Leg over Leg. Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq

Why do you all in the ocean of doubt and suspicion wade, why make commerce from surmise and therein trade? God will never listen to the prayer of you Orientals unless it first be approved by the Occidentals,⁹ nor will you be to the next world admitted unless your conduct in this world to this model you have fitted. Let then now the towheaded man shake hands with the black, the round-headed-with-bonnet with the cone-headed-with-cap. Let each of you harbor toward his brother pure and loving intentions and fulfill toward him his obligations. Then, since your disagreements with regard to Creation will have ceased, you’ll not differ as to the Creator, for He is Lord of all that’s west and east. It is His desire that the Orientals among you, should they travel to the west, should be welcomed by its people and taken to their breast.”

      Accept this advice and listen to what comes next

      by way of choice phrases and witty topoi in the text

      of this coming chapter

      which I have

      named ☞

      الفصل الثانى

      ڡي العشق والزواج

      Chapter 2

      Love and Marriage

      3.2.1

      قد ذكرت فى آخر الكتاب الثانى ان الفارياق ابتلاه الله بامراض كثيرة وكتب وفيرة ثم انجاه منها جميعا * وانه بعد ان راى نفسه معافًى منها اطمانّ خاطره واخلد الى الغنآ * والان ينبغى ان اذكر ختام هذه النوبة * وعاقبة هذه الحوبة * وتفصيل ذلك ان الدار التى كان فيها الخريجيّون كانت محاذية لدار بعض التجار * وكان له بنت تحبّ السماع واللهو والطرب وترتاح الى الغنآ جدا * فكانت اذا سمعت الفارياق يغنى او يعزف فى غرفته تصعد الى سطح دارها وتنصت الى ان يفرغ فتنزل الى حجرتها * فلما علم الفارياق ان صعودها كان لاجله اذ لم يكن احد غيره يظن به التعرّض لها صبت اليها نفسه ونزغه فيها نازغ من الهوى *

      I mentioned at the end of Book Two that God first afflicted the Fāriyāq with many diseases and more books, then rescued him from them all, and that, believing himself pardoned, he felt great relief and devoted himself to song. Now I must relate how that episode turned out and all that this sinful pursuit brought about. To get down to detail, the house that contained the Bag-men was next door to the house of a merchant who had a daughter¹⁰ who loved music, diversion, and the raptures of art, reserving a specially soft spot for singing. Every time she heard the Fāriyāq singing or playing in his room, she’d climb to the roof of her house and listen attentively until he was done, then go back down to her chamber. When the Fāriyāq discovered that she was making the climb for him—for it was not to be imagined that anyone else could have been exhibited to her¹¹—his soul fell ardently in love with her and felt for her the promptings of desire.

      3.2.2

      غير انه كان من طبعه النفور من الزواج حتى انه كان يحسب المتزوجين اشقى الناس * لان الحالة الزوجية لا يبدو منها فى الغالب سوى صعوبتها ومشاقها * وكان اذا قيل له فلان تزوج تاخذه به رافة ويرثى له كما يرثى لمن دار به تيّار شديد او رزئ برزيئة كبرى * فتنازغ فيه حٍ عاملا الهوى والحذر * فرجحت كفّة الاول الثانى فراى ان مجرد النظر اولى من التعرض باشارة تدل على انه ذو صبوة وهيام *

      At the same time, however, he was by nature so averse to the idea of marriage that he considered married men the least happy of people, for all that can be seen, in general, of the married state is its trials and tribulations. If ever he was told, “So-and-so has married,” he’d be overcome by pity and would mourn for him as for one swept away by a mighty torrent or afflicted by some other terrible calamity. At that moment, then, the two elements of love and caution waged war within him, the latter in the end coming to outweigh the former in the scale. He therefore decided that it was a better idea simply to look than to make any sign indicating that he was head over heels in love.

      3.2.3

      ومكثا على ذلك مدة وهو احذر من القِرِلَّى * حتى اذا كان يوم ورآها تمسح محاجرها بمنديل امّا من حرّ الشمس او من غيره اعتقد بمجامع قلبه انها تمسح دموعها شوقا اليه * فانفتقت بنائق الصبر من صدره * وهاج به الوجد لازالة حذره * وقال فى نفسه ايقابل احد غيرى دموع باكية بالاعراض * وهل ورآ الدموع غير الهوى * كيف لا تذيبنى وما قلبى بجلمد * ولا انا بمخلّد * وقد علمت ان اعظم لذات الحيوة ما اذا وجد الانسان له خدينا نويّا * وقرينا صفيّا * وانا غريب محتاج الى مؤنس فى وحشتى * ورفيق فى وحدتى * ومَن مؤنسٌ مثل الزوجة * واىّ خير فى العزوبة لمن رزقه الله قوته وحَوْجه *

      The two of them continued in this fashion for a while, he behaving more shyly than the loon, which dives the moment it senses danger, until that day when he saw her wipe her eyes with a handkerchief (whether from the heat of the sun or for some other reason) and convinced himself in the depths of his soul that she was wiping away tears of yearning for him. At this his breast burst the gussets of resignation and emotion drove him to abandon circumspection. To himself he said, “Would any but I confront the tears of a weeping woman by turning away? And behind those tears can there be anything but love? How can they not melt me, when my heart’s no rock, I no knave of low-mannered stock? I know that the greatest pleasures in life depend on finding a boon companion and sympathetic friend. I am a stranger, in need of one to cheer me when I long for home, a comrade when I’m all alone. Who better to cheer one than a wife, and what benefit lies in bachelorhood once God has provided one with food and the other needs of life?”

      3.2.4

      وبمثل هذه الخواطر السريعة وطّن نفسه على تحمّل اعبآ الهوى من اى جهة كانت * فمن ثم فتح باب الاشارة بينهما * فمن بين يد توضع على القلب مرة وعلى الخد اخرى * واصبع تقرن باخرى * وذراعين تشبحان مع تنفس وزفير * وشفتين تضمّان * وراس يهزّ وغير ذلك مما يتعلل به المبتدئون فى الحب * فاما المتناهون فلا يرضيهم الاّ الهصر بالفودين كما نص عليه الاستاذ امرء القيس * ودامت دولة الاشارة بينهما