اللهب القدسي — Badawi Al Jabal

تأنّقَ الدوحُ يُرضي بلبلاً غرداً

من جنّة الله: قلبانا جناحاهُ

The tall trees adorn themselves to please a melodious nightingale

From God's garden: our two hearts are its wings.

يطير ما انسجما… حتى إذا اختلفا

هوى ولم تُغنِ عن يسراهُ يمناهُ

It flies as long as they harmonize; but when they differ,

It falls, and its right wing cannot help its left.

أسمى العبادةِ ربٌّ لي يُعذّبني

بلا رجاءٍ وأرضاهُ وأهواهُ

The highest worship is a lord of mine who torments me

Without hope, while I accept him and love him.

وأينَ من ذلّةِ الشكوى ونشوتِها

عند المحبّين، عزَّ المُلكُ والجاهُ

And what, beside complaint's abasement and its rapture,

Is the glory of sovereignty and rank to lovers?

تقسَّمَ الناسُ دنياهم وفتنتها

وقد تفرَّدَ من يهوى بدُنياهُ

People divided their world and its allure among themselves,

While the lover possessed a world of his own.

ما فارقَ الريُّ قلباً أنتِ جذوتُهُ

ولا النعيمُ محبّاً أنتِ سلواهُ

Refreshment never left a heart whose ember you are,

Nor bliss a lover whose solace you are.

غمرتِ قلبي بأسرارٍ مُعطّرةٍ

والحبُّ أملكهُ للروح أخفاهُ

You flooded my heart with fragrant secrets;

The love that most possesses the soul is the most concealed.

وما امتحنتُ خفاياه لأجلوَها

ولا تمنّيتُ أن تُجلى خفاياهُ

I have not probed its secrets to reveal them,

Nor wished that its secrets be revealed.

الخالقانِ – وفوق العقلِ سرُّهما –

كلاهما للغيوبِ: الحبُّ واللهُ

The two creators—their secret beyond reason—

Both belong to the unseen: love and God.

كلاهما انسكبت فيهِ سرائرُنا

وما شهدناهُ، لكنّا عبدناهُ

Into each our innermost secrets have poured;

We have beheld neither, yet worshipped each.

أرخصتِ للدمعِ جفني ثم باكره

في هدأةِ الفجرِ طيفٌ منكِ أغلاهُ

You cheapened my eyelid for tears; then came to it early,

In dawn's stillness, a vision of you that made it precious.

وأسكرتني دموعي بعد زَورتهِ

أطيفُ ثغرِكِ ساقاها حميّاهُ

My tears intoxicated me after its visit:

Did the vision of your lips give them its intoxicating fire to drink?

طيفٌ بعينيّ كاسٍ من متارفه

لو لم أصنهُ طغى وجدي فعرّاهُ

A vision clothed within my eyes in its own finery;

Had I not guarded it, my passion would have surged and stripped it bare.

حمنا مع العطر ورّاداً على شفةٍ

فلم نغرْ منهُ لكنّا أغرناهُ

We circled with the perfume, seeking drink at a lip;

We did not envy it, but made it jealous.

تهدلت بالجنى المعسول واكتنزت

والثغر أملؤُهُ للثغر، أشهاهُ

It drooped with honeyed fruit and swelled with fullness;

The fullest mouth is the one another mouth most craves.

نعبُّ منهُ بلا رفقٍ ويظمؤنا

فنحنُ أصدى إليهِ ما ارتشفناهُ

We drink deeply from it without gentleness, and it makes us thirsty;

The more we sip from it, the thirstier we are for it.

في مقلتيكِ سماواتٌ يهدهدُها

من أشقرِ النور أصفاهُ وأحلاهُ

In your two eyes are heavens cradled

By the purest and sweetest of golden light.

ورنوة لكِ راح النجم يرشفها

حتى ترنّحَ سُكرٌ في محيّاهُ

And a gaze of yours the star began to sip,

Until intoxication swayed upon its face.

أطلَّ خلفَ الجفونِ الوطفِ موطنهُ

بعد الفراق فحيّاهُ وفدّاهُ

Behind the thick-lashed lids its homeland came into view;

After separation, it greeted it and offered itself as ransom.

يضيعُ عني وسيمٌ من كواكبها

فحين أرنو إلى عينيكِ ألقاهُ

A handsome one among their stars slips away from me;

Whenever I gaze into your eyes, I find it.

قلبي، وللشقرة المغناج لهفته،

ليتَ الحنينَ الذي أضناهُ أفناهُ

My heart, with its yearning for coquettish blondness—

Would that the longing that exhausted it had destroyed it.

تضفر الحور غاراً من مواجعهِ

وتستعيرُ رؤاها من خطاياهُ

The houris braid laurel from its sorrows

And borrow their visions from its sins.

أغفينَ فيه لماماً ثم عُدنَ إلى

جنّاتهنّ، وقد لملمنَ ريّاهُ

They dozed within it briefly, then returned to

Their gardens, having gathered its fragrance.

يسألنَ باللهفة الغيرى، على خجلٍ

من فجَّرَ العطرَ منه حين أدماهُ

They ask with jealous yearning, shyly,

Who made perfume gush from it when he made it bleed?

لم تعرفِ الحورُ أشهى من سُلافتنا

رفَّ الهجيرُ ندىً لمّا سقيناهُ

The houris have known nothing sweeter than our pure wine;

The midday heat fluttered into dew when we gave it drink.

مُدَلّهٌ فيكِ: ما فجرٌ ونجمتُهُ

مُوَلّهٌ فيكِ: ما قيسٌ وليلاهُ

Love-dazed over you—what are dawn and its star?

Love-crazed over you—what are Qays and his Layla?

من كان يسكبُ عينيه ونورهما

لتستحمَّ رؤاك الشقر لولاهُ

Who would have poured out his eyes and their light

For your golden visions to bathe in, if not he?

سما بحسنكِ عن شكواه تكرمةً

وراح يسمو عن الدنيا بشكواهُ

In reverence for your beauty, it rose above its complaint

And went on rising above the world through its complaint.

يحبُّ قلبي خباياهُ ويعبدها

إذا تبرّأ قلبٌ من خباياهُ

My heart loves its secrets and worships them

When another heart disowns its secrets.

طفولةُ الروح أغلى ما أدلُّ به

والحبُّ أعنفهُ عندي وأوفاهُ

The soul's childhood is the dearest thing I take pride in;

To me, the fiercest love is the most faithful.

قلبي الذي لوَّنَ الدنيا بجذوتهِ

أحلى من النورِ نُعماهُ وبُؤساهُ

My heart, which colored the world with its ember—

Its bliss and its misery are sweeter than light.

غرٌّ، وأرفعُ ما فيه غرارتهُ

وأنذلُ الحبِّ –جلّ الحبُّ– أدهاهُ

It is guileless; its guilelessness is its noblest trait,

And love's basest—exalted be love!—is its craftiest.

لم يُردِهِ ألفُ جرحٌ من فواجعهِ

حتى أُصيبَ بسهمٍ منكٍ أرداهُ

A thousand wounds from its calamities did not bring it down

Until an arrow from you struck it and felled it.

يريدُ بدعاً من الأحزان مؤتلقاً

ومن شقاءِ الهوى يختارُ أقساهُ

It seeks a dazzling marvel of sorrow

And chooses the harshest suffering love can bring.

سكبتِ قلبكِ في وجدانه فرأت

يا نعمَ ما شئتِ –لا ما شاء عيناهُ

You poured your heart into its depths; then it saw

—How splendid!—through its eyes what you wished, not what it wished.

أنتِ السرابُ عذابٌ وقدهُ وردى

وتؤنسُ العين أفياءٌ وأمواهُ

You are the mirage: its blaze is torment and death,

Yet shade and waters soothe the eye.

أتسألينَ عن الخمسين ما فعلت

يبلى الشبابُ ولا تبلى سجاياهُ

Do you ask what the fifty years have done?

Youth wears away, but its qualities do not.

في القلب كنزُ شبابٍ لا نفادَ لهُ

يُعطي ويزدادُ ما ازدادت عطاياهُ

In the heart is a treasure of youth that cannot be exhausted;

It gives and grows as its gifts increase.

فما انطوى واحدٌ من زهوِ صبوتِهِ

إلا تفجّرَ ألفٌ في حناياهُ

Not one bloom of its youthful ardor fades

Without a thousand bursting forth within its folds.

هل في زواياهُ من راح الصبا عبقٌ؟

كلُّ الرحيقِ المُندّى في زواياهُ

Is there a scent of youth's wine in its corners?

All the dewy nectar lies in its corners.

يبقى الشبابُ نديّاً في شمائلهِ

فلم يَشِبْ قلبهُ إن شابَ فوداهُ

Youth stays dewy in his character;

His heart has not gone gray, though his temples have.

تزيّنَ الوردُ ألواناً ليفتنَنا

أيحلفُ الوردُ أنّا ما فتنّاهُ

The rose adorned itself with colors to enchant us;

Will the rose swear that we did not enchant it?

صادي الجوانح في مطلولِ أيكتهِ

فما ارتوى بالندى حتى قطفناهُ

Thirsty at heart amid its dew-drenched thicket,

It was not quenched by dew until we plucked it.

هذا السلافُ أدام الله سكرته

من الشفاهِ البخيلات اعتصرناهُ

This pure wine—may God prolong its intoxication—

We pressed from miserly lips.

جلَّ الذي خلقَ الدنيا وزيّنها

بالشعر، أصفى المصفّى من مزاياهُ

Exalted is he who created the world and adorned it

With poetry, the purest of his refined gifts.

نحنُ الذين اصطفاهم من أحبّتهِ

فلو تُدارُ الطلى كنّا نداماهُ

We are those he chose from among his beloved;

Were wine passed around, we would be his drinking companions.

وشرّفَ الشعرَ لما صاغَهُ ترفاً

فكنتِ نغمتَهُ النشوى ومعناهُ

He honored poetry when he fashioned it as luxury,

And you became its intoxicated melody and its meaning.

وراحَ ينشدنا عصماءه... شفةٌ

ومقلةٌ.. وجُننّا.. فاستعدناهُ

He began reciting his peerless ode to us: a lip

And an eye; we went mad and asked him to repeat it.

آمنتُ "باللهبِ القدسيّ" مُضرمهُ

أذكى الألوهةَ فينا حين أذكاهُ

I believed in the sacred flame; its kindler

Kindled divinity within us when he lit it.

تزيّن الروح قرباناً لفتنتهِ

وقد يضنّ، فتُستجدى مناياهُ

The soul adorns itself as an offering to its enchantment;

It may be sparing, so the deaths it grants are begged for.

ولو أقامَ الضحايا من مصارعِها

لعاودت قتلها فيه ضحاياهُ

Were it to raise its victims from where they fell,

Its victims would again submit to being slain within it.

العبقريّاتُ وهجٌ من لوافحِهِ

والشمسُ مجلوّة إحدى هداياهُ

Works of genius are a glow from its scorching blasts;

The burnished sun is one of its gifts.

والتائهين بهديٍ من عقولهم

لو يمّموا "اللهبَ القدسيَّ" ما تاهوا

And those astray, guided by their own minds—

Had they turned toward the sacred flame, they would not have strayed.

روحي فدى وثنٍ ما كان أفقرنا

إليه في عزّةِ النعمى وأغناهُ

My soul be ransom for an idol—how much we needed

It amid the splendor of bliss, and how self-sufficient it was!

إن كان يذكرُ أو ينسى فلا سَلِمت

عيني ولا كبدي إن كنتُ أنساهُ

Whether it remembers or forgets, may neither remain unharmed:

My eye nor my liver, if ever I forget it.

يا من سقانا كؤوسَ الهجرِ مترعةً

بكى بساطُ الهوى لمّا طويناهُ

O you who gave us brimming cups of separation,

The carpet of love wept when we rolled it up.

ما راعَنا الدهرُ بالبلوى وغمرتها

لكننا بالإباء المرِّ رُعناهُ

Time did not frighten us with affliction and its engulfing flood;

With bitter defiance, we frightened it.

ان نحمل الحزن لا شكوى ولا مللٌ

غدرُ الأحبّةِ حزنٌ ما احتملناهُ

If we bear sorrow, there is no complaint or weariness;

Loved ones' betrayal is a sorrow we could not bear.

وما رعانا على عصفِ الخطوبِ بنا

هوىً حبيبٌ رعيناهُ ونرعاهُ

Through calamities' buffeting, it did not care for us—

A cherished love we cared for and still care for.

ليت الذين وهبناهم سرائرَنا

في زحمة الخطب أغلوا ما وهبناهُ

Would that those to whom we gave our innermost secrets

Had cherished our gifts amid the press of calamity.

ولا وفاءٌ لقلبٍ حين نؤثرهُ

حتى تكونَ رزايانا رزاياهُ

There is no loyalty to a heart when we favor it

Until our calamities become its calamities.

أشامتٌ... عندَ جلّانا وما نزلت

إلا على الحبّ والإيثار جلّاهُ

Does he gloat at our great calamity? Yet it descended

Only upon love and selflessness—his great calamity.

لاهٍ ومحنتي العصماءُ داميةٌ

راوٍ ومن لوعتي الشمّاء سُقياهُ

Carefree, while my peerless ordeal is bleeding;

Sated, his drink drawn from my proud anguish.

ما ضجّ في قلبهِ جرحٌ فكابدهُ

ولا ألمَّ بهِ وجدٌ فعاناهُ

No wound cried out within his heart for him to endure,

Nor did passionate longing befall him for him to suffer.

تضنُّ باللهفةِ الحرّى جوانحهُ

والقلبُ أخصبهُ بالنور أسخاهُ

His breast withholds burning yearning;

The heart richest in light is the most generous.

فما ترشّفتُ إيماناً بمعبدهِ

ولا شممتُ طيوباً في مصلّاهُ

I sipped no faith within his temple,

Nor smelled perfumes in his place of prayer.

ناءٍ عن النار لو طافَ اللهيبُ بهِ

لوهّجت هذه الدنيا شظاياهُ

Far from the fire: had the flame circled him,

His shards would have set this world ablaze.

ما الحسنُ إلا لباناتٌ منمّقةٌ

لكن يؤلّههُ أنّا عشقناهُ

Beauty is only embellished desires;

Our passionate love for it makes it divine.

يرضيه أن يتشفّى من مدامعِنا

لم نبكِ منهُ ولكنّا بكيناهُ

It pleases him to take revenge upon our tears;

We did not weep because of him, but wept for him.

حسبُ الأحبّةِ ذُلّاً عارُ غدرهمُ

وحسبنا عزّةً أنّا غفرناهُ

The disgrace of their betrayal is humiliation enough for loved ones;

It is honor enough for us that we forgave it.

وا لوعتاهُ لقلبٍ لو تُطاع له

أمنيّةٌ، كُنتِ أغلى ما تمنّاهُ

Alas for a heart that, were a wish of its granted,

Would have you as the dearest thing it wished for.

لو خيّروهُ كنوزَ الأرضِ يملكُها

أو رَشفُ ثغرِكِ كنزاً ما تعدّاهُ

Were it offered the choice of owning earth's treasures

Or a sip of your lips, it would go no further than that treasure.

يهنيك أنّكِ في نعمى لمحنتهِ

وأنّ غدرَكِ قبلَ الدهرِ أشقاهُ

May it please you that you find bliss in its ordeal

And that your betrayal made it miserable before time did.

أغضى النديُّ حياءً حين أنهبنا

للشامتينَ، هوىً كالروحِ صُنّاهُ

The gathering lowered its eyes in shame when we surrendered

To gloaters a love we had guarded like our soul.

حسنٌ خلقناهُ من ألوانِ قُدرتِنا

فكيفَ يكفرُ فينا من خلقناهُ

A beauty we created from the forms of our power—

How can one we created disbelieve in us?

لو رفَّ حُبُّكِ في بيداءَ لاهبةٍ

على الظماءِ رحيقاً ما وردناهُ

Were your love to flutter in a scorching desert

As nectar over the thirsty, we would not come to drink it.

جليتُ طيفَكِ عن عيني فأسلمهُ

إلى الدجى وإلى الإعصار، مأواهُ

I cleared your apparition from my eyes; then it was delivered

To darkness and to the whirlwind by its refuge.

فيا لكنزٍ شكت منه جواهرهُ

وضاعَ عن نفسهِ لمّا أضعناهُ

Ah, a treasure whose jewels complained of it,

And which lost itself when we lost it.

صحا الفؤادُ الذي قطّعتِهِ مزقاً

حرّى الجراح ولملمنا بقاياهُ

The heart you tore into shreds awoke,

Its wounds burning; we gathered its remnants.

وما سلاكِ ولا عزّاهُ عنكِ هوى

يا نعْمَ غدرك عزّاهُ وسلّاهُ

It did not forget you, nor did another love console it for your loss;

Blessed be your betrayal: it consoled it and made it forget.