لم يكن يومًا عاديًا كبقية الأيام، استيقظت وقد اعتراني شعور مروّع، إحساس غريب لا يشبه شيئًا مما خبرته من قبل. كان قد نما لرأسي رأسٌ مستقل! رأيته بأمّ عيني.. نعم، رأيته -رأس رأسي- يستيقظ، يغادر السرير، بينما أنا ورأسي الحقيقي مستلقيان بلا حراك، يعتصرنا ألم لا طاقة لنا به. نهض الرأس، وانفصل عني، كما لو أنني قُسِمتُ نصفين: نصف خرج مني يريد النجاة، ونصف يصرّ على البقاء في هذا الجسد المتخم بأسئلة تبحث عن أجوبة.
حاولتُ أن أستدرجه للعودة إلى جسدي، ظننت أن ذلك قد يوقف هذا الصداع العنيف، لكن الرأس اللعين لم يعرني انتباهًا، بل تابع سيره مبتعدًا دون اكتراث بصوتي الذي اختلط بالدمع واختنق في حلقي.
كانت مشيته واثقة، باردة، قاسية، توحي بأنه بيّت أمرًا ما، وأنه ماضٍ في تنفيذ ما رسمه دون تردد.
خرج ذلك الرأس -رأس رأسي- من غرفة النوم، وأنا أتبعه ببصري، عاجزة عن فعل أي شيء. كان له جسدٌ يشبه جسدي، ومع ذلك، كنت أعرف بقينًا في أعماقي أنه مجرد رأس، بلا جذع، بلا قلب، بلا نبض. لكن لماذا أراه بجسد؟ ولماذا يتحرك ككائنٍ كامل؟
إنه محض رأس.. فما الذي يريده من الجسد؟!
فكّرت أن ألحق به، لكنني كنت متسمّرة، كما لو أنني جُبلت من حجر، طوقتني قوة خفيّة، كبّلت أطرافي، ومضت تسحقني بثقلها، تشلني شللًا تامًا.
صرخت، ألتمس منه أن يفكّ قيدي، لكنه لم يسمعني، أو ربما لم يعد يريد أن يسمع، فبقي صدى صرختي عالقًا في الفراغ.
تملكني شعور مرعب أنني أعيش كابوس يقظة، لكن.. هل أنا يقظة فعلًا؟ أم أنني أحلم؟
كان كل شيء متشابكًا حدّ التيه، صرت أتابع تحركاته في أرجاء البيت من خلال الصوت:
وقع خطواته الرتيبة على الأرض، الباب الذي يُفتح ويُغلق، أصوات ارتطام أشياء، ثم صمت.. ثم ارتطام آخر.
بدا لي أنه ينبش الخزانة، يرمي كتبي، مجلاتي، أوراقي، وكل ما كنت أظنه يومًا دليل نجاتي من جنون هذا العالم.. صرخت بشفاه لم أشعر بها تتحرك:
«ما الذي تنويه؟! ما كل هذه الأصوات؟!»
لكنه، كما في المرات السابقة، تجاهلني.. وكأنه خرج لينتقم من كل ما حمّلته إياه: من الأفكار الثقيلة التي تملأ ليلي، من الأسئلة التي لا تنام، من القصص التي كتبتها عنه، عنه هو تحديدًا، دون إذنه، دون مشورته..
ثم شممتُ رائحة دخان.. لم تكن تلك الرائحة غريبة عني، فمن شهد احتراق نفسه يعرف رائحة الحريق، لكنها اليوم كانت مختلفة.. كانت أكثر قربًا.. أكثر إصرارًا على اجتياحي.
نهضت أخيرًا بعد كفاح مع أطرافي التي تيبست جراء هذا المخاض المؤلم.. بفعل الخوف، أو الجنون.. زحفت كمن يخرج من قبره، جررت نفسي بأظافري، بضعفي، بألم لا يُوصف، حتى وصلت إلى الصالة.
كان الرأس قد كدس كتبي التي بدت مثل تلة دائرية، وأشعلها، ووقف قبالتها ككاهن يؤدي طقسًا من طقوس التضحية قربانًا لآلهة وثنية لا يعبدها سواه.
كانت كتبي أمامي تصرخ، تستنجد بي، تنكمش، تتحول إلى رماد حار.. ركضت كالمجنونة أطفئ النار، أنقذ أوراقي، لكنه نظر إليّ بازدراء لم أرَ مثله من قبل، وقال:
«اتركيها تحترق! لقد عذّبتِنا بها بما يكفي.. لماذا لا تعيشين الحياة ببساطة؟ لماذا لا تتركينا بسلام، أيتها المعتوهة؟!»
طعنتني كلماته كخنجر.. هل هذا صوتي؟ هل هذا الرأس ولد فعلًا من رأسي؟
لم ألتفت.. كنت أبحث عن سطور لم تمسسها النار، عن صفحات لم تحترق، عن كلمات ناجية أعيد بها كتابة قصصي.
فجأة، بدأت الشخصيات تتطاير من بين الصفحات! أبطال روايات، نساء، رجال، أطفال، حيوانات، منازل، أشجار.. كلهم كانوا يركضون، يفرّون، يبكون، يحترقون.. كانوا يهربون مني.. مني أنا! وكأنني أنا من أشعل النار بهم.
كان فيهم من فقد وجهه، من يزحف دون أطراف، من لا يتكلم بل يحدق فقط.
«لماذا خذلتِنا؟!»، صرخ طفل بشعر مجعد يركض على أطرافه الأربعة.
«لقد صدّقناكِ!» قالت امرأة بنصف جسد.
صرختُ:
«لا تتفرقوا! ستموتون إن تفرقتم! أنا لست غريمكم.. انظروا إليّ.. أنا أحترق مثلكم».
اقتربوا، تجمهروا، صاروا حولي دائرة تنز منها روائح دخان بلون الألم وطعمه.. رأيت الأرض تتحول إلى صفحة كبيرة، ونحن نقف على السطور، بينما بقي هو خارج الصفحة.
قلت لهم وأنا أشير إلى الرأس:
«هذا هو.. هذا من أراد إحراقنا جميعًا، هو من خاننا، من أشعل الحريق في ذاكرتي، في رؤوسكم، في أرواحنا».
التقت عيناي بعينيه.. كان خائفًا، ومع ذلك، كان يمطرني بنظرات كراهية تنوء بها الجبال.
أحطنا به، طوقناه، حتى لم يبقَ له منا مهرب، ابتسم ابتسامة متهكمة، ومد يده إلى طرف الصفحة التي نقف عليها، ومزقها، تراجع المشهد من حولي فجأة، كأن كل ما في الغرفة انكمش، بدأت الأشياء تخبو وتختفي من تلقاء نفسها، ووجدت نفسي أُسحب خارج السطور عنوة، بينما كانت كلماتي تتساقط على الأرض، وتتلاشى.
رأيته يخرج من بين الجدران إلى فضاء أوسع، يحمل على كتفه حقيبة جمع فيها ما استطاع من أبطالي، وكلماتي، وصوتي، ويمضي بعيدًا.
أما أنا.. فقد بقيت معلقة على هامش النص.. جملة مبتورة لا محل لها من الإعراب.
كتابُكَ والمسافة...
عبير حسن علّام - لبنان
... لم يقطع بَعدُ سَفَري ثلثَ الوقتِ، نصفَ الليل، رُبعَ أثقال المسافة.. وجُزتُ انتصافَ كتابِك السحرِ/ الحبرِ، فانتفضتُ دهشةَ طفلٍ مسَّهُ الليلُ فخافَ.
أنا لم أحاذر حرفك، لم أفارق وجهك، لمْ... فلِمَ يعجنني بحرُكَ السّرﱢيُّ جُزافا؟!
أنا كلَّما ابتعدتُ عنك، وقلتُ: لن... عاد يعدو بي الحنينُ أسْرًا واختطافا.
أنا كنتُ قلتُ محارتي وغرابتي وغوايتي وروايتي وقصيدتي التي فيكَ لم... فعدتُ صِفرًا أُسقِطُ العمرَ ارتجافا.
أنا كنتُ كم كنتُ أباهي.. كم راوغتُ وكم هربتُ؛ كي لا أعلوَ في السقوط الشاهق بين حرفك وتيه وجهك.. حتى سقطتُ طَوعًا أرتشفُ المعنى ارتشافا.
أنا إن أضفتُ أو حذفتُ وإن وقفتُ هنا انكشفْتُ.. وكم تلوَّعتُ أمام عينيكَ انكشافا!
تعِبَ السَّفرُ ونامت كلُّ شاشات الوصول.. وأنا الشريدةُ في أصقاعكَ أُراوِحُ.. لا استرجاعًا أقدِرُ ولا استشرافا...
أنا كلَّما ناءت/ نامت بي الدموع فوق قلبٍ أتعبتْهُ المسافاتُ تَعبَثُ بالرهافة، رحتُ أمنّي الروحَ أن قاربَ الوجعُ انتصافا.
أنا كلَّما غرَّدَ بي (التيَّانُ) بين الجُردِ وصمغِ السروِ صار لي النهرُ لِحافا.
أنا كنتُ كم.. وكنتُ لم.. وكنتُ بدءَ الحديثِ بيننا أنثى من غيابات المسافة.
وكنتُ قبلَكَ صهوةَ ليلٍ، صبوةَ خيلٍ.. أعربُ الموتَ مُضافا.
وكنتُ صخرًا، كنتُ ضوءًا.. أخبزُ الحرفَ احترافا...
واليومَ صرتُ ما بِيدي أهجّئُ السُّكَّرَ سُكْرًا، أهجّئُ الشُّكْرَ سُكرًا، والسُّكْرُ أنطقُهُ سُكرًا كي أتعافى.
سباني نصُّكَ شقوةً حدَّ الخُرافة. وأملاني.. علَّمَ ترحالي كيف نُصيّرُ الريحَ رُعافا.
فكان أن صادني الشوقُ اعترافا وفاضَ بي البَينُ وطافَ. وكم سيبقى قلبي قتيلًا بك، كم سيبقى قتيلًا بكَ تشافى!
أنا يا حبيبُ ويا صديقُ ويا شقيقَ الروحِ من سنيﱢ اللثغةِ الأولى، أنا قد كنتُ ثمَّ متُّ ثمَّ عشتُ لألتحفَ حرفَكَ النهرَ (برنسَ) الطفلِ الجنينِ حِرزًا من الأقدارِ والأقمارِ، من حبﱟ يسملُ عينًا لم ترَكَ فما صلَّت ويُرمّدُ عيونًا رأتكَ فصارت تِربَ الليل، حرقةَ هَيل، أمَةً.. وسلطانُ النومِ تجافى.
وعادَ نصُّكَ كم خشيتُه وعادَ حرفُكَ كم نسيتُه، عاد كلُّكَ يفتحُ كُلّي بحرًا ونهرًا وشمسًا وظِلًّا وكوَّةً إلى السماوات/ المعنى البهيﱢ يُقلقُ الكونَ اكتشافا..
على هامش النص
26 سبتمبر 2025 - 01:22
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آخر تحديث 26 سبتمبر 2025 - 01:22
لبنى ياسين
تابع قناة عكاظ على الواتساب
لبنى ياسين - العراق
It was not an ordinary day like the rest, I woke up with a terrifying feeling, a strange sensation unlike anything I had experienced before. A head had grown independent of my body! I saw it with my own eyes.. yes, I saw it - my head - waking up, getting out of bed, while I and my real head lay motionless, crushed by a pain we could not bear. The head rose and detached from me, as if I had been split in two: one half wanted to escape, and the other insisted on staying in this body, overwhelmed with questions seeking answers.
I tried to lure it back to my body, thinking that might stop this violent headache, but the damned head paid me no attention, continuing its path away without caring for my voice that mixed with tears and choked in my throat.
Its walk was confident, cold, harsh, suggesting that it had made some plans and was proceeding to execute them without hesitation.
That head - my head - left the bedroom, and I followed it with my eyes, powerless to do anything. It had a body resembling mine, yet deep down, I knew it was just a head, without a trunk, without a heart, without a pulse. But why did I see it with a body? And why did it move like a complete being?
It was merely a head.. what did it want with the body?!
I thought of chasing after it, but I was frozen, as if I had been molded from stone, a hidden force bound my limbs, crushing me with its weight, paralyzing me completely.
I screamed, pleading for it to release me, but it did not hear me, or perhaps it no longer wanted to listen, as the echo of my scream lingered in the void.
I was overcome by a terrifying feeling that I was living a waking nightmare, but.. was I really awake? Or was I dreaming?
Everything was tangled to the point of confusion, I began to follow its movements around the house through sound:
The sound of its rhythmic footsteps on the floor, the door opening and closing, the sounds of things colliding, then silence.. then another collision.
It seemed to me that it was rummaging through the closet, throwing my books, my magazines, my papers, and everything I once thought was my guide to escaping the madness of this world.. I screamed with lips I felt barely moving:
“What do you intend to do?! What are all these sounds?!”
But, as in previous times, it ignored me.. as if it had gone out to take revenge on everything I had burdened it with: the heavy thoughts that filled my nights, the questions that wouldn’t sleep, the stories I had written about it, about it specifically, without its permission, without its consultation..
Then I smelled smoke.. that smell was not unfamiliar to me, for one who has witnessed their own burning knows the scent of fire, but today it was different.. it was closer.. more insistent on invading me.
I finally got up after struggling with my limbs that had stiffened from this painful labor.. from fear, or madness.. I crawled like someone emerging from their grave, dragging myself with my nails, with my weakness, with indescribable pain, until I reached the living room.
The head had piled my books into what looked like a circular mound, set them on fire, and stood before them like a priest performing a ritual of sacrifice to pagan gods that no one worships but him.
My books were screaming in front of me, pleading for my help, shrinking, turning into hot ash.. I ran like a madwoman to extinguish the fire, to save my papers, but it looked at me with a disdain I had never seen before, and said:
“Let it burn! You have tortured us enough with it.. why don’t you live life simply? Why don’t you leave us in peace, you fool?!”
Its words stabbed me like a dagger.. is this my voice? Did this head really come from my head?
I did not turn away.. I was searching for lines untouched by fire, for pages that hadn’t burned, for surviving words to rewrite my stories.
Suddenly, characters began to fly from the pages! Heroes of novels, women, men, children, animals, houses, trees.. all of them were running, fleeing, crying, burning.. they were escaping from me.. from me! As if I were the one who had set fire to them.
Some of them had lost their faces, some crawled without limbs, some did not speak but only stared.
“Why did you betray us?!”, shouted a child with curly hair running on all fours.
“We believed you!” said a woman with half a body.
I screamed:
“Don’t scatter! You will die if you scatter! I am not your enemy.. look at me.. I am burning like you.”
They approached, gathered around me, forming a circle from which the scents of smoke seeped, colored with pain and taste.. I saw the ground transform into a large page, and we stood on the lines, while it remained outside the page.
I told them while pointing at the head:
“This is it.. this is the one who wanted to burn us all, it is the one who betrayed us, who ignited the fire in my memory, in your heads, in our souls.”
My eyes met its eyes.. it was scared, yet it rained down on me with looks of hatred that would burden mountains.
We surrounded it, encircled it, until there was no escape left for it, it smiled a mocking smile, reached out to the edge of the page we stood on, and tore it, the scene around me suddenly receded, as if everything in the room had shrunk, things began to dim and disappear on their own, and I found myself being pulled out of the lines forcefully, while my words fell to the ground and vanished.
I saw it emerge from between the walls into a wider space, carrying on its shoulder a bag in which it had gathered what it could of my heroes, my words, my voice, and moved away.
As for me.. I remained hanging on the margin of the text.. a truncated sentence with no grammatical place.
Your book and the distance...
Abir Hassan Allam - Lebanon
... I have not yet crossed a third of the time of my journey, half of the night, a quarter of the burdens of distance.. and I have traversed the midpoint of your magical book/ ink, and I trembled with the astonishment of a child touched by the night and frightened.
I did not heed your letter, I did not part from your face, I did not... so why does your secret sea knead me at random?!
Every time I distance myself from you, and say: I will not... longing races after me, capturing me.
I had said my shell, my strangeness, my seduction, my story, and my poem that is in you did not... so I returned to zero, dropping the age in trembling.
I had been how I boasted.. how I dodged and how I ran; so as not to rise in the high fall between your letter and the confusion of your face.. until I fell willingly, sipping the meaning.
Whenever I added or deleted, and if I stood here, I was exposed.. and how I burned before your eyes in exposure!
The journey tired and all arrival screens slept.. and I, the wanderer in your realms, oscillate.. neither able to retrieve nor foresee...
Every time the tears weighed me down, sleeping over a heart tired by distances playing with delicacy, I began to reassure the soul that the pain had approached halfway.
Every time the (lost) sang in me between the barren and the cedar gum, the river became my blanket.
I had been how.. and I had not.. and I had been the beginning of the conversation between us, a woman from the depths of distance.
And I had been before you the saddle of night, the youthful desire of horses.. I declare death added.
And I had been a rock, I had been light.. I knead the letter professionally...
And today I became what I spell with my hand, sugar as sugar, I spell gratitude as sugar, and I pronounce the intoxication as sugar to recover.
Your text captivated me to the point of myth. And it filled me.. it taught my travels how to turn the wind into a nosebleed.
So it was that longing caught me in confession and the distance overflowed in me. And how long will my heart remain a victim of you, how long will it remain a victim of you to heal!
I, oh beloved, oh friend, oh brother of the soul from the years of the first stutter, I had been there, then I died, then I lived to wrap your letter, the river (the cloak) of the child in the womb, a safeguard from fates and moons, from a love that blinds an eye that has not seen you, so it did not pray, and it burns the eyes that have seen you, so they became the dust of the night, the burning of cardamom, a servant.. and the lord of sleep distanced himself.
And your text returned as I feared it and your letter returned as I forgot it, all of you returned opening me to the sea, a river, a sun, a shadow, and a window to the heavens/ the beautiful meaning disturbs the universe in discovery..
I tried to lure it back to my body, thinking that might stop this violent headache, but the damned head paid me no attention, continuing its path away without caring for my voice that mixed with tears and choked in my throat.
Its walk was confident, cold, harsh, suggesting that it had made some plans and was proceeding to execute them without hesitation.
That head - my head - left the bedroom, and I followed it with my eyes, powerless to do anything. It had a body resembling mine, yet deep down, I knew it was just a head, without a trunk, without a heart, without a pulse. But why did I see it with a body? And why did it move like a complete being?
It was merely a head.. what did it want with the body?!
I thought of chasing after it, but I was frozen, as if I had been molded from stone, a hidden force bound my limbs, crushing me with its weight, paralyzing me completely.
I screamed, pleading for it to release me, but it did not hear me, or perhaps it no longer wanted to listen, as the echo of my scream lingered in the void.
I was overcome by a terrifying feeling that I was living a waking nightmare, but.. was I really awake? Or was I dreaming?
Everything was tangled to the point of confusion, I began to follow its movements around the house through sound:
The sound of its rhythmic footsteps on the floor, the door opening and closing, the sounds of things colliding, then silence.. then another collision.
It seemed to me that it was rummaging through the closet, throwing my books, my magazines, my papers, and everything I once thought was my guide to escaping the madness of this world.. I screamed with lips I felt barely moving:
“What do you intend to do?! What are all these sounds?!”
But, as in previous times, it ignored me.. as if it had gone out to take revenge on everything I had burdened it with: the heavy thoughts that filled my nights, the questions that wouldn’t sleep, the stories I had written about it, about it specifically, without its permission, without its consultation..
Then I smelled smoke.. that smell was not unfamiliar to me, for one who has witnessed their own burning knows the scent of fire, but today it was different.. it was closer.. more insistent on invading me.
I finally got up after struggling with my limbs that had stiffened from this painful labor.. from fear, or madness.. I crawled like someone emerging from their grave, dragging myself with my nails, with my weakness, with indescribable pain, until I reached the living room.
The head had piled my books into what looked like a circular mound, set them on fire, and stood before them like a priest performing a ritual of sacrifice to pagan gods that no one worships but him.
My books were screaming in front of me, pleading for my help, shrinking, turning into hot ash.. I ran like a madwoman to extinguish the fire, to save my papers, but it looked at me with a disdain I had never seen before, and said:
“Let it burn! You have tortured us enough with it.. why don’t you live life simply? Why don’t you leave us in peace, you fool?!”
Its words stabbed me like a dagger.. is this my voice? Did this head really come from my head?
I did not turn away.. I was searching for lines untouched by fire, for pages that hadn’t burned, for surviving words to rewrite my stories.
Suddenly, characters began to fly from the pages! Heroes of novels, women, men, children, animals, houses, trees.. all of them were running, fleeing, crying, burning.. they were escaping from me.. from me! As if I were the one who had set fire to them.
Some of them had lost their faces, some crawled without limbs, some did not speak but only stared.
“Why did you betray us?!”, shouted a child with curly hair running on all fours.
“We believed you!” said a woman with half a body.
I screamed:
“Don’t scatter! You will die if you scatter! I am not your enemy.. look at me.. I am burning like you.”
They approached, gathered around me, forming a circle from which the scents of smoke seeped, colored with pain and taste.. I saw the ground transform into a large page, and we stood on the lines, while it remained outside the page.
I told them while pointing at the head:
“This is it.. this is the one who wanted to burn us all, it is the one who betrayed us, who ignited the fire in my memory, in your heads, in our souls.”
My eyes met its eyes.. it was scared, yet it rained down on me with looks of hatred that would burden mountains.
We surrounded it, encircled it, until there was no escape left for it, it smiled a mocking smile, reached out to the edge of the page we stood on, and tore it, the scene around me suddenly receded, as if everything in the room had shrunk, things began to dim and disappear on their own, and I found myself being pulled out of the lines forcefully, while my words fell to the ground and vanished.
I saw it emerge from between the walls into a wider space, carrying on its shoulder a bag in which it had gathered what it could of my heroes, my words, my voice, and moved away.
As for me.. I remained hanging on the margin of the text.. a truncated sentence with no grammatical place.
Your book and the distance...
Abir Hassan Allam - Lebanon
... I have not yet crossed a third of the time of my journey, half of the night, a quarter of the burdens of distance.. and I have traversed the midpoint of your magical book/ ink, and I trembled with the astonishment of a child touched by the night and frightened.
I did not heed your letter, I did not part from your face, I did not... so why does your secret sea knead me at random?!
Every time I distance myself from you, and say: I will not... longing races after me, capturing me.
I had said my shell, my strangeness, my seduction, my story, and my poem that is in you did not... so I returned to zero, dropping the age in trembling.
I had been how I boasted.. how I dodged and how I ran; so as not to rise in the high fall between your letter and the confusion of your face.. until I fell willingly, sipping the meaning.
Whenever I added or deleted, and if I stood here, I was exposed.. and how I burned before your eyes in exposure!
The journey tired and all arrival screens slept.. and I, the wanderer in your realms, oscillate.. neither able to retrieve nor foresee...
Every time the tears weighed me down, sleeping over a heart tired by distances playing with delicacy, I began to reassure the soul that the pain had approached halfway.
Every time the (lost) sang in me between the barren and the cedar gum, the river became my blanket.
I had been how.. and I had not.. and I had been the beginning of the conversation between us, a woman from the depths of distance.
And I had been before you the saddle of night, the youthful desire of horses.. I declare death added.
And I had been a rock, I had been light.. I knead the letter professionally...
And today I became what I spell with my hand, sugar as sugar, I spell gratitude as sugar, and I pronounce the intoxication as sugar to recover.
Your text captivated me to the point of myth. And it filled me.. it taught my travels how to turn the wind into a nosebleed.
So it was that longing caught me in confession and the distance overflowed in me. And how long will my heart remain a victim of you, how long will it remain a victim of you to heal!
I, oh beloved, oh friend, oh brother of the soul from the years of the first stutter, I had been there, then I died, then I lived to wrap your letter, the river (the cloak) of the child in the womb, a safeguard from fates and moons, from a love that blinds an eye that has not seen you, so it did not pray, and it burns the eyes that have seen you, so they became the dust of the night, the burning of cardamom, a servant.. and the lord of sleep distanced himself.
And your text returned as I feared it and your letter returned as I forgot it, all of you returned opening me to the sea, a river, a sun, a shadow, and a window to the heavens/ the beautiful meaning disturbs the universe in discovery..