هد الجوى ركبي — Ziad Al Saudi

هَدَّ الجوى رَكْبي

في مذبحِ الحرمانْ

Heartache shattered my caravan,

At the altar of deprivation.

جُرِّدتُ من حُلْمي

في غَيْهبِ الأشْجانْ

I was stripped of my dream

In the deep gloom of sorrows.

النَّوحُ وافاني

والنّاسُ نُوّامُ

Lamentation came to me,

And the people were asleep.

خَلَّفْتُ جُثماني

تَطْويهِ آلامُ

I left my corpse behind;

Pains enfold it.

في جُبِّ وجْداني

الجَوْحُ قوّامُ

In the well of my inner being,

Devastation stands watch.

أفرغتُ في نايي

ما خبّأ الكِتمانْ

I poured into my flute

What concealment had hidden.

أفْضى لأنّاتٍ

نَحيبُها فُقدانْ

It gave rise to moans,

Whose sobbing is loss.

الهمّ أعْياني

والرَّغدُ أوْهامُ

Worry exhausted me,

And ease is illusory.

الخِلُّ خَلّاني

والأهْلُ لُوَّامُ

My close friend abandoned me,

And my kin are reproachers.

السُّقْمُ أعْياني

والصَّحْبُ إحْجامُ

Illness exhausted me,

And my companions hold back.

إنْ رُمتُ سَعدًا لا

يُهْدَى إلى العُنوانْ

If I seek good fortune, it is not

Delivered to my address.

إنْ رامَني قرْحٌ

أتى بِلا اسْتئذانْ

If a wound seeks me,

It comes without permission.

نوائب الخيْبات

هُرِعْنَ لي حَصْرا

The calamities of disappointment

Rushed to me alone.

سقَينني الرّوعات

أوقدنَ بي جمْرا

They made me drink terrors;

They kindled embers within me.

أورثنني الآهات

للدَّهرِ ما أجْرى

They bequeathed sighs to me;

To time belongs what it has wrought.

ها عتمُ دَيْجوري

راسٍ كما البُنيانْ

Behold the gloom of my deep darkness,

Standing firm like a building.

سفينتي تيهٌ

وَوِجهتي الخِذلان

My ship is bewilderment,

And my destination is abandonment.

لا ضوءَ في المشكاةْ

والعينُ لا تَكْرى

There is no light in the lamp-niche,

And the eye does not grow drowsy.

في عَصَبي عِلاتْ

مادَتْ بيَ العُسْرَى

There are ailments in my nerves;

Hardship has made me reel.

تلُمُّني الأشتاتْ

وفي المدى أُذْرى

Scattered fragments gather me,

And across the expanse I am scattered.

البينُ لي بحرٌ

وقاربي الأحْزانْ

Separation is a sea to me,

And sorrows are my boat.

وشهوةُ الإبحارْ

تغْتالُها الشُّطآنْ

And the desire to sail

Is murdered by the shores.

أنا سفيرُ الآهْ

مِنْ حَيثُ لا أدْري

I am the ambassador of the sigh,

From where, I do not know.

في رِبْقَة الويلاهْ

جزَّ الأسى عُمري

In the noose of woe,

Sorrow has sheared away my life.

الخصْبُ عَني تاهْ

في جَدبةِ القَفْرِ

Fertility has strayed from me

In the barrenness of the wasteland.

صَحيفَتي وَيْلٌ

وحِبرُها أسْيانْ

My page is woe,

And its ink is sorrowful.

مَطْلَعُها فَجْعٌ

ومتنُها ذيْفانْ

Its opening is grievous loss,

And its body is poison.

في أحرفي أوّاهْ

تنهالُ من صَدْري

In my letters, cries of 'Alas!'

Pour down from my breast.

نَحْسٌ أنا مَبْناهْ

قَدْ عاثَ في نَثْري

Ill luck, whose edifice I am,

Has wreaked havoc in my prose.

والحَظُّ ما أشْقاهْ

قدْ حارَ في أمْري

And luck—how wretched it is—

Has been baffled by my plight.

لالسْتُ بَكّاءً

مِمّا جَرى أو كانْ

No, I am not a habitual weeper

Over what happened or what was.

ذا صوتُ إنْساني

وكُلُّكُم إنْسانْ

This is the voice of my human self,

And all of you are human.