Sol 6.1

  1. إنْ كنتِ مُغْرمَةً بالنّحو واسيهِ

    مَا ضَيّعَ النّحْوَ إلاّ بعضُ أَهْليهِ

    If you are enamored of grammar, console it.

    Only some of its own people have ruined grammar.

  2. واسْتَشْعِري في المنَادى نَبْضَ لَفْتَتِهِ

    إنّ الحبيبَ مياهُ النَّدْبِ تَرْويهِ

    And feel in the vocative the pulse of his gesture.

    Indeed, the waters of lamentation quench the beloved's thirst.

  3. إنْ ظَلَّ مُبْتَدأً كُوني لَهُ خَبَرًا

    وَتَمِّمي جُمْلَةَ الأشْواقِ في فيهِ

    If he remains a subject, be his predicate,

    And complete the sentence of longings in his mouth.

  4. وَأَعْرِبي أَيَّ خَفْقٍ بَاتَ يَنْصِبُه

    وَصْلُ المحِبِّ فَيَنْأى عَنْ تَجَنّيهِ

    And parse any heartbeat now made accusative

    By the lover's union, so he draws away from his unjust accusations.

  5. وَأَظْهِري كُلَّ شَهْدٍ جَاءَ مُسْتَتِرًا

    تَقديرُهُ أنتِ في أَبْهى أَمانِيهِ

    And reveal all the honey that came concealed;

    Its implied form is 'you' in his most radiant wishes.

  6. مُدِّي لَهُ مِنْ شِراعِ العَطْفِ بارقَةً

    تُلَمْلِمُ القَلْبَ في دِفْءٍ وتُؤْويهِ

    Extend to him a gleam from the sail of tenderness,

    That gathers the heart into warmth and shelters it.

  7. هذا حَبيبُكِ مَرْفوعٌ بِضَمّتِهِ

    فَأَكْثِري ضَمَّهُ فالضَمّ يشْفيهِ

    This is your beloved, raised by his ḍamma—his embrace;

    So embrace him often, for embracing heals him.

  8. هَذا حَبيبُكِ مَنْ مَرَّتْ جَنَازتُهُ

    كُفِّي الدُّموع .. أَيَبْكي المَيْتَ مُرْدِيهِ

    This is your beloved, whose funeral has passed;

    Stop your tears—does a dead man's slayer weep for him?

  9. في دَرْبِهِ أدواتُ الشَّرْطِ واقفَةٌ

    تُمَارسُ الجَزْمَ في عُنْفٍ وَتَشْوِيهِ

    Conditional particles stand along his path,

    Exercising the jussive with violence and disfigurement.

  10. فَالشَّوقُ فِعْلٌ صَحيحٌ كُلُّهُ عِلَلٌ

    ما زالتِ العِلَلُ الجَوْفاءُ تُشْقيهِ

    For longing is a sound verb, made entirely of infirmities;

    The hollow infirmities still cause him misery.

  11. وَأصْبَحَ الدّهْر ُيَشْكُو زَيْفَ مَوْعِدِنا

    وَأصْبَحَ الحُبُّ يُقْصينا وَنُقْصِيهِ

    And time now complains of the falseness of our rendezvous,

    And love now banishes us, and we banish it.

  12. بَعْضُ الكلامِ مُبَاحٌ حينَ يُدْهِشُنا

    وَسِرُّ دَهْشَتِنا في الحالِ نُخْفِيهِ

    Some speech is permissible when it astonishes us,

    And we hide the secret of our astonishment at once.

  13. أُسْتاذةَ النّحو تَدْريباتُنا كَثُرَتْ

    فَهَلْ نُؤَجِّلُ جُزْءًا بَعْدَ تَرْفِيهِ؟

    Teacher of grammar, our exercises have multiplied;

    So shall we postpone a portion until after some recreation?

  14. كُلُّ الكتابِ فَراغَاتٌ سَنَمْلَؤُهَا

    بِمَصْدَرِ الشَّوْقِ لِلأَحْبَابِ نُهْدِيهِ

    The whole book is blanks we shall fill,

    With longing's source—its verbal noun—which we offer to loved ones.

  15. فَلا يَغُرَّكِ تَفْضيلٌ لِذِي كَلِمٍ

    لا يلزمُ الفِعْل إلاّ في تَعَدِّيهِ

    So let no preference for a man of words deceive you,

    Who commits to action only when he transgresses.

  16. وَخَبّرِي صِلَةَ الموصولِ أَنَّ لَهَا

    مِنَ الفُؤَادِ مَحَلاًّ فيكِ يُحْيِيهِ

    And tell the relative clause that it has

    A place in the heart that he brings to life in you.

  17. وَأَسْهِبي في بنَاءِ الفِعْلِ وَانْتَظِرِي

    أَن تُعْرِبَ الأمرَ مَأْسَاةٌ وَتَبْنِيهِ

    And dwell at length on the verb's construction, and wait

    For a tragedy to parse the imperative and fix its form.

  18. فللإشارةِ في شَرْعِ الهَوى نَغَمٌ

    مِنْه اشْتِعَالُ الجَوَى وَالوَعدُ يُذْكِيهِ

    For a gesture has a melody in love's law;

    From it springs the blaze of love's anguish, and the promise kindles it.

  19. هَذَا مُحِبُّكِ بالتّنْوينِ مُلْتَحِفٌ

    بِرَغْمِ عُجْمَتِهِ تَنْوينُهُ فِيهِ

    This is your lover, wrapped in nunation;

    Despite his foreignness, his nunation is within him.

  20. مَا عَادَ يُعْرِبُ إلاّ جَمْرَ أَسْئِلَةٍ

    وَأَنْتِ مَصْروفَةٌ في زَوْرَقِ التِّيهِ

    He no longer expresses anything but the embers of questions,

    And you are turned away in the skiff of bewilderment.

  21. مُجَرَّدٌ مِنْ حُروفِ الصَّمْتِ يَسْبقُهُ

    شَوْقٌ مَزيدٌ إلي عَيْنَيْك يُسْديِهِ

    Bare of the letters of silence, he is preceded

    By augmented longing, which he offers to your eyes.

  22. صُبِّي لَهُ مِنْ صَبَاباتِ الهَوى مَطََرًا

    وَأَغْرقِيهِ بِهِ مِنْ غَيْر ِتَنْويهِ

    Pour for him a rain of love's ardors,

    And drown him in it without announcement.

  23. وَأَسْكِنِيهِ حَنَايا القَلْبِ واحْتَجِبي

    عَنْ عَيْنِ زَيْدٍ وَعَمْرًا لا تَعُوديِهِ

    And house him in the heart's folds, and veil yourself

    From Zayd's gaze, and do not visit Amr.

  24. لُومي التَّعَجُّبَ إن أَغْرَى سِواكِ بِهِ

    فَمَا أَجَلَّ عِتَابًا فِيكِ يُبْدِيهِ

    Blame exclamation if it lures someone other than you to him;

    For how noble is the reproach he voices about you!

  25. وَمَيِّزي الوَجْدَ مَلْفُوظًا بلا بَدَل

    فَلا يَبيدُ .. وَلا الأيّامُ تُبْليهِ

    And distinguish love's rapture, spoken aloud, without substitution;

    So it does not perish, nor do the days wear it out.

  26. أُسْتاذةَ النَّحْوِ هَلْ لِلْحُبّ ِعِنْدكُمُ

    بَابٌ لِذي أَمَلٍ بِالقُرْبِ يُغْريِه؟

    Teacher of grammar, do you have, for love,

    A door that lures a hopeful soul with nearness?

  27. هَيَّا أَعيدِي دُرُوسَ النَّحْوِ أَجْمَعَهَا

    وَكُلّ ُدَرْسٍ عَلى مَهْلٍ أَعِيديِهِ

    Come, repeat the grammar lessons, every one,

    And repeat each lesson at leisure.

  28. يَا أَنْتِ .. يَا أَنْتِ .. أَحْلامُ الفَتَى انْكَسَرَتْ

    وَلُجَّةُ اليَأسِ بالآلام تُدْمِيهِ

    O you, O you—the young man's dreams have shattered,

    And despair's deep sea makes him bleed with pain.

  29. مَا لِلْحَبيبِ وَقَدْ أَغْراكِ مَقْتَلُهُ

    أَضْحَى يَحِنُّ إلي أَحْضَانِ مَاضِيه

    What ails the beloved, when his slaying has enticed you,

    That he now yearns for the embraces of his past?

  30. فَاعْتَلَّ أَوَّلُهُ وَاعْتَلَّ أَوْسَطُهُ

    وَاعْتَلَّ آخِرُهُ وَاعْتَلَّ بَاقِيه

    So his beginning grew weak, and his middle grew weak,

    And his ending grew weak, and the rest of him grew weak.