Abu al-Qasim al-Shabbi Arabic Poem

Abu al-Qasim al-Shabbi

 The Poet of the Tunisia and Egyptian Revolution

 

 

At many of the protests in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere people have been chanting the verses of a Tunisian poet Abu al-Qasim al-Shabi. During the Tunisian anti-colonial uprising in the early 1900s his poem “The Will to Live” became famous and it is now being repeated.

إذَا الشَّعْبُ يَوْماًً أرَادَ الْحَيَـــــــاةَ
فَلَا بُــدَّ أن يَسْتَجِيبَ القَــــدَر
وَلاَ بُدَّ لِلــــيْلِ أن يَنْجَلِــــــــــي
وَلاَ بُـــدَّ للقَيْـــِد أن يَنْكَسِــــر
وَمَنْ لَمْ يُعَانِــقْهُ شَوْقُ الْحَيَــاةِ
تَبَـــخَّرَ في جـَـوَّهَـا وَانْدَثـَـــر

If the people will to live
Providence is destined to favorably respond
And night is destined to fold
And the chains are certain to be broken
And he who has not embraced the love of life
Will evaporate in its atmosphere and disappear

This translation was done by As’ad Abu Khalil. The poem is actually much longer. For those who want to see the entire thing you can download it as a PDF here.

Another poem, “To the Tyrants of the World” is good too:
 

ألا أيها الظالم المستبد
حبيب الظلام عدو الحياه
سخرت بأنات شعب ضعيف
و كفك مخضوبة من دماه
و سرت تشوه سحر الوجود
و تبذر شوك الاسى في رباه
رويدك لا يخدعنك الربيع
و صحو الفضاء و ضوء الصباح
ففي الافق الرحب هول الظلام و قصف الرعود و عصف الرياح
حذار فتحت الرماد اللهيب
و من يبذر الشوك يجن الجراح
تأمل هنالك انى حصدت رؤوس الورى و زهور الأمل
و رويت بالدم قلب التراب اشربته الدمع حتى ثمل
سيجرفك سيل الدماء
و يأكلك العاصف المشتعل

Oppressive tyrant
Lover of darkness enemy of life
You have ridiculed the sighs of the weak people
Your palm is soaked with their blood
You deformed the magic of existence
and planted the seeds of sorrow in the fields
Wait. Do not be fooled by the spring
The clearness of the sky or the light of dawn
For on the horizon lies the horror of darkness the rumble of thunder and the fierce blowing of wind
Beware for below the ash there is fire
And he who grows thorns eats wounds
Look there for i have harvested the heads of mankind and the flowers of hope
And I watered the heart of the earth with blood
I soaked it with tears until it is drunk
The river of blood will sweep you
And the fiery storm will devour you
 

Translated by Adel Iskandar

AJ Arberry offers another translation, more poetic in style:

 

Imperious despot, insolent in strife,

Lover of ruin, enemy of life!

You mock the anguish of an impotent land

Whose people’s blood has stained your tyrant hand,

And desecrate the magic of this earth, sowing your thorns, to bring despair to birth,

Patience! Let not the Spring delude you now,

The morning light, the skies’ unclouded brow;

Fear gathers in the broad horizon’s murk

Where winds are rising, and deep thunders lurk;

When the weak weeps, receive him not with scorn—

Who soweth thorns, shall not his flesh be torn?

Wait! Where you thought to reap the lives of men,

The flowers of hope, never to bloom again,

Where you have soaked the furrows’ heart with blood,

Drenched them with tears, until they overflowed,

A gale of flame shall suddenly consume,

A bloody torrent sweep you to your doom!