مجازات — مصطفى الشليح — Saqi

قريبًا
وأبعدُ إلا قليلا
Close by,
and farther away, save a little,
مجازكَ
لِمْ تتفتَّحُ وردةٌ
your metaphor.
Why does a rose bloom
في الكلام
قبيلَ الكناية ؟
in speech
just before metonymy?
لِمْ خفَّةٌ
تنتهي عنصرا
Why does lightness
end up as an element
للبداية ؟
لِمْ طائرٌ
for the beginning?
Why does a bird
يحتمي بالرَّماد
كأنَّ جوازكَ ؟
take refuge in the ashes
as though it were your passport?
أبعدُ
منْ لفتة الجيد
Farther
than the turn of the neck
أفقُ الغزالةِ
أعمقُ
is the gazelle's horizon.
Deeper
منْ عدْوها
فتنة البيد. أغمضُ
than its running
is the deserts' enchantment. More obscure,
أبيضُ
منْ عتمةٍ تتعدَّدُ،
whiter
than a darkness that multiplies,
أفرقُ شكلُ الغزالةِ
أغمضُ
more fearful is the gazelle's form.
More obscure
منكَ الحقيقة
أيَّانَ تكتبُ ألغازَها
than you is truth.
When will you write its riddles?
سفرُها الماءُ
ينهضُ منْ غفوةٍ
Its journey is water;
it rises from a doze
وينامُ كأنْ، غفوةً، حازَها
كان إيجازُها
and sleeps as though it had gained a doze.
Its brevity would have been
كالفراشةِ أقربَ
لولا توقَّيتَ إيجازَها
nearer, like a butterfly,
had you not guarded against its brevity.
توقَّيتَ إلا قليلا
مجازكَ حتَّى تكونَ
You guarded against all but a little of
your metaphor, so that you might become
مجازَكْ
وَإِنْ كُنتَ إلا قليلا
your metaphor.
And you were only a little
بأغمضَ منكَ
تأوَّلتَ صمتا مجازَكْ.
more obscure than yourself;
you interpreted your metaphor in silence.