الأطلال

يا فؤادي لا تسل أين الهوى

Ya fu'adi, la tasal ayna l-hawa

O my heart, do not ask where love has gone ✦ ✦

كان صرحًا من خيالٍ فهوى

Kana sarhan min khayalin fa-hawa

It was a towering edifice of imagination, and it fell ✦

اسقني واشرب على أطلاله

Isqini washrab 'ala atlalihi

Pour for me, and let us drink to its ruins ✦

وارْوِ عني طالما الدمع روى

Wa-rwi 'anni talama d-dam'u rawa

And tell my story for me, as long as the tears can tell it

كيف ذاك الحب أمسى خبرًا

Kayfa dhaka l-hubbu amsa khabaran

How did that love become mere news — ✦

وحديثًا من أحاديث الجوى

Wa-hadithan min ahadithi l-jawa

one more tale among the tales of longing?

لست أنساك وقد أغريتني

Lastu ansaka wa-qad aghraytani

I have not forgotten you — you who tempted me ✦

بفمٍ عذب المناداة رقيق

Bi-famin 'adhbi l-munadati raqiq

with a mouth sweet and gentle in its calling

ويدٍ تمتد نحوي كيدٍ

Wa-yadin tamtaddu nahwi ka-yadin

and a hand held out toward me like a hand

من خلال الموج مُدَّت لغريق

Min khilali l-mawji muddat li-ghariq

stretched through the waves to a drowning man

وبريقٍ يظمأ الساري له

Wa-bariqin yazma'u s-sari lahu

and a gleam the night traveler thirsts after —

أين في عينيك ذيّاك البريق

Ayna fi 'aynayka dhayyaka l-bariq

where, in your eyes, is that gleam now?

يا حبيبًا زرت يومًا أيكه

Ya habiban zurtu yawman aykahu

O beloved whose thicket I once visited,

طائر الشوق أغني ألمي

Ta'ira sh-shawqi ughanni alami

a bird of longing, singing my pain —

لك إبطاء المدلّ المنعم

Laka ibta'u l-mudilli l-mun'imi

yours was the slowness of the pampered and indulged,

وتجنّي القادر المحتكم

Wa-tajanni l-qadiri l-muhtakimi

the caprice of the powerful whose word is law;

وحنيني لك يكوي أضلعي

Wa-hanini laka yakwi adlu'i

and my yearning for you sears my ribs,

والثواني جمراتٌ في دمي

Wa-th-thawani jamaratun fi dami

and the seconds are live coals in my blood

أعطني حريتي أطلق يديّا

A'tini hurriyyati, atliq yadayya

Give me my freedom, set loose my hands! ✦

إنني أعطيت ما استبقيت شيّا

Innani a'taytu ma stabqaytu shay'a

I have given everything and held nothing back ✦

آهِ من قيدك أدمى معصمي

Ah min qaydika adma mi'sami

Ah, how your chains have bloodied my wrist ✦

لم أُبقِه وما أبقى عليّا

Lam ubqihi wa-ma abqa 'alayya

I have not kept them — and they have not spared me

ما احتفاظي بعهودٍ لم تصنها

Ma htifazi bi-'uhudin lam tasunha

Why keep vows that you have never honored?

وإلامَ الأسر والدنيا لديّا

Wa-ilama l-asru wa-d-dunya ladayya

And how long this captivity, when the world is mine?

أين من عيني حبيبٌ ساحرٌ

Ayna min 'ayni habibun sahirun

Where has he gone from my eyes, that enchanter —

فيه عزٌّ وجلالٌ وحياء

Fihi 'izzun wa-jalalun wa-haya'

all dignity, majesty, and shyness of grace?

واثق الخطوة يمشي ملكًا

Wathiqu l-khatwati yamshi malikan

Sure of every step, he walks a king, ✦

ظالم الحسن شهيّ الكبرياء

Zalimu l-husni shahiyyu l-kibriya'

beauty's tyrant, delicious in his pride,

عبِق السحر كأنفاس الربى

'Abiqu s-sihri ka-anfasi r-ruba

fragrant with magic like the breath of the hills,

ساهم الطرف كأحلام المساء

Sahimu t-tarfi ka-ahlami l-masa'

dreamy-eyed as the reveries of evening

أين مني مجلسٌ أنت به

Ayna minni majlisun anta bihi

Where is the gathering you once lit —

فتنةٌ تمت سناءً وسنى

Fitnatun tammat sana'an wa-sana

a splendor made perfect, radiance and light —

وأنا حبٌّ وقلبٌ هائمٌ

Wa-ana hubbun wa-qalbun ha'imun

when I was love itself, a heart adrift,

وفراشٌ حائرٌ منك دنا

Wa-farashun ha'irun minka dana

a dazzled moth that had drawn too near you,

ومن الشوق رسولٌ بيننا

Wa-mina sh-shawqi rasulun baynana

and desire went between us as a messenger,

ونديمٌ قدّم الكأس لنا

Wa-nadimun qaddama l-ka'sa lana

and a companion kept filling the cup for us?

هل رأى الحب سكارى مثلنا

Hal ra'a l-hubbu sukara mithlana?

Has love ever seen drunkards like us? ✦ ✦ ✦

كم بنينا من خيالٍ حولنا

Kam banayna min khayalin hawlana

How many castles of fantasy we built around us

ومشينا في طريقٍ مقمرٍ

Wa-mashayna fi tariqin muqmirin

And we walked a moonlit road together

تثب الفرحة فيه قبلنا

Tathibu l-farhatu fihi qablana

Joy leaping ahead of us as we went

وضحكنا ضحك طفلين معًا

Wa-dahikna dahka tiflayni ma'an

And we laughed like two children together

وعدَونا فسبقنا ظلنا

Wa-'adawna fa-sabaqna zillana

and we ran, and outran our own shadow

وانتبهنا بعدما زال الرحيق

Wa-ntabahna ba'dama zala r-rahiq

And we came to, when the nectar was gone,

وأفقنا ليت أنّا لا نفيق

Wa-afaqna layta anna la nufiq

and woke — ah, would that we had never woken: ✦

يقظةٌ طاحت بأحلام الكرى

Yaqzatun tahat bi-ahlami l-kara

a waking that scattered the dreams of sleep;

وتولى الليل والليل صديق

Wa-tawalla l-laylu wa-l-laylu sadiq

the night was over — and night was a friend —

وإذا النور نذيرٌ طالعٌ

Wa-idha n-nuru nadhirun tali'un

and suddenly the light was a warning raised,

وإذا الفجر مطلٌّ كالحريق

Wa-idha l-fajru mutillun ka-l-hariq

and the dawn loomed over us like a fire,

وإذا الدنيا كما نعرفها

Wa-idha d-dunya kama na'rifuha

and there stood the world as we know it,

وإذا الأحباب كلٌّ في طريق

Wa-idha l-ahbabu kullun fi tariq

and the lovers — each on a separate road

أيها الساهر تغفو

Ayyuha s-sahiru taghfu

You who keep the night watch: you drowse, ✦

تذكر العهد وتصحو

Tadhkuru l-'ahda wa-tas-hu

remember the promise, and wake;

وإذا ما التأم جرحٌ

Wa-idha ma lta'ama jurhun

and whenever a wound has closed,

جدّ بالتذكار جرحُ

Jadda bi-t-tidhkari jurhu

remembrance opens a wound anew.

فتعلّم كيف تنسى

Fa-ta'allam kayfa tansa

So learn how to forget,

وتعلّم كيف تمحو

Wa-ta'allam kayfa tamhu

and learn how to erase

يا حبيبي كل شيءٍ بقضاء

Ya habibi, kullu shay'in bi-qada'

My love, everything is decreed by fate ✦

ما بأيدينا خُلقنا تعساء

Ma bi-aydina — khuliqna tu'asa'

It is not by our own hands that we were made unhappy

ربما تجمعنا أقدارنا

Rubbama tajma'una aqdaruna

Perhaps our destinies will gather us

ذات يومٍ بعدما عزّ اللقاء

Dhata yawmin ba'dama 'azza l-liqa'

one day, when reunion has grown past hoping;

فإذا أنكر خِلٌّ خِلَّه

Fa-idha ankara khillun khillahu

and if one lover then denies the other,

وتلاقينا لقاء الغرباء

Wa-talaqayna liqa'a l-ghuraba'

and we meet as strangers meet,

ومضى كلٌّ إلى غايته

Wa-mada kullun ila ghayatihi

and each goes on toward a separate end —

لا تقل شئنا فإن الحظ شاء

La taqul shi'na, fa-inna l-hazza sha'

do not say we willed it. Fate willed it so.