Eighty/ في الثمانين
By Dr Shihab Ghanem
Have you really reached eighty?
It looks that it was only yesterday that you were a kid playing
Age what is age? Roles you played
Like an actor in a play
The beginning was having fun without work
When your parents were the two pillars and the role model
And then you became a pupil in a school
Establishing the foundations of knowledge in your mind
Exams were not neglected by you
But your play with your mates continued
And then the universities all over the world
And knowledge like mountains one after the other
Ah! How much you have traveled
And how much have you seen amazing sights
How many jobs and posts have you undertaken
And how many good and rotten people have you known
And the daughter of Eve was there to inspire your poems
And poetry is a refuge for lovers with broken hearts
How much a great love have you cherished
And there is nothing like love to ignite splendor in the heart
It is the fuel that really drives us towards the sublime
It is the vision. It is the hope.
* * * * * * * *
O old man! The “film” of age has been recorded by the two angels
There is no falsehood in it, or defect.
You have forgotten many details of your deeds
But they recorded the minutest of details.
And the hour of truth will surely come,
So what have you prepared for it, old man?!
أفي الثمانين حقا أيها الرجل*
وكنت بالأمس طفلا لعبه الشغل/
العمر .. ما العمر؟ ادوار مررت بها*
كما يؤدي بتمثيلية بطل/
في البدء تلهو بلا شغل ولا عمل*
ووالداك هما الركنان والمثل/
وبعدها صرت تلميذا بمدرسة*
تؤسس العلم فيمن عقله خضل/
والامتحانات هم لست تهمله*
لكن لهوك والاقران متصل/
وبعدها جامعات الكون تقصدها*
والعلم طود فطود بعده جبل/
وكم تنقلت في الدنيا وكم شهدت*
عيناك من عجب ترنو له المقل/
وكم تقلدت من شغل ومن عمل*
وكم تجلى لك الأخيار والسفل/
وبنت حواء توحي بالقصيد وكم*
من ملجئ فيه للعشاق إن خذلوا/
وكم عرفت من الحب العظيم وما*
كالحب من روعة في القلب تشتعل/
هو الوقود الذي حقا يحركنا*
نحو المعالي .. هو الرؤيا .. هو الأمل/
* * * * * * * *
يا أيها الشيخ “فلم” العمر سجله*
لك الملاكان .. لا زيف .. ولا خلل/
نسيت تفصيل أعمال اتيت بها*
لكنها كتبت فاللوح مكتمل/
وساعة الحق في الأيام مقبلة*
فما تراك لها أعددت يا رجل؟!//