An Elegy to a Great Father

 

 I had a father once

Life then seemed a paradise, a grove  

 

With rivers and seas of

Love, compassion and sadness

Gushing from his heart

 

Dawn would approach his

Green eyes begging their

Beads of dew, drenching the light of the morning

 With the odor of flowers, the fragrance of basil

 Dad ...
Why did the night come in tears
to visit you ...
 complaining
of the light from your eyes
the light of the moon ... and the light of the stars?

 

Was it your heart that
 granted the night the land sliding charm?
Why did a thousand stars bow to your eyes?

  .
Why did a thousand suns approach your hands spotless
with love ... and concealed yearning?

 

Once we had a father,

We owned a world

A world immersed

In rosewater

In almond blossom

Poplar forests
and gardens of laurel grew deep in his heart
from his lips came
musk and amber dreams . . .

 

His smile provided the universe with
Fields of fragrance and scents of
Of Jasmine

 My father has deceased, Oh dawn Do you hear?

Do you hear, Shed hot tears on his memory

 

  My father has departed, Oh noon Do you hear?

Do you hear, Shed hot tears on his memory

 

My father has passed away, Oh time, Do you hear?

Do you hear, Shed hot tears on his memory

Oh, night, Oh Dawn

Oh Sun Oh Mooon

My father has endeared,

Can you imagine losing our sanctum?

 Our fort and homeland?

 My father has left,
 
Treasures of the Earth used to exist   on

His fingertips
 his eyelashes were a bed for angles,

Nightingales, bulbuls, and goldfinches

When I had a father,

  The sky listened to his   voice
while reciting his favorite jingles

The man who suffered loving us,

The man who struggled for us,

Decades and decades, has departed

 

Loving us caused him mordant   sweat,

 and volcanic fatigue

 My father has left,
Hey dawn ! Do you hear?
On the night of Friday
 nineteenth of the tenth month

Demise approached him, walking at ease

  Holding his tongue

Preventing him from reciting
the verse of the throne

No more voice recited loudly the verses of the 

Master of messengers

 Demise approached him, walking at ease

 Held him from the left,
Oh blessed death
This is ……
This is his book, Lord willing, be right

... Demise approached him, walking at ease

Ripped out his soul;

No.. no  no…  our souls

My father has turned to a memory

  Our children used to sleep deeply in his lap
 
dreaming about colored  far future,
as green as fresh olives and as white as
 daffodils ...
As if they had no other lap

Except this on earth

  My father has turned to a memory

The streets of the camp ...
  The Alleys
The Whisper of the night
The bustle of the day  
 The eyes of orphans
have lost his footsteps
All will lament and   
shed hot Tears on his absence

Who would , from now on, bring to our children?

Sugar brides,

Who would  hold them on his shoulders?

 go round, and round and round

Who would  take the place

Of the pillar of the house

 Who would sit on the courtyard of the house
                                 
peeling cones of cactus
And apple fruits ?

 

Who would sit by the brazier?

Charbroiling chestnuts?

Who would squeeze for the children?

 Oranges, Pomegranates and lemon?

 

Who would, after your demise,   donate to our children?

The glitter of his eyes,

Who else, would grant them?

The blood of his arteries  

My father, your grandfather has gone,

Decay summoned him

He who was full of life,

has become permanent captive.

That is the will of the Lord,

To Him we belong and to Him is our return.

He is the creator
He who decides how and when

To restore his slaves

Glory be to my Lord ...
 Lord of all Worlds
                 
                                 

Composed by: Mamon Ahmad Mustafa

Translated by: Mustafa Ahmad Mustafa