Waleed Mohamed has won the English to Arabic translation contest

When she moved into his tiny house in Stroud, and took charge of his four small children, Mother was thirty and still quite handsome. She had not, I suppose, met anyone like him before. This rather priggish young man, with his devout gentility, his airs and manners, his music and ambitions, his charm, bright talk, and undeniable good looks, overwhelmed her as soon as she saw him. So she fell in love with him immediately, and remained in love for ever. And herself being comely, sensitive, and adoring, she attracted my father also. And so he married her. And so later he left her - with his children and some more of her own.

When he'd gone, she brought us to the village and waited. She waited for thirty years. I don't think she ever knew what had made him desert her, though the reasons seemed clear enough. She was too honest, too natural for this frightened man; too remote from his tidy laws. She was, after all, a country girl; disordered, hysterical, loving. She was muddled and mischievous as a chimney-jackdaw, she made her nest of rags and jewels, was happy in the sunlight, squawked loudly at danger, pried and was insatiably curious, forgot when to eat or ate all day, and sang when sunsets were red. She lived by the easy laws of the hedgerow, loved the world, and made no plans, had a quick holy eye for natural wonders and couldn't have kept a neat house for her life. What my father wished for was something quite different, something she could never give him - the protective order of an unimpeachable suburbia, which was what he got in the end.

The three or four years Mother spent with my father she fed on for the rest of her life. Her happiness at that time was something she guarded as though it must ensure his eventual return. She would talk about it almost in awe, not that it had ceased but that it had happened at all.

عندما انتَقَلَت إلى مَنْزلهِ الصغير في اسْتراود وتولّت مَسْئوُلِية أَبْنَائهِ الصّغار الأَرْبَعة، كَانَت الأُمّ تَبْلغ من العمر الثلاثين ولا تَزال تتمتع بالجمالِ الذي لا يَخْفى عَلَى أَحَد. وأَعْتَقدْ أَنّها لَمْ تُقابل أحداً مثْله منْ قبل، فأبي كَان شَاباً مُتَزمّتاً إلى حَدٍ مَا، بَهَرَها مُنْذ أن رأتْه لأول مرة بِنُبلهِ الخالص وبسَمْته وخُلُقه وبموسيقاه وطُمُوحَاته وبسِحره وكلامه المعسول ونَظراتهِ الأخّاذة. لذلك، ما لبِثتْ أن وَقعت في حبّه الذي استحوذ عليْها إلى الأبد. وبما أنّها كَانَت إنْسَانة جميلة ورَقيقةً وحَساسةً، فقد انْجذَب أبي إلَيْها أيضاً، ولذلك تَزوّجها، ثم هَجرَها بَعْد ذَلك وبَقيْت هِي مَع أَطْفَالهِ وأطفالٍ آخرين لها أنْجبتهم من غَيْره.

عندما هَجَرنا أبي، أتَتْ أمي بِنا إلى القريةِ وبَدأتْ مِشْوارِ الانْتِظار الذي بَلَغَ الثّلاثين عاماً، ولا أظنّ أنّها عَرَفتْ في يومٍ مِن الأيام ما الذي جَعلَه يَهْجرها، بالرّغْمِ من أنّ الأسْباب كانَت واضحةً وضُوح الشّمسِ، فهي قَدْ بَلَغتْ حدَّ الإفْراطِ من حَيْث أمانَتها وتَصَرفاتِها الّتي تَصْدر مِنْها عَلَى الفِطْرةِ أَمام رجلٍ مُتَهوّرٍ مِثْل أبي؛ ولَمْ تَكنْ أُمّي مواكبةً بالمرّة لِنظامِ حَيَاتِه الرّتيب. وفَوُق كُلّ هذا، كانُت أُمّي فَتاةً ريفيّةً غيْر مُتّزنة، شديدة الانفعال ووافِرة الحَنَان. لقدْ كَانَت مُبَلبَلَةً ومُزْعِجَةً مثْل غُرابِ البَيْن، وكَانَت تَرْضى بحظّها فِي الحَيَاة وتَتَقبّل السرّاء والضرّاء، وتَسْعَد بِضيَاءِ الشّمْس وتَصِيح بعُنْفٍ فِي وَجْهِ الخَطَر، وتُحَدّق بإمعانٍ ولَدَيْها فُضُول لا يُمْكن إِشباعه، وكَانَت تَنْسى مَوْعد تَنَاوُل الطّعَام أوْ مَتَى تَناولَت الطّعَام طُوال اليوم، وكَانَت تُغَنّي عِنْدَما يَمْتَلأ الأفُق حُمرةً عِنْد غُروب الشّمْس. كَانَت تَحْيا حَيَاةِ المَرَحِ والبَسَاطة وكَانَت تُحبّ الدُنيا ولَمْ تَكُن تَعيش وفْق خطَطٍ مُعيّنة وكَانَت سُرعَان ما تَنْظُر إلى عَجَائِب الطّبِيعة نَظْرة دِينِية ولَمْ يَكنْ بَيْتها مُرتَباً في يومٍ مِن الأيّامِ. مَا كَان يَتَمناه أبِي كَان شَيْئاً مُخْتَلفاً، شَيْئاً لَمْ يَجِده مُطْلقاً مَع أُمّي، ألا وهُو أنْ يَنْعَم بِحَياة الحَضَر الخَالِصَة وهذَا ما نَاله فِي النِّهايَة.

لَقَدْ عَاشَتْ أُمّي طُوال بَقِيّة حَيَاتِها عَلى ذِكْرَيات الثّلاث أو الأَرْبعِ سَنَوات التِي أَمْضَتها مَعَ أَبِي. وكَانَت تُدافِع عَن سَعَادَتِها فِي ذَلِك الوَقْت كَمَا لَوْ أنّهَا مُتَأكِّدَة مِن عَوْدة أَبِي فِي النّهايَة. وكَانَت تَتَحدّث عَن عَوْدَتِه بِلَوْعَةٍ شَديدةٍ، فَلا هِي كَفّت عَن الحَدِيث ولا أَبِي عَاد.

This translation received 2 votes and the following comment:

• This is by far the best translation, it caught the essence of the text not just the words