يعاتبها فيه الفؤاد مفندا — Khalil Shayboub

يعاتبها فيه الفؤادُ مفندا

فتغريه حتى ينثني متوددا

Her heart reproaches her over him, finding fault,

But she entices it until it turns back affectionately.

وتُسمِعُه من سورة الوجد آيةً

يعود بها أدمى وأضنى وأوجدا

She makes it hear a verse from the surah of passion,

Through which it returns more bloodied, more wasted, more lovesick.

إلا أن ثوراتِ الفؤاد قواتلٌ

إذا لم تصب من خالص العقل مسعدا

But the heart's revolts are deadly

If they find no helper in pure reason.

ولكنه فات الزمان وأُطفئت

مناراته فازورَّ واشتط مبعدا

Yet time had passed it by, and extinguished were

Its beacons; it turned aside, strayed far, and withdrew.

وفي كل يوم غفوة وانتباهةٌ

لناحلةٍ وجداً وفاقدةٍ هدى

Every day brings a doze and an awakening

For one wasted by passion and bereft of guidance.

على ذلك القلب الذي أضمر الأسى

إلى ذلك الوجد الذي حجب المدى

Over that heart which harbored sorrow,

Toward that passion which veiled the horizon.

أحبته ملءَ الصدر في مرح الصبا

جميل المحيا فاتر اللحظ أصيدا

She loved him with a breast brimming in youth's merriment:

Handsome of face, languid of glance, proud of bearing.

ولم تستشر فيه النهى أن حكمها

يعيد لها وجه المحبة أسودا

She did not consult reason about him, for its verdict

Would turn the face of love black for her.

فتى مثل ريحان الجنان نضارةً

يطالعها بدراً ويخطر أملدا

A youth fresh as the basil of gardens,

Appearing before her as a full moon, walking supple-limbed.

وتبرق عيناه ذكاءً كأنما

محبتها مَرَّت بعينيه أثمدا

His eyes flash with intelligence, as though

Her love had passed over his eyes as antimony kohl.

لقد نزلت من قلبه في مكانةٍ

ينم عليها خدُّه متوردا

She had taken a place within his heart

That his rosy cheek betrayed.

ودلَّ على حبٍ عظيم مثوله

لديها حييّاً واهياً متجلدا

His presence bore witness to a mighty love

Before her: shy, weak, yet striving for composure.

إذا لحظتها مقلتاه تنهدت

وإن لحظته مقلتاها تنهدا

When his eyes glanced at her, she sighed;

And when her eyes glanced at him, he sighed.

تحب الغاواني في الفتى شيمة الحيا

ويعرضنَ عن مستوقح قد تمردا

Lovely women prize modesty in a youth

And turn away from one brazen and rebellious.

سليم وسلمى أسماهما سرُّ رامزِ

بقلبين في روح الهوى قد توحدا

Salim and Salma—their names a symbolic secret

Of two hearts united in the spirit of love.

تعشقها بنت السراة ولم يكن

يضارعها عزاً وجاهاً ومحتدا

He loved her, a daughter of the nobility, yet he could not

Match her in dignity, standing, or lineage.

وليس له في العمر إلّا شبابهُ

وعقلٌ يراه في الأمور مسددا

He possessed nothing in life but his youth

And a mind he deemed sound in its dealings.

وسلمى فتاةً تشبه الشمس طلعةً

لها وجنة كالورد كلَّله الندى

Salma was a maiden whose appearance resembled the sun,

With a cheek like a rose crowned by dew.

وعينان إنساناهما قد تلألآ

كنجمي سماءٍ يبرقان زمردا

And two eyes whose pupils sparkled

Like two stars in a sky, flashing emerald.

وجيدٌ كأن الفجر شق عموده

وحلّاه بالنجم المضيء وقلَّدا

And a neck as though dawn had cleaved its pillar

And adorned it with a shining star, giving it a necklace.

وشَعرٌ كعَقدِ التاج زيَّن رأسها

فإن أسبلته انساب تبراً مجعدا

And hair like a crown's jeweled setting adorned her head;

When she let it fall, it flowed as curling gold.

وقدٌّ كغصن الزنبق الغصن ناعمٌ

إذا راوحته الناسماتُ تأوَّدا

And a figure like a lily's stem, a tender stem

That swayed when passing breezes stirred it.

وتمشي كأَن الأرض ليست تَمَسُّها

لها قدما ظبيٍ تُقلان أميدا

She walks as though the earth does not touch her;

She has a gazelle's two feet, bearing a swaying form.

وتضحك ضحكات الطهارة مثلما

تجاوبَ طيرٌ في الأراك وغردا

She laughs with laughter of purity, just as

Birds answer one another in the arak trees and sing.

وتبسم عن درٍ نظيمٍ مطلةً

بوجهٍ لها يزهو لجيناً وعسجدا

She smiles to reveal well-strung pearls, appearing

With a face resplendent in silver and gold.

فيعشقها في صبحه ومسائه

وفي أمسه الماضي ويعشقها غدا

So he loves her in his morning and evening,

In his vanished yesterday, and he loves her tomorrow.

ويعبدها في الخُلق والخلق ربةً

له وفخارٌ أَن تجلَّ وتعبدا

He worships her, in character and form, as a goddess

For him; it is glory that she be revered and adored.

يكدُّ ليرضيها بإعلاءِ شأنه

إذا نال في الدنيا علاءً وسؤددا

He toils to please her by raising his standing

Through attaining eminence and honor in the world.

إن انحط عنها في الحياة فإنها

أقامت له مِراقة حبٍّ ليصعدا

If he falls below her in life's station, she

Sets up a stairway of love for him to climb.

وقد وعدته أن يكون حليلَها

ولم تك ممن ليس يصدق موعدا

She had promised that he would be her husband,

And she was not one to fail to keep a promise.

لها والدٌ لم ينضج العلمُ رأسه

فما أنفك في الطبع القديم مقيدا

She had a father whose mind learning had not ripened,

So he remained bound to his old disposition.

يرى سطوة الآباء حقاً مؤيدا

تبيح على الأبناء حقاً مؤيدا

He sees fathers' power as a sanctioned right

Granting them a sanctioned right over their children.

ولا يفهم الدنيا الحديثة إذ يرى

تمديُن أهل العصر للخلق مفسدا

He does not understand the modern world, for he sees

The civilized ways of his age as corrupting morals.

وهل يبصر النور امرءٌ حين تنجلي

أشعته إن كان أحسر أرمدا

Can a man see the light when

Its rays emerge, if he is weak-sighted and sore-eyed?

يرى وهجاً في طيه كدرة بدت

ويجهل أن هذا بعينيه قد بدا

He sees a glare with murk appearing within it,

Unaware that this has appeared through his own eyes.

ولا ئك في نقص الجديد وإنما

يفوق كمالاً للقديم غدا سدى

That is no defect in the new; rather,

It surpasses in perfection the old, now rendered futile.

وأن أبا سلمى كثيرٌ مثاله

يضيقون حصراً في الورى وتعددا

And Salma's father has many counterparts,

Too numerous among mankind to be counted or tallied.

وجاءَت أَباها مرةً وشكت له

غرام سليم وهو إن طال أَقصدا

She once came to her father and complained to him of

Salim's passion, which, if prolonged, would slay him.

وقالت له ما ضر لو زوَّجت به

وما كان إلا كامل الخلق أيِّدا

She said to him, 'What harm if I were married to him?

He is nothing but sound of character and strong.

فإن يكُ عنهم قد تداني مقامُه

فمن يتزوج سيداً كان سيدا

If his station has fallen below theirs,

Whoever marries a noble becomes noble.'

ولكن أبوها كان صلباً طبعه

وكان عريها قاسي القلب أصلدا

But her father's disposition was unyielding,

And toward her he was hard-hearted, flint-like.

فقام إليها مجفلاً صلباً طباعه

وكان عليها قاسي القلب أصلدا

He rose toward her in alarm, rigid in temper,

And toward her he was hard-hearted, flint-like.

وكذَّب فيها سمعه وعيانهُ

وراجعها فيما تقول مؤكدا

He disbelieved his hearing and his own eyes concerning her,

And questioned her again about her words, seeking assurance.

فما زاده إلّا اقتناعاص حديثُها

فهاج غضوباً شاتماً متهددا

Her words only made him more convinced,

So he flared up angrily, cursing and threatening.

وأوسعها سبّاً وخّلى نهارها

ظلاماً بما أرغى عليها وأزبدا

He heaped abuse upon her and turned her day

To darkness with his snorting and foaming at her.

أتعشق بنتُ الشؤم ثم تجيئه

ليسفعهافيمن تحب وينجدا

Does the ill-starred girl fall in love, then come to him

To have him help her with the one she loves and come to her aid?

ولا تستحي فيما تقول ومن له

مكان سليم إن يزوجها الردى

And is she not ashamed of what she says? A man whose

Station is Salim's—if he marries her, it is ruin.

كذاك ضعيف الشأن خامل سمعة

تسربل أثواب المهانة وارتدى

One so low in standing, so obscure in reputation,

Has wrapped himself in humiliation's robes and worn them.

أَيجرأ أن يهوى فتاةً كبنته

ويخطب قلباً منه أسمى وأبعدا

Does he dare to love a maiden like his daughter

And seek a heart loftier than his and farther beyond reach?

ألا لا وبأس العمر إن تقدمَ ابنةٌ

على أمرها كيما تضل وتفقدا

No, never! Life is misery if a daughter ventures

To act on her own, so as to stray and be lost.

وأَقسم أَن لا تبرح البيت ناصحاً

بأَن تستشير الراشدات لترشدا

He swore she would not leave the house, advising her

To consult sensible women so that she might be guided.

هنيئاً لأهل الفقر شدة فقرهم

فرب ثراءٍ كان فقراً مشددا

Blessed are the poor in their grinding poverty:

Many a fortune has been intensified poverty.

وإن الغنى حرية القلب في الورى

وما زاد عنها فالحكاية والصدا

True wealth is the heart's freedom among mankind;

All beyond it is mere tale and echo.

وراحةُ المرءِ أكبر نعمةٍ

بها كان عيش المرء أخضر أرغدا

A person's peace is the greatest blessing,

Through which life becomes green and more abundant.

وما ضر تزويج الوضيع بغادةٍ

أجل مقاماً منه إن كان أغيدا

What harm in marrying a low-born man to a maiden

Higher in station than he, if he is graceful?

على أنها الأحساب أكثر ما تُرى

لَتُذعر أَن يدنى إليها وتنقدا

Yet these pedigrees, most often as you see them,

Take fright at being approached and scrutinized.

تريك الذي لا يملك المرء وجهه

لديه وأنكى لو تريك وأنكدا

They show you what a man cannot govern his expression before,

And, were they to show more, things more hurtful and grievous.

يقلد بعضُ الناس بعضَهم وهل

يعيش الذي يقضي الحياة مقلدا

Some people imitate others; but does

One who spends life imitating truly live?

وأكثر ما يأنيه عادات سابقٍ

له وهو آت بعده قد تعودا

Most of what he does consists of a predecessor's customs,

Before him; he comes later and has grown accustomed to them.

إلا أنها العادات الكبير كبيرةً

إذا لم يجل في حومة العمر مجهدا

Yet these customs are a grave burden to the grown man

If he does not range, striving, through life's arena.

فتنسخ عادات وتنشأ غيرها

فإن راج بعض أصبح البعض مُكسدا

Customs are abolished and others arise;

If some find favor, others become unwanted.

وقيمةُ هذا العمر يوم وليلة

وما السعد إلا في الذي لاح مسعدا

The worth of this life is a day and a night;

Happiness lies only in what appears to bring happiness.

وما النور إلا ما ترى العين صافياً

وما الليل إلا ما ترى العين أربدا

Light is only what the eye sees as clear,

And night is only what the eye sees as dusky.

ولم يخش بعض الناس إشقاءَ بعضهم

لوهمٍ قديم في النفوس توطدا

Some people did not fear making others miserable

For an ancient delusion firmly rooted in their souls.

نعم زوجوها جاهلاً غير أنه

له ثروة طابت كما طاب مولدا

Yes, they married her to an ignorant man, except that

He had fine wealth, just as he was wellborn.

أخا بدواتٍ في الحياة مرافقاً

ثلاثاً ملاحاً في الفواجر خردا

A man of whims in life, keeping company with

Three fair young women among the wanton.

فيصرف في الحانات معظم وقته

على منضدات اللعب جنحاً ومغتدى

He spends most of his time in taverns,

At gaming tables, at dusk and at dawn.

ويغرم بين الكاس والطاس صحةً

ويغرم مالاً في القمار مبددا

He pays with his health between cup and bowl,

And loses money at gambling, squandering it.

فإن أخلصت سلمى له النصح ردها

ثقيلاً عليها ناهياً متمردا

If Salma offers him sincere counsel, he rebuffs her,

Oppressive toward her, forbidding and rebellious.

يقصُّ سفاهات الأزقة كلها

ويروي فظاعات المقاصف منشدا

He recounts all the foolishness of the alleyways

And relates the taverns' atrocities, declaiming them.

ويغلظ في عرضِ الحديث فإن شكت

فأهون أمرٍ زجرها متوعدا

He speaks roughly in telling his tales; if she complains,

The least he does is scold her with threats.

وإن رغبت أمراً لها رام ضده

حروناً وغالى في النكاية واعتدى

If she desires something, he seeks its opposite,

Obstinate, excessive in malice, and overstepping bounds.

ويضجر أَن يأوي إلى البيت ساعةً

فيخرج غضباناً ويأتي معربدا

He resents staying at home even an hour,

So he leaves angry and returns drunkenly unruly.

فلا قت عذاباً هوَّن الموتَ بعضه

بما وردت من شرعة الذل موردا

She encountered torment, some of which made death seem easy,

Through drinking at humiliation's watering place.

وساعةُ تعذيبٍ تساوى ثراءَها

وتنسي جميع الجاه والعز والجدى

An hour of torture equals all her wealth

And makes her forget all standing, honor, and gain.

وتكتم سلمى بؤسها وغرامها

بمن أبعدوا عنها أسيراً مصفدا

Salma conceals her misery and her passion

For the one they drove away from her, a fettered captive.

هوىً في شغاف القلب عاصٍ كأَنه

إذا لجَّت الذكرى لهيبٌ توقدا

A rebellious passion deep in the heart's lining, as though,

When memory persists, it were a blazing flame.

كما رُميت دون الورود غزالةٌ

وقد أفلتت لم تُظفِر المتصيدا

Like a gazelle shot before reaching water,

Though she escaped and denied the hunter his prey,

وفازت بقتّالين سهمٍ وغلةٍ

يمضّانها حتى تموت فيهمدا

And won two killers: an arrow and thirst,

Both tormenting her until she dies and they subside.

كذلك سلمى إذ تفاقم خطبها

عليها وشهّى أن تموت وتلحدا

So it was with Salma when her calamity worsened

Upon her and made her crave death and burial.

وأين سليم أنه بعد قطعه

أسيفاً مضى لا يعرف اليوم والغدا

And where is Salim? After he was cut off,

He went away grieving, knowing neither today nor tomorrow.

مضى حاملاً في القلب جرح غرامه

لدن سال واستشرى به وتفصدا

He went carrying in his heart the wound of his passion,

Since it bled, spread through him, and streamed blood.

على أنه جرح دخيل ومن له

بان يأسُوَ الجرح الدخيل ويضمدا

Yet it is an inward wound; who is there for him

To heal that inward wound and bind it?

ألا أبلغوها في القطيعة أنه

أصاب عذاباً مفنياً وتكبدا

Ah, tell her, in their estrangement, that he

Suffered consuming torment and endured it.

وما مات إلا أنه كل ساعة

يموت بها يأساً ويحيى تجلدا

He did not die, yet every hour

He dies of despair and lives through fortitude.

ويطوي على العلّات ضيق صدره

ليسلو الهوى في الشغل كدحاً ومكتدى

He conceals his heart's distress despite his afflictions,

To forget love in work, through toil and earning his bread.

وهيهات سلوان لولهان عاشق

أخي حرق في الحب لن يتبردا

But consolation is far beyond a distraught lover,

One burning in love who will never cool.

إذا عاش بعد اليأس منها فإنه

لِسِرٍّ أقام الكائنات وأقعدا

If he lives after despairing of her, it is

Through a mystery that makes all beings rise and sit.

أتعرف سلمى الصاحباتُ فإنها

ضجيعة مهد للشقاءِ تمهدا

Do her companions know Salma? She is

The bedmate of a cradle prepared for misery.

تخرم داء القلب خافقَ قلبها

فأوسعه يأساً وسقماً وأجهدا

Heart disease ravaged her beating heart,

Filling it with despair and sickness, exhausting it.

تعد الليالي الباقيات تفجعاً

وتبكي الليالي الماضيات توجدا

She counts the remaining nights in grief

And weeps for the bygone nights in longing.

وترثي شباباً كان نوراً وقد خبا

وتندب قلباً كان جمراً فأُخمدا

She mourns a youth that was light and has dimmed,

And laments a heart that was an ember and was extinguished.

وتحسب ما قد مرَّ من عهد حبها

وترجع بالذكرى إليه تفقُّدا

She reckons what has passed of the days of her love

And returns to them through memory, revisiting them.

إلا أنها صانت عواطفها كما

تُصان الغراسُ النامياتُ تعهدا

Yet she tended her affections just as

Growing plants are carefully tended.

وكم أقلقت ذكرى سليمٍ فؤادها

فأحيت له الليل الطويل تسهدا

How often the memory of Salim troubled her heart,

And she kept the long night awake for him, sleepless.

إن أضطجعت من دائها مستريحة

رأت شبحاً بالقرب منها توسدا

If she lay down seeking rest from her illness,

She saw a phantom lying pillowed near her.

وإن نهضت تمشي تمثَّل شخصهُ

لدى ناظريها واقفاً متجسدا

If she rose to walk, his form appeared

Before her eyes, standing there embodied.

فتبصره طوراً شقياً مخيَّباً

وطوراً قرير العين جذلان مسعدا

She sees him sometimes miserable and disappointed,

And sometimes content, joyful, and blessed with happiness.

فتزعجها أشباحُه وهي حوَّمٌ

تروح وتغدو في اىلأماكن روَّدا

His hovering phantoms disturb her,

Coming and going through the places as wanderers.

ويصرعها الداءُ الدفين وأنه

أحار أساةً في العلاج وعُوَّدا

Her hidden illness lays her low; it had

Baffled physicians in their treatment and those who visited.

إلى أن تمادى عادياً متثاقلاً

وحلَّ قواها الفانيات وأهمدا

Until it persisted, assaulting her and weighing heavily,

And undid her failing strength and extinguished it.

فماتت وغصّاتُ الأسى في فؤادها

ومقلتها في الأفق ترقب فرقدا

She died with sorrow's choking pangs in her heart,

Her eye watching Farqad on the horizon.

نعوها إليها فاستقرَّ ملجلجاً

كما هزت الأنواءُ صرحاً مشيدا

They brought word of her death; he stood faltering,

As storms shake a lofty tower.

ولم يبك لكن أجمد اليأسُ دمعه

وشَرُّ دموع العين ما قد تجمدا

He did not weep, but despair froze his tears;

The worst tears are those that have frozen.

فضجَّ عليه قلبه متقطعا

ولجَّ عليه عقله متشرد

His heart cried out against him, breaking apart,

And his mind beset him, wandering and distraught.

وثارت عليه الروح تطلب ثارها

كما هز قرمٌ في الجلاد مهندا

His spirit rose against him, demanding its revenge,

As a champion brandishes an Indian-steel sword in combat.

فبات بحمّى صدَّع الرأسَ جمرُها

كما أبرق الغيم الجهام وأرعدا

He spent the night with a fever whose embers split his head,

As rainless clouds flash lightning and thunder.

ووافى أباها غادياً وهو حامل

حديداً طليق الشفرتين محددا

He came to her father in the morning, carrying

A sharpened blade with both edges bare.

وقال له يا مذبلاً زَهَر الصبا

ويا جاعلاً ماءَ الشبيبة أركدا

He said to him, 'You who wither youth's blossoms,

You who have made youth's waters stagnant,

أعد لي سلمى أين سلمى إلم تكن

تُفَدّى بأرواح لكنت لها الفدى

Give Salma back to me! Where is Salma? If she has not been

Ransomed with lives, I would have been her ransom.'

وطار شرارُ الموت في لحظاته

فأمسكه من راهشيه مشددا

The sparks of death flew in his glances,

And he seized him tightly by both forearms.

وأشفق مذعور النهى متراجعاً

مهولاً كما لَو حَيَّةٌ لسعت يدا

He recoiled, terrified in mind, retreating,

Appalled as though a snake had stung a hand.

إلا أنه نذل الفؤاد جبانه

بإيذاءِ شيخ أحدب الظهر أدردا

Yet he would be base-hearted, a coward,

In harming an old man, hunched of back and toothless.

أيقتل هِمّاً قد تداعى عموده

ويغضب سلمى في التراب تعمدا

Would he kill an aged man whose frame was collapsing,

And deliberately anger Salma in the earth?

ويردي بها من كان أصل حياتها

ومن ان لو تودى بمهجته ودى

And kill for her the man who was the source of her life,

Who, were she ransomed with his lifeblood, would ransom her?

أتاها الأذى منه ولم يكُ قاصداً

ولا ثأر ممن لم يكن متقصدا

Harm came to her from him, but he did not intend it;

There is no vengeance against one who did not act deliberately.

نعم لا ولكن ثروة الحقد لم تمت

وحسب سليم إن يثور ويحقدا

Yes, no—but the store of hatred had not died,

And enough for Salim that he should rebel and hate.

لقد أعجم الهول الفيظع لسانه

مغيراً بباقي عقله متنجدا

The horrifying terror had rendered his tongue speechless,

Assailing what remained of his mind, gathering strength.

فلزَّ إلى أضلاعه النصل خارقاً

وغيَّب في العظم الحديد وأغمدا

He drove the blade into his ribs, piercing them,

And buried the iron in the bone, sheathing it.

ومال صريعاً كالمنارة إذ هوت

وكالجذع ملقياً طريحاً ممددا

He fell stricken like a tower when it topples,

And like a trunk cast down, fallen and outstretched.

إلا استقبليه صادق العهد وافياً

أميناً بلا وعد أتاك ولا نِدا

Ah, receive him, true to his pledge, faithful,

Trustworthy; without a promise or a summons he came to you.

وناما بأمن اللَه في ظل جنة

أُقيمت لأرواح المحبين سرمدا

Sleep, both of you, in God's safety, in the shade of a paradise

Established forever for the souls of lovers.

وقرّا بها عيناً وطيبا سريرةٍ

وعيشاً بها عيش الهناء مخلدا

Let your eyes be soothed there, and your hearts be pure,

And live there a life of everlasting bliss.

تنبَّهتما في رحمة اللَه فاذكرا

محبين ظلّوا في المصائب رقدا

You have awakened in God's mercy, so remember

Lovers who remained asleep amid calamities.