The Journey of Two Moons (مسيرة قمرين) — Page 12

Arabic text · النص

Line-by-line translation · المعاني

مَسِيرَةُ قَمَرَيْنِ.

Two Moons Journey.

لَمْ أَرْغَبْ فِي أَنْ أَتَعَرَّفَ إِلَيْهَا.

I didn't want to get to know her.

وَقَفْتُ مَكَانِي أَتَطَلَّعُ حَوْلِي، وَحِينَئِذٍ رَأَيْتُ الْوَجْهَ الْمُسْتَنِدَ إِلَى زُجَاجِ نَافِذَةٍ عُلْوِيَّةٍ بِالْمَنْزِلِ الْمُجَاوِرِ.

I stood still, looking around, and saw a face pressed against the glass of an upper window in the house next door.

كَانَ وَجْهُ فَتَاةٍ مُسْتَدِيرًا، وَبَدَا عَلَيْهِ الْخَوْفُ.

It was a girl's round face, and she looked afraid.

لَمْ أَكُنْ أَعْرِفُ ذَلِكَ حِينَهَا، لَكِنَّ الْوَجْهَ كَانَ لِفَتَاةٍ تُدْعَى فِيبِي وَيْنْتَرَبُوتُوم، وَهِيَ فَتَاةٌ تَمْتَلِكُ خَيَالًا وَاسِعًا، وَسَتَصِيرُ فِيمَا بَعْدُ صَدِيقَتِي، وَسَيَقَعُ لَهَا الْكَثِيرُ مِنَ الْغَرَائِبِ.

I didn't know it then, but that was Phoebe Winterbottom, a girl with a wild imagination who would later become my friend and experience many strange things.

مُنْذُ وَقْتٍ لَيْسَ بِطَوِيلٍ، حِينَ كُنْتُ عَالِقَةً مَعَ جَدِّي فِي سَيَّارَةٍ لِسِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ، حَكَيْتُ لَهُمَا قِصَّةَ فِيبِي، وَلَمَّا وَصَلْتُ إِلَى نِهَايَتِهَا - بَلْ حَتَّى بَيْنَمَا كُنْتُ أَحْكِيهَا لَهُمَا - أَدْرَكْتُ أَنَّ قِصَّتَهَا تُشْبِهُ الْجِدَارَ الْجِصِّيَّ الَّذِي كَانَ مَوْجُودًا فِي بَيْتِنَا الْقَدِيمِ فِي بَايْبَانْكْس، كَنْتَاكِي.

Not long ago, while I was stuck in a car with my grandparents for six days, I told them Phoebe's story. By the time I reached the end—or even while I was telling it—I realized her story was like the plaster wall in our old house in Bybanks, Kentucky.

لَمْ يَكُنْ قَدْ مَرَّ عَلَى رَحِيلِ أُمِّي فِي صَبَاحِ أَحَدِ أَيَّامِ أَبْرِيلَ وَقْتٌ طَوِيلٌ حِينَ بَدَأَ أَبِي فِي تَكْسِيرِ الْجِدَارِ الْجِصِّيِّ فِي غُرْفَةِ الْمَعِيشَةِ بِمَنْزِلِنَا فِي بَايْبَانْكْس.

My mother had only been gone a short while, since that April morning, when my father started breaking down the plaster wall in our living room in Bybanks.

كُنَّا نَسْكُنُ مَنْزِلَ مَزْرَعَةٍ قَدِيمًا كَانَ أَبَوَايَ يَرُمِّمَانِهِ، غُرْفَةً تِلْوَ الْأُخْرَى.

We lived in an old farmhouse that my parents were renovating, one room at a time.

كُلَّ لَيْلَةٍ بَيْنَمَا كَانَ يَنْتَظِرُ أَنْ تَرُدَّهُ أَخْبَارٌ مِنْ أُمِّي، كَانَ يَكْسِرُ جُزْءًا مِنَ الْجِدَارِ.

Every night, while waiting for word from my mother, he would break away a piece of the wall.

فِي اللَّيْلَةِ الَّتِي وَرَدَنَا فِيهَا الْخَبَرُ السَّيِّئُ - أَنَّهَا لَنْ تَعُودَ - ظَلَّ يَضْرِبُ الْجِدَارَ بِإِزْمِيلٍ وَمِطْرَقَةٍ.

The night the bad news arrived—that she wasn't coming back—he kept hammering at the wall with a chisel.

وَفِي الثَّانِيَةِ صَبَاحًا، صَعَدَ إِلَى غُرْفَتِي.

At two in the morning, he came up to my room.

لَمْ أَكُنْ نَائِمَةً.

I wasn't asleep.

وَاقْتَادَنِي إِلَى أَسْفَلَ وَأَرَانِي مَا اكْتَشَفَهُ.

He led me downstairs and showed me what he had found.

كَانَ الْجِدَارُ الْجِصِّيُّ يُخَبِّئُ وَرَاءَهُ مِدْفَأَةً مِنَ الْقَرْمِيدِ.

Behind the plaster wall was a brick fireplace.

تُذَكِّرُنِي قِصَّةُ فِيبِي بِذَلِكَ الْجِدَارِ الْجِصِّيِّ وَالْمِدْفَأَةِ الْمُتَوَارِيَةِ خَلْفَهُ لِأَنَّهَا تُخَبِّئُ وَرَاءَهَا قِصَّةً أُخْرَى.

Phoebe's story reminds me of that wall and the fireplace hidden behind it, because it, too, conceals another story.

قِصَّتِي أَنَا.

My own.

Vocabulary · المفردات (37 verbs · 49 nouns)

• رَغِبَ — to desire
• تَعَرَّفَ — to get to know
• وَقَفَ — to stand
• تَطَلَّعَ — to look
• رَأَى — to see
• اِسْتَنَدَ — to lean
• بَدَا — to seem
• عَرَفَ — to know
• دَعَا — to call
• مَلَكَ — to possess
• صَارَ — to become
• وَقَعَ — to happen
• حَكَى — to tell
• وَصَلَ — to arrive
• أَدْرَكَ — to realize
• أَشْبَهَ — to resemble
• مَرَّ — to pass
• بَدَأَ — to begin
• سَكَنَ — to live
• رَمَّمَ — to restore
• انْتَظَرَ — to wait
• رَدَّ — to reply
• كَسَرَ — to break
• وَرَدَ — to arrive
• عَادَ — to return
• ظَلَّ — to remain
• ضَرَبَ — to hit
• صَعَدَ — to ascend
• اقْتَادَ — to lead
• أَرَى — to show
• اكْتَشَفَ — to discover
• خَبَّأَ — to hide
• ذَكَّرَ — to remind
• تَوَارَى — to hide oneself, to vanish
• امْتَلَكَ — to possess
• عَلِقَ — to be stuck
• وُجِدَ — to exist
• مَسِيرَة — journey
• قَمَر — moon
• مَكَان — place
• وَجْه — face
• زُجَاج — glass
• نَافِذَة — window
• مَنْزِل — house
• فَتَاة — girl
• خَوْف — fear
• خَيَال — imagination
• صَدِيق — friend
• كَثِير — many
• غَرِيبَة — strange thing
• وَقْت — time
• جَدّ — grandfather
• سَيَّارَة — car
• يَوْم — day
• قِصَّة — story
• نِهَايَة — end
• جِدَار — wall
• جِصِّيّ — plaster
• مَوْجُود — present
• بَيْت — house
• قَدِيم — old
• رَحِيل — departure
• أُمّ — mother
• صَبَاح — morning
• تَكْسِير — breaking
• غُرْفَة — room
• مَعِيشَة — living
• مَزْرَعَة — farm
• لَيْلَة — night
• خَبَر — news
• جُزْء — part
• سَيِّئ — bad
• إِزْمِيل — chisel
• مِطْرَقَة — hammer
• ثَانِيَة — second
• نَائِم — sleeping
• أَسْفَل — bottom
• مِدْفَأَة — fireplace
• قَرْمِيد — brick
• عَالِقَة — stuck (female)
• مُسْتَدِير — circular
• غَرَائِب — oddities, strange things, curiosities
• مُجَاوِر — adjacent
• صَدِيقَة — friend
• أَب — father
• أَخْبَار — news