الغراب - The Raven

[سلاف]

في ليلةٍ كتمت على أنفاسي
...................همّي يصاحبني بها مع ياسي
كم خاطر يعتادني بفصوله
...............كم كنت أحسبني له بالناسي
سِنَةٌ ألمّت بي وطرْقٌ خافتٌ
............أيكون هذا الطرق من وسواسي ؟
هو زائرٌ تمتمتُ يطرق حجرتي
..............لا شيءَ أكثرَ، ما بِذا من باسِ
آهٍ فذا كانونُ حلّ ببرده
..................وظلامِه هذا المرير القاسي
وهنا الجمارُ تراقصت أشباحها
................قبل الممات يلحنَ كالنبراسِ
لينورُ كانت هاهنا. جذابةٌ
.............فاقت وضاءَ تُها على الألماسِ
(منْ مقرضي أملاً بفجرٍ أحتمي
.................فيه لفقد النورَ من إبلاسي)
أسمٌ لإيقاني بغيبةَ لفظهِ
..............أخشى الستائرَ مثلما أنفاسي
ومطمئنا قلبي وقفت مردداً
................هو زائرٌ ما إن بذا من باسِ
وبذا كأنّي قد وُهِبت شجاعةً
..............ففتحت بابي لائذا بحماسي:
"سيّدتي أو ربما يا سيّدي
.............عفواً لوقتٍ كان فيه لباسي
منك السماحُ فقد طرقتَ برقةٍ
.........طردت من الأجفان كلّ نعاسِ
وأخفتني". وفتحت بابي لم يكن
.............إلا الظلام فزاد من وسواسي
من دهشتي - والخوفُ يفعل فعله -
.........ومن الشكوك تصاككت أضراسي
لا شيءَ إلا الصمت يفرض نفسه
.............(لينورُ) كانت وحدها إيناسي
إسمٌ همست به وددت لوانّني
...............رافقت من ناديت للأرماسِ
ورجعتُ في نفسي مواجدُ جمّةٌ
................والدقّ عاد فيا له من قاسِ
فلعلّها ريحٌ على شبّاكـ(ـنا)
............... نعم الضميرُ لوحدتي من آسِ
حاولتُ من روعي أهدّئ فاتحاً
.................مصراعه قد صُكّ بالمتراسِ
فإذا غرابٌ خلتُه لُبَداً دنا
................في حلّةٍ من حُلكةِ الحنداسِ
يا ويحه لِمَ لَمْ يُحيِّ مُضيفه
..............إذ حطّ فوق الرأسِ من (بلّاسِ)....(1)
وجثا عليه واطمأنّ تكلّفاً
...................فكأنّه قد شُدّ بالأمراسِ
وضحكت رغم توجّسي من حلّةٍ
.................فيها بدا لي مثلما الفرناسِ........(2)
يا أيّها الآتي من الظلمات قلْ
.............ما اسمُ الكريمِ حماكَ ربُّ الناسِ
(هيهاتَ) قالَ فكم عرتني دهشةٌ
.................لكلامِ طيرٍ واضحٍ فِلْحاسِ.........(3)
ما همّني فحوى الكلام وإنما
..............(هيهات) ينطقها غرابٌ جاسِ.........(4)
هيَ لفظةٌ وكأنما من بعدها
..............عمرٌ له قد نيط باخرنماسِ ......(5)
بالصمت لاذَ وبالسكون كليهما
...............حتى أتى أذنيّ من تهماسي:
"قد راح اصحابي وأحلامي كما
............بغد سترحلُ " قلت في استيئاسِ
(هيهات) قال، بدون شك إنه
...............يعني بهيهاتَ اختزالَ مآسِ
وضحكت رغم توجّسي من حلّةٍ
.................فيها بدا لي مثلما الفرناسِ
وجلست في الكرسيّ مقتبلاً له
............وقسمت أخماسي على أسداسي.....(6)
(هيهاتَ!) ما المعنى الذي يرمي له
.............من نطقها هذا الغراب الجاسي
من دون جدوى كان تفكيري بها
................والطير بنظر نظرة الجسّاسِ......(7)
كالنار في صدري وفي رأسي معاً
.............ترعى فأمَلْت متكئا قليلا راسي
حيث الأريكة من دمقس نسجُها
..............والضوءُ يغمره بلون نحاسِ
كم هاهنا كاس المودّة أترعت
..........هيهاتَ نشرب ثانيا من كاس

أحسست أن الجو صار مضمخاً
................من أينَ نفح الورد والبسباسِ......(8)
وكأنما وقعٌ لأقدام له
...............رغم الخفوتِ ترنم الأجراسِ
أهم الملائكُ والعزاءُ أتوا به
...........(هيهات) ما قال الغراب الجاسي
يا أيها الطيف الذي قد أمّني
............هل أنت لي عن فقدها بِمُواسِ
ألديكَ ما ينسي العليل غرامه
.............. (هيهات) ما قال الغراب الجاسي
بالله قل ولْتشف قلبَ مولَّهٍ
.......................أبجنةٍ لينور بين الآسِ
حسناءُ ترفل في النعيم بدلّها
.......... (هيهات) ما قال الغراب الجاسي
"كن ما تكون" صرخت" غادر حجرتي"
...............وارجع إلى بحر الظلامِ الكاسي
لا تتركنْ أثرا لديّ فوحدتي
..................محبوبتي في قدّها الميّاسِ
إرحل بمنقارٍ تخلّلَ خافقي
..........(هيهاتَ) ما قال الغراب الجاسي
حيث استقرّ له عيونٌ سمّرتْ
..............ويمور فيها الحلمُ كالرَّجّاسِ ......(9)
من راعش المصباح رعشُ خياله
................قد لاح مثل توثّب المرئاسِ.......(10)
وبه ثوت روحي على أرضيّةٍ
.............(هيهاتَ) ترجع ثانيا أنفاسي

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(1)....بلّاس تمثال آلهة يونانية/فلّاس إسم صنم لطيء فانظر تشابه الكفرين اليوناني والطائي حتى في الأسماء.سبحان الله العظيم
(2).... الفرناسِ : كبير الدهاقنة
(3).... فلحاس: القبيح السمج، ungainly = اخرق أو قبيح
واضح عائدة للكلام، وفلحاس للطير
(4)...... الجاسي : الثقيل
(5)....... الاخرنماس: السكوت
انظر إلى ما بين قوسين وكأنه الأصل الثلاثي وكأن بعض الصيغ مشتقات من أصل ما بين قوسين
إخرنمس ...... إ (خ) ( ر) ن م (س )
إفرنقع.........إ (ف) (ر) ن (ق) ع
(6).......ضحكت وأنا أقول قسمت أخماسي على أسداسي، أليس ما يجوز فيه الضرب تجوز فيه القسمة خاصة إذا استدعى ذلك الوزن
(7)......الجسّاس: الأسد
(8)..... البسْباس: نبت طيب الرائحة
(9).....الرّجاس : البحر
(10)..... الفرس يَعَضُّ رؤوس الخيل أو يتقدمها

===========================

بذلت جهدا في ترجمة هذه القصيدة يفوق سواها للأسباب التالية:
1- قرأت عنها بعض التعليقات التي أثبتها أدناه، وبينما كنت أجد حرية أكبر في ترجمة الجو العام للقصائد الغزلية فإنني هنا وجدت من الضروري المحافظة على بعض الأجواء والانطباعات بالقدر الممكن.

2- آخر فقرات في القصيدة فيها تعابير قد تخالف معتقدنا فحاولت الاختصار فيها، وتقل الجو العام بكثير من التصرف

3- البيت الأخير كانت ترجمته على أساس أنه مات فإن الترجمة تتبع ذلك الفهم. إن خطأ أو صوابا. واستندت في ذلك إلى تعليق قرأته يقول كاتبه:

The shadow of his very soul unable to leave the floor. He's dead.

ظل روحه لا يبرح الأرض، فقد مات.

4- في الجزء الأخير من القصيدة شعرت بحاجتي للاستعانة بالقاموس من أجل الحفاظ على القافية من جهة ولوجود نعرجات تعبيرية ربما تستتبع تعرجات لفظية. وفكرت في تغيير القافية ثم رأيت أن جمال القصيدة سيخدشه ذلك ولا بأس من غرابة بعض الألفاظ في قصيدة كتلك يقول عنها قارئ إنجليزي إنه اضطر للرجوع للقاموس مرات ليعرف معنى بعض الألفاظ

I had to look up in the dictionary for a great number of words. Poe even includes old english words, from the times of yore.. It's quite remarkable that words were carefully chosen to provoke reading with eyes wide open

5- كم هي عظيمة لغتنا، وكم أستغرب الذين يقولون بتقليد الشعر الأجنبي في التحرر من القافية التي لا يجد الشاعر الأجنبي (الإنجليزي هنا ) أكثر من بضعة ألفاظ متجانسة فيضطر إلى تغيير القافية كل بضعة أبيات . وبعضهم لا يكتفي بتغيير القافية بل يريد التخلص منها ومن الوزن كذلك، ويسمي ما يبقى شعرا. وهذا ليس تقليلا من قدر ما يبقى وقد يكون خيراً من الشعر فالشعر إنما يتعلق بالشكل، وكم في صناعة النثر من غرر الشعر دونها بكثير .
أرفق هنا بعض المواد التي وجدنها حول القصيدة لمن أراد أن يتابع شيئا منها باللغة الأم وأدرجت معاني بعض الألفاظ.

(6) أشكل علي إيجاد تعبير عربي دقيق لكلمة (floor) فلا هي الأرضية لوحدها ولا هي البلاط لوحده، ولهذا تجنبتها إلا في الجزء الأخير لضرورتها، ومن لديه لفظة واحدة معبرة عنها فليتفضل بها مشكورا.

(7) ترددت في تقديم الأبيات والفقرات وما يقابلها من الترجمة وتفاصيل إشكاليات الترجمة فذلك أمر يطول.

==========

T H E R A V E N ن

Edgar Allan Poe

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
'' 'Tis some visitor,'' I muttered, ''tapping at my chamber door-
Only this, and nothing more.''

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,

And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow;- vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow- sorrow for the lost Lenore-
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore-
Nameless here for evermore.

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain

Thrilled me- filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating,
'' 'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door-
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;-
This it is, and nothing more.''

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,

''Sir,'' said I, ''or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,

That I scarce was sure I heard you''- here I opened wide the door;-
Darkness there, and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,

Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, ''Lenore!''
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, ''Lenore!''-
Merely this, and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,

Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
''Surely,'' said I, ''surely that is something at my window lattice:
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore-
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;-
'Tis the wind and nothing more.''

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,

In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore;
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door-
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door-
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,

By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore.
''Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,'' I said, ''art sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the Nightly shore-
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!''
Quoth the raven, ''Nevermore.''

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,

Though its answer little meaning- little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blest with seeing bird above his chamber door-
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as ''Nevermore.''

But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only

That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered- not a feather then he fluttered-
Till I scarcely more than muttered, ''other friends have flown before-
On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.'
' Then the bird said, ''Nevermore.''

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,

''Doubtless,'' said I, ''what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore-
Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore
Of 'Never- nevermore'.''

But the raven still beguiling all my fancy into smiling,

Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and door;
Then upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore-
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking ''Nevermore.''

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing

To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamplight gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamplight gloating o'er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!


Then methought the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer

Swung by Seraphim whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted floor.
''Wretch,'' I cried, ''thy God hath lent thee- by these angels he hath sent thee
Respite- respite and nepenthe, from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!''
Quoth the raven, ''Nevermore.''



''Prophet!'' said I, ''thing of evil!- prophet still, if bird or devil!-

Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted-
On this home by horror haunted- tell me truly, I implore-
Is there- is there balm in Gilead?- tell me- tell me, I implore!''
Quoth the Raven, ''Nevermore.''

''Prophet!'' said I, ''thing of evil- prophet still, if bird or devil!


By that Heaven that bends above us- by that God we both adore-
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore-
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore.''
Quoth the raven, ''Nevermore.''

''Be that word our sign in parting, bird or fiend,'' I shrieked, upstarting-

''Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken!- quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!''
Quoth the raven, ''Nevermore.''

And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting

On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted- nevermore!

====

The Raven:
There's a man tired, almost sleeping while he was reading, who receives the intriguing visit of a black bird. He's confused and thinks that the bird is a messenger of Lenore, who's dead. To all his questions the crow answers 'Nevermore'. It was not sent by Lenore, it was not sent by Heaven or by Hell, and will continue replying 'Nevermore'. In the end the man asks the raven to go out without leaving a trace of the bird that it is at his room. But the crow doesn't move and there's the shadow over the floor. It was too obvious that's the only thing that's there for him. The shadow of his very soul unable to leave the floor. He's dead.
So I understand that the raven is the death and the story is the agony. (I guess)
Comments:
I had to look up in the dictionary for a great number of words. Poe even includes old english words, from the times of yore.. It's quite remarkable that words were carefully chosen to provoke reading with eyes wide open. Literary resources like anaphors تكرار (still is sitting, still is sitting) alliteration جناس (entreating entrance) and more (nevermore) are broadly used all along the poem. And of course, the rythm إيقاع and the rhyme قافية . All of this gave as a result a bunch of wonderful, sad and thrilling verses.
I hope you will be pleased. I did as much as I could do. You can throw away the witherering flowers.. If there's something good to wish I wish it was today. Furthermore, feel free to wipe the glare off the screen. I feel touchy.

====

Another of my favourite poems - this is a lovely example
of both the art and the craft of poetry. The poetry is undeniable - the lovely atmospheric buildup, the increasingly distraught مذهلreactions of the narrator. But IMHO all that is overshadowed by the sheer quality of the verse - the complicated yet flawless rhyme scheme and metre, the way the different line lengths are balanced with no hint of strain, the plethora of polysyllabics that *work* rather than sounding pretentious. Of course, the distinctive, indeed instantly recognisable quality of the verse lends itself marvellously to parodyتقليد ساخر , and several excellent ones have been written. A few of them have been collected at <http://www.angelfire.com/al/10avs/ravenlike.html> The reader is strongly urged to read Poe's essay, 'The Philosophy of Composition', which uses The Raven for illustration, and which greatly enhances the understanding and enjoyment of the poem. The essay can be found at <http://www.poedecoder.com/Qrisse/works/philosophy.html> Some excerpts: I select 'The Raven' as most generally known. It is my design to render it manifest that no one point in its composition is referable either to accident or intuition- that the work proceeded step by step, to its completion, with the precision and rigid consequence of a mathematical problem. [...] The sound of the refrainاللازمة being thus determined, it became necessary to select a word embodying this sound, and at the same time in the fullest possible keeping with that melancholy which I had pre-determined as the tone of the poem. In such a search it would have been absolutely impossible to overlook the word "Nevermore." In fact it was the very first which presented itself. [...] Of course I pretend to no originality in either the rhythm or metre of the "Raven." The former is trochaic- the latter is octametre acatalectic, alternating with heptametre catalectic repeated in the refrain of the fifth verse, and terminating with tetrametre catalectic. Less pedantically the feet employed throughout (trochees) consist of a long syllable followed by a short, the first line of the stanza consists of eight of these feet, the second of seven and a half (in effect two-thirds), the third of eight, the fourth of seven and a half, the fifth the same, the sixth three and a half. Now, each of these lines taken individually has been employed before, and what originality the "Raven" has, is in their combination into stanza; nothing even remotely approaching this has ever been attempted. The effect of this originality of combination is aided by other unusual and some altogether novel effects, arising from an extension of the application of the principles of rhyme and alliteration. [...] I had now to combine the two ideas of a lover lamenting his deceased mistress and a Raven continuously repeating the word "Nevermore." I had to combine these, bearing in mind my design of varying at every turn the application of the word repeated, but the only intelligible mode of such combination is that of imagining the Raven employing the word in answer to the queries of the lover. And here it was that I saw at once the opportunity afforded for the effect on which I had been depending, that is to say, the effect of the variation of application. I saw that I could make the first query propounded by the lover- the first query to which the Raven should reply "Nevermore"- that I could make this first query a commonplace one, the second less so, the third still less, and so on, until at length the lover, startled from his original nonchalance by the melancholy character of the word itself, by its frequent repetition, and by a consideration of the ominous reputation of the fowl that uttered it, is at length excited to superstition, and wildly propounds queries of a far different character- queries whose solution he has passionately at heart- propounds them half in superstition and half in that species of despair which delights in self-torture- propounds them not altogether because he believes in the prophetic or demoniac character of the bird (which reason assures him is merely repeating a lesson learned by rote), but because he experiences a frenzied pleasure in so modelling his questions as to receive from the expected "Nevermore" the most delicious because the most intolerable of sorrows. Biographical Notes and Appraisal: Poe, Edgar Allan b. Jan. 19, 1809, Boston, Mass., U.S. d. Oct. 7, 1849, Baltimore, Md. American short-story writer, poet, critic, and editor who is famous for his cultivation of mystery and the macabre. His tale "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841) initiated the modern detective story, and the atmosphere in his tales of horror is unrivaled in American fiction. His "The Raven" (1845) numbers among the best-known poems in the national literature. Poe's work owes much to the concern of Romanticism with the occult and the satanic. It owes much also to his own feverish dreams, to which he applied a rare faculty of shaping plausible fabrics out of impalpable materials. With an air of objectivity and spontaneity, his productions are closely dependent on his own powers of imagination and an elaborate technique. His keen and sound judgment as appraiser of contemporary literature, his idealism and musical gift as a poet, his dramatic art as a storyteller, considerably appreciated in his lifetime, secured him a prominent place among universally known men of letters. The outstanding fact in Poe's character is a strange duality. The wide divergence of contemporary judgments on the man seems almost to point to the coexistence of two persons in him. With those he loved he was gentle and devoted. Others, who were the butt of his sharp criticism, found him irritable and self-centred and went so far as to accuse him of lack of principle. Was it, it has been asked, a double of the man rising from harrowing nightmares or from the haggard inner vision of dark crimes or from appalling graveyard fantasies that loomed in Poe's unstable being? Much of Poe's best work is concerned with terror and sadness, but in ordinary circumstances the poet was a pleasant companion. He talked brilliantly, chiefly of literature, and read his own poetry and that of others in a voice of surpassing beauty. He admired Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. He had a sense of humour, apologizing to a visitor for not keeping a pet raven. If the mind of Poe is considered, the duality is still more striking. On one side, he was an idealist and a visionary. His yearning for the ideal was both of the heart and of the imagination. [...] On the other side, Poe is conspicuous for a close observation of minute details, as in the long narratives and in many of the de******ions that introduce the tales or constitute their settings. The same duality is evinced in his art. He was capable of writing angelic or weird poetry, with a supreme sense of rhythm and word appeal, or prose of sumptuous beauty and suggestiveness, with the apparent abandon of compelling inspiration; yet he would write down a problem of morbid psychology or the outlines of an unrelenting plot in a hard and dry style. In Poe's masterpieces the double contents of his temper, of his mind, and of his art are fused into a oneness of tone, structure, and movement, the more effective, perhaps, as it is compounded of various

[الصمصام]

والله لجهدك يشار له بالبنان

وكما قال اليتيم نتمنى أن نرى أعمالك المميز ة قريبا بصورة تليق بك
حتى يقرأها القاصي والداني


لك كل تحية وتقدير