ضجر — مصطفى الشليح

ضجرٌ

على طول البلاد

Ennui

Along the length of the land

وعرضِها

يحبو على ميَدٍ

And its breadth,

Crawls on unsteadiness,

يرنُّ بأرضِها

بسطٌ يهمُّ بها

Resounds in its earth.

An expansion intent on it,

إذا استبقا معا حينا

إلى بسطٍ .. يهمُّ بقبضِها

When the two raced together for a while

Toward an expansion ... intent on its contraction.

حتَّى إذا قيلَ: اخلعي

نعلا هنا، أَوْ قيلَ: إنَّ هُناكَ

Until, when it was said, “Take off

A sandal here,” or it was said, “Indeed, yonder is

كِلمةَ ومضِها

فاضَ المحبُّون اهتياجًا

The word of its flash,”

The lovers overflowed in agitation,

وارتضوا فيضًا

إذا نهضُوا بوقفةِ روضِها

And willingly accepted an outpouring,

When they rose with the stance of its garden,

راضُوا القصيَّ

وكان أغمضَ بُلغةٍ

They tamed the faraway;

And it was the most obscure sustenance.

أيَّانَ تأويلٌ بمُكنةِ بعضِها

بعضٌ يحنُّ

When is interpretation within the power of part of it?

A part yearns

إلى إشارةِ بعضِه

شطرنجُه رؤيا، وأنتَ لنبضِها

For the sign of part of itself.

Its chess is a vision, and you are for its pulse.

ما نبضُها جسدٌ

إلى أوتاره جسدٌ سوى

Its pulse is no body—

To its strings, a body other than

فتيا تقدُّ بفيضِها

فأفضْ كأنَّ الشَّطحَ

A fatwa that cleaves with its outpouring.

So pour forth, as though the ecstatic utterance were

أولُ جملةٍ ما قلتَها إلا

كُنتَ قبلة أرضِها

The first sentence—you never uttered it unless

You were the qibla of its earth.

والأرضُ تمشي

حين لا تمشي بكَّاءةً

And the earth walks

When it does not walk, weeping profusely,

مِنْ خشيةٍ،

وَمِنَ النِّداءِ بغُمضها

Out of awe,

And from the call in its obscurity.

هلْ عمْرُها ضجرٌ

بما حملتْ صدًى للعُمر

Is its lifetime ennui

Because it bore an echo of life,

أمْ هذي بقيَّةُ فرضَها ؟

ضجرٌ

Or is this the remainder of its duty?

Ennui.

ولا أحدٌ بمُلفٍ وجهةً

بَلْ أيُّما جسدٌ يَؤُودُ بقرضِها ؟

And no one finds a direction.

Rather, what body weighs heavily with its loan?