on the road

poem’s name : on the road
(في الطريق)

Poet's name : Hamdi Ahmed Ragab

(حمدي أحمد رجب)

Date of writing the poem :  1 September 1964 

→ listen to the poem

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يا حبيبي

Oh my lover

إنني أجهل معنى القدر !

I don’t know the meaning of the fate!

ما الذي يخفيه صبحي؟

What things are hidden by my morning?

لا تدعني انتظر 

Don’t let me wait

أنا أحيا ملء نفسي 

I ‘m living fully with myself

ووجودي في الحياة 

And my existence in life..

أشرب الكأس صباحا 

I drink the cup in the morning

وأصلي في المساء 

And I pray in the evening

إن أشواقا غريبة ملء عقلي.. ملء قلبي.. وضميري.. 

Strange longings fill my brain, my heart, my conscience

****

لست أدري يا حبيبي 

I don’t know, my friend

أي شيء عن ضميري 

Anything about my conscience

تلك أوهام البشر 

Those are human delusions

وعقول خدروها بالقدر ! 

And minds are drugged by fate

أنا أحيا ملء نفسي 

I ‘m living fully with myself

وأعاني.. ملء ذاتي

And I suffer fully with myself

ملء روحي.. في الحياة 

Fully with my soul.. in life

أنا أشقى كثيرا 

I ‘m too miserable

بيد أني في الطريق 

But I‘m on the road

في انتظار للرفيق 

Waiting for the friend

فالمسافات بعيدة.. والمتاهات كبيرة

Cause the distances are far… And the mazes are large

وبأعماقي ظلال حائرة 

And in my deepness, there are uncertain shadows 

وأمسيات غادرة 

And betrayed nights

وظلام وقيود من خرافات الجدود 

And darkness and chains from the myths of the grandparents

غير أنني يا حبيبي في الكفاح 

But I’m in the struggle, my lover

لا أبالي بالجراح وأقاوم 

I don’t care about the wounds and I resist

لا أبالي بالسدود وأصارع 

I don’t care about the barriers and I struggle with..

كل جبار عنيد 

Every obstinate tyrant..

وأغني للجراح.. للصباح..

And I sing for the wound, for the morning

للعصافير الجميلة 

For the beautiful birds

وعلى طول الطريق 

And along the road

خطواتي صاعدة..

My steps are rising…

فوق أرض ثابتة

on stable ground...

فوق شمس مشرقة 

On a bright sun...

غير أنني يا حبيبي في الطريق 

But I‘m on the road, my lover

في انتظار الرفيق

Waiting for the friend

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:An explanation of this piece from the arabic poems 

This poem strongly expresses the free will and the deep wanting of change through nice and smart expressions. Hamdi Ahmed Ragab succeeds to challenge the ascendancy of the fate with his insistence on struggling. 

This intention is obvious in some expressions like : “I don’t care about the wounds and I resist”, “But I‘m on the road”.. Etc. but there are also some sequences that point to the difficulty of doing this, such as: “the mazes are large”, “uncertain shadows”, and “betrayed nights”.. Etc. 

in conclusion there is an inherent conflict of feelings. The positivity is winning here by a big margin. The language of this poem is affected by the Quran in some parts like most of the Arabic literature especially here: “Every obstinate tyrant” which is basically a common expressing that had been used in one of the Quranic verses in another sequence.