كأني في خيال

لا تفطميني عن هواك حبيبتي
ترجمة إنجليزية
شارك:

كتبتُها تعبيرًا عن مشاعري في ليلة الزفاف.

غَارِقٌ فِي الْحُلْمِ، وَالدُّنْيَا كَسَتْهَا أُمْنِيَاتِي
طَرَّزَتْهَا بَهْجَةُ الْعُمْرِ بُرُودًا مِنْ نَسِيجِ الْبَسَمَاتِ
أَشْرَقَتْ فِيهَا شُمُوسُ الْحُبِّ مِنْ كَأْسِ الْحَيَاةِ
أَسْكَرَتْنِي بِنِدَاءٍ فَاتِنِ النَّبْرَةِ يَدْعُو لِفَتَاتِي
كَيْفَ لَا، وَهْيَ لَدَى نَفْسِيَ أَحْلَى مِنْ كُئُوسٍ مُتْرَعَاتِ
حَقَّقَتْ لِي أَمَلِي الْحَالِمَ مِنْ فَيْضِ الْهَوَى وَالْقُبُلَاتِ
فَسَقَتْنِي مِنْ حَنِينِ الْوَجْدِ أَشْهَى الرَّشَفَاتِ
هَذِهِ الدُّنْيَا الَّتِي أَهْوَى رُؤَاهَا مُنْذُ أَنْ كُنْتُ صَغِيرًا
فَتَنَتْنِي بِالْخَيَالَاتِ الَّتِي خِلْتُهَا وَمْضًا… وَنُورَا
ذُبْتُ فِيهَا وَفُؤَادِي لَمْ يَزَلْ غَضًّا غَرِيرَا
أَنَا فِيهَا الْآنَ أَغْشَى عَالَمًا مِنْ أَمَانِيَّ كَبِيرَا
مَلَأَتْ نَفْسِي وَرُوحِي.. رَعْشَةً تَذْوِي سُرُورَا
وَجَلَتْ لِي أُفُقَ الْكَوْنِ لَآلٍ تَنْسُجُ النُّورَ حَرِيرَا
سُنْدُسًا كَادَ لَهُ قَلْبِي هَوًى أَنْ يَطِيرَا
رَوْعَةٌ فِي هَذِهِ الدُّنْيَا كَأَنِّي فِي خَيَالِ
هَلْ تَرَانِي أَوَّلَ النَّاسِ اكْتِشَافًا لِلَّآلِي
أَمْ تَرَانِي أَوَّلَ النَّاسِ ارْتِشَافًا لِلْجَمَالِ
هَلْ رَأَيْتُمْ مَا أَرَاهُ.. ثُمَّ ذُقْتُمْ مِنْ خَيَالِي
لَسْتُ أَدْرِي إِنَّمَا.. لَا وَصْلَ عِنْدِي كَوِصَالِي
أَوَهَذَا كُلُّهُ لَا إِثْمَ فِيهِ إِنَّمَا مَحْضُ حَلَالِ
أَيْنَ عَنِّي كَانَ قَبْلًا؟ كَيْفَ ضَيَّعْتُ اللَّيَالِي

ممباسا – كينيا

As If I Were in a Dream1

I wrote this to express my feelings on my wedding night.

  1. I am drowned in the dream, and the world is clothed in these wishes of mine,
  2. embroidered by a lifetime's joy with robes2 that threads of smiles entwine;
  3. in it the suns of love have risen from the cup of life, and shine.
  4. It has made me drunk with a call, bewitching in its tone, that calls me to this girl of mine.
  5. And how could it not, when to my soul she is sweeter than brimming cups of wine?
  6. She has made my dreaming hope come true, out of a flood of love and kisses,
  7. and poured for me, from the longing of passion, the most delicious sips.
  8. This is the world whose visions I have loved since I was small;
  9. it enchanted me with fancies that I took for a flash… and for light.
  10. I melted into it while my heart was still green and untried.
  11. Now, within it, I enter a world of my wishes, vast and wide.
  12. It has filled my soul and my spirit… with a tremor that faints away in delight3.
  13. And pearls have unveiled4 for me the horizon of the universe, weaving the light into silk,
  14. fine silk of Paradise5, for love of which my heart almost took flight.
  15. Such splendour in this world, as if I were in a dream!
  16. Do you suppose I am the first of mankind to discover pearls,
  17. or the first of mankind to sip from beauty's stream?6
  18. Have you seen what I see… and then tasted of my dream?
  19. I cannot tell; only this…: to my mind, no union is like my union7.
  20. And is all of this without sin, nothing but what is purely lawful?8
  21. Where was it, all this time, so far from me? How did I squander the nights?

Mombasa, Kenya

Notes

  1. Khayāl covers imagination, fantasy, reverie and the phantom seen in a dream. The title says that the real joy of the wedding night feels unreal, like something imagined. The same word returns in the closing section ('as if I were in a dream', 'tasted of my dream'). ↩
  2. Burūd, plural of burd, are striped cloaks, traditionally the fine woven cloaks of Yemen, prized in Arabic poetry as the finest garments. ↩
  3. Raʿsha tadhwī surūran, literally 'a tremor that withers with joy': the thrill is so intense that it seems to wilt and faint away, overcome by happiness. ↩
  4. Jalā means 'to unveil, reveal', and also 'to polish until it shines'. It is, besides, the word for displaying a bride to her groom (jalwat al-ʿarūs), a fitting echo on a wedding night: the horizon of the universe is unveiled to him like a bride, by pearls that weave the light into silk. ↩
  5. Sundus is fine silk, and the word carries a Qur'anic echo: it is the green silk worn by the people of Paradise (for example Qur'an 18:31 and 76:21). Coming after 'silk' (ḥarīr), it raises the bridal joy to a foretaste of Paradise. ↩
  6. The two questions are rhetorical, voicing the bridegroom's astonishment. They are built on a jingle that English cannot keep: iktishāfan li-l-laʾālī, 'discovering pearls', and irtishāfan li-l-jamāl, 'sipping beauty', differ by a single letter (iktishāf and irtishāf). ↩
  7. Waṣl and wiṣāl both mean union with the beloved, from the same root. The repetition insists that no one's union can compare with his. ↩
  8. The question expresses delighted wonder, not doubt. What he had known only in dreams and longings is now entirely ḥalāl, lawful, because marriage has sanctified it. Hence the closing regret for all the nights lost before it. ↩

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