Leg over Leg. Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq

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СКАЧАТЬ فاسدة المعانى ركيكة الالفاظ تنظر فيها فى كل صباح ومسآ *

      How can you allow yourself to leave this world without ever having seen it when you have the means to do so? Abū l-Ṭayyib al-Mutanabbī has said

      And no failing have I seen among men

      To equal the falling short of those who have means.

      How can you limit yourself to knowing a quarter of a language⁵ and not yearn to know what others think? Under their hats may be ideas and thoughts that have never occurred to what’s under your tarbush—so much so that, did you but comprehend them, you’d wish you could have been their thinker’s contemporary, had the honor of his acquaintance, and held a splendid feast for him, decorated with sheaves of rice and wheat. How can you have reached the thirtieth year of your life without composing something of benefit to the people of your country? All I see before you are ledgers of sale and purchase, pages of outgoings and incomings, and letters full of corrupt phrases and lame expressions over which you pore morning and evening.

      4.1.12

      فاما اذا قصدت السفر لمجرد التفاخر فقط بان تقول مثلا فى مجلس زارك فيه اصحابك الكرمآ * واقرانك العظما * قد رايت مدينة كذا وشاهدت شوارعها النظيفة الواسعة وديارها الرحيبة ومراكبها الحسنة واسواقها البهيجة وخيلها المطهمة ونساها الرائعة وعساكرها الجرارة * واكلت فيها فى اليوم الاول كذا وشربت فى اليوم الثانى كذا * ثم ذهبنا بعد ذلك الى بعض الملاهى ثم الى احدى الملهيات * وبت معها على فراش وطى * وكان قبالة السرير مرآة كبيرة فى طول الفراش وعرضه فكنت ارى نفسى فيها كما كنت فى الفراش * ثم قمت فى الصباح وجاتنا خادمة صبيحة بصبوح او فطور * ثم عدت الى محلى فوجدت فيه فلانا ينتظرنى وكان ذلك نحو الساعة الحادية عشرة اى قبل الظهر بساعة * فتوجهنا معا الى البستان المسمى بالبتسان السلطانى * وبينما نحن نمشى فيه وننظر الى الشجر الباسقة والزهور المدبجة اذا بالفتاة التى بت عندها تماشى رجلا يغازلها * فلما راتنى تبسمت وسلمت علىّ * وكانّ سلامها لم يسؤ الرجل فانه نزع لى قبّعته فعجبت جدا من عدم غيرته * اذ لو كانت الفتاة عندى لحجبتها عن النور * فذلك كله يسمى فى العربية هَذَرا وهُرآء وهَفْتا وهرْجا وهَلْجا وسَقَطا وهَيْشا ووَتَغا وخَطَلا واِخلآ ولَخى وطَفانين وهَذَيانا وثرثرة وفرفرة وحذرمة وهبرمة وهثرمة وخزربة وخطلبة وغيذرة وشمرجة ونفرجة وهمرجة وثغثغة وفقفقة ولقلقلة ووقوقة وهتمنة وفى المتعارف عند العامة فشارا وعلكا * اذ لا فائدة فيه لاحد من الناس *

      If, on the other hand, your intention in traveling is simply to be able to boast and say, for example, during some gathering when your noble friends and mighty peers are visiting, “I saw such and such a city and beheld its wide clean streets, spacious homes, fine ships, magnificent markets, beautiful horses, wonderful women, and hosts of soldiers, and ate such and such there on the first day and drank such and such on the second, after which we went to a place of entertainment and from there to a lady who entertains and I spent the night with her on a soft bed, and in front of the bed there was a large mirror as long and wide as the bed itself, so I could see myself in it just as I was in the bed, and then I got up in the morning and a bonny maid brought us breakfast (liquid or otherwise) and then I went back to my lodgings and found so-and-so waiting for me, the time being then eleven o’clock, or about an hour before noon, and we set off together for the park known as the Royal Park and while we were walking there, looking at the towering trees and ornamental flowers, I suddenly caught sight of the girl I’d spent the night with walking with a man who was paying court to her and when she saw me, she smiled and said hello, and her greeting didn’t seem to upset the man, for he doffed his hat to me, and I was very much surprised at his lack of jealousy, as, had the girl been mine, I’d have hidden her from the light,” then it all amounts to nothing but what’s called in chaste Arabic hadhar (“prating”), hurāʾ (“prattling”), haft (“nonsense”), harj (“confusion”), halj (“making incredible claims”), saqaṭ (“false reporting”), haysh (“talking too much”), watagh (“mindless verbiage”), khaṭal (“excessive nonsense”), ikhlāʾ (“vacancy”), lakhā (“much ado about nothing”), ṭafānīn (“idle talk”), hadhayān (“senseless jabber”), thartharah (“chattering”), farfarah (“chittering”), ḥadhramah (“loquacity”), habramah (“garrulousness”), hathramah (“garrulity”), khazrabah (“rambling”), khaṭlabah (“ranting”), ghaydharah (“raving”), shamrajah (“blathering”), nafrajah (“blethering”), hamrajah (“blabbering”), thaghthaghah (“gabbling”), faqfaqah (“burbling”), laqlaqah (“clattering”), waqwaqah (“barking”), and hatmanah (“bombast”)—and in the ordinary speech of the common people, since it’s of no use to anyone, fashār (“bragging”) and ʿalk (“yakkety-yak”).

      4.1.13

      بخلاف ما اذا قلت لهم ان الغيسانى من الرجال هناك اذا حضر مجلسا فيه نسآ لا يغمز احداهن بعينه ولا يتبظرم ولا يبتهر(١)(١) تبظرم اذا كان احمق وعليه خاتم فيتكلم ويشير به فى وجوه الناس وابتهر ادعى كذبا وقال فجرت ولم يفجر * * ولا يقول لها انه يزور النسآ المحصنات بعلم بعولتهن وبغير علمهم وياكل عندهن ويشرب * ثم يخلو بهن فى مضاجعهن ويرجع الى منزله مسرورا * وكاىٍّ من مرة وضع يده فى جيبه فوجد فيه كيسا ملان من الدنانير او كاغد حوالة على بعض الصيارفة * وانه اذا مرّ فى الاسواق تتهافت على رويته البنات من الرواشن والشبابيك والكُوَى والسِهآء والاَجْلآ * فمنهن من تشير اليه بيدها او براسها * ومنهن من تهجله بعينها ثم تضع يدها على قلبها * ومنهن من ترميه بوردة * واخرى بباقة СКАЧАТЬ