عاود العين سهدها فحماها — Yaqwaa Al Fadili

عاود العين سهدُها فحماها

سنة النوم فاستباح حماها

Sleeplessness returned to the eye and barred it from

sleep's drowsiness, then violated its sanctuary.

عيدها بالهدُوّ طاف يوافى الـ

ـعين واعتاد سهدها وقذاها

Its recurring affliction came round in the stillness, approaching the

eye, renewing its sleeplessness and smarting.

كلما اعتاد في الحيازم أورى

من دفين الهموم برح جواها

Whenever it returned, it kindled within the breast

from buried sorrows the torment of its burning grief.

أم دعاها لما مضى من صباها

فاندعت للذي إليه دعاها

Or was it called back to its bygone youthful ardor,

answering the summons that called it there,

طارقُ الطيف من سليمى وأنّى

لسُلميى الطريقُ بعد كراها

by a night-visiting vision from Sulayma? Yet how

could Sulayma find the road after falling asleep?

وسليمى فروقةٌ حين تخطو

بين جاراتها قصيرٌ خطاها

And Sulayma is so timid when she walks,

her steps short among her women neighbors.

أم نسيم الجنوب أم لبروق

آخر الليل بات يبدو سناها

Or was it the south wind's breeze, or lightning

whose radiance kept appearing at the end of night?

أم لورق على غصون تداعت

بالبكا هيّج البكاء بكاها

Or gray doves upon branches, calling to one another

in lament, their weeping stirring tears?

أم لدور لآل زينب جرّت

فوقها الذيل أرضها وسماها

Or the dwellings of Zaynab's kin, over which was dragged

the trailing hem of their earth and sky?

فروايا السماء تهمى عليها

والهوابى شمالها وصباها

So the sky's water-bearers pour down upon them,

and the dust-raising winds—its north and east winds.

ما عناك الغداة من دار سلمى

درست بعدها وشطّ نواها

What troubles you this morning about Salma's dwelling,

effaced since she left, her destination far away?

فلئن كان كل مغنى لسلمى

لك يبدو يهيجُ منك هواها

For if every dwelling of Salma's

that comes into view stirs your love for her,

فبذات الكلاب مغنى ومغنى

لسليمى لدى نبيكة راها

then at Dhat al-Kilab is a dwelling, and another

of Sulayma's beside Nubaykat Raha.

ولها حول مخرم البير دار

أوحشت بعدها وصم صداها

And she has a dwelling near the pass of al-Bir,

desolate since she left, its echo deaf.

وبخيف الطريق دار ودار

باضاة الحمار عاف رباها

And at Khayf al-Tariq a dwelling, and another

at Adat al-Himar, its hillocks effaced.

زعم الجاهلون أّ عهودا

كنّ بينى وبينها أناها

The ignorant claimed that pledges

once binding me and her I had [forgotten?],

أو منحت الوداد غير سليمى

لا ومن زيّن السما وبناها

or that I had given my love to someone other than Sulayma.

No, by Him who adorned the heavens and built them,

ودحا الأرض والجبال عليها

بعد تمهيد صنعها أرساها

and spread the earth, with the mountains upon it,

which He anchored after shaping it level:

ما تغيّرت لا ولكن عدانى

عن لقاها أجلّ ممّا عداها

I have not changed—no; but what kept me

from seeing her was graver than what kept her away.

غير أنى أرى العسير يسيراً

في الهوى والعسير ان لا أراها

Yet I see hardship as ease

in love; hardship is not to see her.

ومهاوٍ تهاب إن نظرتها

عين مجتازها الجليد سراها

And ravines—when they are looked upon,

their hardy traveler's eye dreads their passage by night;

كل يهماء صارخ البوم يدعو

في دجنّاتها يخاف رداها

every trackless waste, where the screeching owl calls

amid its darkness, its deadly peril feared.

فلها من هنا وهنّا دويّ

بين غطش بالليل أعمى هداها

So a din rises there from here and there,

amid night's murk, which blinds its guiding signs.

ورقيب وحارسٍ وعدو

ينصبون الرصاد لي بلقاها

And a watcher, a guard, and an enemy

setting ambushes for me when I meet her—

قد تجشّمتُ هولها أتخطّى

لسليمى حتّى دخلت علاها

I have braved their terror, making my way

to Sulayma, till I entered her upper chambers.

فتميّزتُها فدلّ عليها

في الدجى طيب نشرها وبُراها

I picked her out; what led me to her

in the darkness was her sweet fragrance and her bangles.

فجلوتُ النقاب أبحث حتفى

عن كجيدانةٍ أصيب طلاها

So I drew aside the veil, seeking my death,

from one like a doe whose fawn had been struck down.

فسَمَت فوق حقفه تتراءى

فهي تسمو وتستخير رشاها

She rose above its curved dune, gazing about,

lifting herself and calling for her fawn—

مقلتيها وجيدها وسليمى

فضل اللّه وجهها وقفاها

in her eyes and neck; while Sulayma—

God has favored her face and nape.

فعلتنى مهابةٌ ووجومٌ

من لقاها وما علاني علاها

Then awe and stunned silence came over me

at meeting her, and what overcame me overcame her.

فأشارت بأنّ في البيت ناسا

ينشرون الحديث فيمن أناها

She signaled that there were people in the house

who spread gossip about whoever came to her.

قلت لاعين ويك تخشى فقالت

كل عين في حيّنا نخشاها

I said, 'Come now, no eye need be feared!' She said,

'We fear every eye in our encampment.'

قلت لأيا وصلت قالت تنحّى

قبل دهياء معضل ألقاها

I said, 'With difficulty I have arrived.' She said, 'Leave,

before I face a dreadful, intractable calamity.'

قلت فالموت ويك أيسرُ خطب

عند نفس الكريم دون مناها

I said, 'Then death—come now!—is an easier ordeal

for a noble soul than to be denied its desire.'

ثم نازعتها الحديث أنيذا

فإذا كلّ ما عراني عراها

Then I exchanged words with her [unclear adverb],

and behold, all that had seized me had seized her.

فتبيّنت أنّها بالتنحّى

تبتلى ما تخاف من رقباها

Then I saw that, in telling me to leave,

she was testing me, not fearing her watchers.

فصَفا بينَنا الحديثُ وقالَت

لا تعد مثلها وألق عصاها

Our talk grew clear between us, and she said,

'Do not repeat the like; lay down its staff.'

ثم بتنا بقية الليل نلهو

بأحاديث لا يملّ جناها

Then we spent the rest of the night delighting

in talk whose fruit never grows tiresome.

عاذلى في السفاه تيدَكَ عنى

أسفاهُ الهوى يعِدُّ سفاها

My reproacher for folly, be gentle with me!

Is love's folly counted as folly?

ان تناهى الشباب عنّى وولى

فنبفسي فتوّةٌ لا تناهى

If youth has reached its end for me and turned away,

yet in my soul is a youthful vigor that never ends.