دعاني إلى عُرسٍ

عبير الأبد
ترجمة إنجليزية
شارك:
دَعَانِي إِلَى عُرْسٍ وَلَمْ يَدْرِ مَا بِيَاوَشَرَّفَنِي بِالْهَمِّ جَذْلَانَ لَاهِيَا
بَلَى يَدَّعِي أَنِّي أُبَدِّدُ قُرْحَتِيهُنَالِكَ حَيْثُ الْغِيدُ تَرْجُو تَلَاقِيَا
هُنَالِكَ تَهْنَا بِالثِّمَارِ يَوَانِعاًوَبِالزَّهْرِ نَضْراً قَدْ كَسَاهَا لَآلِيَا
هُنَالِكَ أَنْغَامٌ وَرَقْصٌ مُفَنَّنٌسَيُحْيِي الْمُنَى فِي الْقَلْبِ يُدْنِي الْأَمَانِيَا
سَتَقْطِفُ أَزْهَارَ الْهَوَى بِعَبِيرِهَاوَتَجْنِي ثِمَارَ السَّعْدِ رَطْباً دَوَانِيَا
أُهَنِّيهِ مِنْ نَفْسِي وَأَرْجُو زِيَادَةًلَهُ فِي الْهَنَا وَالسَّعْدِ يَعْلُو مَرَاقِيَا
وَلَكِنَّنِي أَنْعَى فُؤَادِي لِمَا جَرَىلَهُ مِنْ تَنَائِي الْحِبِّ عَنِّي فَيَافِيَا
أُعَزِّيكَ يَا قَلْبِي بِهَمِّي وَحَسْرَتِيفَصَبْراً وَلَيْسَ الصَّبْرُ لِلصَّبِّ شَافِيَا
أَيَا صَاحِ أَيْنَ الزَّهْرُ أَيْنَ عَبِيرُهَاوَيَا قَلْبُ أَيْنَ الصَّفْوُ بَلْ أَيْنَهَا لِيَا
وَيَا عَيْنُ فَاهْمِي بِالدُّمُوعِ سَوَاكِباًعَلَى مَا أُلَاقِي مِنْ عَنَاءٍ بَدَا لِيَا
تَثُورُ بِيَ الْأَشْجَانُ أَنِّي مُبَعَّدٌعَنِ الْحِبِّ وَالصَّبَّانِ دُونِي تَلَاقَيَا
فَرُحْمَاكَ يَا رَبِّي أَنِلْنِي حَبِيبَتِيأَوِ اجْعَلْ فُؤَادِي لِلْحَبِيبَةِ سَالِيَا

مقديشو — 4/7/88م

He Invited Me to a Wedding

  1. He invited me to a wedding, not knowing what was wrong with me,
    and honoured me with sorrow1, joyful himself, and carefree.
  2. Yes, indeed, he claims that there I’d rid myself of my wound,
    there, where the fair maidens hope for meetings, eagerly:
  3. “There you will relish fruits, ripe on the bough,
    and flowers, fresh and decked in pearls;
  4. there, melodies and dancing, rich in art,
    will revive hope in the heart and bring your wishes near;
  5. you’ll pluck love’s flowers, with all their scent,
    and gather joy’s fruits, fresh and low-hanging on the tree.”
  6. I congratulate him from my heart, and wish him more
    of joy and happiness, rising ever higher, by degree.
  7. But I mourn my heart for what has befallen it:
    love has gone far from me, whole deserts away.
  8. My heart, I offer you condolence2 in my grief and sorrow:
    be patient, then! Yet patience cannot heal the lover’s malady.
  9. O friend3, where are the flowers? Where is their scent?
    And O heart, where is peace? No: where is she, for me?
  10. And O eye, pour down your tears in torrents
    for the hardship I now meet, which has appeared to me.
  11. Sorrows rage in me, because I am kept far
    from my beloved, while the two lovers4 have met, apart from me.
  12. Have mercy, my Lord! Grant me my beloved,
    or else make my heart forget her, and be consoled and free.

Mogadishu, 4 July 1988

Notes

  1. Sharrafanī bi-l-hamm, literally ‘he honoured me with care’. An invitation is an honour, but for the grieving poet it brings only sorrow, so the honour itself becomes a burden: the phrase is ironic. Jadhlān lāhiyan, ‘joyful, carefree’, describes the host, in contrast with the poet’s state. ↩
  2. Taʿziya is the condolence offered to the bereaved after a death. Invited to a wedding, the poet offers condolence to his own heart, turning the feast into a funeral. The verse also sets ṣabr, patience, beside ṣabb, the ardent lover, two words close in sound (jinās): the lover is told to be patient, yet patience cannot heal him. ↩
  3. Ṣāḥi, a shortened form of ṣāḥib, ‘companion’, is the traditional address of classical Arabic poetry to a friend at the poet’s side, usually unnamed. ↩
  4. Al-ṣabbān is dual, ‘the two lovers’: the bride and groom, united at the wedding, while the poet is kept from his own beloved. ↩

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