Greeting the Millennium (Poem)

A CENTURY BORN OUT OF WISHFULNESS
By: A. Moneim Khalifa

Translated from Arabic by Dr. Ahmed Yagi
(Poem written in January 2000 greeting the new Century and the new Millennium)

A century born out of wishfulness… a herald..a presage of fortune and felicity…
Came with bloom…jubilant as spring of life flaunting beauty…
Teeming with knowledge and culture… and excellence in every technicality…
Pinnacle of civilization and thought…advocate of man in every category…
Behold...my country bestows on you poems and sublime tunes…of every measure and melody…
Soaring is tone of the rebec in delightful warbling…with the singer chanting mellifluously…
Saluting you are rainy clouds…of every cluster & nimbus raining torrentially…

* * * * * *
Infants as we were and so was history then…we carried it frail compounded in our frailty…
Shone stars…meteor lit in nights dark and pitchy…
Towered in every corner… a banner of cordiality and mercy and equity…
Prevailed in our land splendid peace…and we thrived sheltered by peace & security…
And paradise descendant flows…with boon without favor..bountifully…
So in glittering river was silver…and so Eden on banks was seemly…

* * * * * *

Who could have snared the albatross…that amid copious water the sailor stayed thirsty…
Who could have inequitably put off the beacon…and it leads the distant alien and draws closely…
Who could have fettered the feet that we became…captives on way to prison after running freely…
Who could have kindled the great sedition… for the ruin of national in tranquility…
Who could have omitted tolerance in us… for dissention to prevail and imputation to rise unjustly…

* * * * * *

The Phoenix will one day rise…and we'll shake ashes off somnolent yielding ashy…
And the wind of growth will blow with opulence… for every ark and ship a jubilee…
The arc of sky we'll cover with light… by the glow of our resolve with resiliency…
Kindness for kindness we administer fairness…and eye for an eye we uphold chastisement fairly…
Progressing will be the caravans of knowledge & enlightenment…towards a Sudan we aspire to mindfully…

* * * * * *


Piankhi that sempiternal is an emblem of glory.. no question or gainsay…
Still igniting resolve in selves to build.. is that Merowian lineaments lofty…
Still among us the great Imam.. revolutionary charismatic renewing the century…
And the valiant sacrifice in "Karari" and "Shikan" is still endowing enrichment and prosperity…
And a fluttering flag still embracing the conscience of the free is an emblem for religious rally…
And Ali and company eternal in heaven.. are still awakening wish fullness lively…
Such is love that eases grim afflictions…notwithstanding it is not easy…

* * * * * *

Adorned with pride…my homeland is a sword.. a shield and fortress for me…
Firmly rooted in glory…my homeland is an iris and vision for me…
From your love river we drank…and sipped from every goblet & vessel tipsy…
We'll continue to shake your stem and will reap…homeland of generosity…
Out of bountiful donation and plentiful offering…a river is available unsparingly…
And proudly we will flaunt on your anniversary day…singing favorite poems joyfully…
Rhymes unlike rhymes…mesmerizing tunes.. chanting of jinni…

Hail to you and to your great translator.
Enjoyed a superb literary piece.
May you kindly post here the poem in the original text.
I might be able to tell you apart!

Dear Ustaz Mustafa Mudather

Thanks very much for your appreciation.. Here is the Arabic text of the poem, with kind regards..
A.Moneim Khalifa

أيها القرن يا وليد التمني
شعر: عبد المنعم خليفة خوجلي
****
( تحية لعيد استقلال السودان الرابع والأربعين مع إطلالة القرن الحادي والعشرين )
****

أيها القرن يا وليد التــمــني
يا بشيراً يا فأل سـعد ويـمن
أنت أقبلت بالنضـارة جـــذلاً
كربيع الحياة تزهو بحـسـن
حافـلا بالـعلـوم والثـقافــة
والإبــداع مـن كـل فـن
أنت يا ذروة الحضـارة والفـكر
ونصير الإنسان من كل لـون
ذي بلادي تهديك شعراً ونغمــاً
عبقرياً من كل بـحر ولـحن
سوف يعلو صوت الربابة صدَاحاً
عــذبــاً ويشـدو المغني
ويحيـيك عارض الغـيث هطالاً
مـــن كل سـحب ومزن

********

حين كنا وكان التاريخ طـفلا
حملنــاه واهناً فوق وهن
سطعت أنجم أضاء شــهاب
في دياجير مظلمات ودجـن
وعلت راية المودة والرحـمة
والــعدل فـي كـل ركن
ساد في أرضنا السلام وريفاً
ونعمنا في ظل سلم وأمـن
وسليل الفراديس ينساب دفاقاً
بالـخيـر مـن غيـر من
فكـأن الرقـراق فيـه لجين
وكأن الضفاف جنًات عـدن

********

من ترى صاد طائر السعد حتى
ظمئ الملاح وسط مـاء هتن
من تـرى أطفأ المنارة ظلماً
وهي تهدي النائي الغريب وتدني
من ترى كبًل الخطى فغدونا
مثل أسرى من انــطلاق لسجن
من ترى أشعل الفتنة الكبرى
لتـودي بالـمـوطن المـطمئن
من ترى أسقط التسامح فينا
ليسـود الشـقاق يعلـو التجنَي

*********

سوف تصحو العنقاء يومــاً
وننفض عنَا رماد الكرى المستكن
وستجري ريح النماء رخـاءً
هـي عيـد لكل فـلك وســفن
وسنكسو قرص السماء ضياءً
من سنا عزمنا المضيء المـرن
ونقيم القسطاس حسنى بحسن
ونقيم القصـاص عيـناً بعـين
وستمضي قوافل الوعي والتنوير
نحو سوداننا الذي نروم ونعني

********

بعانخي ذلك الخالد رمز المجد
دون بين ومين
مروي القسمات ذلك الشامخ
ما زال يبعث العزم في النفوس لتبني
والإمام العظيم ما زال فينـا
ثــائراً مـلهـمـاً مـجـدد قرن
والفداء الجسـور في كررى وشـيكان
مـا زال يثري ويـغنـي
واللواء الخفًاق ما زال معقوداً
فـي ضـمير الأحرار رمزاً لديـن
وعلي وصحبه في سماء الخلد
لا يزالـون يوقظـون التـمني
ذاك وجد به تهون المنايا كالحات
وليـس ثمة هون

********
أنت يا موطني الموشَى فخاراً
أنت سيفي وأنت درعي وحصني
أنت يا موطني المؤثل مجـداً
أنت حـدقي وأنت نـور لعيني
قد نهلنا من نهر عشقك سكراً
ورشــفنا مـن كل كأس ودن
وســنمضي نـهز جـذعك
يا مــوطن الندى وسـنجنـي
من سخي العطاء والبذل فيضاً
سـلسبيلاً ميسـراً غير مضني
وسـنختال يوم عيـدك زهواً
بأثـير الـقريـض طرباً نغني
بقواف ليست كمثل القوافي
نغـماً سـاحراً أناشـيد جـن
********

مسقط 26 يناير 2000م

Hail to the Poet for a great poem
And Hail to the Translator for a beautiful translation!

I congratulate Dr.Yagi for the stock of poetic terms hard to accumulate outside the atmosphere

of a "Linguistic Operating Theatre". How come Doc.?

Without going any further I would like to raise a query:

Why did the Translation ignore the initial address where the Poet addressed the Subject directly:

(أيها) in the first line;
(يا بشيراً) in the second;
(أنت) in the third?

I think the different structure used, strong as it is, robbed the Poem of a major intimate feature.

However, the language this particular poet uses, could have never found a better match!

Congratulations to both Poet and Translator for their unique distinctions.

I am not ignoring other markers in this translation, but it is worthy of a leasurely reading which

I just can't afford now.

Both, the poet and the translator excelled and took us away from greetings and jubilation to the sadness and misery awaiting our beloved Sudan down the road. The translator recalled the old man and the sea of Coleridge:
" Alone, alone, all all alone,
Alone on a wide, wide sea,
And no saint took pity on my soul in agony ..."

and yet the poet is still optimistic about Sudan and that it will come out of its ashes like the Phoenix.

Great job...

Nuraddin Mannan
||||||||||||||||

Quote: I think the different structure used, strong as it is, robbed the Poem of a major intimate feature.

let me call this 'The promotive translation' LOL!
I think the translator is being so gracious, or even merciful, as to rid us of this
purported 'intimacy'. I also do not find the word intimacy appropriate in this context.
Both the original and ther translated texts fare well without a personal name!

A few days ago I was celebrating your expression which I interpeted as freedom from the dictionary!

Although I didn't quite understand the implication of your:(both texts fare well without a personal name),

I find intimacy suitable for what I thought if we agree on the reference of the word rather than the

conventional meaning. The closeness of addressed and addressy was in my mind. So please forget common meaning of 'intimacy'

and use your ban-dictionary technique + your idea of creating meanings you just expressed on the other side

of this Board and let us speak poetry.(I am no poet but don't tell anybody).

I like the new name "Promotive Translation", but I think the original poem is already high rating and I would judge the

translation as a successful match to the original; or may be this is the meaning of the faring well texts you mentioned???

Dearest Abdul Monim Khaleefa
My congratulation on this optimism-oriented poem.
As usual, your ability to express your thoughts, sense of time and place lyrically, is quite remarkable.
It has been alleged that a translator is a traitor, but whatever does that saying mean, the brilliant translation of this poem, and the ability of the translator to incarnate your innermost in such a beautiful manner, should elevate him to the status of apostles.
Allow me to seize this opportunity and extend my heartfelt greetings to my lovely friend Mustafa Mudathir , a great poet, translator and a brilliant writer by nature, who lost his way to pharmacology.


Much love to you & your esteemed guests