One Day
by Abdullah Al-Baradouni.
It was written in celebrating “September 1962”, the great Yemeni revolution against Imamate.
translated by Hatem Al-Shamea
One Day
We awoke to the dawn of a youthful day,
In the morning of dreams, come, let’s sway.
* * *
Do you know, O Sun, what transpired that night?
We seized from the darkness our dawn light!
As drowsiness whispered upon your gaze,
Like a fledgling bird in its early days.
Do you know that we outpaced the spring,
To herald the coming of a blessed thing?
What’s that? A question on your brow appears,
In your golden whispers, the answer nears.
We marched as crowds, our paths in flight,
In waves of a birth, noble and bright.
And a people proclaimed: These are miracles!
My cradles, and (Al-Muthanna’s) sword, my father.
A time set, like the sunset’s decline,
And you returned, with the dawn leading my line.
* * *
We lit the horizon before it could see,
The dawn’s visions, and the planet’s decree.
A time has passed, like tyranny’s might,
And a new era dawned, pure as a prophet’s light.
One day, we rose with the dawn in hand,
And shouted: O Sun, forever you stand!
** ** **
