Sad arabic poem - an Eulogy
poem’s name : the death in the forenoon
(الموت في الضحى)
Poet's name : Hassan fath el-bab
(حسن فتح الباب)
Date of writing the poem : 1 march 1964
→ listen to the poem - part 1
*****
لم أبكه لما مضى
I don’t cry for him when he passed away
ولم يكن وداع
And it was not a farewell
كان الرحيل في الضحى
The departure was in the forenoon
وحين غنتني صديقة له
And when one of his female friends sang for me
أغنية في حبه بكيت
A song about his love, I cried
وددت لو يعود مرة
I wished he had returned once
ليشهد العذاب والضياع
To witness the torment and the loss
في صوتها الملتاع
In her pained voice
وددت لو يعود مرة
I wished he had returned once
لقلبي الشاجي العليل
To my sick, sad heart
فنلتقي قبل الضحى
To meet before the forenoon
قبل الرحيل
Before the departure
لم الرحيل في الضحى يا صاحبي؟
Why did you leave me in the forenoon, my friend?
وأجمل الأيام بعد لم يحن
And the most beautiful days are still not their time yet
بأنضر الزهور والأطفال
With the most beautiful flowers and children
ويعبر الإنسان فوق هوة القدر
And the human crosses the fate gap
ليجتلي سر المحال
To reveal the secret of the impossible
ويقهر العذاب والضجر
And overcome the torment and boredom
→ listen to the poem - part 2
****
والموت في الضحى
And the death in the forenoon
لم الرحيل في الضحى يا صاحبي
Why did you leave me in the forenoon, my friend?
لم الرحيل؟
Why did you leave me?
يا طائرا على السحاب عشه
Oh bird on the clouds Its nest
وزاده في قبضة التراب
And his food in the fistful of dust
بين الدخان والرصاص والمداد
Between smoke, bullets, and ink
لم الرحيل؟
Why did you leave me?
ضل الجناحان على الطريق؟
Have the two wings lost their way?
أم خانك الصحب يا صديق
Or have the friends betrayed you, my friend?
أم أنه الجرح الدفين في الفؤاد
Or is it the deep wound in the heart?
الفجر منشور الشراع
The sails dawn are spreading
على بحيرة الأفق
On the horizon lake
والطير هم بالعناق للفضاء
And the bird has started to hug the space
يطير ملوي العنق
It flies with a twisted neck
إلى المروج والضياء
To the meadows and the light
والوقت ليس للوداع
And the time‘s not for saying goodbye
****
لكن طائري الوديع يحترق
But my gentle bird is burning
تذوب مقلتاه في اللهب
Its eyeballs are melting in the flame
وريشه يتساقط كالرماد
And his feathers are dropping like ash
بين الدخان والرصاص والمداد
Between smoke, bullets, and ink
بلا رفيق
Without friend
ولا أمل
Without hope
An explanation of this piece from the arabic poems:
The poet (Hassan fath el-bab) talks to his dead friend in a really influential way. In some parts he looks full of disappointment of this sudden loss especially in this direct question: Why did you leave me? And the sadness of the poem creates the beauty of it.
Some meanings here are not really clear like this part that talks about the gentle bird. This poetic image is powerful but it is really hard to see how it relates to the whole poem. One of the possible explanations of it is to assume that the gentle bird relates to the suffered purity of the poet. Maybe there are other ideas.
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