The Poet of the Tunisian Revolution
It is unquestionable that another star of the Tunisian Revolution is the Tunisian poet, Abu Al-Qasim Ash-Shabi (lived early in the 20th century and died very young, leaving one Diwan "Aghani Al-Hayat" (Songs of Life)). Anthony Shadid said this today: "Hours after President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali fled Tunisia on Friday, a Lebanese broadcaster, in triumphant tones, ended her report on the first instance of an Arab leader to be overthrown in popular protests by quoting a famous Tunisian poet.
“And the people wanted life,” she said, “and the chains were broken.”"
The anchorwoman, I think on New TV, was not quoting the the poet. She was paraphrasing. The famous poem "The Will of Life" is known by all Arabs and goes like this:
"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 by the love of life, will evaporate in its atmosphere and disappear."
But I wish Arabs know more of his poetry: he wrote many nice poems and wrote a lot about melancholy--he clearly suffered from an acute case of it. He has a poem titled "To a Tyran" which says: "Woe to you, abode of injustices, from a future, when the oppressed rise and show determination."
I am afraid that I have found one of his poems, "The New Morning" (written in 1933) more than a bit influenced--if not plagiarized from--a poem written by Mikha'il Nu`aymah titled "Contentment" (written in 1922).
إذا الشعب يوماً أراد الحيـاة فلا بدّ أن يستجيب القدر
ولا بدّ للـيل أن ينجلي ولا بدّ للقيد أن ينكسـر
ومن لم يُعانــقه شوق الحيــاة تبخّر في جوّهـا واندثــر
فويلٌ لمن لم تشُقْه الحياة من صفعة العدم المنتصــر
كذلك قالـت لي الكائنــات وحدّثني روحهـا المستتــر
ولا بدّ للـيل أن ينجلي ولا بدّ للقيد أن ينكسـر
ومن لم يُعانــقه شوق الحيــاة تبخّر في جوّهـا واندثــر
فويلٌ لمن لم تشُقْه الحياة من صفعة العدم المنتصــر
كذلك قالـت لي الكائنــات وحدّثني روحهـا المستتــر
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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