Sol 6.1

  1. بينا تراني اجوب الأَرض مبتَهِجا

    تَلقى فؤادي أَليف الحزن منزعجا

    While you see me roaming the earth delighted,

    you find my heart a companion of sorrow, troubled.

  2. حَتّى كأني أَرى في عيشَتي صحفا

    ما بين أَسطرها حرف الشقا اِندرجا

    It is as though I see my life as pages

    between whose lines the letter of misery has been inscribed.

  3. لَكِنَّني بِثَباتي لست أَحسبه

    شَيئا فتحسبني جذلان مبتَهِجا

    Yet, through my steadfastness, I do not reckon it

    anything, so you think me jubilant and glad.

  4. هَذا جناني وَهَذي مُقلتي وَأَنا

    منها إِليه أَجر الويل وَالفرجا

    Here is my heart, and here my eye; and I

    draw from the latter into the former both woe and relief.

  5. فَهي الَّتي أَبصرت قَوما عَلى بعد

    قَد أَسمَعوا أَذني التَشويش وَالهرجا

    For it was my eye that saw some people at a distance,

    who had made my ear hear clamor and commotion.

  6. وَهيَ الَّتي أَرسَلتَني نحو مجلسهم

    عَلي أشاهد ماذا بينهم نتجا

    And it was my eye that sent me toward their gathering,

    hoping I might see what had arisen among them.

  7. حَتّى وَصلت وَقَد شاهدتهم بسموا

    وَالأنس من كل فج بينهم وَلجا

    At last I arrived and saw them smiling,

    while merriment entered their midst from every path.

  8. هَذا يغني وَهَذا من ترنمه

    تَلقاه يَسمعك الأَلحان وَالهزجا

    One sang; another, through his warbling,

    you found letting you hear melodies and lilting songs.

  9. وَالزهر يَبعَث فيهم من تكاثره

    طيبا فَكنت أَشم الطيب وَالأَرجا

    And the flowers, in their abundance, sent among them

    fragrance, so I breathed in perfume and sweet scent.

  10. شجعت نَفسي وَكانَت لا تطاوعني

    أَبغي بأنستهم أَن أطفىء الوهجا

    I encouraged my spirit, though it would not obey me,

    seeking through their company to quench the blaze.

  11. حَتّى ظفرت وَكادَ الصدر من جَذَل

    يَرتاح من أَلم في الصدر ما خرجا

    At last I succeeded, and my breast, from joy, almost

    found relief from a pain within it that had not left.

  12. اذ دون قصد وَيا لِلَّه مِن بصري

    حركت كامن ما في القَلب فاِختَلجا

    Then, unwittingly—O God, what my sight had done!—

    I stirred what lay hidden in my heart, and it quivered.

  13. قَد لاحَ لي شبح هَيهات أذكره

    يَوما وَأَلقى لِنَفسي مِن صَداه نَجا

    A figure appeared to me—how could I ever recall it

    one day and find escape for myself from its echo?

  14. طفل صَغير يَكاد البؤس يَقتله

    يَدمي القلوب وَيدمي قبلها المهجا

    A little child, whom misery almost killed,

    making hearts bleed, and before them the very souls.

  15. أَعضاؤُهُ في اِنتفاض وَهُو يَسترها

    بالبَعض بعضا فَوا اثما وواحرجا

    His limbs were trembling, and he covered them

    one with another—O the sin! O the shame!

  16. يَحميه ثوب وَلكن أَنتَ تعرفه

    كالعَنكَبوت بخيط واحد نسجا

    A garment sheltered him—but you know the kind:

    as though a spider had woven it with a single thread.

  17. حَتّى إِذا لَم يصل للساق من قصر

    غطى بلكتا بديه الساق واِنثلجا

    So when it failed to reach his shin, being too short,

    he covered his shin with both hands and felt relief.

  18. لكنه لم يَكُن يَلقى لراحته

    بابا وَقَد طرق الأَبواب وَالدرجا

    Yet he could not find, for his comfort,

    a door, though he had tried doors and stairways.

  19. اما وَقَد خانه جهد الَّذي ضعفت

    اعصابه قام نحو القَوم واِندَمجا

    Now that his strength had failed him, with weakened

    nerves he rose toward the people and joined them.

  20. يَمشي الهُوَينا وَيَخشى من تعثره

    وَقعا كَشيخ يَخاف الموضع الزلجا

    He walked slowly, fearing that a stumble

    would bring a fall, like an old man wary of slippery ground.

  21. في كفه طرف خبز ربما عجزت

    عَنها المَطارق لكن كان فيها رجا

    In his palm was a scrap of bread that might have defied

    even hammers; yet there was hope in it.

  22. يبدي اليهم حنوا وَهُوَ اكله

    طرفا فَطَرفا بدمع العين ممتزجا

    He showed them tenderness while eating it,

    piece by piece, mingled with the tears of his eyes.

  23. ما كادَ يقرب حَتّى عمه فرح

    ابدى نظارة ذاكَ الوجه فاِبتَهَجا

    Scarcely had he come near when joy swept over him,

    revealing the radiance of that face, and he rejoiced.

  24. وارتاح من تعب حَتّى تطاير من

    قَومي ازدراء ازاح المنظر البهجا

    And he found rest from weariness, until there burst from

    my people a scorn that swept away the joyful sight.

  25. قَد قابلوه بِما أَصلى حشاشته

    نارا تَلظى فَصارَ القَلب مختلجا

    They greeted him in a way that scorched his very soul

    with a blazing fire, and his heart began to tremble.

  26. واشتد من غضب في السير وجهته

    ذاك الخَلاء الى اقصاه مندرجا

    And he quickened his stride in anger, his destination

    that open ground, making his way to its farthest edge.

  27. رحماكَ يا رب رفقا كنت أَذكرها

    اذ كانَ قَبلي بِهَذا اللَفظ قَد لهجا

    “Your mercy, Lord! Be gentle!” I recalled these words,

    for he had repeated those very words before I did.

  28. نادَيته فاِنثَنى كفكفت دمعته

    حَتّى كاني مسحت الجرح وَالضمجا

    I called him; he turned, and I wiped away his tears,

    so that it was as though I had wiped away the wound and its bloodstain.

  29. واشتد صَوتي وَقد حولت نحو همو

    قولي وابرقت اذ اسمعتهم هزجا

    My voice rose; I had turned toward them

    my words, and flashed with anger as I made them hear this chant:

  30. هَذا اخوكم وَهَذا بعض طينتكم

    مِمّا امتزجتم به ياناس قد مزجا

    “This is your brother; this is part of your own clay;

    he was mixed, O people, from the very stuff you were mixed from.

  31. هَذا يَتيم فَقير بائس نكد

    من جوعه يَشتَهي لَو بطنه بعجا

    This is an orphan—poor, wretched, miserable—

    so hungry he wishes his belly were slit open.

  32. ليست لكم همة لا قلب يردعكم

    وَلَينزَعِج منكمو من هاج واِنزَعَجا

    You have no resolve, no heart to restrain you;

    and let whoever among you is stirred and troubled take offense.

  33. هَذا إِلى الشعب في أَعماله اعضد

    بل خنجر للدَواهي يقطع الودجا

    This child is a supporting arm for the people in their work,

    nay, a dagger that cuts the jugular of calamities.

  34. هَذا شعار غد هَذا دلائله

    قَد ضَمَّ عَن سعده أَو نحسه حججا

    This is tomorrow’s emblem; these are its signs,

    bearing proofs of its good fortune or its ill.

  35. عنوانكم في بحور البؤس منغمس

    مسكين اني له ان يغلب اللججا

    Your emblem is submerged in seas of misery,

    a poor soul—how could he overcome the deep waters?

  36. هَلا من العار ان يَبقى لنهضتنا

    سدا ونامل من ويلاتنا فرجا

    Is it not shameful that he should remain, for our revival,

    a barrier, while we hope for relief from our woes?

  37. اني لتحزنني حال يكابدها

    في الجهل لا يستَطيع رسم حرف هجا

    The plight he endures truly grieves me:

    in ignorance, he cannot write a single letter of the alphabet.”

  38. اذ ذاكَ اذعن كل للحقيقة اذ

    هيَ الَّتي اِنبلجت كالصبح اذ بلجا

    At that, everyone yielded to the truth, for

    it had shone forth like the dawn when it breaks.

  39. وانهال منهم عَلى المسكين غيث عطا

    حَتّى تبسم بين القوم واندمجا

    And from them a rain of giving poured down on the poor child,

    until he smiled among the people and joined them.

  40. هَذا واني أَرى فيكم شهامتهم

    فاِستنهضوا همة في أَصلكم وَحجا

    That said, I see in you their magnanimity,

    so awaken the resolve and wisdom rooted in your nature.

  41. هيوا وجودوا بما في وسعكم شغفا

    بالبر حَتّى نَرىفي الافق بدر دجى

    Rally, and give whatever you can, in love

    of charity, until we see on the horizon a full moon in the darkness.

  42. حلوا لمسكينكم أَكياسكم فَلَقَد

    انت سعادتنا وَالثمر قَد نضجا

    Untie your moneybags for your poor child, for indeed

    our happiness has come, and the fruit has ripened.