Palm & Chisel
I cry longing to her and she weeps for me
And I grumble to her about the grievance of life,
and she complains to me
I search the stars for her and she is absent
And I spread out my heart for her, and she lodges at me
I would not aspire to the intimate discourse of her cordiality
But to a heart purified with water of chastity
and sincerity of sentiment by which time becomes serene
And whispering of eyes whose lids darkened by true promise kohl
Alas! O Spirit fly wherever she parted,
if you reach the orbit of purity,
Then tell me how nice if only I , for an hour,
Could slumber at her hand
And the Spirit between caressing and coddling
adapts harmony if the book of speech is tranquil
By an alphabet of infinite hymns
with which life boasts of the secret of its bliss,
and in her dew you behold her as a bestowing palm
And if she keep up mending her step
she is to revive the feeble strides in a leg paralyzed
O You, what are you? Only that you belong
to the world of the unseen in the revelation of lamps
Or emanation of musk kneaded with the fragrance of roses?
Or a pomegranate blossom quenching my thirst
With purity spreading at the mouth
So it grew gratitude in astounded sentiment?
pass at my mind just like that of breeze
at the cheek of twilight and the dust of lions is
your soft smile to which I take shelter
Away from the coldness of January or the heat of September
I implore to God do not distress for whom was committed
Sins the delusions of statues
how long would I endure squashing my days in suffering
And I drink them by procrastination and delaying?
Age is becoming fifty and have not seen
the meaning of pleasure and have never been safe from pain
so cover me if harm got agitated by incite
then sharpen in my heart every blunt
I'm the stranger who birds of the earth reject me
feathers are not mine, nor colors appeal to me
They eat the bread of my hair and peck me
And wear silk of my pot and shun at me
here I am, I have advanced in years and my hope bent
I turn over time but I have not found my generation
I've devoted all my life as a hard-working palm
and led most of the time a life down in the dumps
I keep stabbing time for them against every crisis
and people slander my deeds and my words
And I urge to the heavens their impetus
They rise for questioning and formation of
destiny disgraces the envious in dismay
as a short person disparages a tall one
And they censure my skies and wings
and I have never known a tolerant person blameless
if I smile, they say: in deceit
if I frown, they say: pure pretense
If I dream, they say: This is out of fright
if I tolerate, they say: rancorous disposition
for you I planted but they plucked out my trees
how many times I asked, but they did not answer my request
How many times I rose with determination, but they did not rise How many times I called and they stretched a cowardly palm
This is the time in which the noble grieves
The delicacies while the one who has only leftovers rejoices
whenever my enviers get furious, my dates ripen
They threw my palm trees with insolence and vulgarity
Do they blame the one I complain to my rhyme?
Then where can I get an unshackled heart?
My poetry is of manna and honey for those with hunger
And the poetry of others is of cucumber and beans
None refutes it but those who have purposes
Or the bitterness of a self envious unbearable
To whom do I sing? Butterflies of hopes got burnt
And night shattered my lights and lamp
To whom do I sing and in the eye of the distance lies darkness
And in the mirrors are the nude in pants?
To whom do I sing and the pipe of poetry in my lips
About to weep because of echo of folksongs
Is it for beauty? Didn't beauty melt on
the tongue of my letters giving out honey?
Is it for imagination? Was imagination but
Some creativity that my spirit whispered to my Jebril
Is it for struggle? My letters rebelled in dignity
Till they were organized as soldiers in uniforms
Is it for the country? I have composed them with my blood
In the heart page in the cheek of handkerchiefs
Is it for guidance? My poetry is wisdom that rained
My reason albumen of deities' eggs
Is it for cordiality? I made of love a song
Among hearts whispering to each chaste
What have I gained out of flying in my language
but felony of the wolf and hammering?
By praise every ungrateful person is drifted in wonder
And every arrogant buys extolment cheaply
I warned myself so it abstained every dubious
Of language and got bored of soft speaking
I do not consider poetry in pride of its composer
Except through reason, morals and originality
We belong to a nation whose maximum ends
Are the luck of souls and spread of rumors
and the claim of every chatterer is that he is a king
And the excuse of every arrogant is through obstructions
If you ask: to whom belongs the glory of life, to whom belongs
the pride of the lofty? The fools would say: to me, to me, to me
Calamity spread, so the distance maintained no paths
For the knowing nor brought a guide
Pale ineptitude wishes lead us
To an out of breath mysterious tomorrow
And the country of ignorance degrades everyone with morals
Of the noble and elevate every inferior
Why do you tolerate the worry of people in heart
while you have whatever you suffer of slander and torture?
Didn't arrogance exceeded limits and they deceived themselves?
Then why do you lament for cowardly people?
Of the impossible there are tales that it narrates
Or have you taken an example
of the Order of the Phoenix and the Ghouls?
Or did you perish as an amnesty martyr due to thirst
and while you exude patience by sieves?
Abel died yet he did not extend a hand to a brother
in bad faith but we are the sons of Cain
I have learnt that the race is descendants of father
so how come you have expectations you the son of a murdered?
Some are to each other foes, compliant to their desires
except for these who fear God in the guiding revelation
there is no fidelity, amity, nor sincerity
except through righteousness by a united rope of God
O you a companion that the self elevated to a rank
on top of dignity with reverence and preference
I am still showing my sincerity on a tray
till I got jaded while my sincerity is not tired
I have erected in you indestructible minarets
of fidelity with sublime wreaths
I have waded into the seas of blamers and I did not
get flooded by rain nor did I shine by enticement
And I was with you without an eye or ear
in the company of gossipers, but with reliance
And I used whenever my soul was visited by a thought
to draw you with the most splendorous details
I peered from the balcony of memories and look at
what was in our yesterday of responsible pledge
as I do not recall except that in the eyes was
shed the tears of encounter with welcoming and kissing
And an invisible voice from a lover before his minor pilgrimage
and the dilemma of the wedding and smiles in the Nile
so why when you saw maliciousness taking me by surprise
you got up following a he who is false and hypocrite
you have been the first person I needed his support
you were the first to seek stabbing me
who seeks triumph in a lame crippled
and thrust the nail in the noble messengers?
You say he backbites me in evil before the whole world
And my vengeance will disbelieve in the Gospels
since I am innocent of their hearsay
And you allegation is but delusion of incitement to evil
And you said: he said and she said
I pray to God that you don't die my brother
this is doesn't belong except to women with anklets
men of reason protest that judging is by evidence
And not by doubt or interpretation
by God I haven't betrayed guidance on purpose
and I have never considered you but among jesters
And you said: "stab so as to protect rights
and will rights be defended by injustice?
O you whose view is that justice is flawless
When guidance is revealed after mislead
If eyes whose lids darkened with Kohl strayed you from guidance
How would you expect getting guidance from cross eyes?
passion of souls is humiliation and grievance is arrogance
And the wisdom of one lies in reason and justification
think not that blaming the heart is a fault
Reproach is a counterbalance of measures
So if you repent, you'll find forgiveness with no reproof
And if you decline, then recite Surat Al-Feel
O mercy of God, would it be relief after grief
So that we won't be misguided by the whispering of every insane
if anguish prevails, there is no one but You to have mercy on us
so confer upon us an effective command
And guide hearts to refrain from sins and do not
to tempt the hearts of mankind by gossip
I still dream and I won't abandon my dream
till I see good deeds curing all the sick
And I will have a good opinion of the honorable so that
If the advocate is rare to attain,
then suffecient are my palm and my chisel
ترجمة قصيدة " كف و أزميل " للدكتور سمير العمرى
رد مع اقتباس