تخط سطرا

أوتار مبعثرة
ترجمة إنجليزية
شارك:
تَخُطُّ سَطْرًا .. وَتَتْلُو ثُمَّ تَشْطُبُهُوَلَيْسَ يُجْدِيكَ .. بَوْحٌ.. أَنْتَ تَسْكُبُهُ
تُكِنُّ فِي الْقَلْبِ.. وَالْآمَاقُ تَفْضَحُهُ..لَيْسَ الْهَوَى بِزُلَالٍ.. أَنْتَ تَشْرَبُهُ
لَكِنَّهُ مِنْ أُوَارِ الْوَجْدِ يُشْعِلُهُبُعْدُ الْحَبِيبِ وَقُرْبٌ مِنْهُ يُلْهِبُهُ
مُعَذَّبٌ مَنْ يَذُوقُ الْحُبَّ مُمْتَحَنٌلَكِنَّ أَقْسَى عَذَابِ الْحُبِّ أَعْذَبُهُ
فَاسْعَدْ بِهِ يَا فُؤَادِي أَوْ فَجُنَّ بِهِفَلَا خِيَارَ لِمَنْ فِي الْحُبِّ مَرْكَبُهُ

You Write a Line1

  1. You write a line, read it over, then strike it out;
    and no confession helps you, though you pour it out in ink.
  2. You hide it in your heart; the corners of your eyes2 betray it.
    Love is no cool, clear water for you to drink;
  3. it is of passion's searing heat: the beloved's distance
    kindles it, and nearness to the beloved sets it all ablaze.
  4. Whoever tastes of love is tormented, put to the trial;
    and yet love's cruellest torment is its sweetest3.
  5. So be happy in it, my heart, or be driven mad by it:
    there is no choice for one who has set sail in love4.

Notes

  1. The 'you' of the poem is the poet himself, as the last verse reveals when he calls on 'my heart'. Addressing oneself as another person (tajrīd) is a long-standing device of Arabic poetry; it lets the poet look at his own love from outside, with a mixture of sympathy and reproach. ↩
  2. Al-āmāq, the inner corners of the eyes, where tears gather. His tears betray the love he hides. ↩
  3. ʿAdhāb, 'torment', and aʿdhab, 'sweetest', are built on the same three root letters, ʿ-dh-b, and sound almost alike. The verse turns on this kinship (jinās) to state the lovers' paradox that love's worst pain is its greatest sweetness. ↩
  4. Markab is a ship, or any mount one rides. 'One whose markab is in love' is one who has embarked on love and is carried wherever it goes; he can no more choose his course than a passenger at sea. ↩

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