سلمى على المسرح — Jawahiri

العبي فالهَوى لَعِبْ

وابعثي هِزَّةَ الطَرَبْ

Play, for love is play.

And stir the thrill of rapture.

مثِّلي دوَرك الجميلَ

على شرعةِ الأدب

Act your beautiful part

in keeping with the code of decorum.

أحسني نُقلةً وان

تَعِبَت هذه الرُكَب

Make your step graceful, even if

these knees grow weary.

فعلى وَقْع خَطوِها

يتنّزى حشىً وَجَب

For to the beat of their steps

a throbbing heart leaps.

روِّحي هذه النفوسَ

فقد شفَّها التَعَب

Refresh these souls,

for weariness has worn them thin.

إجذبيها الى الرِضا

ادفعيها عن الغَضَب

Draw them to contentment;

drive them away from anger.

لاتغرَّنِْكِ اوجهٌ

كطِلاء من الذَهَب

Do not let faces deceive you,

like a coating of gold,

وثغور تضاحَكَت

كانعكاسةِ اللَهَب

or mouths that laugh together,

like a reflection of flame.

فتِّشي عن دخائلٍ

غُيِّبَت تشهدي العَجَب

Search for inner secrets

kept out of sight; you will witness wonders.

كل هذا الهياج من

أجل مرآكِ والصَخَب

All this frenzy is for

the sight of you—and so is the clamor.

ضاربُ العود ما دَرى

أيَّ اوتارِه ضَرَب

The oud player did not know

which of its strings he struck.

اعذريِه فإنّه

بَشَرٌ مثلُنا اضطَرَب

Forgive him, for he

is human, like us, and grew agitated.

واقبَلي القلبَ إنّه

لك من أضلُعي وَثَب

And accept the heart, for it

has leapt from my ribs to you.

نَسَبٌ بَينَنا الهَوَى

احفظي حُرمةَ النَسَب

Love is a bond of kinship between us;

preserve the sanctity of kinship.

رب يومٍ جذبت فيهِ

لي الأنسَ فانجذَب

Many a day you drew

delight to me, and it came;

ولمستُ الشبابَ في

رَيعِه بعد ما ذَهَب

and I touched youth in

its prime, after it had gone.

حبُ " سلمى " فتىً رأَى

كلَّ ما يشتهي فحَبّ

Salma's lover is a youth who saw

all he desired, and so he loved.

شاعرٌ بالحياة لا

يَزدهَيه سِوى الطَرَب

Sensitive to life, he is not

elated by anything but rapture.

انتِ " سلمى " إلى الحياةِ

وأفراحها سَبَب

You, Salma, are to life

and its joys a means.

أنتِ " سلمى " أجَلَّ من

الفِ عبدٍ لألف رَبّ

You, Salma, are nobler than

a thousand slaves to a thousand lords.

تتخلى الهموم إذ

تتجلين والكُرَب

Worries fall away when

you appear—and so do sorrows.

ولهم باسمِ أمةٍ

سحقت غاية الارب

And theirs, in the name of a nation

ground down, is their heart's desire.

اثقلوا ظهرهَ كما

عضَّ بالغارب القَتَب

They weighed down its back, as

the packsaddle bit into the withers.

تركوا " الجذع " للبلاد

واختصوا بالرطب

They left the trunk to the country,

and kept the ripe dates for themselves.

افتحي لي سَلْمى يديك

يُقَبِّلْ يديكِ صَبّ

Open your hands to me, Salma;

let a lovesick lover kiss your hands.

أبعديني عن " السياسة "

والغشِ والنَصَب

Keep me away from politics,

and from deceit and hardship.

ولكي نُحرق الجميع

هَلُمي الى الحَطَب

And so that we may burn them all,

come to the firewood.

وإذا لم يكن خذي

بعضهم انهم خشب

And if there is none, take

some of them: they are wood.

أإلى العيش كلُّهمْ

انا وحدي الى العَطَب

Are they all bound for life,

and I alone for ruin?

انا وحدي فيهم

ترجلت والكل قد ركب

I alone among them

have dismounted, while all the others have mounted.

نهبَ الشعبُ كلَّه

فهنيئاً لمن نَهَب

The people were plundered, every one;

so congratulations to whoever plundered!

وهنيئاً لمن غزا

وهنيئاً لمن سَلَب

And congratulations to whoever raided,

and congratulations to whoever looted,

وهنيئاً لمن " تنَّمرَ "

او خانَ او كَذَب

and congratulations to whoever turned ferocious,

or betrayed, or lied.

ان كل الذي ترين من

" الجاه " و " الرُتَب"

Indeed, all that you see of

prestige and ranks,

ومن " النفخ " بالزعامة

والاسم واللقَب

and of puffing oneself up with leadership,

and with name and title,

واصطيادٍ بحجةِ " الوطن "

الجائع الخَرِب

and hunting under the pretext of the homeland,

starving and ruined,

هو عُقبى تَقَلُّب القوم

عاش الذي انقَلَب

is the outcome of those men's turnabouts:

long live the one who switched sides!

خسر الدّرةَ البطيء

وفاز الذي حلب

The slow one lost the flow of milk,

and the one who milked won.