Leg over Leg. Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq

بادنى شى * فالقبلة عنده وفتح وغنيمة * قال الشريف الرضى

سلوا مضجعى عنى وعنها فاننا

رضينا بما يخبرن عنا المضاجع

      قلت لو كان لى تصرف فى هذا البيت لقلت عنها وعنى * وقال ابن الفارض رحٓمه

كم بات طوع يدى والوصل يجمعنا

فى بردتيه التقى لا نعرف الدنسا

      وهذا العشق يسمى عند الافرنج العشق الافلاطونى نسبة الى افلاطون الحكيم * ولا حقيقة له عندهم وانما هو مجرد تسمية * ويعرف عندنا بالهوى العُذْرى * نسبة الى عُذرة قبيلة فى اليمن لا الى عذرة الجارية اى بكارتها وافتضاضها وشى آخر منها * ويروى عن مجنون ليلى انها اتته يوما وجعلت تحدثه فقال لها اليك عنى فانى مشغول بهواك * وللمتنبى فى هذا المعنى

فشُغلتُ عن ردّ السلا

م فكان شغلى عنك بك

      Know too that many people have fallen in love with beautiful pictures, of males or females, and not for any lewd or immoral reason but simply because by so doing they found their souls were set at rest and their minds afire, being strengthened in this by the tradition that runs “He who loves, keeps silent, is chaste, and dies, dies a martyr.” In such a situation, the suitor is pleased with the slightest thing his beloved may give him: a kiss, to his mind, is a victory, a triumph, a prize of war. As al-Sharīf al-Raḍī says:

      Ask my bed of me and of her, for we

      Are content with what our beds may tell of us.

      (If I were given a free hand with this verse, I’d change it to “of her and of me.”²²) And Ibn al-Fāriḍ, may God have mercy on his soul, says:

      How oft he spent the night at the mercy of my hand, when we were joined in love!

      Within his doubled mantle godliness resides—we are innocent of all pollution.

      This kind of passion is called “platonic love” by the Franks, in reference to Plato the philosopher; it does not exist among them in reality, being merely a term they use. Among us it is known as “ʿUdhrī love,” after ʿUdhrah, a tribe in Yemen, and not after the ʿadhrah of the slave girl, meaning her virginity and intact state as well as something else that comes from her.²³ It is related of Majnūn Laylā that Laylā came to him one day and started talking to him, but he said, “Away with you! I am too busy with my love for you.” And al-Mutanabbī says in the same vein,

      I was distracted from returning your greeting

      And the source of my distraction was yourself.

      3.2.19

      واحقّ النسآ بان تُعشَق وتعزّز التى جمعت الى حسن خلقها الادب وحسن المنطق والصوت * واسعد الناس حالا من كان له حبيب يحبه كما جآ فى بعض المواليات المصرية * فانه والحالة هذه يقدم على اصعب الاعمال واعظم المساعى * ويباشرها دون ان يشعر بها * لان فكره ابدا مشغول بمحاسن حبيبه * فلو رفع صخرة فى هذه الحالة على عاتقه بل فِنْدًا لتوهم انه رافع نعال محبوبه او بالحرى رجليه * ثم انه معما يلحق المحبة من طوارى التنغيص والخيبة والحرمان وخصوصا مضض الغيرة فان عيش الخلى لا خير فيه * لان الحب يبعث على المرٓؤة والنخوة والشهامة والكرم * ويلهم المحب المعانى اللطيفة والخواطر الدقيقة * ويكسبه الاخلاق المرضية * ويستوحيه الى عمل شى عظيم يذكر به اسمه ويحمد شانه ولا سيما عند محبوبته * وقلما رايت عاشقا به جفآ وفظاظة او رثْء وبلادة او دنآءة وخساسة *

      The woman most worthy of love and esteem is she who adds culture and beauty of expression and voice to beauty of appearance, and the most fortunate of persons is “a lover who’s got a lover who loves him,” as it says in an Egyptian mawāliyā. In such a state, he will be emboldened to undertake the toughest of tasks and mightiest of endeavors and, his thoughts being ever preoccupied with his beloved’s charms, will perform them as though they were nothing. In such a state, were he to shoulder a rock, or even a mighty mountain, he’d fondly suppose he was lifting his beloved’s slippers or, to be more precise, his legs. Moreover, despite all the moments of misery, disappointment, deprivation, and, above all, the torments of jealousy that accompany love, there is nothing good about the life of the fancy-free. Love stimulates manliness, pride, gallantry, and generosity. It inspires the one in love with refined ideas and nice notions. It imbues him with godly morals and makes him want to do something great for which his name will be remembered and that will bring him praise, especially from his beloved. Rarely have I met a person in love who was cold and crude, foolish and given to hebetude, or base and rude.

      3.2.20

      وقال بعض العَزِهين واظنه من التيتائيّين * لو لم يمنع من عشق المراة شى بعد التعفف والتورّع سوى الاضطرار الى حبّها لكفى * لان الانسان متى علم انه مسخّر لحب شى ومكلّف به ملّه بالطبع ونفر منه * قال فيكون حب المراة على هذا مغايرا للطبع * هذا اذا كان الرجل شهما عزيز النفس عالى الهمة * فاما الاوباش من الناس فلا معرفة لهم بقدر انفسهم فهم يتساقطون على حب المراة حيثما عنّت لهم وكيفما اتفق * قلت هو كلام من لم يذق الحب او من كان مفرَّكا * (١) الزحنقف الزاحف على استه *ولو سمع انثى تقول له يوما احمل يا روحى هذا الحمل من الحطب على راسك * او احبُ يا عيني على استك كالولد الصغير للبّاها حاملا وزَحَنْقَفَا(١) *

      A certain abstemious person (who must, I think, have been a premature ejaculator) once said, “If the only thing—all considerations of continence and godliness aside—to prevent one from falling in love with a woman were the necessity of doing so, it would be enough, for when a person knows he is compelled and obligated to love something, he naturally finds it irksome and eschews