September’s Blessing
by Gha’eb Hawas
translated by Hatem Al-Shamea
Blessed are they who penned your dawn and set it free,
And walked ahead so you, O September, could live in victory.
Blessed are they, and your eternity is bound in their name,
For none like them, or you, will history ever claim.
O dawn of September, at your rise, even the stars
Of our skies stand ready, armed like celestial guards.
You are the time, and the very space you occupy,
The deed, the source — you are the essence, the reply.
Blessed are you, heaven’s gift to our land, so bright,
Blessed — for you are its axis, its central light.
All worries, save for you, seem trivial and small,
For our greatest concern, September, is your call.
September’s dawn, when people sat awake in hunger’s grip,
While the nights of tyranny did their rounds, and darkness did trip.
Their lineage toyed with us, and around their falsehoods spun,
A wretched company they were, beneath a hollow sun.
They sipped their delusions, and silenced anyone
Who dreamt of humanity’s freedom, drunk on hope undone.
Their mockery enslaved us, cast in misery’s grasp,
As the jaws of sin would laugh, in a ceaseless rasp.
Men’s veins were twisted into chains of cruel design,
Their blood repressed, never to burst, never to shine.
Until the day arrived, the one unlike before,
A day that blossomed brighter than any evermore.
From the stars, it glowed, in every radiant vein,
Qah’tan and Himyar rose, breaking centuries’ chain.
History marched between their ranks in pride,
And the sun beneath their banner walked with stride.
O world, behold — here stands September, supreme,
The dearest of all months, beyond what you could dream.
He cast his glance upon the house of gladness,
And joy rejoiced, awakened from its sadness.
The reign of falsehood faded, its heir undone,
Falling in his own shadow, a lost and broken one.
The era of Hamid Al-Din was folded like a night,
A pitch of tar and red tears, now far from sight.
Surprise – by Nabilah Al-Sheikh – trans: Hatem Al-Shamea
