أملٌ شارد
بقلم:
حنان قدامة
ترجمها إلى الإنجليزية عبد اللطيف غسري
بخطوات مُتثاقلة ومُحطّمة ،صعدت إلى حافلة
النّقل المدرسي، ألقت جسدها الغض على المقعد وشرعت تُسرّحُ عينيها الدّامعتين في جُدران
مدرستها، عساها تُشبعُ نظرها منها ،فغدا ستُحجبُ عنها رؤيتُها ، غدا لن تركب الحافلة
المدرسية فهي موعودة بعد شهرين بركوب قطار زواج
استعجل الانقضاض على طفولتها البريئة.
كانت" زهرة "تعيش في كنف أسرة
ألفت شظف العيش ، يعولُها أبٌ أذلّتهُ تكاليفُ الحياة وقهرته آلامُ مرض لم ينفع معه
علاج ، سكن حبُّ الوالد شغاف" زهرة" تضاعف هذا الحبُّ بعد أن أذن لها بمتابعة دراستها الإعدادية في المدينة المُجاورة لقريتها
،ومُطاردة أملها في إكمال دراستها
.
بات حُلمُ إكمال الدّراسة صرحا في خيال"
زهرة" هوى بعد أن تقدّم لخطبتها أحدُ وُجهاء وكُبراء البلدة ،استسلمت لضغوط عائلتها
ولم تقو على مقاومة بريق الفرحة في عيون والديها وإخوتها الصّغار الذين أضناهم قهرُ
الزّمان.
أقبل الموعدُ وزّفت العروسُ إلى عريسها
الذي أذبل خريفُ عمره زهرة ربيعها السادس عشر. كانت" زهرة "عروسا شاردة،
تائهة عما يدور حولها كل ما أبصرتهُ في عرسها فرحة أبيها
فهي وحدها التي قدمت لها واجب العزاء.
أصرّت "زهرة "على أن تكون محفظتُها
ووزرتُها ضمن حاجياتها المحمولة في موكب الزفاف
،هي ذكراها الجميلة من ماض رأف بها قبل أن
تعصف بها أيامه الحالكة
.
بصُعوبة بالغة استطاعت" زهرة"
التكيّف مع دورها الجديد ،دنا منها الصبر ،دنت منه و لم تجد بُدا من الارتماء على حافته
، ساعدها على ذلك زوج لم تنكر عليه خلقا.
في غياب زوجها عن المنزل كانت "زهرة"
تلوذ بشُرفة غرفتها المُطّلة على ساحة القرية، تطل منها على أملها الشارد ، تتربّصُ
بحافلات النّقل المدرسي وهي تنقل صُويحبات الأمس القريب ، تراهن يحملن محافظهن، يتمايلن
وهن يتبادلن الضحكات التي تأذن لدُموعها الواكفة أن تُبلّل وجنتيها ولرُوحها المُنكسرة
أن تذُوب من الحنين ...و.لا ينتزعها من أنين الحنين إلا صوت زوجها ُيناديها .
بعد سنتين من الزواج رُزقت "زهرة
"بطفلتها البكر "أحلام" نسخت "زهرة "حُلمها بإكمال دراستها
بحرصها على تمكين صغيرتها من ذلك، اشترت لها محفظة وهي ما زالت تحبو كأنّها تستعجل
كبرها علّه يسكت حسرة تئن في الأعماق
.
حينما كانت "زهرة "تُهدهدٌ وليدتها
من أجل أن تنام ،تغفل عن كل تهويدات الرضّع
الشّعبية ولا يردد لسانها إلا ما يهواه فؤادها... كانت تردد نشيد:
مدرستي الحُلوة فيها جنّتي فيها تربينا .
ظلّت " زهرة " دوما تتماهى مع
الكلمات وكأنها تبعث مع النسيم سلاما واشتياقا إلى مدرستها .
كانت فرحة" زهرة "عظيمة يوم التحقت
ابنتُها بمدرسة القرية ،ليلتها جفاها الكرى،
ظلت تترقّبُ بزوغ الشّمس أيقظت صغيرتها على
أنغام "مدرستي الحلوة" سرّحت شعرها،
ألبستها وزرتها وهي تدندن بها .بعد أن ودّعت
طفلتها عادت بسرعة تلوذ بشُرفتها كما اعتادت مع اختلاف كبير، ففيما مضى كانت تُطاردُ أملا شاردا لكنّها اليوم
تتربّصُ وترنُو إلى أمل مُهتد
.
Stray Hope
A short story
by Hanan Kama
Translated
from Arabic by ABDELLATIF RHESRI
In heavy
broken footsteps she got on the school bus. She threw her young body onto the
seat and started moving her tearful eyes on the walls of her school, aiming to
have enough looking at them. For, the next day, she would be prevented from
seeing them. The following day, she would not be allowed to ride the school
bus. It was expected that two months later she would rather ride the train of
marriage that would prematurely pounce on her innocent childhood.
Zahra had got
accustomed to living in a family that was used to the hardships of living. A
family supported by a father humiliated by the costs of life and overpowered by
the pains of an untreatable disease. Fatherly love dwelt into Zahra's heart,
and it multiplied after he had allowed her to continue her preparatory
education in a town not far from her village, and to chase her dream to
accomplish her education.
That dream
became a castle in Zahra's imagination that soon collapsed after one of the
village notables had proposed to her. She gave in to her family's pressure and
was too weak to resist the glamour of joy in the eyes of her parents and young
siblings who were oppressed by the difficulties of time.
The wedding
day came, and the bride was taken to her groom whose old age caused the spring
flower of her sixteen-year-old life - to wither. Zahra appeared to be a stray
bride, completely oblivious of what was around her. All she took notice of was
her father's joy which was the only thing that consoled her.
Zahra
insisted that her school bag and
uniform
should be taken with her in the wedding procession. Those things were her nice
souvenirs of a past that had been gentle to her before she was drifted away by
its dark days.
With extreme
difficulty, Zahra managed to get accustomed to her new role. She stuck to
patience because she had no choice but to
stick to it, aided by a husband whose morals and behaviour were
unsuspicious for her.
At the time
of her husband's absence from home, Zahra would resort to her room's balcony
that overlooked the village square. She would look down on her stray Hope. She
would wait for the school buses to pass by the house carrying her girlfriends
of the near past. She saw them carrying their bags, swaying and exchanging
laughs that ca
caused her plentiful tears to flow down her cheeks and her broken soul to get fused with nostalgia. Nothing pulled her out of her state of nostalgia except her husband's voice calling her.
After two
years of marriage, Zahra had her firstborn female child Ahlam.
Zahra revived
her dream of accomplishing her education by making sure her daughter would be
able to do that. She bought her a school bag while she was still creeping, as
if she had impatiently wanted her to grow up quickly and silence a heartbreak
that was incessantly moaning deep inside.
When Zahra
lulled her baby she would ignore all the popular lullabies and utter nothing
but what her heart desired for.
She would
unleash that school ballad:
My nice
school
Is where we
have been raised
Zahra kept on
identifying herself with the words as if she had been sending her greetings and
longings to her school.
Zahra's joy
was tremendous when her daughter enrolled in the village school. She could not
sleep that night, waiting for the sun to rise. She woke up her little daughter
by chanting that ballad again. She combed her hair and dressed her humming it.
After she had
said goodbye to her child, she returned home fast to resort to her balcony as
usual. Yet, there was a big difference that time. For she had been chasing a
stray hope before, but now she was expecting the fulfilment of a
guided dream.
إرسال تعليق