وادي الهمّ

أنت أبهى
ترجمة إنجليزية
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كنت متوقعاً قدومها مثل كل ليلة…، وعندما لم تأت….!

أَقَمْتُ بِوَادِي الْهَمِّ يَجْتَاحُنِي الْوَجْفُيُزَوْبِعُنِي غَمًّا بِأَنْوَائِهِ الْعَصْفُ
وَيَقْصِفُ أَضْلَاعِي بِحُزْنٍ هَزِيمُهُيَهُبُّ فَيَجْتَثُّ الْفُؤَادَ وَيَلْتَفُّ
وَأَوْهَنَ جِسْمِي الْمُسْتَبَاحَ بِقَصْفِهِفَلَمْ يَبْقَ إِلَّا الْعُودُ أَنْهَكَهُ الْعَسْفُ
كَنَخْلٍ بِوَجْهِ الْعَصْفِ تَصْمُدُ إِنَّمَاتُجَرَّدُ لَا يَبْقَى عَلَى رَأْسِهَا سَعْفُ
تَنُوحُ بِرُوحِي نَائِحَاتُ خَوَائِهَاوَتَدْوِي بِقَلْبِي نَادِبَاتٌ لَهَا رَجْفُ
فَقَدْ غَابَتِ السَّرَّاءُ عَنِّيَ مُذْ نَأَتْأَنِيسَةُ رُوحِي مَنْ فُؤَادِي بِهَا يَصْفُو
وَعَهْدِي بِهَا تَأْتِي تُؤَانِسُ مُهْجَتِيوَتَهْمِسُ فِي رُوحِي حَدِيثًا لَهُ عَزْفُ
أَحَادِيثُ حُبٍّ مِلْؤُهَا الْوَجْدُ وَالْجَوَىتُبَثُّ بِنَجْوَاهَا وَرُوحِي لَهَا تَهْفُو
كِلَانَا بِنَفْسِ الْخَطِّ لَا نَبْرَحُ الْهَوَىمُقِيمَيْنِ وَالْعَهْدُ الَّذِي بَيْنَنَا عَفُّ
وَتَمْضِي لَيَالِي الْحُبِّ مِنْ غَيْرِ حِسْبَةٍتَمُرُّ بِنَا أَلْفٌ وَمِنْ بَعْدِهَا أَلْفُ
كَأَنَّا عَلَى بُعْدٍ قَرِيبَيْنِ لِلْجَنَىيُمَتِّعُنَا وَصْلٌ فَلَا مُقْلَةٌ تَغْفُو
حَبِيبَانِ لَمْ يَشْهَدْ مَثِيلَيْهِمَا الْوَرَىأَلِيفٌ عَلَى مَا شَاءَ يَسْعَى لَهُ الْإِلْفُ
وَكَفٌّ لَهَا كَفٌّ تَشُدُّ وَتَرْتَخِيوَتَقْتَاتُ مِنْ لَهْثٍ شِفَاهٌ لَهَا رَشْفُ
فَضَمٌّ وَتَقْبِيلٌ وَنَجْوَى وَمُتْعَةٌكِلَانَا بِمَنْ يَهْوَى مِنَ الشَّوْقِ مُلْتَفُّ
وَمَا ثَمَّ مِنْ وَاشٍ وَلَا ثَمَّ عَاذِلٌسِوَى أَنْ نَمَى عَنَّا شَذَا الْعِطْرِ وَالْعَرْفُ
كَأَنَّا خُلِقْنَا لِلْهَوَى، يُحْتَفَى بِنَافَفِي كُلِّ حِينٍ نَحْنُ لِلْحُبِّ نُزْدَفُّ
فَمَا بَالُهَا غَابَتْ؟ وَغَابَ حَدِيثُهَاوَغُيِّبَ عَنِّي الْأُنْسُ وَاجْتَاحَنِي الْخَوْفُ
فَكَيْفَ سَأُمْضِي لَيْلَتِي دُونَ دِفْئِهَاوَكَانَتْ لِحَافِي حِينَ يُعْوِزُنِي اللُّحْفُ
فَمَنْ مُبْلِغٌ عَنِّي مَنِ الرُّوحُ مِلْكُهَابِأَنِّيَ بَعْدَ الْحِضْنِ بِالتُّرْبِ أَسْتَفُّ

The Valley of Sorrow

I was expecting her to come, as on every other night… and when she did not come….!

  1. I have made my home in the valley of sorrow, and a trembling sweeps through me;
    and with its storms1 the gale whirls me round and round in grief.
  2. Its thunder pounds my ribs with sorrow; it rises,
    tears out the heart by the roots, and coils around.
  3. It has worn down my body, laid open to its pounding,
    till nothing is left but a bare stem, spent by its violence,
  4. like palms that stand firm in the face of the gale, and yet
    are stripped bare, and their heads keep not a single leaf.
  5. Within my soul the keening women2 of its emptiness lament,
    and mourners in my heart cry out, resounding, trembling as they grieve.
  6. For happiness has left me since she went far away,
    the companion of my soul, through whom my heart grows serene.
  7. As I knew her, she would come to keep my heart company,
    and whisper to my soul words that had music in them:
  8. talk of love, filled with passion and with love's burning,
    poured out in her whispered secrets, while my soul fluttered toward them.
  9. Both of us on the same path, never leaving love,
    dwelling in it; and the pledge between us was chaste.
  10. The nights of love went by, and no one kept the count:
    a thousand passed us by, and after them, a thousand more.
  11. As though, though far apart, we were near enough to gather the fruit,
    delighted by a union in which no eye would sleep.
  12. Two lovers whose like mankind had never seen:
    each a close companion3, hastening to do whatever the other wished.
  13. Hand held by hand, now clasping tight, now slackening,
    and lips that sip, and feed on breathless panting.
  14. Embraces, kisses, whispered secrets and delight,
    each of us wrapped in longing round the one we love.
  15. There was no talebearer there, and no reproacher4 there,
    unless the scent of perfume and its fragrance carried word of us.
  16. As though we had been made for love, and all were celebrating us,
    for at every moment we were led to love as bride and groom are led5.
  17. So why has she stayed away? Her talk has gone as well;
    the comfort of her company is gone, and fear sweeps over me.
  18. How shall I pass my night without her warmth,
    when she was my blanket whenever I had no blanket?
  19. Who will carry word from me6 to her who owns my soul,
    that after her embrace I am left swallowing dust?

Notes

  1. Yuzawbiʿunī, 'whirls me round', is a rare verb drawn from zawbaʿa, 'whirlwind', which makes the lover himself the whirlwind's plaything. Anwāʾ are storms; the word originally named the stars whose setting was believed to bring rain and wind. The storm images of the next four verses grow out of this opening. ↩
  2. Nāʾiḥāt and nādibāt are the women who wailed and lamented the dead at funerals in traditional Arab society, reciting the virtues of the one lost. Here they mourn inside the lover, and what they mourn is the emptiness of his own soul since she went away. ↩
  3. Alīf and ilf both mean an intimate companion, one bound to another by familiar love. The verse plays on the two forms of the same root: each lover is the other's companion, and each hurries to do whatever the other wishes. ↩
  4. The wāshī, the slanderer or talebearer who reveals the lovers' secret, and the ʿādhil, who reproaches the lover, are stock figures in Arabic love poetry, the enemies of every pair of lovers. Here there were none, and the only thing that could betray them was the scent of her perfume spreading word of their meetings, as a talebearer spreads gossip. ↩
  5. Nuzdaffu, ‘we are led in procession’, comes from zaffa, the procession in which a bride is led to her groom with music and celebration. The lovers are, at every moment, bride and groom being led to love. ↩
  6. Fa-man mublighun ʿannī, 'who will carry word from me?', is an old formula in Arabic poetry, used when a poet sends a message to someone far away. Istaffa al-turāb, 'to swallow dust', is to be reduced to utter misery; it may also suggest the grave, as if without her he were as good as dead. ↩

English translation prepared by artificial intelligence and reviewed against the Arabic for accuracy of meaning and rhetoric.