Sol 6.1

  1. ( إلى أُسامَة مِنْزَلجي )

    يَسمَحُ لِنَفسِهِ بالتَّردُّدِ في أَن

    (To Usama Minzalji)

    He allows himself to hesitate over

  2. لا يُجيب

    عِندَما يَسمَعُ اِسمَهُ يُنادى

    not answering

    when he hears his name being called,

  3. حَريصاً أَلاَّ يَخرُجَ إلى

    الشُّرفة

    careful not to go out onto

    the balcony

  4. أَو يَمُدَّ رَأسَهُ مِن النَّافذة

    قَبلَ سَماعِهِ

    or lean his head out of the window

    before hearing

  5. نَشرةَ الطَّقس .

    /

    the weather report.

    /

  6. مَن لَم يُخطِئ

    ولَو مَرَّةً واحِدَةً

    Whoever has never erred

    even once

  7. بالتَّصفيق

    في الفَواصِلِ الَّتي

    by applauding

    during the pauses in which

  8. يَتوقَفُ بِها العازِفون

    قَبلَ نِهايَةِ اللَّحن

    the musicians stop

    before the melody ends—

  9. ذلكَ لأَنَّهُ

    أَبَداً

    that is because he

    never

  10. لا يُصَفِّق .

    /

    applauds.

    /

  11. في سُهولةِ كَشفهِ مُتَوارياً

    في بَيتِه

    In the ease of finding him in hiding

    in his house

  12. في غُرفَتِه

    ليَحسَبَ الآخرونَ أَنَّهُ هَكَذا

    in his room,

    so that others think he is like this

  13. جَرياً على حالِه

    كَحدِيقَةٍ خَلفيَّةٍ

    as he usually is,

    like a back garden

  14. شُغِلَ عَنها أَصحابُها زَمَناً

    فامتَلأت بالأَعشابِ البَرِّيَّة

    whose owners were distracted from it for a time,

    so it filled with wild grasses

  15. وصارَت دَغلاً

    مُتَّخِذاً الوِحدَة

    and became a thicket,

    taking solitude

  16. مَظهراً ثابِتاً للرُوح

    كانَ كُلُّ ما يَفعلُه

    as an unchanging guise for the soul,

    all he was doing

  17. يَنتَظِرُ أَحَداً

    فالوِحدَةُ في خَيالِه

    was waiting for someone,

    for solitude, in his imagination,

  18. اللاَّفِتَةُ الأَشدُّ إغواءً

    كَي يَحُطَّ

    was the most enticing sign

    so that there might alight

  19. مَن يَحمِلُ

    الصِّفات .

    whoever bears

    the qualities.

  20. /

    سِرُّه

    /

    His secret

  21. أَنَّهُ لا يَستَطيعُ لوَحدِه

    أَن يَرقُصَ

    is that, alone, he cannot

    dance

  22. حَتّى نِهايةِ أَيَّةِ أُغنِيَة

    وبعدَ كُلِّ تِلكَ الخُطوط

    to the end of any song.

    And after all those lines

  23. الصَّارمةِ في تَحديدِ الأَشكال

    يَدَعُ الفُرشاةَ تَقَعُ مِن يَدِه

    rigorous in defining shapes,

    he lets the brush fall from his hand

  24. وكأَنَّها تَسقُطُ صُدفَةً

    في فُوهَةِ الدَّواة

    as though it falls by chance

    into the mouth of the inkwell,

  25. وبالكَاد يَبتَلُّ رَأسُها

    لأَنَّ حِبرَهُ في الأَسفَلِ

    and its tip barely gets wet

    because his ink at the bottom

  26. باتَ قَليلاً

    ولأَنَّ الصَّدى

    has grown scant.

    And because the echo

  27. عِشقٌ أَصابَهُ وَلَم يَقتُله

    فَصَدَّهُ بِجِدارٍ مِن

    is a passion that struck him but did not kill him,

    he repelled it with a wall of

  28. الاِزدِراء .

    /

    contempt.

    /

  29. مَن رَسَموا الخرائطَ

    وأَسقَطوا عَليها

    Those who drew the maps

    and plotted on them

  30. الاِتِّجاهاتِ والمواقِع

    كُلُّهم ضاعوا

    directions and locations

    were all lost.

  31. ذَلكَ هوَ

    مِكرُ الخُلود

    That is

    the cunning of eternity,

  32. وكأَنَّهُ شَيءٌ لا مَفرَّ لَهُ

    أَن يَحدُثَ لَنا

    and as though it were something with no choice

    but to happen to us,

  33. مَهما بَلَغَت قُدرتُنا

    عَلى تَبديدِ الوَقت

    however great our ability

    to squander time

  34. ودِقَّتُنا

    في تَلَقِّي الإشارات

    and our precision

    in receiving signals,

  35. بينَما الآخرون

    مُنهمِكونَ في حَرَكةِ

    while the others

    are engrossed in the motion of

  36. الانجرِاف

    ولكن ها أَنذا

    drifting.

    But here I am

  37. أَمامَ بابِكَ

    بدَلَ أَن

    before your door:

    instead of

  38. أقرَعَ

    الجَرَس

    ringing

    the bell,

  39. أُطفِئُ

    الأَضواء ..

    I turn off

    the lights...