ضمي إليك الزغب

أوتار مبعثرة
ترجمة إنجليزية
شارك:
دَعِينِي وَأَشْوَاقِي، وَقَلْبِي الَّذِي يَسْعَىٰإِلَيْكِ حَثِيثًا، جَلَّ ذٰلِكَ مِنْ مَسْعَىٰ
وَضُمِّي إِلَيْكِ الزُّغْبَ حَنَّتْ لِأُمِّهَافَأَحْضَانُهَا أَحْلَىٰ وَأَجْدَى لَكُمْ نَفْعَا
وَلَسْتُ أَلُومُ الْأُمَّ كَلَّا عَلَىٰ الضَّنَىٰإِلَى وُلْدِهَا مَا لَا تُطِيقُ لَهُ دَفْعَا
وَلٰكِنَّ قَلْبًا شَفَّهُ الْوَجْدُ آمِلٌبِبَاقِي حَنَانٍ مِنْكِ مَهْمَا يَكُنْ وُسْعَا
أُقَاسِمُهُمْ مِنْ كُلِّ وَقْتِكِ بَعْضَهُفَجَنْبٌ لَنَا يَحْنُو، وَجَنْبٌ لَهُمْ يَرْعَىٰ

Hold the Downy Chicks Close1

  1. Leave me to my longings, and my heart that runs to you
    in eager haste: a striving great beyond compare!
  2. And hold close to you the downy chicks that pine for their mother:
    her arms are sweeter to them, and do you all more good.
  3. Nor do I blame the mother, no, not at all, for the wasting love2
    she bears her little ones, which she has no power to hold at bay.
  4. And yet a heart worn thin by passion hopes
    for what remains of your tenderness, however little you can spare.
  5. I'll share with them some part of all your hours:
    one side of you bends over us, one watches them with care3.

Notes

  1. Al-zughb are chicks still covered in down, a traditional image of small, helpless children. The most famous use of it is the plea of the early Islamic poet al-Ḥuṭayʾa, imprisoned by the caliph ʿUmar, who asked what he would say to 'little chicks at Dhū Marakh, with downy crops'. Here the downy chicks are the beloved's own children, who claim her embrace before the poet can. ↩
  2. Al-ḍanā is a wasting illness that leaves the body thin. The poet uses it for the all-consuming love of a mother for her children, which drains her yet which she cannot resist. His understanding tone prepares the gentle request of the next two verses. ↩
  3. The verse closes on a balanced pair (muqābala): 'one side bending in tenderness, one side keeping watch'. Janb, 'side', is literal: he pictures her lying between him and the children, one side turned to each, and so dividing her time and care. The Arabic says 'over us', using the plural of the speaker for himself. ↩

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