أفكار تسافر
أبعد من الناس. Ideas travel
further than people.

مِنْ مُلْتَقَى الوَلَعِ بِالحُرُوف، وَمَا اقْتَرَفَتْهُ الأَيَادِي مِنْ أَخْطَاء؛

From where a passion for words meets the mistakes that hands have made;

مِنْ حُفَرٍ وَقَعَتْ بِهَا الخُطَى، وَمِنْ تَأَمُّلٍ لَمْ يَخْلُ قَطُّ مِنْ رَجَاء.

From pits into which footsteps fell, and from reflection never bereft of hope.

مِنْ عُمْقِ اللَّيْلِ الذِي امْتَزَجَتْ بِهِ تَرَدُّدَاتُ المَشَاعِر، وَكَشَفَتْ مَعَاجِمُ السَّكِينَةِ بِهِ كُلَّ بَعِيدٍ غَابِر.

From the depths of night, where the resonances of feeling mingled and the lexicons of stillness unveiled all that was distant and obscure.

مِنْ أَرْضِ الأَفْرَاحِ التِي لَمَّت، وَبَحْرِ الأَقْرَاحِ الذِي شَتَّت.

From the land of joys that united, and the sea of sorrows that divided.

مِنْ لُبِّ وَجَعٍ كَفَّهُ الصَّمْتُ رَغْمًا فَاكْتَفَى قَلْبُهُ بِالبُكَاء، مِنْ مَكْنُونِ حَقَائِقَ طَرَحَتْ عَلَنًا مَا بِالأَحْشَاءِ.

From the core of a pain that silence forcibly restrained, leaving its heart to settle for weeping; from the hidden depths of truths that brought into the open what lay within.

مِنْ مَوَاقِفَ طَرَقَتِ الأَبْوَابَ بِلَا اسْتِئْذَان، وَأَقْدَارٍ أَبَتْ إِلَّا أَنْ تَكُونَ المَكَان.

From circumstances that knocked at doors unbidden, and destinies that insisted on being the very place itself.

مِنْ بَصِيرَةٍ لَمْ تَرَ جَدْوَى فِي الكَلَام، وَمَوْهِبَةٍ فَجَّرَتْهَا النَّوَائِبُ وَصَقَلَتْهَا الأَيَّام.

From insight that saw no use in speech, and a gift that adversity unleashed and time refined.

لِكُلِّ مُحِبٍّ لِلحَرْفِ وَعَاشِقٍ لِطَرَبٍ مُغَنِّيَتُهُ عِبَارَة، لِكُلِّ مَنْ وَجَدَ فِي الكُتُبِ بَيْتًا تُلْهِمُهُ اسْتِقْرَارَه.

For every lover of the written word and of the rapture that a phrase sings; for all who have found in books a home that inspires a sense of stability.

لِمَنِ ابْتَعَدَ بَاحِثًا عَمَّا دَنَا، لِمَنْ أَثْقَلَ كَاهِلَهُ التَّرَدُّدُ بَيْنَ مَا هُنَاكَ وَهُنَا.

For those who went far in search of what lay near; for those weighed down by indecision between what lies there and what lies here.

لِمَنْ وَقَعَ وَاخْتَارَ القِيَام، لِمَنِ ابْتَغَى مِنَ الحَرْفِ السَّلَام.

For those who fell and chose to rise; for those who sought peace in the written word.

لِمَنْ عَاكَسَ النَّوْمُ وِسَادَتَه، أَوِ اسْتَنْزَفَ اليَوْمُ إِرَادَتَه.

For those whose pillows sleep has shunned, or whose resolve the day has drained.

لِمَنْ جَعَلَ مِنْ مُسَاءَلَةِ النَّفْسِ بَصِيرَة، وَصَاغَ مِنْ مَرَارَةِ التَّجْرِبَةِ ذَخِيرَة.

For those who turned self-questioning into insight, and forged from the bitterness of experience a reserve to draw upon.

لِمَنْ تُلْهِمُهُ حِكْمَةُ الكَلِمَة، وَيَسْتَضِيءُ بِمَعْنَاهَا حِينَ تَسْتَحْكِمُ العَتَمَة.

For those whom the wisdom of the word inspires, and who draw light from its meaning when darkness closes in.