جريح — Abdullah Al Bardouni

لا تسل عن أنينه وسهاده

إن في جراحه جراح بلاده

Do not ask about his moaning and sleeplessness.

For in his wounds are the wounds of his country.

إن في جراحه جراحات شعبٍ

راكد الحس حيه كجماده

In his wounds are the wounds of a people,

numb in feeling, its living like its lifeless matter.

ثائرٌ يحمل البلاد قلوباً

في حشاه وشعلة في اعتقاده

A rebel, he carries the country as hearts

within his breast, and as a flame in his conviction.

وهب الشعب قلبه ودماه

وأحاسيسه وصفو وداده

He gave the people his heart and his blood,

and his feelings and the purity of his affection.

فهو أصواته إذا ضج في النـ

ـاس ونجوى ضميره في انفراده

So he is its voices when he cries out among the peo-

-ple, and its conscience’s whisper in his solitude.

إنه ثائر يريد ويسمو

فوق طاقاته… سمو مراده

He is a rebel who wills and soars

beyond his powers, to the height of his desire.

أوقد الحقد في حناياه ثاراً

عاصفاً يستفز نار زناده

Hatred kindled vengeance in his depths,

tempestuous, rousing the fire of his flint.

فمضى والعناد في مقلتيه

صارخٌ، والجحيم في أحقاده

So he went on, with defiance in his eyes

crying out, and hell within his hatreds.

وتلقى الرصاص من كل فجٍ

وهو ما زال في جنون عناده

And he received bullets from every pass,

while he remained in the madness of his defiance.

كلما أومأ الفرار إليه

أمسكت قبضة الوغى بقياده

Whenever flight beckoned to him,

battle’s fist held onto his reins.

وتحدى الحتوف حتى تلظت

حوله وانتهت بقايا عتاده

And he defied deaths until they blazed

around him, and the last of his ammunition ran out.

عاد كالسيف حاملاً من دمه

شفقاً يخبر الدنا عن جلاده

He returned like a sword, bearing from his blood

a twilight glow that tells the worlds of his combat.

والجراح التي تراها عليه

كالعناوين في سجل جهاده

And the wounds you see upon him

are like headings in the record of his struggle.

وارتمى في الفراش والثأر فيه

ساهر ينذر الوغى بمعاده

He flung himself onto the bed, while vengeance within him

lay awake, warning battle of his return.

لم ينم لحظةً وإن نام هزت

ذكريات الوغى سكون وساده

He did not sleep a moment; and if he slept,

memories of battle shook his pillow’s stillness.

وتلظت فيه الجراح فأوهت

جسمه وانطفى حماس اعتداده

His wounds blazed within him, and so weakened

his body, and the ardor of his pride went out.

يسأل الصمت والمنى كيف يشفي

كبرياء الجراح من جلاده

He asks silence and his hopes how to heal

the pride of the wounds inflicted by his tormentor.

فهو بين الطموح والعجز والأش

واق كالصقر في يدي صياده

So he is, amid ambition, helplessness, and long-

-ings, like a falcon in his hunter’s hands.

لا تلمه إذا شكا إن شكواه

وأناته دخان اتقاده

Do not blame him if he complains, for his complaint

and his moans are the smoke of his burning.

إن أنفاسه غبارٌ وجمرٌ

من شظايا فؤاده ورماده

Indeed, his breaths are dust and embers

from his heart’s fragments and its ashes.

كلما قال آه! أو صعد الأنفـ

ـاس شاهدت قطعةً من فؤاده

Whenever he says ‘Ah!’ or heaves his brea-

-ths, you see a piece of his heart.

وإذا صاح جوعه في الحنايا

فرفات المنى بقية زاده

And when his hunger cries out in his depths,

then the dead remains of his hopes are his last provisions.

عمره المدلهم سجن وينكي

جرحه أن عمره في ازدياده

His dark life is a prison, and what worsens

his wound is that his life keeps lengthening.

فهو يشقى في يقظة العين با

لشعب ويشقى بحلمه في رقاده

So, with waking eyes, he suffers for the

people, and suffers through his dream in his sleep.

مل طول الحياة لا نال منها

ما يرجى ولادنا من حصاده

He has tired of life’s length; he has not gained from it

what is hoped for, nor drawn near his harvest.

والشقي الشقي من مل طول العمر

والعمر لم يزل في امتداده

And wretched, truly wretched, is he who tires of life’s length,

while life still stretches on.