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Nizar Qabbani; “River of Sorrows” Posted by on Dec 17, 2014 in Arabic Language, Culture, Pronunciation, Vocabulary

    Ahlan أهــْــلاً Arabic lovers! Today, I am presenting a very beautiful love poem by the great Arab poet Nizar Qabbani نــِــزَار قــَــبــَّــانــِــي . The poem is entitled; “River of Sorrows نــهــرُ الأحــزان“. It reflects the suffering that the poet finds in his love. I have also posted a youtube video of Nizar Qabbani reciting the whole poem in Arabic so that you can listen to the poem as long as reading it in both Arabic and English. There is also the youtube song of the poem sung by Khalid Al-Sheikh خــالــد الـــشــيــخ . I made the English translation for the poem and I hope you will love it.

عـيـنـاكِ كـنـهـري أحــزانِ

Your eyes are like two rivers of sorrow

نـهـري مـوسـيـقـى .. حـمـلانـي

Two rivers of music .. that took me

لـوراءِ ، وراءِ الأزمــانِ

Far, beyond the times

نـهـرَي مـوسـيـقـى قـد ضـاعـا

Two music rivers that were lost

سـيـّـدتـي .. ثـمَّ أضـاعــانـي

O, Mistress .. then they lost me

الـدمـعُ الأسـودُ فـوقـهـمـا

Black tears over them

يـتـسـاقـطُ أنـغـامَ بـيــانِ

Fall like clear tunes

عـيـنـاكِ وتـبـغـي وكـحـولـي

Your eyes, my tobacco, my alcohol

والـقـدحُ الـعـاشـرُ أعـمـانـي

And the tenth glass has blinded me

وأنـا فـي الـمـقـعـدِ مـحـتــرقٌ

And I am in the chair, burning

نـيـرانـي تـأكــلُ نـيــرانـي

My fires eat my fires

أأقــولُ أحـبـّــكِ يـا قـمـري؟

Shall I say that I love you, my Moon?

آهٍ ، لــو كـانَ بـإمـكــانـي

Oh, if only I could,

فـأنـا لا أمـلكُ فـي الـدنـيــا

As I have nothing in this world

إلا عـيـنـيــكِ وأحــزانـي

Except for your eyes and my sorrows

سـُــفـنـي فـي الـمـرفـأ بـاكـيــةٌ

My ships are in the harbor crying

تـتــمــزّقُ فـوقَ الـخــلـجــانِ

Being torn over the bays

وَ مـصــيـري الأصـفــرُ حــطــّــمـنـي

And my yellow fate has destroyed me

حـطــّــمَ فـي صـدري إيـمـانـي

It has destroyed the faith in my chest

أأســافــرُ دونــكِ لـيـلـكــتــي؟

Shall I travel without you, my Lilac?

يـا ظـِــلَّ الله بـأجـفــانـي

O, you; the shadow of God in my eyes

  يـا صـيـفـي الأخـضــرَ ، يـا شـمـسـي 

O, you; my green summer, my sun

يـا أجـمــلَ .. أجـمــلَ ألــوانـي

O, you most beautiful of my colors

هـل أرحــلُ عـنـكِ وَ قـصــّــتــنــا

Shall I leave you and our story

أحـلـى مـن عـودةِ نـيـســانِ؟

Is sweeter than the return of April?

أحـلـى مـن زهـرةِ غـارديـنـيــا

Sweeter than the gardenia

فـي عــُــتــمــةِ شـعـــرٍ إسـبــانـي

In the darkness of Spanish hair

يـا حـبــّـي الأوحـدَ .. لا تـبــكـي

O, my only love .. don’t cry

فــدمــوعــُــكِ تـحـفــرُ وجـــدانـي

Because your tears dig in my heart

إنـي لا أمـلـكُ فـي الـدنـيــا

I have nothing in the world

إلا عـيـنـيــكِ  .. وَ أحــزانـي

Except for your eyes .. and my sorrows

أأقــولُ أحــبــكِ يــا قــمـــري؟

Shall I say that I love you, my Moon?

آهٍ ، لــو كــان بــإمــكــانـي

Oh, if I could

فــأنـــا إنــســانٌ مـفــقـــودٌ

I am a lost human

لا أعــرفُ فـي الأرضِ مـكـانـي

I don’t know my place on earth

ضــيــّــعــنـي دَربــي .. ضــيــّــعــَــني

My road has lost me

ضــيــّــعــَــني إسـمــي ..

My name has lost me

 ضـيــَّــعــني عــنــوانـي

My address has lost me

تــاريــخــي! مـا لـيَ تـاريــخٌ

My history! I have no history

إنــي نـسـيــانُ الـنـســيــانِ

I am the oblivion on oblivion

إنــي مــرســـاةٌ لا تــرســُـــو

I am an anchor that never comes ashore

جــُـــرحٌ بـمـلامـِــحِ إنــســـانِ

A wound with the features of a human

مـَــاذا أعــطــيـــكِ؟ أجــيــبــيــنـي

What should I give you? Answer me

قـلـقــِــي؟ إلـحــادي؟ غــثــيــانـي؟

My worry? My atheism? My sickness?

مــاذا أعــطــيـــكِ ســوى قــدرٍ

What should I give you but a destiny

يــرقـــصُ فـي كــفِّ الــشــيــطــانِ

That dances in the hands of Satan

 أنــا ألـــفُ أحــبــّـــكِ .. فــإبــتــعــدي 

I love you a thousand times .. so keep away

عــنــّـي .. عــن نــاري ودُخــانــي

From me .. from my fire and smoke

فــأنــا لا أمــلــكُ فــي الــدنــيـــا

As I have nothing in the world

إلا عــيــنــيـــكِ … وَ أحـــزانــي  

Except for your eyes .. and my sorrows

*****

Check us back Soon 

Peace  ســـلام /Salam/

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About the Author: Fisal

Well, I was born near the city of Rasheed or Rosetta, Egypt. Yes, the city where the Rosetta Stone was discovered. It is a small city on the north of Egypt where the Nile meets the Mediterranean. I am a Teacher of EFL.