عز المعالي مات يوسف سابا

عز الفضائل فيه والآدابا

Console the heights of honor—Yusuf Saba has died;

console the virtues and refinement embodied in him;

عز الإمارة والوزارة والندى

والبأس والأنساب والأحسابا

console princely office, ministry, and generosity,

and valor, lineages, and ancestral honors.

وإلى جميع الشرق فانع مهذبا

فقدانه في الشر عم مصابا

And announce to all the East the death of a refined man:

his loss has spread calamity throughout the East.

ما حال مصر ودون يوسف قد جرى

حكم القضاء فقطع الأسبابا

How fares Egypt, now that between her and Yusuf has come

fate's decree, severing every bond?

خطب على التعداد في أمثاله

راع النفوس وحير الألبابا

A calamity, though its like have often been counted,

has terrified souls and bewildered minds.

فكأن ما يرديه في بطن الثرى

يرميه من كبد السماء شهابا

As though what casts him into the belly of the earth

were hurling him, a meteor, from the heart of heaven.

مات الذي ملئت صحائف عمره

آيا تضمنها الفخار كتابا

Dead is he whose life's pages were filled

with wondrous signs that glory embraced as a book.

وبها سما أوج المراتب واقتنى

أسنى السمات وأحرز الألقابا

Through them he rose to the summit of rank and acquired

the loftiest distinctions and won his titles.

ولي الوزارة لم يخله حينما

لبى على الآساد يدخل غابا

He assumed the ministry, not imagining, when

he answered its call, that he was entering a forest of lions.

ورآه كم رؤيا كذوب ناهجا

نهجا يفيد اليل والأعقابا

He saw it—how many a dream deceives—as following

a path benefiting his generation and posterity.

حتى إذا كشفت له عما بها

لم يرضه فخر تبطن عابا

Until, when it revealed to him what lay within,

he would not accept glory that harbored disgrace.

ولي الإدارة رائضا علاتها

يتدارك التحسين بابا بابا

He took charge of administration, taming its ailments,

seeing to improvements, branch by branch.

مهما يلاق من الصعاب يكد في

طلب النجاح ولا يبال صعابا

Whatever difficulties he met, he labored in

pursuit of success, heedless of hardship.

يوفي جزاء المستحق ويصطفي

أدعى الأمور إلى الصلاح عقابا

He gave the deserving their full reward, and chose

the penalties most conducive to reform.

فغدا البريد بمصر وهو وليه

عجبا لمن عرف النظير عجابا

Thus Egypt's postal service, under his direction, became

an astonishing wonder to anyone acquainted with its like.

أسفا على ذاك الذي عن قومه

في كل محمدة أنيب ونابا

Alas for him who, on his people's behalf,

was deputized, and represented them in every worthy deed.

قد كان في الظلمات كوكب عزهم

فاليوم كوكب عزهم قد غابا

In darkness he had been the star of their honor;

today the star of their honor has set.

إن الشيوخ إذا بكوه قرزؤه

أبكى كهولا بعده وشبابا

Indeed, when the elders weep for him, his loss

has made the middle-aged and the young weep after him.

صرف الزمان وقد رماه رمى به

قلب المروءة والندى فأصابا

Time's calamity, in striking him, struck through him

the heart of chivalry and generosity—and hit its mark.

لما نعوه نعوا هماما ماجدا

ملأ النهى بصفاته إعجابا

When they announced his death, they mourned a noble, high-hearted man

whose qualities filled minds with admiration.

وكأن ألسنة من البرق الذي

ينعي مددن إلى القلوب حرابا

As though tongues of the telegraph that

announced his death thrust spears into hearts.

كيف الضمير العبقري مشارفا

هذا الوجود جلا أكان ضبابا

How did that brilliant inward spirit, looking out upon

this existence, depart—was it mist?

كيف البناء كذل الجسم الذي

عمرته تلك الروح بات يبابا

How did that edifice—the body which

that spirit inhabited—become desolate?

ذاك التبسم عن صفاء طوية

ذاك البدار تحية وجوابا

That smile born of a heart's purity,

that quickness to offer greeting and reply,

ذاك التلفت وهو من صيد امرئ

ما هان يوم كريهة أو هابا

that turning of the head, with a proud man's bearing,

who never yielded or quailed on a day of peril,

ذاك المحيا مشرقا في لحية

زان السواد بها بياض شابا

that face, radiant amid a beard

whose black was adorned by mingled white,

تلك اللحاظ سدسدة فإذا نبت

فلعلها تجد المريب فتابى

those discerning glances, and if they turned away,

perhaps they found something suspect and refused it;

تلك الشمائل والمعارف والنهى

والحسن والحسنى أصرن ترابا

those fine traits, that knowledge and understanding,

and beauty and goodness—have they become dust?

لم يرض سابا أن يكون له عدى

واستكثر الإخوان والأحبابا

Saba would not accept having enemies,

and gathered brothers and loved ones in abundance.

ما قال فاحشة ولم يهمم بها

يوما ولم يلمم بأمر رابا

He never uttered an obscenity, nor intended one

on any day, nor became involved in anything suspicious.

فاظنن بعال منصبا ووظيفة

ما اغتابه الحساد أو ما اغتابا

Imagine, then, a man high in rank and office

whom the envious never slandered, or who never slandered others.

من لم يفرط في حساب ضميره

لم يخش يوما للعباد حسابا

Whoever is scrupulous in reckoning with his conscience

never fears a reckoning before other people.

أعرفت حرا غير سابا لم يجئ

قولا وفعلا ما يثير عتابا

Have you known a noble man besides Saba who never brought forth,

in speech or deed, anything to provoke reproach?

إن مر ورد الدهر ظل حديثه

عذبا وإن خبثت أناس طابا

If time's draught grew bitter, his speech remained

sweet; and if people grew base, he remained good.

سمح إلى الإتلاف إن يتقاضه

ذاك الوفاء ولم يظن ثوابا

Generous even to self-ruin, if it was demanded of him

by that loyalty, he expected no reward.

ما أم مشرع جاهه أو ماله

قمن بتحقيق الرجاء فخابا

No one came to the watering-place of his influence or wealth,

worthy of having his hope fulfilled, and went disappointed.

متنزه عالي الجناب وقل من

جمع التنزه والعلو جنابا

Incorruptible and high in standing—and few are those who

combine uprightness with exalted station.

يتوسم الإخلاص في أعماله

حتى ليوشك أن يشف حجابا

Sincerity was discernible in his actions,

so clearly that it almost shone through a veil.

ثبت على الرأي الصحيح فإن يقع

خطأ تجده الراجع التوابا

Firm in sound judgment; but if there occurred

an error, you found him ready to retract and repent.

لم يدعه داع لأمر واجب

إلا تشمر مسرعا وأجابا

No caller ever summoned him to an obligatory task

without his promptly girding himself and answering.

بالجد يكسب في النفوس مهابة

ويقل ما شاء الكمال دعابا

Through earnestness he inspired reverence in people's souls,

and kept jesting as sparing as perfection required.

يدع القشور لكل دي لهو بها

ويرى الأمور حقيقة ولبابا

He left the husks to all who found diversion in them,

and saw things in their truth and essence.

لا يعرف الدعوى ولا يرضي امرأ

كذبا ويفعل ما استطاع صوابا

He knew no empty pretension, nor pleased anyone

with falsehood; he did whatever right he could.

ويرى من المزري تكلف سيد

في يوم صدق أن يقول كذابا

He deemed it degrading for a gentleman to force himself,

on a day of truth, to speak falsehood.

يوم سابا ما فعلت بأمة

ثكلته دع أهليه والأصحابا

O day of Saba, what have you done to a nation

bereaved of him—leave aside his family and friends!

ألقطر مهتز الجوانب لوعة

والنيل لو يعلو لسال سحابا

The country quakes in all its reaches with anguish,

and the Nile, could it rise, would flow as clouds.

والوافدون يشيعون عزيزهم

حشد به الطرقات ضقن رحابا

Those arriving to escort their dear one to burial

are a throng that makes the broad streets narrow.

فكأن حول النعش بحرا مائجا

وكأنه فلك يشق عبابا

As though a surging sea surrounded the bier,

and it were a ship cleaving the waves.

ما من أمير أو رفيع مكانة

إلا عليه استمطر الأهدابا

Not a prince, nor anyone of lofty standing,

but drew rain from his lashes over him.

ما من يتيم أو ضعيف بائس

إلا بكاه بحر قلب ذابا

Not an orphan, nor a poor, helpless sufferer,

but wept for him with the burning grief of a melting heart.

لله يا حلو الصداقة كم سقت

هذي النوى فيك الأحبة صابا

By God, O sweet friend, how much has

this parting made your loved ones drink bitter sap over you!

أليوم عدن استأنست من وحشة

بأبر مبتكر إليها آبا

Today Eden has found solace for its loneliness

in the most righteous early visitor, who has returned to it.

إن قلت لا تبعد فإنك بيننا

هل مائت من يخلف الأنجابا

If I say, 'Be not far away,' you are among us:

can he who leaves noble offspring behind be dead?