأشمل النعمى بأفراحها

هي التي يحظى بها الأجدر

And the blessing most encompassing in its joys

is the one the worthiest receives.

ألحمد الله على أن خلت

حرب بها قصمت الأظهر

Praise be to God that there has passed

a war by which backs were broken.

كادت تريب الخلق لو لم يروا

في الغب أن الحق مستظهر

It nearly shook people's faith, had they not seen

in the aftermath that right prevailed.

كارثة أعظمها دهرها

ومثلها تعظمه الأدهر

A calamity its age deemed immense,

and whose like all ages deem immense.

ما أكربت تبدو بآفاقها

نجوم نحس شرها مسعر

Scarcely had there begun to appear on its horizons

stars of ill omen, their evil ablaze,

حتى أتاح الله تلقاءها

نجوم سعد نوءها خير

when God set opposite them

stars of good fortune, whose rains bring good.

في مصر منها كوكب نير

يا حبذا كوكبها النير

Among them, in Egypt, is a shining star;

how welcome Egypt's shining star!

كأنما الأعين كاساته

كأنما لألاؤه كوثر

As though all eyes were its cups,

as though its radiance were Kawthar.

أوفى فلم يحجب هدى نوره

إلا وإصباح الهدى مسفر

It rose high, its guiding light unhidden

until the dawn of guidance shone clear.

بنت الثريا أنا مستخبر

لعل ذا معرفة يخبر

Daughter of the Pleiades, I would inquire:

perhaps someone who knows will tell me.

إذا بدا الفجر وآياته

كأنها راياته تنشر

When dawn appears, and its signs

seem like its banners unfurled,

ولبثت كل نؤوم الضحى

في لجج الأحلام تستبحر

while every woman who sleeps late lingers

voyaging through the depths of dreams—

ساهرة الليل على أنها

لمرقص أو مقمر تسهر

a watcher through the night, though she

stays awake for a dance hall or a gambling house—

تذهل أم الولد عن ولدها

وتستخف الريبة المعصر

a mother is distracted from her child,

and temptation carries away the budding maiden—

من التي تنهض من بكرة

وحرة القوم التي تبكر

who is she who rises at first light,

and that noblewoman of her people who sets out early?

فتهجر الترفيه في بيتها

وهو الذي ما اسطيع لا يهجر

She forsakes the comforts of her home,

which no one forsakes if they can help it.

وتغتدي يوفض سيرا بها

منخطف كالبرق أو أسير

She sets out early, sped on her way

by something fleeting, like lightning or swifter,

في ملبس شف بظلمائا

عن غرر من شيم تزهر

in a garment whose darkness reveals

the bright marks of virtues in bloom.

تبدو مرضاها بإلمامها

والعهد أن الأحوج الأبدر

She visits her patients, paying her calls,

the rule being: the neediest comes first.

تألف لا تأنف مستوصفا

للبؤس في أكنافه محشر

She frequents, without disdaining, a dispensary

within whose precincts misery gathers.

يمض من مر به ناظرا

لفرط ما يؤلمه المنظر

It pains whoever passes by and looks,

so greatly does the sight distress him.

ما حال من تدأب تنتابه

تخبر من بلواه ما تخبر

What, then, of her who tirelessly visits it,

experiencing all she does of its suffering?

معشرها من أنسها موحش

وأتعس الخلق لها معشر

Her circle is bereft of her companionship,

and the most wretched people are her companions:

من صبية فيهم سديد الخطى

وفيهم الأصغر فالأصغر

children, some with steady steps,

and among them ever younger ones.

أجدهم بثا وتلعابهم

يبكيك إذ يهذي وإذ يهذر

I find them grieving, and their play

makes you weep as it babbles and prattles;

وفيتة يودي بهم جهلهم

فهالك في إثره منذر

and youths whose ignorance brings them to ruin:

each one who perishes warns those in his wake;

ومرضع من نضبها تشتكي

وهرم من ضعفه يهتر

and a nursing mother complaining of dried-up milk,

and an old man raving from weakness;

وطفلة ما عربدت عينها

لكن سقما لونها الأحمر

and a little girl whose eye has known no drunken revelry,

yet whose red coloring comes from sickness;

وذات حسن أحصنت عرضها

وإن تولى هتكها المئزر

and a beautiful woman who has guarded her honor,

even if her waistcloth has laid her bare.

إن خفر القلب فذاك التقى

ما الثوب إلا ذمة تخفر

If the heart is modest, that is piety;

clothing is merely a pledge that can be betrayed.

لهفي على تلك النفوس التي

هيضت وود البر لو تجبر

Alas for those souls

shattered, which goodness longs to mend!

هي الشقاوات لقد صورت

في صور توحش أو تذعر

They are miseries, given form

in shapes that unsettle or terrify.

لها وجوه باديات القذى

مبصرها يؤذي بما يبصر

They have faces visibly marked by grime;

their beholder is hurt by what he sees.

تعبس حتى حينما تجتلي

ذاك المحيا طالعا تبشر

They frown until they behold

that face appear, and brighten with joy.

يا حسن تلك المفتداة التي

آياتها في البر لا تحصر

How beautiful that cherished woman,

whose wonders in charity cannot be counted!

لاحت فلاح النور بعد الدجى

جاءت فجاء الدهر يستغفر

She appeared, and light appeared after darkness;

she came, and time itself came seeking forgiveness.

تأسو برفق أو تواسي به

قد يضجر الرفق ولا تضجر

She gently heals, or consoles with gentleness;

gentleness may grow weary, but she does not.

تسام أقصى ألم المشتكي

وفوق صبر المشتكي تصبر

She is made to bear the sufferer's utmost pain,

yet endures beyond the sufferer's endurance.

تطارد الفقر بمعروفها

وإنه للخاتل الأنكر

She pursues poverty with her kindness,

and it is indeed the most hateful deceiver.

تحارب الجوع بإيمانها

والجوع عين الكفر أو أكفر

She battles hunger with her faith,

and hunger is unbelief itself, or greater unbelief.

تظل بالجود تعفي على

ما يتلف التسهيد والميسر

Through generosity she keeps wiping away

the ruin wrought by sleeplessness and gambling.

وباليد البيضاء تبني الذي

يهدمه الإدمان والمسكر

And with her white hand she builds

what addiction and intoxicants tear down.

يلوم قوم طولها بالندى

ولا تلوم القوم إن قصروا

Some people blame the reach of her generosity,

yet she does not blame them if they fall short.

وما تبالي كيف كانت سوى

ما طاهر الوحي به يأمر

She cares not how she fares, but only for

what pure inspiration commands.

عاذرة للناس والناس قد

تتهم الحسنى ولا تعذر

Forgiving toward people, though people may

suspect goodness and not forgive.

وبعد هذا كم لها جيئة

في يومها أو روحة تشكر

And beyond this, how many a coming of hers

or going in her day deserves thanks!

كم خدمة في كل جمعية

للخير لا تألو ولا تفتر

How much service in every association

for good, sparing no effort and never flagging!

كم دار تنكيد إذا أقبلت

عاد إليها صفوها المدبر

How many a house of anguish, when she arrives,

regains its departed serenity!

كم هالك تنقذه من شفا

وكادت الدنيا به تعثر

How many a doomed person she rescues from the brink,

when the world has almost tripped him up!

كم دون عرض تبتغي صونه

تمهر والأقرب لا يمهر

How often, defending an honor she seeks to preserve,

she provides a dowry, and the nearest kin does not!

كم تتصدى لعليل وما

من خطر في بالها يخطر

How often she attends to a sick person, while

no thought of danger crosses her mind!

لا تكتفي بالمال لكنها

تعطي من الصحة ما يذخر

She does not content herself with money, but

gives of the health one would keep in reserve.

كبيرة القدر ولكن لدى

كل صغير القدر تستصغر

Great in worth, yet in the eyes of

every petty soul, she is deemed small.

تاحت لمصر أختها قبلها

بأي أخت بعدها تظفر

Her sister was granted to Egypt before her;

what sister will it gain after her?

يتيمتا العصر هما هل ترى

ثالثة تأتي بها الأعصر

They are the age's two matchless treasures; do you think

the coming ages will bring a third?

سسيل هل تردين تلك التي

أذكرها أنت التي أذكر

Cécile, do you know the woman whom

I mention? You are the one I mention.

لا تغضبي من مدحتي إنها

قد وجبت والفضل قد يشكر

Do not be angry at my praise: it

is your due, and merit deserves gratitude.

ما تجزيء الأقوال من همة

فيها تقضى عمرك الأنضر

How can words suffice for a devotion

in which the freshest years of your life are spent?

حيي الصبا حسناء أمثالها

بسنها في عقلها تنذر

Modest in youth, a beauty whose peers

in age and wisdom are rare;

فرع أب ذكراه في قومه

أخلد ذكرى واسمه الأشهر

the offspring of a father whose memory among his people

is most enduring, whose name is most renowned;

صورة أم ذات خلق سما

يظهره الفضل وما تظهر

the image of a mother of lofty character,

which virtue reveals while she remains unseen;

سليلة الآل الكرام الأولى

في كل ناد صيتهم يعطر

a daughter of the noble family whose members

perfume every gathering with their reputation.

برقة الجود استرقوا النهى

والجود من يعطي ومن يستر

Through tender generosity they have enslaved minds,

and generosity is in those who give and those who conceal.

بيت عتيق لم تزل في الندى

وفي الهدى آثاره تؤثر

An ancient house whose lasting deeds of generosity

and guidance are still recounted.

إلى ابن عبد زفها قلبها

والناس بالأعياد تستبشر

Her heart led her as a bride to Ibn Abd,

and people rejoice in the celebrations.

موريس من بيت رفيع الذرى

موضعه في الجاه لا ينكر

Maurice comes from a house of lofty summits,

whose standing in prestige cannot be denied.

أبوه عالي الجد سامي الحجا

وأمه الجوزاء أو أزهر

His father is high in dignity and lofty in wisdom,

and his mother is al-Jawza, or brighter still.

قد صدقت فيه الصفات التي

ببعضها يفخر من يفخر

In him those qualities have proved true,

in even a few of which the proud take pride.

فاهنأ بمن أوتيت زوجا فما

زوجك إلا الملك الأطهر

Rejoice in her who was granted you as a wife, for

your wife is none but the purest angel.

عيشا بسعد وانموا واكثرا

فالنسل خير ما زكا العنصر

Live happily, grow, and multiply,

for offspring is good when the stock is pure.