Yasrab
(In the memory of a daughter buried alive in Pre-Islamic times.)

O! Father where are we going to? Bazaar!
What will you buy for me?
Doll, toys and a string of pearls!
Right!
I shall put on a string of white pearls
On my blue costume,
And shall return before the evening befalls.

Father! The shadows make me appalled,
Mother said, “Come back before the darkness prevails.”
Father! Would you take me back along?
”Yes! Will go back,” the father answered.
The girl was little,
But cumbersome were her apprehensions
Of darkness and shadows.

A thought to go back to mother,
Affection of the younger brother, everything she was recalling.
“Father never showed affection before this day,
How he took along me to buy a doll and a string of pearls,
All assurances of father are false and intention mala-fide,
“There dwell serpents of hatred of in his heart,” she said to herself.
But the world whispered to him, “The daughter is a spot
Of disgrace and one becomes downcast.”

How meager were the demands of the girl of six!
How many sons her two brothers had!
Yes; the same sons, heirs of the heredity,
Who enhance grandeur;
They enable a father to walk with high head.
Though he had nine sons,
Yet one daughter made his nights sleepless.

All times she had been saying, “My good father!
Swing me on the arms; bring me a string of pearls.”
She always complained to her father,
“Why am I not an apple of your eyes?
Why don’t you have affection for me?”
“I am all alone why mother remains annoyed
And brothers irritated too.
Though we live in the same house yet no one cares for me.”

(When shadows began to merge the father and the daughter stopped over a spot and she became afraid.)
“This is not a bazaar,
Everywhere surrounds inhibited wilderness,
With no human being.
O! Father what you are doing.
Have you concealed some treasure in sand of the desert?
Yes; I have to find my diamonds,
My pearls, my gold and prestige to live life with splendour.
O! Father I am thirsty, we have travelled a long way,
Let’s go back home without loss of more time.”

Father said, “Now you will have to remain here forever!”
“This is a wasteland; I will not live here,
I will go back to my mother,
I will play in the company of my brother,
He might be missing me,” the daughter said weeping.

The father dug a ditch with his own hands and said,
“I shall bring you here all things you yearn for,
Now you just lie in the ditch.”
The father began to bury his daughter,
The daughter wept, shrieked, shouted in agony,
“Father you promised to bring me a doll from the bazaar,
A string of pearls, dress, father what you have done!
Inside is dismal dark, let me come out,
I shall demand from you nothing.
I promise to you, I am being stifled inside here.
Father! Mom said to return before the night falls,
Let me go home you will never find me out,
My good father! I shall never tease you,
My promise, for the sake of God let me come out,
Inside I shall die, at last I am your daughter,
Just see my face once. Will you never remember me?”

Alas! Her weeping and wailing subdued in the grave,
But father’s heart did not soften,
In the depth of ditch, and loneliness of the desert
He buried his daughter with his own hands
And he returned with a high head and splendid walk
But silences bemoaned and bewailed behind,
And now bewailing voices are buried
Beneath the layers of fifteen centuries.

（Translated by Muhammad Shanazar）

 雅士拉伯
（纪念伊斯兰教创立之前，被活埋的爱女）

啊!爸爸我们要去哪里? 集市!
你会买什么给我？
布娃娃、玩具、还是一串珍珠！
对！
我会带上这串白珍珠
穿上蓝色的戏服
我会在夜幕降临之前回来

爸爸！阴影让我感到厌恶
妈妈说：“在夜黑降临之前回来”
爸爸！你会带我一起回去吗？
“是的！会回去，”父亲回答说。
女孩虽然很小，
但她无法排解
忧虑的黑暗和阴影。

她想回到妈妈身边，
想可爱的弟弟，想过去发生的一切。
“在这之前，爸爸从未对自己表达如此的爱意，
他怎么会带我一起去买布娃娃、珍珠项链，
爸爸的所有承诺都没有实现过，没有半点诚信的意思
“有一条仇恨的巨蛇盘踞在他的心脏里，”她自语道。
但是世界低声对他说，“女儿是耻辱的污点
让人沮丧蒙羞。”

六岁小女孩的需求是多么的微不足道！
她的两个哥哥生了几个儿子！
是的；一样的儿子，遗传的继承人，
他们提升了高贵和尊严；
他们让一个父亲抬得起头。
虽说父亲有九个儿子，
然而，一个女儿让他夜不成寐。

她总是一直在说，“我的好爸爸！
把我抱在怀里晃晃；给我买一串珍珠。”
她总是抱怨爸爸，
“为什么我不是你的掌上明珠？
你为什么不爱我？”
我很孤独，为什么妈妈仍然对我很恼火
哥哥们对我也很恼怒。
虽然我们同处一室可没有人关心我。”

（当阴影开始吞没父亲，女儿在一个黑点上停下来，她感到害怕。）
“这不是集市，
无尽的荒野笼罩四野，
了无人烟
噢！爸爸你在干什么。
你在沙漠中埋藏了一些宝藏吗？
是的，我必须找到我的钻石，
我的珍珠、我的黄金、我生活的威望、我生命的辉煌。
噢！爸爸，我渴了，我们已经走过了漫长的道路，
我们回家，没有太多的时间可以消磨了。”

父亲说，“现在，你不得不永远留在这里了！”
“这是一片荒原；我不想生活在这里，
我要回去找妈妈，
我要陪哥哥一起玩，
他应该会想念我，”女儿边说边哭。

父亲亲手刨了一个壕沟，说，
“我会把你渴望得到的所有东西带到这里给你，
现在，你就躺在这个沟里。”
父亲开始埋葬自己的女儿，
女儿哭着、尖叫着、痛苦的呐喊着，
“爸爸，你答应我要在市场上买个布娃娃给我，
一串珍珠项链、一条裙子、爸爸，你都做到了些什么！
沟里又阴又暗，让我出来，
我再不会向你要任何东西。
我祈求你，我快要在这里，窒息死了。
爸爸！妈妈说夜幕降临之前要回家，
让我回家，你再也见不到我走出家门，
我的好爸爸！我再也不会强求你什么，
我发誓，看在上帝的面上，让我出来，
在这里面，我会死的，我是你的女儿，最后，
再看看我的脸吧。你再也不记得我了吗？”

唉！她的哭泣、她的喪歌，在坟墓里逐渐减弱，
但是父亲的心始终没有软，
在壕沟的深处、在寂寥的荒漠
父亲用自己的双手埋葬了自己的女儿
他昂起头回到家，步伐矫健笑容满面
可是身后是沉闷的叹息、默默的哀叹
而现在这痛苦的声音就埋葬在
十五世纪的地层之下。

（默罕默德.沙拉扎尔英译；苏菲汉译）2013-12-29

混原版《世界诗人》季刊 74期