Leg over Leg. Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq

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СКАЧАТЬ to be in concert regarding them. Any connoisseur of women who is an oryx bull, rubbery and blubbery, a silver-tongued sweet-talker, a lady’s man, one who delights in their company, their fervent supporter, their friend and companion, their follower, their soul mate, their constant visitor, who dies to talk with them, a beaver-boring beetle,(1)(1) The ḥurqūṣ [“beaver-boring beetle”] is “a small creature like a flea with a stinger like that of a hornet, or a tick that clings to people, or something smaller than a beetle that bores through waterskins and enters the vaginas of young women.” bruising their bungholes wherever they go, sniffing around wherever they pee, will have no interest in derring-do and snicker-snee. He will believe that the words of Imruʾ al-Qays that go¹¹⁵

      Whenever he whimpered behind her, she turned to him

      With half her body, her other half unshifted under me

      are better than those of ʿAntarah that go¹¹⁶

      So I thrust him with my lance, then I came on top of him

      With a trenchant Indian blade of shining steel.

      Likewise, anyone who is uninterested in or indifferent to women, or unwilling to have relations with them even though he is able, or who is of no use to and without any predisposition toward them, or is a confirmed bachelor, or is scruffy and takes no interest in his appearance, or wears no perfume and doesn’t adorn himself, or smells foul, or breaks wind disgustingly, or is of no value generally, with no pressing desire for the delicate, fine-looking, white-skinned, plump, full-bodied woman or the short, curvaceous, tightly-knit woman (God save us from such things!) will divert his attention to poems of asceticism and sage advice. End.

      4.8.7

      ثم ان الفارياق انتقل الى المدينة وهناك تعرف بجماعة من اهل الفضل والادب * منهم مَن ادبه ومنهم من اترفه * وهناك حظى بتقبيل يد المولى المعظم ونال منه الصلات الوافرة * وساله وزير الدولة هل تعرف اللغة الفرنساوية * قال لا ياسيدي ما عُنيت بها * فانى ما كدت اتعلم لسان الانكليز حتى نسيت من لغتى قدر ما تعلمته منه * فقد قُدّر على راسى ان يسع قدرا معلوما من العلم فمتى زاد من جهة نقص من اخرى *

      Next, the Fāriyaq moved to the city, where he became acquainted with a group of persons of virtue and culture, some of whom invited him to their banquets while others assured him of every luxury. There he had the honor of kissing the hand of the August Master,¹¹⁷ from whom he received copious gifts. The minister of state enquired of him whether he knew French, to which he replied, “No, my lord, I have not bothered to learn it, for as soon as I started learning English I found myself forgetting an equivalent amount of my own language. Fate has decreed that my head shall hold only a predetermined amount of knowledge and that when that expands in one direction, it shrinks in another.”

      4.8.8

      فلما اخبر زوجته بذلك قالت له * الم اقل لك غير مرة عَدِّ عن الغزل بالنسآ وتعلم هذه اللغة المفيدة وما كنت لترعوى عن هواك * ماذا تريد من الغزل وعندك زافنة * قال فقلت نعم ورافنة * ثم قالت ماذا يفيدك وصف العِين بالحَوَر * ولست منهن تقضى الدهر من وطر * اليس ورآك منى رقيب قريب * قلت بلى والله انى ما خلوت قط بامراة فى الحلم الا ورايتك ورآها * حتى كثيرا ما شاهدتك تمزقين ثوبها وتنتفين شعرها ثم تتبوّاين مكانها وترسلينها فارغة * فقالت الحمد لله على ان القى رُعبى فى قلبك فى اليقظة والمنام * قلت قد بدا لى ان انتقل من التغزل بالنسآ الى هجوهن فعسى ان انتقل بذلك الى حال احسن * قالت افعل ما بدا لك ولكن اياك من ان تدخلنى فى الجملة * ولكن قف قف لا تذكر النسآ لا فى النسيب ولا فى الهجآ * فانك اول ما تذكر اسمهن يدور راسك وينبض فيك العرق القديم * كلّا ثم كلا *

      When he informed his wife of this, she said to him, “Haven’t I told you more than once to have done with writing love poems to women and to learn that useful language? You would not, however, abandon your obsession. What need have you of love poetry when you have someone to take care of your every conjugal need?” Said the Fāriyāq, “And I replied, ‘True enough, and a wanton strutter indeed.’ ‘What good to you,’ she went on, ‘are descriptions of beauties as being “dark of pupil, white of eye,” when you will never get from them what you want? Do you not have a watchful warden looking over your shoulder, in the shape of my good self?’ ‘By God, I do!’ I replied. ‘Every time I find myself alone with a woman in my dreams, I see you right behind her. In fact, I’ve often seen you ripping her dress and pulling out her hair, then taking up residence in her place and sending her off empty-handed.’ ‘Thank the Lord,’ she said, ‘that you’re as scared of me asleep as you are awake!’ ‘It had occurred to me,’ I replied, ‘to move from writing love poems about women to satirizing them, in the hope of moving into a better situation.’ ‘Do as you please,’ she replied, ‘though you must take care not to include me along with the rest—but stop, stop! Don’t speak of women in either your erotic or your scurrilous verses, for as soon as you mention their name your head turns and the old Adam throbs within you. No, and again no!’

      4.8.9

      قلت ولكن فى مدح سيدنا الامير قد ذكرت اسم امراة * فقالت وقد اتقدت عيناها من الغيظ مَن هذه الفاعلة الصانعة * قلت هو اسم عربى * قالت آه هو من ضلالك القديم * ولو كان اسما عجميا لقمت الان واحرقت ديوانك هذا الذى هو علىّ اشد من الضرة لانك تصرف فيه نصف الليالى * فقلت لكن هذا النصف ليس بمانع من كله * قالت لكن ذاك الكل حق لى وضعفَى مثله * قلت صدقت ما خُلق الليل الا للنسآ وما خلقن هن الا للّيل * قالت سلّمتُ بالاولى ولا اسلّم بالثانية * فان النسآ خلقن للنهار ايضا * قلت نعم ولكل ساعة منه وليس للرجل همّ فى الدنيا غير امراته * قالت الاولى ان تقول اهتمام * قلت فى كل اهتمام همّ * قالت هذا عند الرجال من فشلهم وليس كذلك عند النسآ * قلت هو من خفة عقولهن وثقل نهمهنّ فان اللذة تذهلهن عن الدين СКАЧАТЬ