the blood in the gardens

Sad arabic poem 

 poem’s name : the blood in the gardens

(الدم في الحدائق)

Poet's name : Hassan Tawfiq

(حسن توفيق)

date of writing the poem :  1 October 1964 

→ listen to the poem

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نهر الرماد يفيض في بطء على الأرض الخراب 

The river of ash is overflowing over the ruined ground

وعواصف الشجن المليئة بالفراغ تضج في أيامنا 

And the storms of sadness, which are fully with emptiness, make noise in our days

وتدق ناقوس الأسى في هيكل الذكرى وفي زمن العذاب 

And they (the storms) are ringing the bell of sorrow in the form of memory and in the age of torment

وكأنها تنعي لنا ما ضاع في أحلامنا

As if they mourn what has been lost from our dreams

من بعد أن صلب الحنان على الروابي والهضاب 

After the tenderness is crucified over the hills and plateaus

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وتململت حتى رؤيت أوهامنا

And I got upset until our delusions were seen 

من بعد أن غرقت سعادتنا.. هنا 

After our happiness sank here

في ظلمة الماضي العميقة

In the deep darkness of the past

وعلى شواطئه الغريقة 

And on its drowned beaches

وتناثرت في الريح أغنية.. لنا

And a song spreads in the wind, for us

كانت تعود بنا إلى زمن البراءة 

It comes with us back to the age of innocence

مثقل قلبي بالشجن 

Our heart is heavy with sadness

يا زورق الروح اللهيفة.. للوطن

Oh, the boat of the soul that is yearning for the homeland!

وطن البلابل والهناءة

The homeland of the nightingale birds and bliss

الليل عاد يعيد للقلب انكساره 

The night has broken the heart

An explanation of this piece from the arabic poems :

It is really a sad and complicated poem with unbearable sense of beauty. The sadness is described well in these expressions; The river of ash, the storms of sadness, and the darkness of the past. The thing here is that the poet, Mr.  Hassan Tawfiq, lives far away from his homeland, and these forced conditions create a lot of longing inside him. 

the poet said: The homeland of the nightingale birds and bliss. In order to describe his lost homeland. The original text in Arabic flows with quite smooth rhythm, the poem has few weaknesses. One of those is the complexity of some expressions like this : 

 And they (the storms) are ringing the bell of sorrow in the form of memory and in the age of torment

The poem has really interesting and powerful address: the blood in the gardens. This address opens the horizons of the imagination and makes the reader think about the tragedy intention that Mr. tawfiq has.