رأيتها تمشي وفي كفها — Saleh Al Sharnoubi

رأيتها تمشي وفي كفّها

عكّازة كظهرها الأحدب

I saw her walking, and in her palm

A cane like her hunched back.

تشكو إلى المجهول حرمانها

وضيقها بالعالم الأرحب

She complained to the unknown of her deprivation

And her sense of confinement in the spacious world.

ومثل شهقات سراب يموت

كانت خطاها فوق وجه الطريق

And like the gasps of a dying mirage

Were her footsteps upon the face of the road.

من حولها ألف خيال يفوت

وليس فيهم عارف أو صديق

Around her a thousand phantoms passed,

And there was no acquaintance or friend among them.

ظننتها تبحث عن نفسها

مثل فألقيت إليها السلام

I thought she was searching for herself,

Like [me]—so I offered her a greeting.

وكان خوفى سوء إغضاءها

أشدّ من خوفى ظنون الأنام

And my fear of her cold disregard

Was greater than my fear of people's suspicions.

لكنها حيّت وقد أسبلت

أجفانها واستضحكت في حنان

But she returned my greeting, having lowered

Her eyelids, and smiled with tenderness.

قلت إلى أين فقالت إلى

لا حيث حيث البحر والشاطئان

I asked, “Where to?” She said, “To

Nowhere, where the sea and the two shores lie.”

قلت لها ما البحر قالت تراب

أنبت فيه الماء سرّ الأزل

I asked her, “What is the sea?” She said, “Soil

In which eternity's secret made water grow.

أمواجه أنت وهذي الكعاب

واليأس من شطآنه والأمل

Its waves are you and this full-breasted maiden;

And among its shores are despair and hope.”

قلت لها من أنت قالت كيان

كل كيان فيه منّى حياه

I asked her, “Who are you?” She said, “A being—

Every being has within it life from me.

أنا هو الناقوس والمعمَدان

والمعبد القدسي وروح الصلاه

I am the bell and the baptismal font,

And the sacred temple and the spirit of prayer.

أمشى ومصباحي على راحتي

تطفىء منه الريح أو تشتعل

I walk with my lamp upon my palm;

The wind quenches it—or catches fire from it.

للأرض عندي عالم فاضل

وللسماء العالم الأفضل

For earth I have a noble world,

And for heaven, the noblest world.

في الكوخ تلقاني وبين القصور

أبيع أنواري لمن يشتري

In the hut you find me, and among palaces;

I sell my lights to whoever buys.

وربما مرّت عليّ الدهور

لم يكسبوا منى ولم أخسر

And perhaps ages have passed over me;

They gained nothing from me, and I lost nothing.

الموت من ذاتي كما للحياه

فجوهري مشرق معناهما

Death is part of my essence, as it is of life;

For my essence is where their meaning dawns.

أنا وما يظهر مجد الإله

لا شيء في الناموس إلّا هما

I and what appears are the glory of God;

There is nothing in the cosmic order but these two.

غريبةً أحيا وكم من غريب

آنست دنياه بروحي الحنون

I live a stranger; yet many a stranger

Has had his world cheered by my tender spirit.

وعدتٌ إذ لم ألق لي من حبيب

أسأل نفسي من تراني أكون

And I returned, since I found no beloved of my own,

Asking myself, ‘Who do you think I am?’”

وأطرقت تسكب من عينها

شجون فكر ومعاني خلود

And she bowed her head, pouring from her eye

The sorrows of thought and the meanings of immortality.

ثم مضت كأنها لم تكن

تملأ من حينٍ عليّ الوجود

Then she went on, as though she had not been

Filling all existence for me only a moment before.