الأغاني تصبي ولست بدار

أي شيء فيها من الأسرار

Songs enchant me, yet I do not know

What mysteries they hold.

أهو الوحي هابطا من علوّ

أم هو السحر بين الآثار

Is it revelation descending from on high,

Or is it magic among manifestations?

ما جمال يحس بالسمع الا

كجمال يحس بالابصار

Beauty perceived through hearing is only

Like beauty perceived through sight.

رب صوت من الغناء رقيق

طال عند استماعه استعباري

Many a tender singing voice

Has prolonged my weeping as I listened to it.

ولقد يملأ القلوب سرورا

كبيوت يغرقن في الانوار

And indeed it fills hearts with joy,

Like houses drowning in light.

انه مطرب لكل الشياطين

وكل الملائك الابرار

It brings rapture to all the devils

And all the righteous angels.

حبذا ما في الشدو من كهرباء

فعله في الاعصاب والدم سار

How splendid the electricity within song:

Its effect courses through the nerves and blood.

ان خير الغناء ما كان يأتي

عن شعور في غفلة الافكار

Indeed, the finest singing is that which comes

From feeling, while thought is unaware.

واذا لم يكن اتى عن شعور

فهو غث من الطلاوة غار

And if it has not sprung from feeling,

It is insipid, drained of sweetness.

هل شعور الفنان الاكسيل

زاخر في واد بعيد القرار

Is the artist's feeling not like a torrent,

Surging in a valley whose bed lies deep below?

والاغاني اذا شجتك الاغاني

غير امواج ذلك الزخار

And songs, when songs move you,

Are nothing but waves of that surging flood.

واذا ما فاض الغناء تجيش النفس

حتى كأنها في غمار

And when song overflows, the soul surges,

Until it seems to be amid deep waters.

وتظل الابصار شاخصة والسمع

في لهفة الى التكرار

And eyes stay transfixed, while the ear

Longs eagerly to hear it again.

وكأنا نراه بالسمع منا

وكأنا نصيخ بالابصار

And it is as though we see it with our ears,

And as though we listen with our eyes.

وكأن الزمان يذهب نسيا

وكأن المكان اجمع وار

And as though time passes into oblivion,

And as though all space is hidden away.

تحسب النفس عنده انها في

عالم غير عالم الاوزار

The soul imagines, in its presence, that it is in

A world other than the world of sins:

عالم لاعداء فيه ولا حقد

ولا رغبة باخذ الثار

A world with no enmity or hatred,

And no desire to exact revenge.

ارسل الطرف في الجماهير تبصر

ماله في الوجوه من آثار

Cast your gaze over the crowds and see

The traces it leaves upon their faces.

طالما هاجت السرور او

الاشجان اغنية على قيثار

How often has joy been stirred, or

Sorrow, by a song upon a lyre!

هي نار مشبوبة يتصبى

سامعيه حسيس تلك النار

It is a blazing fire; what enchants

Its listeners is the soft hiss of that fire.

ينكأ الجرح من يغني ويأسو

كطبيب بموقع الداء دار

The singer reopens the wound, and heals it,

Like a doctor who knows where the ailment lies.

ظفر الروض بالهزار اخيرا

بعد طول انتظاره للهزار

At last the garden won its nightingale,

After its long wait for the nightingale.

جاءه طائرا فلما تغنى

اكبرته جماعة الاطيار

It came to the garden flying; when it sang,

The flock of birds held it in awe.

سمعته وعندما سمعته

خرجت اعجابا من الاوكار

They heard it, and when they heard it,

They left their nests in admiration.

تتوالى اغرودة بعد اخرى

كانفجار يأتي وراء انفجار

One warble follows another,

Like an explosion following an explosion.

ولقد سر السامعين حوار

بينه في الهوى وبين القماري

And an exchange delighted the listeners,

Between it and the turtledoves concerning love.

وكأن الازهار في الروض آذا

ن تفتحن لاستماع الحوار

And as though the flowers in the garden were ears

That opened to hear the exchange.

اجمع الشعب في العراق على التر

حيب بالعبقري والاكبار

The people of Iraq agreed as one to welcome

The genius and honor him:

بامير الغناء من شهدت آ

يات الحانه له باقتدار

The prince of song, whose marvels

Of melody bear witness to his mastery.

ولو ان الاسماع كانت عيونا

لراتها لماعة كالدراري

And if ears had been eyes,

They would have seen them gleaming like brilliant stars.

اسمعوا من محمد شدوه

فهو امام في فنه ذو ابتكار

Listen to Muhammad's singing,

For he is a master of his art, an innovator.

انه خير من تغنى فاشجي

سامعيه وخير موسيقار

He is the finest singer to move

His listeners to sorrow, and the finest musician.

يرفع الصوت جاهرا ثم يلقي

هامسا ما يلقى الى الاوتار

He raises his voice aloud, then utters

In a whisper what is imparted to the strings.

كثر الناشؤون في كل فن

غير ان الكفاة غير كثار

Beginners abound in every art,

But the accomplished are few.

حسبه في زعامة الفن ما قد

حازه من ذيعوعة واشتهار

For leadership in the art, he needs no more than

The renown and fame he has won.

انجبته مصر وكم انجبت مصر

رجالا عادوا لها بالفخار

Egypt bore him—and how many has Egypt borne,

Men who have brought her glory!

لست اخشى بوار تلك الاغاني

انها للخلود لا للبوار

I do not fear these songs will perish;

They are for immortality, not decay.

نغمات اودعتها كل اشجا

نك تغلي فآذنت بانفجار

Melodies you filled with all your sorrows

Boil, and so herald an explosion.

انت فيها نفخت من روحك الدا

مي فجاءت كالنار ذات الاوار

You breathed into them from your bleeding soul,

And they came forth like fire with scorching heat.

فهي تحكي انات قلب كليم

جاء يشكو جور الزمان الضاري

They echo the groans of a wounded heart

That has come to lament the tyranny of ravening time.

وهي تحكي رنات ثكلى اصيبت

بوحيد لها كضوء النهار

And they echo the cries of a bereaved mother, stricken

By the loss of her only child, who was like daylight to her.

كان فينا استماعها منك يوما

وطرا حافزا من الاوطار

To hear them from you one day was, for us,

A driving desire among our desires.

وصبونا الى اللقاء ولكن

حال دون اللقاء شحط المزار

And we longed to meet you, but

Distance to the meeting place barred our meeting.

ثم لما هبطت بغداد رحبنا

ثبات بالكوكب السيار

Then, when you arrived in Baghdad, we offered welcome

In throngs to the wandering star.

ثم لما انفجرت تشدو ثملنا

كالذي اسكرته كأس العقار

Then, when you burst into song, we grew drunk,

Like one intoxicated by a cup of wine.

ولقد كان صوتك العذب قبلا

في الفتغراف مالئا كل دار

And indeed, your sweet voice had already

Filled every house through the phonograph.

فاذا ما رفعت في مصر صوتا

رددته بقية الامصار

And whenever you raised your voice in Egypt,

The rest of the cities echoed it.

يرفع السباقين ان لهم في

كل شوط براءة من عثار

What exalts the frontrunners is that, in

Every race, they are free from stumbling.

يا امير الغناء ايه فانا

قد فتنا بفنك السحار

O prince of song, sing on, for we

Have been enchanted by your bewitching art.

يا امير الغناء انك منا

لجدير بالحمد والاكبار

O prince of song, you are to us

Truly worthy of praise and reverence.

هز لحن به شدوت مجيدا

كل ما للقلوب من اوتار

A melody you sang so masterfully stirred

Every string the hearts possess.

ان من لا يهزه منك لحن

حجر جامد من الاحجار

Indeed, anyone whom a melody of yours does not stir

Is an inert stone among stones.