غفا بعد أن مرت الزوبعه — Saleh Al Sharnoubi

غفا بعد أن مرّت الزوبعه

يقاسم أحلامه مضجَعه

He fell asleep after the whirlwind passed,

Sharing his bed with his dreams.

شقيٌّ أحالته أيامُه

صدى نغمة بالأسى دامِعَه

An unhappy man whom his days have turned

Into the echo of a melody weeping with sorrow.

يعيش على حرق الذكريات

ويقتات آماله الخادعه

He lives on the burning of memories

And feeds upon his deceptive hopes.

كأني به في جحيم الحياة

نبيٌّ جفاه الذي أبدعه

I picture him in life's inferno:

A prophet forsaken by the one who created him.

تراه فتقرأ في وجهه

ملاحم أيامه الضائعه

You see him and read upon his face

The epics of his wasted days.

جبين كصحراء مجهولة

مشى الصمت في جوفها حالما

A forehead like an unknown desert,

Through whose depths silence walked, dreaming.

وعينان تستغرقان الوجود

سجى الليل فوق جفونَيهِما

And two eyes that engulf existence;

Night has settled over their eyelids.

إلهيتان وشيطانتان

تغشّاهما ما تغشّاهما

Both divine and demonic,

Veiled by whatever has veiled them.

ورينهما تجثمُ الكبرياءُ

على جدولٍ يسكر العالما

And between them pride crouches

Over a stream that intoxicates the world.

سماتٌ بهنّ يهيمُ الخيال

يمجّد فنّانها الأعظما

Features in which imagination wanders,

Glorifying their supreme artist.

له اللَه حين أفاقَت رُؤاه

وهامت مواكبُها في سماه

God help him when his visions awoke

And their processions wandered through his sky:

طفاوات نورٍ ترى روحه

بها غير ما قد ترى مقلتاه

Drifting flecks of light through which his soul sees

Something other than what his eyes may see.

رأى نفسه قبساً حائرا

تحدّ سناه قيود الإله

He saw himself as a bewildered flame,

Its radiance bounded by God's fetters:

أثيريرّةٌ غير محدودة

وكونٌ يغيبُ المدى في مداه

An unbounded ethereality,

A universe in whose expanse distance disappears.

رأى حلما حقّقته الحياة

ليشتفَّ أعماق بحر الحياه

He saw a dream made real by life,

To discern the depths of life's sea.

رأى نفسه ليته ما راى

وعاش على جدبه ظامئا

He saw himself—would that he had not seen—

And lived thirsty amid his barrenness.

لقد راعه أنه زائلٌ

ستُفنى المنيّةُ ما أنشأ

It terrified him that he would pass away:

Death would destroy what he had created.

وأذهلهُ أن أيّامَه

زوارقُ لا تعرفُ المرفَأ

And it bewildered him that his days

Were boats that knew no harbor.

تمرّ بها صرخات الرياح

فتحطمُ مصباحها المطفأ

The winds' screams sweep through them,

Shattering their extinguished lamp.

ويجهش ربّانُها بالصلاة

فيغرقُها الموجُ مستهزِئا

Their captain breaks into tearful prayer,

And the waves drown them, mocking.

وفي غمرةٍ من شعاع الخيل

رأى كوكباً كفّنته الليال

And amid a flood of imagination's radiance,

He saw a star shrouded by the nights.

تزفُّ حواليه من نوره

بقايا سنىً آلهيّ الجلال

Around it, from its own light, drift

Remnants of radiance, divine in majesty,

تحدّث عن أمل الوالدين

وعن طهره عيسويّ المثال

Speaking of the parents' hope

And of his purity, Christlike in its ideal.

هو الأمسُ أو طفلُه العبقريّ

مضى والسعادة بنت المحال

It is yesterday, or his gifted child,

Gone—and happiness is impossibility's daughter.

هو الأمسُ منتحراً والصفاءُ

مهالاً عليه تراب الزوال

It is yesterday, self-slain, and serenity

Heaped upon it as the dust of extinction.

وعانقَه كالرُؤى الطافِره

صبيٌّ تلفّع بالآخره

And he was embraced, like leaping visions,

By a boy wrapped in the hereafter.

يقول له أين أحلامُنا

وقد كُنَّ كالروضة الزاهره

He says to him, 'Where are our dreams,

Which were like a flowering garden?'

فناداه من أنت ماذا تريد

كفى إنّ دنيايَ بي كافره

He called to him, 'Who are you? What do you want?

Enough! My world disbelieves in me.'

فقال له أنا من كنتَهُ

أنا الفجرُ أو روحه الحائره

He answered, 'I am the one you were.

I am dawn, or its bewildered spirit.

أنا في حيتك معنىً يطوف

وإن أنكرتني الرحى الدائره

I am a meaning wandering through your life,

Though the turning millstone disowns me.'

فدىً للطفولة سحرُ الشباب

وما هو إلا خداعُ السراب

Let youth's enchantment be sacrificed to childhood:

It is nothing but a mirage's deceit.

منىً بعثَرتها رياح الزمان

وألقت بها في ضمير اليباب

Hopes scattered by the winds of time

And cast into the heart of desolation.

وأوتارُ قيثارة أطرقت

على شفتيها لحون العذاب

And a lyre's strings: melodies have bowed

Upon its lips—melodies of torment.

تسائلُها الريح عن صمتها

فتتركُ للصمت ردّ الجواب

The wind questions it about its silence;

It leaves the answer to silence.

فيا ذرَّةً فوق سطح العُباب

نأى الشطُّ فالتحمي بالعُباب

O speck upon the surface of the surge,

The shore is distant: merge with the surge.

يقينُ الحياة وأوهامُها

سواءٌ إذا جفَّ إلهامُها

Life's certainty and its illusions

Are alike when its inspiration dries up.

وما نحن إلّا سطورُ الكتاب

وأعمارنا هي أرقامُها

We are nothing but lines of the book,

And our lifetimes are their numbers.

وكاتِبُها الخالقُ السرمديّ

وتلك المقاديرُ أقلامُها

Their writer is the eternal Creator,

And those decrees of fate are their pens.

نكفّر عمّا جنى الوالدان

فيا للبريّة ما جرمُها

We atone for what our parents committed.

Alas for humanity—what is its crime?

تحفُّ الرزايا بميلادها

وترتقب الموت أيامها

Calamities surround its birth,

And its days await death.

أتُفّاحةٌ سرُّ هذا الشقاء

ومن أجلها كلُّ هذا البلاء

Is an apple the secret of this misery,

And all this affliction for its sake?

تعاليت يا ربّ ماذا أقول

وأنت القدرُ على ما تشاء

Exalted are You, Lord—what can I say?

You are destiny over whatever You will.

أنا ابن الطريدين أشكو إليك

وملءُ دمى ثورة الأبرياء

I am the outcasts' son, complaining to You,

My blood filled with the revolt of the innocent.

ألم تكُ قدّرتَ أن يعصياك

فلم يخرجا عن محيط القضاء

Had You not decreed that they would disobey You?

Then they did not depart from fate's bounds.

وإلا فلم صُغتَ هذا الوجود

دحوتَ الثرى ورفعتَ السماء

Otherwise, why did You fashion this existence,

Spread out the earth and raise the sky?

ألم تخلق النار نار الجحيم

كخلقك للدار دار النعيم

Did You not create fire, the fire of hell,

As You created the abode, the abode of bliss?

ألم تقض أن يبعث الأنبياء

لكلٍّ هدى وطريق قويم

Did You not decree that prophets be sent,

Each with guidance and a straight path?

فهذا نبيُّ بني يعربٍ

وهذا الخليلُ وذاك الكليم

Here is the prophet of Ya'rub's descendants,

Here the Friend, and there the One Addressed.

وتلك الشياطين بنت اللظى

فمنهم وليٌّ وفيهم رجيم

And those devils, offspring of the blaze:

Among them a friend, among them an accursed one.

ودنيا الملائك فوق السحاب

ونملُ التراب وطير السديم

And the angels' world above the clouds,

The ants of the soil and birds of the nebula.

تباركت ما نفع هذا الوجود

إذا لم نفارق جنان الخلود

Blessed are You—what use is this existence

If we had not left eternity's gardens?

وما بإرادتنا أن نجىء

ولا بمشيئتنا أن نعود

It is not by our will that we come,

Nor by our choosing that we return.

نُقاسي الحياة وآلامها

وآخرها غمرات الهمود

We endure life and its pains,

Its ending the engulfing depths of stillness.

وتنذرُنا بعسير الحساب

ومن ذكره تقشعِرُّ الجلود

You warn us of a difficult reckoning,

At whose mention skins shudder.

وما ذنبنا نحن ما ذنبنا

ولم نقترف ما جناه الجدود

What is our sin—ours—what is our sin?

We did not commit what our ancestors committed.

حنانَيك لو أن لي ما أشاء

لكنتُ نبيّاً من الأنبياء

Have mercy! If I could have what I wished,

I would be a prophet among the prophets,

أطَهّر قومي من الموبقات

وأدفع عنهم صروف القضاء

Purifying my people of destructive sins

And warding fate's vicissitudes away from them.

أو اخترتُ عرشاً كهذي العرو

شِ أو كنتُ فرداً من الأثرياء

Or I would choose a throne like these thro-

nes, or be one of the wealthy.

أو اخترتُ ألّا أرى علماً

بقائي على أرضه كالفناء

Or I would choose not to see a world

Where my remaining on its earth is like extinction.

فكنتُ تراباً كهذا الترا

ب أو مُزنةً في جفون السماء

Then I would be dust like this du-

st, or a raincloud in heaven's eyelids.

حنانيكَ أرضُك تشكو إليك

وترجو رضاكَ وجَدوى يديك

Have mercy! Your earth complains to You

And hopes for Your favor and Your hands' bounty.

لقد أجدبت وهي مخضلَّةٌ

وما سرُّها بخفيٍّ عليك

It has become barren, though lushly green,

And its secret is not hidden from You.

بحولك سوّيتَ أبناءَها

فعاشوا كما شئتَ في عالَمَيك

By Your power You fashioned its children;

They lived as You willed in Your two worlds.

يعذّبُهم جهلهم بالغيوب

ومُظلِمُها مُتنسيرٌ لديك

Their ignorance of the unseen torments them,

While its darkness is illumined for You.

وتحدو المقادير أحلامهم

فتطوى الطريق على ناظريك

Fate drives their dreams onward,

And the road is folded before Your eyes.

خلقتهمو وخلقتَ الردى

وباركتَ منجلةُ الحاصِدا

You created them and created death,

And blessed the reaper's sickle.

وأغريتَهم بجمال الوجود

يرون به صنعك الخالِدا

You enticed them with existence's beauty:

In it they see Your everlasting handiwork.

فلم يعرفوك وإن مثّلوك

فأنت النشيد ونحن الصدى

They did not know You, though they portrayed You;

You are the song, and we the echo.

وكم وحّدوك وكم عدّدوك

فكان هداهم ضلال الهدى

How often they made You one, how often many:

Their guidance became guidance's misdirection.

ومعناك فوق الخيال الشرود

ودون مداك انفساح المدى

Your meaning is above wandering imagination,

And the widest expanse falls short of Your reach.

رآك خليلُك نور الشموس

وظنوك في الهند نار المجوس

Your Friend saw You as the light of suns;

In India they thought You the Magians' fire.

وفرعون خالك في نفسه

وناجاك آباؤُه في أبيس

Pharaoh imagined You within himself,

And his forefathers communed with You in Apis.

وسمّاكَ مانا ظلام الدجى

وناداك بوذا بنفس النفوس

Mana called You the darkness of night,

And Buddha called You the soul of souls.

وكم في المحاريب من ساجِدين

أفاءوا إليك بذلّ الرؤوس

How many prostrated themselves in sanctuaries,

Returning to You with humbly bowed heads!

وكم في المذابح من راهب

يريقُ اللحون ويُزجى الطقوس

How many monks at altars

Pour forth melodies and offer rites!

وأنت تساميت في كل ما

حوى الكون في أرضه والسما

And You are exalted in all that

The cosmos holds upon its earth and in heaven.

أحسُّك في الفجر روح الضياء

وفي الطير تغريده المُلهما

I sense You in dawn, the spirit of light,

And in birds, their inspired singing;

وفي الزهر سرّ حنان الندى

وفي العطر تهويمه الناسما

In flowers, the secret of dew's tenderness,

And in perfume, its softly wafting reverie;

وفي النهر تهزيم أمواجه

وفي الطل إطراقه الحالما

In the river, the rumbling of its waves,

And in the dew, its dreaming stillness;

وفي الطفل يا ليتني قلبُه

أُحِسّك تسبيحه الباغما

And in the child—would I were his heart—

I sense You in his softly murmured praise.

أُحِسُّكَ في الليل صمت النيام

وسحر النجوم وهول القتام

I sense You in night, the sleepers' silence,

The stars' enchantment and the darkness' terror;

وشكوى المناكيد من دهرهم

ونجوى المعاميد أهل الغرام

The unfortunate people's complaint against their time,

And the confidences of the lovesick, love's devotees;

وأذكار مستَوحشٍ عابدٍ

رآك فأقسمَ ألّا ينام

The devotions of a lonely worshipper

Who saw You and swore not to sleep;

وأدمُعَ أفّاقة في الدجى

تبيعُ الهوى لتنال الطعام

And the tears of a deceitful woman in darkness,

Selling love to obtain food.

تحجّ إليك بآهاتها

لتنقذها من أفاعي الظلام

She makes pilgrimage to You with her sighs,

That You may save her from darkness' serpents.

أُحِسّك فيّ منار السفين

وعصف الشكوك وروح اليقين

I sense You within me, a beacon for ships,

The storm of doubts and the spirit of certainty.

أحسّك في الحسن معنى الجمال

رفيفَ الشفاه وهمس الجفون

I sense You in loveliness, the meaning of beauty:

The flutter of lips and whisper of eyelids.

وفي القبح إذ أنت خلف التراب

جمالٌ زوهُ التراب الغبين

And in ugliness, for behind the dust You are

Beauty concealed by deceitful dust.

أحسّك في الحيّ في الميت في القبر

في الدود ينهشُ جسمَ الدفين

I sense You in the living, the dead, the grave,

In worms gnawing the buried one's body;

وفي الفنّ مشرقُ أنواره

وناموسُ أبنائه الخالدين

And in art, the dawn of its lights

And the law of its immortal children.

لك الأمرُ بي من هواك افتتان

ولا زلت أشكو إليك الهوان

Yours is command; within me is enthrallment with Your love,

And still I complain to You of humiliation.

يقرّبني منك ذلُّ العبيد

ويبعدني عنك قهر المكان

The abasement of slaves brings me nearer You,

And the tyranny of place drives me away.

أريد السمو وأخشى السقوط

فهبني مما قضيتَ الأمان

I desire ascent and fear falling:

Grant me safety from what You have decreed.

نشدتك في صبوات الحسان

وفي نشواتي بخمر الدنان

I sought You in passions for beautiful women

And in my raptures with wine from the jars.

فقالوا غويٌّ شقيُّ الخيال

يعربِدُ في رأسه الأفعوان

They said, 'A wayward man, unhappy in imagination;

A serpent runs riot within his head.'

وزرتكَ في الدير والمسجد

فلم تدنُ مني ولم تبعد

I visited You in monastery and mosque,

But You neither drew near nor withdrew.

وألفَيتني مغرقاً في الرجاء

فلم تكشف الحجبَ أو أشهد

I found myself immersed in hope,

But You did not unveil the veils, nor did I behold.

أشعتَ وجودَك بين الوجود

ففي الحان ألقاكَ والمعبد

You spread Your being throughout existence:

I meet You in the tavern and the temple.

وطمأنت قلبي وفزّعته

فيا ويح للمؤمن الملحد

You reassured my heart and terrified it:

Alas for the believing unbeliever!

وأفزعتني فوسعتُ الفضاء

إلّا فضاءً به ترتدي

You frightened me, and I encompassed space,

Except the space in which You cloak Yourself.

أطوف بكونك في عزلتي

فأنسى بآلامه محنتي

I wander through Your universe in my solitude

And forget my ordeal through its pains.

وأرقبُ خلقَك من عالمي

جياع ذئابٍ على جيفةٍ

From my world I watch Your creatures:

Hungry wolves around a carcass.

تسخّرهُم شهوات الحضيض

ويخنقهم جشَعُ الطينة

Base desires enslave them,

And the clay's greed chokes them.

وعدُلكَ في ظلمهم تائهٌ

وإيمانهم شبه أسطورة

Your justice is lost amid their wrongdoing;

Their faith is like a fable.

ويغذو الترابُ أباطيلهم

فتسخر منهم ألوهيّتي

The dust nourishes their falsehoods,

And my divinity mocks them.

جنونُ الرؤى وسُعارُ الألم

رفيقاي منذ صحبت القلم

The madness of visions and the fever of pain

Are my companions since I befriended the pen.

عرفت من الفن معنى الحياة

وكُنهَ الخلود وسرّ العدم

Through art I learned life's meaning,

Immortality's essence and nothingness's secret.

وأكرمت نفسي فطامَنتُها

زماناً وغامرت في المُزدحَم

I honored my soul, then lowered it

For a time, venturing into the crowd.

فروّعني أن أري العالمين

مقابرَ تنبضُ فيها الرِمَم

It horrified me to see humankind

As graves within which decayed remains pulse.

فعُدتُ وكليّ ربوبيّةٌ

تطهّرها عبراتُ الندام

I returned, my whole being divinity,

Purified by tears of remorse.

شرِبتُ برغمي كئوسَ القدَر

وجابهتُ وحدي سهام الغير

Against my will I drank fate's cups

And alone confronted others' arrows.

وما كنتُ إلّا لساناً أبان

وقلباً أحسّ وروحاً شعَر

I was only a tongue that spoke clearly,

A heart that felt, a spirit that perceived.

أُحلّقُ فوق مراقي العقولِ

وأزحم في الطين دودَ البشر

I soar above the ascending reaches of minds

And crowd humanity's worms in the mud.

وقد أحتفى ببكاء الظلام

وأنفِرُ من ضحِكات القمر

I may cherish darkness' weeping

And recoil from the moon's laughter.

فلم أرَ كالناس في أرضهم

تهاويلَ مختلفات الصُوَر

Never have I seen the like of people on earth:

Phantasmagorias of differing forms.

فهذا فتى في الشباب الغرير

يعيش الحياةَ كدودِ الحرير

Here is a young man in innocent youth,

Living life like a silkworm.

حوى كونُه الكون والكائنات

ففيه التقى بدؤها بالمصير

His universe encompassed the cosmos and its beings;

In him their beginning met their destiny.

وقلّده الفنُّ تاج الخلود

وما الفنُّ إلا الوجودُ الكبير

Art crowned him with immortality's crown,

And art is nothing but the greater existence.

فلم تهدِه غير أضوائه

ولم يُصغِ إلا لصوت الضمير

Only its lights guided him,

And he listened only to conscience's voice.

فأعيَت مذاهبُه في الحياة

فيا حسرتا للإله الفقير

His ways through life baffled all:

Alas for the impoverished god!

وهذا ابنُ أُنثى غويُّ الفؤاد

رسالتُه أن يعيثَ الفساد

And here is a woman's son, wayward of heart,

Whose mission is to spread corruption.

رقاب الأمانيّ منقادةٌ

إليه وطبع الأماني العناد

The necks of hopes submit

To him, though hopes are naturally defiant.

حبَته المقادير ملك الثرى

وألقت إليه أمور العباد

Fate granted him dominion over the earth

And entrusted him with people's affairs.

فجُنَّ بأهوائِه الآثمات

يرى بحرها ماله من نفاد

He went mad with his sinful desires,

Seeing their sea as inexhaustible.

فما خنقته دموع الأسى

ولا طوّقته معاني الحِداد

Tears of sorrow never choked him,

Nor did the meanings of mourning encircle him.

وفي الكوخ حيث تقيم المحن

على ساكنيه ليالي الشجن

And in the hut, where ordeals dwell,

Nights of sorrow descend upon its inhabitants:

براعِمُ لم تحتضنها الرياض

ولا نشقت غير ريح الدمن

Buds never embraced by gardens

Nor breathing anything but the smell of dung.

يموت الندى فوق أوراقِها

وينكرُها الغيث إما هتن

Dew dies upon their leaves;

The rain disowns them when it pours.

وتقتُلُها العاصفاتُ الشداد

فيدفنها القفرُ فيما دفَن

Violent gales kill them,

And the wilderness buries them among its buried.

وكل جنايتها أنها

تريد الحياة فيأبى الزمن

Their only crime is that

They want life, and time refuses.

وفوق الذرا حاكمٌ في علاه

يرى قومَه أمّةً من شياه

Above the peaks, a ruler in his heights

Sees his people as a nation of sheep:

شياهٍ تودُّ اخضرار الجديب

لتَسمنَ للذئب لا للحياه

Sheep wishing barren land would grow green,

To fatten for the wolf, not for life.

تنامُ على الشوكِ حتّى إذا

نما الورد كان دخاناً شذاه

They sleep upon thorns until, when

Roses grow, their fragrance is smoke.

وراع طوت نايَهُ السافياتُ

وغاب بجوف الروابي صداه

And a shepherd whose flute the blowing sands engulfed,

Its echo lost within the hills,

يهَشُّ إلى رقصات المنى

وكلُّ الردى كامنٌ في مناه

Delights in the dances of wishes,

Though death lurks in all his wishes.

ويهفو إلى الكأس إن عربدت

ويسجد للمرأة المشتهاه

He longs for the cup when it runs riot

And prostrates himself before the desired woman.

وللذئب من حوله شرَّةٌ

تصول إذا ما وهى جانباه

The wolf around him has a ferocity

That strikes when his flanks grow weak.

يرى الراعيَ الغرّ ينسى الحياةَ

وينسى الرعيل وينسى عصاه

It sees the naive shepherd forgetting life,

Forgetting the flock and forgetting his staff.

فيشرع من ناظريه المُدى

ليقطع عنها سبيل النجاه

It draws knives from its eyes

To cut off their path to salvation.

وإن أيقظ الذئب صوتُ الدماء

فلا ترتقب غير نوم الرعاه

If the voice of blood awakens the wolf,

Expect nothing but the shepherds' sleep.

وذي لحيةٍ ترهِقُ الماشطين

ومسبحةٍ تعجزُ الحاسبين

And one with a beard that exhausts its combers,

And prayer beads that defeat those counting them,

يهزّ النهارَ بأي السماء

فيُبكى بترتيلها السامعين

Shakes the day with heaven's verses

And makes listeners weep through their recitation.

فإن جمع الليل ندمانه

رآه إماماً على الشاربين

But when night gathers his drinking companions,

It sees him leading the drinkers.

يضجُّ بلَعنة أقداره

ويسخرُ من خالق العالمين

He clamors curses against his fate

And mocks the Creator of the worlds.

فإن أنت ذكّرته بالحساب

أقامَك رمزاً إلى الجاهلين

If you remind him of the reckoning,

He makes you an emblem of the ignorant.

وراح بعينيه يُزجى الصلاه

إلى كلّ فتّانةٍ قاهره

He begins offering prayers with his eyes

To every overpowering enchantress.

بها ما به شهوةٌ قُيّدَت

فشبّت فثارت بها الثائره

Within her is what is in him: a fettered desire

That flared, setting her passions raging.

ويلتقيان فيبكى المسيح

ويشكو إلى أمّه الطاهره

They meet, and Christ weeps

And complains to his pure mother.

ومُستقتلٍ في صراعِ الضنى

ويغسِلُ بالدمع ميت المُنى

And one battling desperately with wasting illness,

Washing his dead hopes with tears:

تنقّل في جانبيه الجراح

وتأكل جثمانه المُشخنا

Wounds move through his flanks

And devour his grievously wounded body.

مضى الموت يغزل أنفاسه

لأيّامه كفناً واهنا

Death has begun spinning his breaths

Into a frail shroud for his days.

وأبناؤه الجائعون العراة

يقدّون بالنوح صمتَ الدنى

His children, hungry and naked,

Rend the world's silence with lamentation:

ملاهيف يستصرخون السماء

لترزقهم زائرا محسنا

Distressed ones crying to heaven for help,

That it might grant them a charitable visitor.

ومنتحر بحبال المنى

ونياهُ من نورها يائسه

And one hanging himself with the ropes of wishes,

His world despairing of its light,

يقود الحياة بأوهامه

وتقتاده القدرة العابسه

Leads life with his illusions

While frowning power leads him.

عجبت له كيف ينسى الفناء

ويعشقُ أحلامه البائسه

I marvel how he forgets extinction

And loves his miserable dreams.

ويُغمض عينيه عما يكون

إذا اعتصرت جسمه اليابسه

He shuts his eyes to what will happen

When dry earth squeezes his body

وقامت من الدود ندّابَةٌ

تؤبِّن أيّامه الدارسه

And a mourner rises from the worms

To eulogize his vanished days.

وكم واقفٍ عند باب الصباح

وفي عَينهِ لهفةٌ للمساء

How many stand at morning's door

With longing for evening in their eyes!

يحسُّ كأنّ له بالوجود

عهداً شطوناً طوته السماء

He feels as though, in existence, he has

A distant covenant folded away by heaven;

وأنّ له ماضياً في الفناء

تقدّمَهُ غابرٌ في البقاء

As though he has a past in extinction,

Preceded by an ancient past in permanence.

فكل الذي ضمّنته الحياة

بما لقّنت من فنون القضاء

Everything life has contained,

With the varieties of fate it has taught,

له تحت أعماقه صورةٌ

تؤكّدُ أن الختام ابتداء

Has beneath its depths an image

Confirming that the ending is a beginning.

ويا ربّ شيخٍ سقاهُ الزمان

أعتقَ مافي كئوس الزمان

And how many an old man time has given

The oldest vintage in time's cups!

تحطّم حتى لو أن الهوان

تجسّم كان مثال الهوان

He is so shattered that, if humiliation

Took bodily form, he would embody it.

وأطعمه الدهر والفرقدان

ليأكله الدهر والفرقدان

Time and the two pole-stars fed him

So time and the two pole-stars could devour him.

وتسأله ما معاني الحياة

وماذا وعى من غريب المعان

You ask him about life's meanings

And what strange meanings he has understood.

فيعيا ويشكو إليك الشباب

وكيف مضى قبلَ فوتِ الأوان

He falters and complains to you of youth

And how it passed before time ran out.

وطفلٍ يباركُ ميلادَهُ

حنانٌ من الأمِّ والوالد

And a child whose birth is blessed

By tenderness from mother and father:

ينادونه بالملاك الصغير

ويكفونه نظرة الحاسد

They call him the little angel

And shield him from the envious gaze.

ويستقبلون به عالماً

من الأمَلِ الباسم الراغد

Through him they welcome a world

Of smiling, abundant hope.

ولو أنّهم علموا ما ينال

إذا امتدّ في الزمن الخالد

Had they known what would befall him

If he endured into everlasting time,

أراحوه من نكبات الحياة

ومن دهره الكافر الحاقد

They would have spared him life's disasters

And his faithless, spiteful age.

وطفل كريحانةٍ في علاه

بناه وهدّمَه والداه

And a child like fragrant basil in his heights,

Whom his parents built and destroyed:

تلقّفه الليلُ من أمّه

وأسكنه جانباً من حماه

Night snatched him from his mother

And settled him within part of its sanctuary.

وزفَّ إليه القضاءُ العجيبُ

يدى مترَفٍ أعتَمتهُ الحياه

Strange fate brought him

The hands of a pampered man whom life had darkened.

فربّبَهُ وحَباه اسمُه

وما لاسمه من ثراءٍ وجاه

He raised him and bestowed his name upon him,

And all his name's wealth and prestige.

فمَن عمرك اللَه أدنى إليه

أمن غرسَ الغرس أم من جناه

Who, I ask you by God, is nearer to him:

The one who planted the seed, or who harvested it?

وطفلٍ تخِفُّ لدى ذكرهِ

قلوبُ المساكين من شعبِه

And a child at whose mention

The hearts of his people's poor stir:

يحيّونَ فيه الرجاء البعيد

ويرجون لو شبَّ في قلبه

They salute in him a distant hope

And wish it would grow within his heart.

ويخشون منه الوريث الجديد

لظلم الأب الحيّ في ثوبه

They fear in him the new heir

To his father's tyranny, living in his garb.

ويجرى به الفلك السرمدي

عتِيّ الألوهة في جذبه

The eternal sphere carries him along,

Fierce in its divinity and its pull.

فينتفِضُ المهد عن فاتكٍ

تحارُ المصائبُ في حربهِ

The cradle shakes forth a ruthless killer

Whom calamities are baffled how to fight.

وطفلٍ تموتُ على مهده

منى الأمس والغدِ والحاضر

And a child upon whose cradle die

The hopes of yesterday, tomorrow, and today:

أنى دون داعٍ ولا موجبٍ

ولا سبب واضح ظاهر

He came without a call or compelling cause,

Without any clear, apparent reason,

سوى نزوَةٍ في دم الوالدين

تؤجّ بيحمومها الفائر

Except an impulse in his parents' blood,

Blazing with its seething black smoke.

هما ورِثاها عن الوالدين

وذابا على جمرها الساعر

They inherited it from their parents

And melted upon its flaming embers.

فكانا امتداداً لأحلامهِم

وبؤسهم الخالد القاهر

They became an extension of their dreams

And their everlasting, overpowering misery.

وطفل يفىءُ بآماله

إلى ظلّ والده الباسِق

And a child who brings his hopes for shelter

To the shade of his towering father:

أنى يطرقُ الأرض من سقفها

فيا للطروقَةِ والطارقِ

He comes, entering the earth from its roof.

Oh, the one entered and the entrant!

فما شاء فالأرض والساكنون

فدى أمره النافذ السابق

Whatever he wills, earth and its inhabitants

Are sacrificed to his effective, preemptive command.

وما لم يشأ فالزمان العنيد

مطيعٌ كخنجره البارق

Whatever he does not will, obstinate time

Obeys like his flashing dagger.

وبين السموم وبين الصبا

كما بين فجرٍ إلى غاسق

Between the scorching wind and the morning breeze

Is the distance between dawn and darkening night.

وطفلٍ يسير إلى قبره

ولمّا يزل في ضمير الغيوب

And a child walking toward his grave

While still within the heart of the unseen:

تُغَذّيه أنفاسها في الحياة

طريدةُ بأسٍ دهتها الخطوب

He is nourished in life by the breaths

Of one hounded by misery, struck by disasters.

ففي قلبه جذوات الشروق

وفي عينه ظلماتُ الغروب

In his heart are embers of sunrise,

And in his eyes the darknesses of sunset.

ويفتحُها فيرى عالماً

يعذّبه السلم قبل الحروب

He opens them and sees a world

Whose peace torments him before its wars.

تتوهُ الشياهُ به في الذئاب

وشرعتُه النهشُ قبل الوثوب

Sheep wander there among wolves;

Its law is gnawing before leaping.

وباك على أمسه ضاحك

لغرّة فجر بعيد الظلال

And one weeping over yesterday, laughing

At the bright brow of a far-shadowed dawn,

يعيدُ الحكايةَ من بدئِها

وينسجُها بشعاع الخيال

Retells the story from its beginning

And weaves it with imagination's rays.

وللدهر طاحونةٌ لا تملّ

تُدوّرها نكبات الليال

Time has a mill that never tires,

Turned by the nights' disasters.

وفي جوفها مثل عمقِ الفضاء

إذا سوّرَتهُ رؤوس الجبال

Within it is something like the depth of space

When mountain peaks enclose it.

فما هو ما الكون ما الكائنات

لعلّ الإجابةَ عينُ السؤال

What is he? What is the cosmos? What are its beings?

Perhaps the answer is the question itself.

وباكٍ على يومه قبل أن

يحرّره الغيب من قيده

And one weeping over his day before

The unseen frees it from its fetter:

يرى فجرَه من دجى ليله

قريبُ الزمان على بعدشه

He sees its dawn through his night's darkness,

Near in time despite its distance.

فيرصد بالوهم ما في غدٍ

وكل التعاسةِ في رصدِه

With illusion he watches what tomorrow holds,

And all unhappiness lies in his watching.

ويمزجُ ما ذاقَ من أمسه

بما يخبأ الغيب في برده

He blends what he tasted of yesterday

With what the unseen conceals in its cloak.

فيسكب ما حار من دمعه

ويوقظ ما نام من وجده

He pours out the tears that lingered

And awakens the longing that slept.

وذي صبوَة شغفت قلبَه

وأضنَتهُ إحدى ذوات الخفر

And one whose heart a passion possessed,

Weakened by a woman of modesty:

توَلّه حتى رأى حسنَها

تخلّق مما وراء الفكر

He became so lovesick that he saw her beauty

As formed from what lies beyond thought.

ففيها من الشعر والأغنيات

وسحر الرؤى والندى والزهر

In her are poetry and songs,

The enchantment of visions, dew, and flowers.

روى أملاً وروَت مثله

على الحبّ وانتظرت وانتظر

He nourished a hope, and she its like,

Upon love; she waited, and he waited.

وشقّ على الدهر أن يسعَدا

فجفّ الغراسُ ومات الثمر

Time could not bear that they be happy:

The plantings withered and the fruit died.

وأعمى العواطف شيطانُها

غويُّ الهوى عبقريّ النزَق

And one blind of feeling, its very devil,

Wayward in passion, a genius of recklessness,

رأى فتنةً من بناتِ الخدورِ

فما زال بالطير حتى انطلَق

Saw an enchantress among secluded maidens.

He kept at the bird until it flew free.

وألقى عليها شباكَ المنى

وجاذَبها الثوب حتى انفتق

He cast the nets of wishes over her

And tugged her garment until it tore.

فجاء به نسباً شائعاً

يجوعُ فيأكلُ ممّا سرق

Thus he produced an indiscriminate lineage,

Hungry, eating from what he stole.

سواءٌ لديه دام الآدميّ

وخمرٌ بكاساتها تُغتَبَق

For him human blood is no different

From wine drunk in its cups at evening.

وطاوٍ على الفقر أيّامَه

يحبّ فيا للهوى المتعب

And one folding his days away in poverty

Loves—alas for exhausting love!

رأى بشت سيّدهِ مرّة

فقال هنا غاية المطلب

He once saw his master's daughter

And said, 'Here is the utmost of my desire.'

وراح يصبّ أمانيّه

أغاريدَ في نايه المطرب

He began pouring his wishes

As songs into his melodious flute.

تئِنُّ من الجوع أمعاؤُه

بكاءً على جوفه المجدب

His bowels groan from hunger,

Weeping over his barren belly.

فيحسبه من أنين القلوب

إذا احترقت بالضنى الملهب

He thinks it the groaning of hearts

When they burn with searing anguish.

وأعجبُ منه ابنهُ السيد

تبيع الغنى بالغرام الصدى

More astonishing is the master's daughter,

Selling wealth for thirsting love.

رأت فيه فوق معاني الشباب

ذراعا أشدّ وصدرا ندى

She saw in him, beyond youth's qualities,

A stronger arm and a generous breast.

وبين زواجهما حائلان

من الحسب الضخم والمحتد

Between their marriage stand two barriers:

Great pedigree and ancestry.

ولكنّه الحب قاس عنيد

ولا بدّ للسهم من منفد

But love is harsh and stubborn,

And the arrow must find an opening.

وكم جمع الحبّ في قيده

أخا البؤس بالأروع الأمجد

How often love has joined within its fetter

A brother of misery to the splendid and noble!

مواليد تجرى الليالي بهم

على قدرٍ فوقهم قادر

Children whom the nights carry along

Under a fate powerful above them:

كما كان آباؤهم في الحياة

يكونون والفرخ للطائر

As their fathers were in life,

So they become—the fledgling belongs to its bird.

وربتّما خالفوا الوالدين

فقد يولَدُ البرّ للفاجِر

Perhaps they differ from their parents:

The righteous may be born to the wicked.

حقائق جلّت عن العالمين

وغابت عن الباحث الساهر

Truths too great for humankind

And hidden from the sleepless investigator.

أرى وجهَها المظلم المدلهم

فمن لي بوجه لها آخر

I see their dark, deeply shadowed face:

Who can show me their other face?