البديل — Osama Zamil

عيناكِ كونانِ فيهِما لا

تُحصى الدّروبُ أو الضّروبُ

Your eyes are two universes, in which no

paths or varieties can be counted.

فكلّما جُزتُ فيهِما درْ

باً فُتِّحتْ منهُ ليْ دُروبُ

Whenever I crossed a path within them,

other paths opened from it for me.

وكلّما مِلتُ عنْ هوىً مِلْ

تِ ليْ بقلبٍ لهُ وجيبُ

And whenever I turned away from love, you inclined

toward me with a heart that throbbed.

أفي عيونٍ كهَذهِ لاْ

يُستيقنُ الحظُّ و النّصيبُ؟

In eyes like these, are not

fortune and destiny known for certain?

ألا عدَلْتِ عن الملامِ؟

والرّوحُ عنْ ريبتيْ تُجيبُ

Will you not turn away from reproach?

And the soul answers my doubt.

فلسْتُ إلّا طليقَ عُمْرٍ

بوَصْفهِ تُوصفُ الكُروبُ

For I am but one freed from a lifetime;

to describe it is to describe afflictions.

وليسَ فيْ سِيرتيْ نهارٌ

يُشكُّ في أنّه عصيبُ

And there is no day in my life story

whose hardship is in doubt.

وقد يزاحُمني علىْ ما

وهبتِنِي فيهِما عَريْبُ

And someone may contend with me for what

you bestowed on me within them.

أما انتهَى موطِني إليهمْ

ثم ادَّعوْا أنّني الغريبُ

Has not my homeland passed into their hands,

then they claimed that I was the stranger?

وقدْ سَكنْتُ السَّما اقتناعاً

بأنَّ تحْريرها قريبُ

And I dwelt in the sky, convinced

that its liberation was near.

فما امْتطَىْ خيلَهُ صدِيقٌ

وما انتَخىْ قبلَه قريبُ

Yet no friend mounted his horses,

and no kinsman before him rose to the call,

إلا أخٌ ما ارعوَى فآذوْ

هُ وَهْوَ منْ أجلِها نكِيْبُ

except a brother who would not desist; they harmed

him, though for her sake he was stricken.

بلْ فاوضُونيْ علَىْ بقائي

ميْتاً لِكيْ يأْمنَ الجلِيبُ

Rather, they bargained with me over my remaining

dead, so that the imported outsider might be safe.

فكيْفَ ليْ أنْ أَحُطَّ رَحْلِيْ

في قلْبِ ما تَعشَقُ القلُوبُ

So how am I to set down my pack

in the heart of what hearts adore?

ولستُ ذا قوةٍ فيَخشىْ

ذو قوةٍ عِدُّها رهيبُ

Nor do I have power that might frighten

a powerful man whose resources are fearsome.

وليسَ ليْ فيهِ ماضياتٌ

تَحْتجُّ ليْ إنْ حجَا الرّغوبُ

Nor do I have keen blades there

to plead my case, should the covetous one reason.

فينتهِي الحالُ بيْ كعبْدٍ

في كوكبٍ جلُّه رُبوبُ

So I end up like a slave

on a planet that is mostly lords.

في يدِ من ربَّني مصِيريْ

وهْوَ عليّ إذن رقيبُ

My fate is in the hand of the one who raised me,

and thus he watches over me.

فمصلحٌ تارةً وأُخرىْ

وليتنيْ بعدَها أُصيبُ

A reformer at one time, and at another—

would that afterward I might get it right!

طَلّابُ رزقٍ قسيمُ ملكٍ

إنْ أُبقيَ جاعَت الشّعوبُ

a seeker of livelihood, a sharer in sovereignty;

if kept in place, the peoples starve.

بنّاءُ بيتٍ علَيه يُمسي

عبئًا فيخلفُهُ الغريبُ

a builder of a house, upon which he becomes

a burden, so the stranger replaces him;

رسُولُ سلمٍ فتيلُ حربٍ

أهليَّةٍ حرُّها رهيبُ

a messenger of peace, the fuse of a war

between fellow citizens, its heat dreadful;

شتاءُ خيرٍ ربيعُ موْتٍ

يأْتيْ فيُهْدَىْ لهُ الجنوبُ

a winter of bounty, a spring of death

that comes, and the south is offered to it.

كما الدّواءُ يصيرُ سُمّاً

بالوقتِ ليسَ لهُ طبيبُ

As medicine turns into poison

with time, with no physician to treat it.

قضِيَّتِي سيْفُهمْ، فتمسي

مالاً تمنّ بهِ حلوبُ

My cause is their sword, and so becomes

money granted as a favor by a milk-giving beast.

قضِيَّتِي صوتُهمْ فتمسي

صمْتاً غفا خلفَهُ الهيوبُ

My cause is their voice, and so becomes

a silence behind which the timid one sleeps.

قضِيَّتِي صيتُهمْ، فتمسي

صُحْفاً يلوذُ بها الكذوبُ

My cause is their fame, and so becomes

papers in which the habitual liar takes refuge.

يصونُ ما لي بها ذِنابٌ

كما تصونُ الذّرَى هَبوبُ

A tail guards what is mine in it,

as blowing winds guard the heights.

قضِيَّتِي خبزُهمْ، فتمسي

رحىً وهمْ للرّحىْ حُبوبُ

My cause is their bread, and so becomes

a millstone, while they are grain for the millstone.

عيناكِ لمْ تشْهدا نِزاعاً

و لمْ تقمْ فيهِما حُروبُ

Your eyes have witnessed no strife,

and no wars have arisen within them.

لمْ تسْمَعَا ضرْبَ مدفعٍ وا

حدٍ بهِ تُسحقُ الجُيوبُ

They have not heard a single cannon's shot,

with which pockets are crushed.

لمْ تعرِفا بعدُ كيفَ يُمسيْ

العدوُّ منْ صُحبةٍ تطِيبُ

They have not yet learned how

an enemy emerges from pleasant companionship;

أوْ كيفَ يُمسي الشّهيدُ إرها

بيّاً علَىْ قبرهِ رقيبُ

or how a martyr becomes a terrorist,

with a watcher over his grave;

أو إخوةً إذْ تخاصموا فيْ

شَطْريْنِ شقّهُما الجلِيْبُ

or brothers, when they quarrel in

two halves divided by the imported outsider.

فاغْترَّ كلٌّ بِما لدَيهِ

وظنُّهُ أنّهُ الصّويبُ

Each was deluded by what he possessed,

and by his belief that he was right.

فذاكَ قولٌ وذاكَ ردٌّ

وليْسَ مِنْ بينِهم أريْبُ

That one offers a claim, and that one a reply,

and among them there is no discerning man.

وذاكَ ماءٌ وذاكَ زيتٌ

والزّيتُ في الماءِ لا يذوبُ

And that one is water, and that one is oil,

and oil does not dissolve in water.

لكنَّما مائُهمْ حياةٌ

وزيتُهمْ لو وَعَوا طبيبُ

Yet their water is life,

and their oil, if they understood, is a physician.

لمْ تعرِفا المُفسِديْنِ والتّوْ

بُ ليسَ منْ بعدهِ ذنوبُ

They have not known the corrupters, and repentance—

no sins come after it.

فإنْ نصبتُ لساعةٍ خيْ

مَتي تنَبَّهت الكُروبُ

For if, for an hour, I pitch my tent,

afflictions awaken.

فإنّها رُسْلُ باطلٍ عنْ

عُيونهِ الحقُّ لا يَغيبُ

For they are messengers of falsehood, from

whose eyes the truth never disappears.

يخافُ منْ غيبةٍ تؤوبُ

للحَقِّ جرّائِها النّيوبُ

It fears an absence that would bring back

the fangs of truth in its wake.

وخوْفُ من ساءَنِي أكيدُ

وظنُّه فيّ لا يخيبُ

And the fear of whoever hurt me is certain,

and his expectations of me do not fail.

وإنّما عودَتيْ إلىْ عيْ

نيْها برغمِ البَلا وُجوبُ

Yet my return to her eyes,

despite affliction, is a duty.

ولسْتُ أرضىْ بدائلاً مهـْ

ما أبطأَ عوْدتِي الغُروبُ

And I accept no alternatives, however

much sunset delays my return.

عيناكِ لنْ تُمسياْ مَحجّاً

يؤُمُّهُ الليلُ والخُطوبُ

Your eyes will never become a place of pilgrimage

to which night and calamities come.

وكلّما مِلْتُ كنتِ أدنى

وعن كِليْنا الهوَى يُجيبُ:

And whenever I lean, you are nearer,

and love answers for us both:

تنوبُ عيْنان عنْ بلادٍ

وعنْ فلسطينَ لا تنوبُ

Two eyes may stand in for a land,

but they cannot stand in for Palestine.

وأنْتَ يا مُوقِدَ الحنينِ

بالنّبْلِ أنْصالُها لهيبُ

And you, O kindler of longing

with arrows whose points are flame,

في الرّوحِ حتّى تُفيضَ شوقاً

والدّمْعُ من عينِها سكُوبُ

in the soul, until it pours forth yearning,

while tears pour from her eye,

فتفصحَ العينُ عن يقينٍ

يجلوْ بهِ كلُّ ما يريبُ

so the eye may speak of a certainty

through which all that raises doubts grows clear.

وقاصدُ السّهمِ لا يخيبُ

ودامعُ العيْنِ لا يَشوبُ

And the one who aims the arrow does not fail,

and the tearful-eyed one does not falsify.

قدْ أفلتَ الشِّعرُ من يديكَ

وطبْعُهُ أنّه قَلُوبُ

Poetry has slipped from your hands,

and its nature is to be fickle.

فارتدَّ من جمرِهِ عليكَ

فحرَّ من صدرِكَ النّحيبُ

So from its embers it recoiled upon you,

and sobbing blazed from your breast.

فليْسَ يُنجيكَ منْ عَذابا

تهِ دعاءٌ ولا هُرُوبُ

For nothing saves you from its torments:

neither prayer nor flight.

فصِفْ لنا باليقينِ ما أنْ

ستْكَ معالمَهُ الغيوبُ

So describe for us with certainty what

the unseen made you forget of the features

منْ وجْهِها وافتح العُيونَ

بالشّعرِ وليُطلقِ النّسيبُ

of her face, and open the eyes

with poetry, and let the love prelude be unleashed.

أرىْ هلاليْنِ فوْقَ نُوريْ

نِ قامَ تحْتَهُما صليبُ

I see two crescents above two lights,

beneath them both a cross stands.

أرىْ ضياءً يطلُّ منهُ

الآنَ ابنُ مرْيمَ والحَبيبُ

I see a radiance from which

the son of Mary and the Beloved now appear.

أرىْ سلاماً على جبالٍ

في ظلِّهِ سهلُها الرّحيبُ

I see peace upon mountains,

their broad plain lying in its shade.

كأنّما يحرُسُ البوادي

من جائِعٍ قوتُهُ الحُروبُ

As though it guards the desert lands

from a hungry one whose food is wars.

أرىْ صِباً عمرُهُ الزّمانُ

وليسَ يقْهرُهُ المشيبُ

I see youth whose age is all of time,

and gray hair does not conquer it.

وإنّما يقْهرُ المشيبُ

من سوَّدتْ عَيْشَهُ النّكوبُ

Rather, gray hair conquers

those whose lives calamities have blackened.

أرىْ عُشوشَ الطّيورِ فيْها

يبيتُ صَقرٌ وعنْدليبُ

I see birds' nests within her,

where a falcon and a nightingale spend the night.

كأنّ هذِي العينُ لم تقْ

رأْ قصّةً قالَها إيْسُوبُ

As though this eye had never read

a tale told by Aesop.

وربّما قرأتْ لتحْكِيْ

فعلَّهُ يعْقِلُ الحَبيبُ

And perhaps it read one to tell it,

so that the beloved might understand

بأنّها لا تُعدُّ فيمَنْ

بالذّنبِ خصّهمُ الحَسِيبُ

that she is not counted among those

the Reckoner has marked with guilt.

وسِرْبَ ضأْنٍ علَى الرُّبَى سَا

لَ مثلَما سُيِّلتْ ذُهوبُ

And a flock of sheep on the hills flows

as gold is made to flow.

أرىْ جُدودِيْ فكيْفَ قالُوا

بأنَّ منْ ماتَ لا يؤوبُ

I see my ancestors; how, then, did they say

that whoever dies does not return?

وشَجْرةً تحْتَها صبيٌّ

والجدُّ ووابلاً يَصُوبُ

And a tree, beneath it a boy,

and the grandfather, and a downpour falling.

أهَذهِ أنتِ يا فِلسطيْ

نُ؟ أمْ أرَى ما يرَى الشَّريبُ؟

Is this you, O Palestine,

or do I see what the drunkard sees?

أهكذا كنتِ يومَ كنتِ؟

ويْلاهُ ما يَفعلُ الغروبُ!

Were you like this in the days when you were?

Alas for me—what sunset does!