جلست وجفني جاريات سواكبه — Khalil Shayboub

جلستُ وجفني جارياتٌ سواكبه

إليه أشاكيه السى وأعاتبه

I sat, the streams of my eyelid flowing,

Facing it, complaining to it of sorrow and reproaching it.

وأسأله عن سائلاتِ مدامعي

وما الدمعُ الأخيرُه ومواهبه

And asking it about my flowing tears,

And tears are only its bounty and its gifts.

نسيتُ وقد رقَّ الشعورث وعُطِّلت

ثغورُ المنى وانفضَّ ما أنا حاسبه

I forgot—feeling had grown tender, and left unadorned were

The mouths of hope; all I counted on had dispersed,

ومرَّت عوادي الدهر بي فكأَنني

على الدهر ذيلٌ والمنايا سواحبه

And Time's calamities had passed over me, as though I were

A train upon Time, with deaths dragging it along—

مواثيقَ أيامِ الشبابِ الذي مضى

به الدهرُ وهّابُ الشباب وسالبه

The pledges of youth's days, which had been swept away

By Time, the giver of youth and its taker.

نفضتُ يدي إلّا من الشعر إنه

عزائي إذا ما الدهرُ جلَّت نوائبه

I shook my hand free of all but poetry; it is

My consolation when Time's calamities grow grave.

أُحلي به الآمالَ ثم أُعيدُها

عرائس يجلوها الهوى وغرائبه

With it I adorn hopes, then remake them

As brides whom love and its marvels unveil.

وكنتَ أخا ودّي ودال زماننا

وودك مخطوبٌ وإني خاطبه

You were a brother in my affection, and our times changed,

And your affection is sought; I am its suitor.

فإن عدتُ بعد الهجر فالعودُ أحمدٌ

إليك وأحلى الوصل ما الهجر جالبه

If I return after estrangement, more welcome is the return

To you; the sweetest reunion is what estrangement brings.

ففيك لقلبِ المستهام استراحةٌ

إذا عثرت آماله ورغائبه

In you the love-stricken heart finds rest

When its hopes and desires stumble.

إذا رُتَ كنتَ الروضَ وحفاً نباتُه

تراوحه ريحُ الصبا وتداعبه

When you grow calm, you are a garden, its growth luxuriant;

The east wind visits it and caresses it.

تقبله نهباً فتسعده وما

نواسمُ روض الإنس إلا حبائبه

It steals kisses from it and gladdens it; and

The breezes of the garden of fellowship are but its beloveds.

تلاحظك الدنيا لأنك ربها

وحولك ملكٌ مائجاتٌ مواكبه

The world gazes at you, for you are its lord,

And round you lies a kingdom whose processions surge.

فيأوي إليكَ البدرُ والشمسُ كلما

أَرابهما الكون الطوال معايبه

The full moon and the sun take refuge in you whenever

The universe troubles them with its towering flaws.

ترى نفسها فيكَ السماءُ فتنجلي

مباسمُها والنور غزلٌ ملاعبه

The sky sees herself in you, and there gleam

Her smiling lips; the light is flirtatious in its play.

وأَنت ترى فيها جمالك زاهراً

فمن منكما ربُّ الجمال وصاحبه

You see your own beauty radiant in her;

So which of you is beauty's lord and possessor?

ولكن إذا ما ثار قلبك حاقداً

عليها وهذا الماءُ جاشت غواربه

But when your heart rises in rancor

Against her, and this water's crests seethe,

زخرتَ كأَن الضاريات زئيرها

علا وصداه من بعيدٍ يجاوبه

You surge as though the roaring of wild beasts

Rose, its echo answering it from afar.

وهجتَ وهاج الكونُ حولك ناقماً

يغاصبك الدنيا وأَنت تغاصبه

You rage, and the universe around you rages in fury,

Contesting the world with you, while you contest it.

وأبرق هذا الجوُّ يرسل سخطَه

غيوماً كما أربدت بليلٍ غياهبه

This sky flashed lightning, sending forth its wrath

In clouds, as its dark depths blackened in the night.

أثار عليكَ الراعدات فأَطبقت

وأَطبقتَ كلٌّ ثائرات كتائبه

It roused the thunderclouds against you, and they closed in,

And you closed in, each one's battalions raging.

نهضتَ بموج كلما كَرَّ كرةً

علا وترامي سيلُه وضرائبه

You rose with waves that, whenever they charged,

Mounted higher, their torrent and kindred waves flung afar.

تشنُّ عليه غارةً إثر غارةٍ

فطوراً تارخيه وطوراً تجاذبه

You launch raid upon raid against it,

Now giving it slack, now tugging against it.

ونازلته متهزئاً بسيوله

تطاولُه مستبسلاً وتواثبه

You met it in combat, mocking its torrents,

Striving to tower above it, dauntless, and springing upon it.

فأَتعبتَه حتى استردَّ جيوشه

وعاد وباديه من الذل غائبه

You exhausted it until it recalled its armies

And withdrew, its outward face hidden in humiliation.

وأرسل هذي الشمسَ تطلبُ هدنةً

إليكَ ورب الحسن تقضي مطالبه

It sent this sun, asking for a truce,

To you; you grant the lord of beauty's requests.

فعدت إلى ما أنت وجهُك ضاحكٌ

ونورُك رقراقٌ وماؤُك شاربه

So you returned to your own nature, your face smiling,

Your light shimmering, your water drinking it.

يرفرفُ طيرُ الماءِ فوقك طالباً

غذاءً فتعطيه الذي هو طالبه

Waterfowl flutter above you, seeking

Food; you give them what they seek.

وتجري على سطح المياه بواخرٌ

مواخر مثل السهل تمشي أهاضبه

Steamships sail across the surface of the waters,

Plowing along, as though a plain's hills were walking.

وتسبح تحت الماءِ فيكَ عوالمٌ

كأن خميس الجن ثارت سلاهبه

Beneath the water within you, worlds swim,

As though the towering warriors of the jinn's army had risen.

هنالك كونٌ آخر مثل كوننا

يعيشُ قريبُ العمر فيه وعازبه

There is another universe there, like ours,

Where the short-lived and the long-lived dwell.

بذا ما بذا أَبعادُه مطمئنةً

وغاباته ممتدة وسباسبه

In it is what is here: its expanses lie tranquil,

Its forests stretch out, and so do its open plains.

وأنجاده نهّاضة الهام تحتها

غوائر فيها العشبُ خضرٌ شعائبه

Its uplands rear their heads; beneath them

Lie hollows where the grass's shoots are green.

كان به الغمرَ السحيقَ فضاؤه

مشارقه مشهودةٌ ومغاربه

There its expanse was the fathomless deep,

Its eastern reaches and western reaches visible.

وإنَّ بنيه حبهم مثل حبنا

وليست بناتُ الماءِ إلّا كواعبه

Its sons' love is like our love,

And the daughters of the water are its budding maidens.

ينازع أقواهم ضعيفَهم كما

ينازعُه ما بيننا ويغالبه

Their strongest contends with their weakest, just as

He contends with him among us and strives to overcome him.

سوى أَنهم لا نوم عندهم فلا

يرون مناماً مزعجات غرائبه

Except that they have no sleep, and so

See no dream whose strange wonders bring distress.

سرت بينهم أحكامُ خالقِهم كما

سرت بيننا واللَهُ عدلٌ مذاهبه

Their Creator's decrees run among them just as

They run among us; God's ways are just.

ويوم قصير الحزنِ فيه طويله

ينازع قلبي يأسه ويحاربه

On a day when even brief sorrow was long,

My heart contended with its despair and fought it.

مشيتُ وأشجاني كثيرٌ قليلها

بقربكَ استجلي السنى وأراقبه

I walked—my sorrows' few were many—

Near you, seeking to discern the radiance and watching it.

ومن فوق رأسي اللانهاية تنحني

على مثلها والكون غُرٌّ عجائبه

And above my head, infinity bent

Over its like, and the universe's wonders shone bright.

تَمُدان أنور الجمال ضحوكةً

إلى أُفُقٍ قاصٍ تارمت جوانبه

Both extended beauty's smiling lights

Toward a distant horizon whose sides stretched away.

تصافحتا فيه فهلل وجههُ

يسبح من تَهمي عليه مواهبه

There they clasped hands, and its face beamed,

Glorifying Him whose gifts poured down upon it.

كأن بقايا عالم الأرضِ صافحت

به عالماً بالروح تعلو مراتبه

As though the remnants of the earthly world had clasped hands

There with a world whose ranks ascend through the spirit.

وأدركني الليلُ البهيمُ فأظلمت

مياهك حتى أعجمَ الماءَ عاربه

Pitch-dark night overtook me, and grew dark

Your waters, until their interpreter made them mute.

فأبصرتُ في الجو النجومَ روانياً

وهن طويلاتث الشعاع ثواقبه

Then I saw stars in the sky, gazing,

Their rays long and piercing.

موليةً شطر السماءِ وجوهها

تكادث تداني ربَّها وتقاربه

Turning their faces toward heaven,

Almost drawing near their Lord and approaching Him.

وألحاظُها فوق المياه وكلها

رواجف قلبِ صامتاتٌ رواهبه

Their glances lay upon the waters, and all were

Tremors of a heart whose fears were silent.

تملَّيتُ من هذي المناظرِ ليلتي

إلى أن دعا ناعي الظلامِ وناعبه

I feasted my eyes on these sights throughout my night,

Until darkness's death-herald, its croaking crier, called.

فعدتُ وقد لاح الفناءُ لناظري

وأصدقُه في العين ما هو كاذبه

I returned, annihilation now visible to my gaze,

And its truest appearance to the eye was its false one.

رأيتُ بعين النفس عمري وحاله

وإني ضيفٌ مقلعاتٌ مراكبه

With the soul's eye I saw my life and its condition,

And that I am a guest whose ships are setting sail;

وأني في الكون العظيم إضافةٌ

إليه وإن مُدَّت أمامي مآدبه

And that, in the mighty universe, I am an addition

To it, even if its banquets are spread before me;

وأني بعد الحَين لا شك مفردٌ

عن الكون والنسيانُ تزجى ركائبه

And that after death I shall surely be separated

From the universe, while oblivion's mounts are driven onward.

وتسلمني الأرضُ الخؤونُ إلى الفنا

لأَفقدَ فيه كلَّ ما أنا كاسبه

The treacherous earth will hand me over to annihilation,

Where I shall lose everything I have gained,

واحرمُ حتى نظرةً وابتسامةً

لوجه الفضاءِ الباسمات كواكبه

And be deprived even of a glance and a smile

At the face of space, whose stars are smiling.

فناديتُ ربي ضارعاً مترحماً

وأَصبح جفني هامياتٍ سحائبه

So I called to my Lord, imploring and seeking mercy,

And my eyelid's clouds began pouring rain.

إليكَ هوى النفس الحزينة راجعٌ

إذا غصب الآمالَ في القلب غاصبه

To you returns the longing of the sorrowful soul

When a usurper wrests hopes from the heart.

أناجيكَ مسلوبَ الحشاشة والنهى

وعمري يماليه الأسى ويناصبه

I commune with you, stripped of vitality and reason,

And sorrow allies itself with my life and assails it.

فلولا عيونٌ حبها يبعثُ المنى

وأنوارُها توحي الذي أنا كاتبه

Were it not for eyes whose love awakens hopes,

And whose lights inspire what I write—

لها زرقةُ الماءِ الذي فيك سرُّه

وفيها من السحر العجيب غرائبه

They have the blue of the water whose secret lies in you,

And in them lie the marvels of wondrous enchantment—

لأضجعتُ جنبيَّ الترابَ مطوحاً

بعمري إن العمر كثرٌ متاعبه

I would have laid my sides in the dust, casting away

My life; life's troubles are many.