The Will to Life - Abu al-Qasim al-Shabbi

If, one day, the people wills to live

Then fate must obey

Darkness must dissipate

And must the chain give way

And he who is not embraced by life’s longing

Evaporates into its air and fades away

Woe to one whom life does not rip

from the slap of victorious nothingness

Thus told me the beings

And thus spoke their hidden spirit.

The wind murmured between the cracks

Over the mountains and under trees:

—If  to a goal I aspire,

I pursue the object of desire and prudence obliviate

Neither the rugged canyons will I shun

Nor the gushing of the blazing fire

He who doesn’t like to climb mountains

Will forever live among the hollows

The blood of youth in my heart roars

And more wind in my chest soars

So I hearkened, and listened to the thunders’ shelling

The winds’ blowing and the rain’s falling

And Earth said to me—when I asked her,

“O mother, do you hate humans?”

“Among all the people I bless the ambitious

And those who taking risk enjoy

Those who don’t keep up with time I curse

And I curse those who lead the life of a stone.

The universe is alive; it loves life

And despises the dead, no matter how great they are

The horizon doesn’t embrace dead birds

And bees don’t kiss dead flowers.

Were it not for the motherliness of my tender heart

These holes would not have held the dead

Woe to those whom life has not ripped

From the curse of victorious nothingness!”

On one of those autumn nights,

With sorrow and boredom burdened,

I got drunk on the stars’ light

And sang to sadness, until it too was drunk

And I asked darkness: “Does life bring back

Youth to what it had withered?”

Darkness’ lips did not speak

And the dawn’s virgins did not sing

The woods told me with tenderness

Lovely, like the fluttering strings,

“Come winter, foggy winter,

Snowy winter, rainy winter,

Dies the magic, the branches’ magic,

The flowers’ magic, and the fruits’ magic

The magic of the soft and gentle evening

The magic of the luscious and fragrant meadow

Branches fall along with their leaves

And flowers of a dear and blooming time

The wind plays with them in every valley,

The flood buries them wherever it goes

And all die like a marvelous dream

That in a soul shone and disappeared

The seeds that were carried remain

A reservoir of a bygone beautiful era

A memory of seasons, a vision of life,

And ghosts of a world steadily vanishing;

Embracing, while it is under the fog,

Under the snow, and under the mud,

Life’s untedious spirit

And spring’s scented green heart;

Dreaming of bird songs,

Fragrant flowers and the flavors of fruit.

As time goes by, vicissitudes arise,

Some wilt, and others live on.

Their dreams become wakefulness

Wrapped in dawn’s mystery

Wondering, “Where’s the morning fog?

Where’s the evening magic? and the moonlight?

And the mazes of that elegant bed?

The singing bees and the passing clouds?

Where are the rays and beings?

Where is the life I am waiting for?

I’m thirsty for light over the boughs!

I’m thirsty for the shade under the trees!

I’m thirsty for the spring in the meadows

Singing and dancing over the flowers!

I’m thirsty for the birds’ tune

For the breeze’s whisper, and the rain’s melody!

I’m thirsty for the universe! Where is existence?

When will I see the anticipated world?

It is the universe, behind the slumber of stillness

In the tunnels of the great awakenings”

It took only a wing flap

Till her longing grew up and triumphed

The Earth shattered those above her

And saw the world’s sweet images

Came spring with its melodies

With its dreams, its fragrant juvenescence

And spring kissed her on the lips kisses

That return the departed youth

And said to her: you have been given life

And through your treasured progeny immortalized

Be blessed by the light, and welcome

Young age and life’s affluence.

He whose dreams worship the light

Is blessed by the light wherever he appears

Here you have the sky, here you have the light

And here you have the blooming dreamy soil

Here you have the undying beauty

And here you have the wide and glowing world,

So swing as you like over the fields

With sweet fruits and luscious flowers

Whisper to the breeze, whisper to the clouds

Whisper to the stars and whisper to the moon

Whisper to life and its longings,

To the charm of this attractive existence

Darkness revealed a deep beauty

That kindles imagination and thought inspires

And over the world extends a marvelous magic

Dispatched by an able magician

The candles of the bright stars illumined

The incense, the flowers’ incense perished

A soul of singular beauty flickered

With wings from the moon’s luminosity

Life’s holy hymn resounded

In a temple dreamy and enchanted

And in the universe it declared: Aspiration

Is the flame of life and the essence of victory

If to life souls aspire

Then fate must obey.

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Abu al-Qasim al-Shabbi (1909-1934) Tunisia

Translator not stated

Source: Jadaliyya