1. رَشا بطرف ناعس وَسنانِ

    يَسطو بأفتك من ظَباً وَسنانِ

    A young gazelle with a drowsy, sleep-heavy gaze

    assails with something deadlier than blade edges and a spearhead.

  2. فتكت لَواحظُه غداة رَحيله

    يَوم الوَداع بمهجتي وَجناني

    His glances dealt a mortal blow, the morning he departed,

    on the day of farewell, to my lifeblood and my heart.

  3. وَمِن المَحاجر صارَ فيض مَدامعي

    يَجري عَلى الخَدين في غدران

    And from my eye sockets the flood of my tears began

    to run down both cheeks in pools.

  4. فَأَذاع سرّي في الهَوى بَعد الخَفا

    لَونٌ لهاتيك المَدامع قاني

    Then my secret in love, once hidden, was revealed

    by the crimson hue of those tears.

  5. وَالجسم أَصبَح لا خيال لَهُ يُرى

    مِن فَرط ما لاقى مِن الهجران

    And my body no longer had any visible outline,

    from the severity of the abandonment it endured.

  6. لَكن أَنيني حينَ جدَّ بي الجَوى

    دل العَذول عَلى خفيّ مَكاني

    But my groaning, when love's anguish grew fierce within me,

    led the reproacher to my hidden whereabouts.

  7. فَاِختال في حلل المَسرة وَاِشتَفى

    مِني وَبالغ في الأَذى وَلحاني

    Then he strutted in robes of joy and sated his spite

    at my expense, went to extremes in torment, and rebuked me.

  8. وَعليّ حرَّم وَصله وَأَتى عَلى

    تَحليل نَقض العَهد بِالبُرهان

    He forbade me union with him, and set about

    proving it lawful to break the pledge.

  9. يا وَيحه أَيروم مني سَلوة

    حَيث الأغنّ أَطاعه وَعَصاني

    Woe to him! Does he want me to forget my love,

    when the nasal-voiced beloved obeyed him and defied me?

  10. وَأَنا الَّذي عَقد الغَرامُ لي اللوا

    وَإِلى جِهاد العاذلين دَعاني

    Yet I am the one for whom passion raised the banner

    and summoned me to battle the reproachers.

  11. فَطفقت أَخترق الصُفوف وَأَصطَلي

    نار الغَضا في جَومة الجولان

    So I began breaking through the ranks and burning in

    the fire of ghada wood in the thick of the wheeling fray,

  12. حَتّى هزمت لَدى النِزال جُموعَهم

    بِالصَبر لا بمثقفٍ وَيمان

    until, in combat, I defeated their hosts

    with patience, not with a straightened spear and a Yemeni blade.

  13. حاشا تلين مِن الصدود شكيمتي

    أَو يَلتوي في الحادِثات عناني

    Never shall rejection soften my bridle-bit,

    or calamities twist my reins.

  14. وَالجَد أَسعدَ اللَيالي سالمت

    وَصَفا بِنصر العاشقين زَماني

    Fortune favored me, and the nights made peace,

    and my days grew serene through the lovers' victory.

  15. لم لا وَجَيش الجور بُدِّدَ شَملُه

    بِالعَدل من حامي حِمى الإِيمان

    Why not, when the ranks of oppression's army were dispersed

    by justice from the guardian of faith's sanctuary,

  16. صَدر الصُدور سَعيدٍ الشَهم الَّذي

    أَحيا مَعاهد ذمة وَأَمان

    the foremost of dignitaries, gallant Sa'id, who

    revived the havens of pledged protection and safety?

  17. عالي الذُرى في عَصره فاقَ الوَرى

    وَسما بهمته عَلى كيوان

    Lofty of summit, in his age he surpassed all mankind,

    and through his ambition soared above Kaywan.

  18. بطل الوَغى وَمبيد مغرور طغى

    في فَيلق مِن عصبة الشجعان

    A hero of battle, destroyer of an arrogant tyrant

    in a legion formed of a band of brave men;

  19. لَيث الشَرى وَمذل كُل مَن اِفتَرى

    وَمذيقه في الخَطب كَأس هَوان

    a lion of al-Shara, humbler of all who fabricate lies,

    and making each taste, in adversity, a cup of humiliation;

  20. غَيث جَرى في كُل واد فازدرى

    لِمَديد نيل نَداه بِالطُوفان

    a life-giving rain that flowed through every valley and scoffed

    at the deluge, so vast was the Nile of his bounty.

  21. وَروى البِلاد كَما أَراد وَقَد كَسا

    فيها العِباد مَلابس الرضوان

    And he watered the lands as he wished, and clothed

    the people there in garments of contentment.

  22. وَبنى القِلاع لحفظ مصر وَأَهلها

    مِن شرِّ حزب الزيغ وَالعُدوان

    He built fortresses to safeguard Egypt and its people

    from the evil of the faction of deviation and aggression.

  23. وَرماهمُ منها بِنارِ مدافعٍ

    هدمت أَساس الحيف وَالبُهتان

    And from those fortresses he hurled cannon fire at them,

    which demolished the foundation of injustice and slander.

  24. وَأَباد بِالإقدام عِندَ هُجومه

    في الحَرب أَهل الغَيّ وَالطُغيان

    And with daring, when he attacked, he annihilated

    in war the people of error and tyranny.

  25. وَالجَيش بَين يَديه في حملاته

    خاض العجاج وَماج في الميدان

    And the army, before him in his campaigns,

    plunged into the battle-dust and surged across the field.

  26. وَتعوّدت أَفراده يَوم اللقا

    تَفريق جَمع كَتائب الفُرسان

    Its soldiers grew accustomed, on the day of encounter,

    to scattering the massed battalions of horsemen.

  27. وَقَد اِستَقام عَلى صِراط حَماسة

    بِسياسة وَرياسة وَبَيان

    And he stood firm upon the path of valor,

    through statecraft, leadership, and eloquence.

  28. وَعلا بِنَشر مَعارف وَلَطائف

    مَصر بِها اِفتَخرت عَلى البُلدان

    He rose high by spreading learning and refinements,

    in which Egypt took pride above other lands.

  29. وَغَدا جَديراً بِالثنا في دَولة

    سادَت بِهِ في أَبهَج الأَزمان

    And he became worthy of praise in a state

    that, through him, reigned supreme in the most joyful of times.

  30. لا زالَ هَذا الداوريْ في حكمه

    بِالحَق يَصدع كُلَّ خصم جاني

    May this ruler ever, in his judgment,

    cleave every guilty adversary with the truth,

  31. ما هام في وادي نَفيسِ مَديحِه

    قَلبي وَأَعرب عَنهُ فيهِ لِساني

    as long as, in the valley of his precious praise, there roams

    my heart, and my tongue gives it voice there,

  32. وَبحسن سيرته تحلَّى وَاِزدَهى

    بَين المَلا في عصره دِيواني

    and the beauty of his conduct adorns and lends splendor to

    my collected verse among the assembly, in his age.

  33. فَسُطوره رُسِمت بصدر طُروسه

    كَقلائدٍ نُظمت مِن العقيان

    Thus its lines were inscribed upon the breast of its pages,

    like necklaces strung from pure gold.

  34. وَثغوره ابتسمت فَأَسفر برقُها

    عَن حسن أَسلوب وَعَن تبيان

    And its mouths smiled; their lightning revealed

    beauty of style and lucid exposition.

  35. فَإذا تلوا مِنهُ المَديح بمحفل

    قالوا وَقَد نظروا إِلى أَوزاني

    Then, when they recited praise from it at a gathering,

    they said, having looked at my meters:

  36. أَحسنتَ في مَدح الخديوي وَابنه

    وَأَبيه وَالأَجناد وَالأَوطان

    “You have excelled in praising the Khedive and his son,

    and his father, the troops, and the homelands.

  37. وَلأنتَ أَبلغ ناظم متفننٍ

    شادَ المَباني مِن بَديع مَعاني

    And you are indeed the most eloquent, versatile versifier

    to raise edifices from wondrous meanings.”

  38. أَوَ ما دَروا أَن العَزيز أَمدّني

    مِن فَيضه بِالفَضل وَالإِحسان

    And did they not know that the exalted one supplied me

    from his abundance, with favor and beneficence,

  39. وَأَزال عَن فهمي غَياهبَ سقمه

    بِضياء عقلٍ ما لَهُ مِن ثاني

    and dispelled from my understanding the darkness of its illness

    by the light of a mind without equal?

  40. فَأَتيت فيما صغته بفرائد

    في نَظمِها تحكي عقود جمان

    So in what I fashioned I brought forth rare jewels,

    which, in their arrangement, resemble pearl necklaces.

  41. دامَت لَهُ العَلياء طوع يَمينه

    ما غرّدت وَرقٌ عَلى الأَفنان

    May high glory remain at the command of his right hand,

    as long as gray doves warble upon the boughs,

  42. أَو ما تحلت في الوُجود بوصفه

    كتبٌ عَلَيها بَهجةُ العرفان

    or as long as, in this world, his portrayal adorns

    books bearing the splendor of knowledge.