{"id":10073,"date":"2011-08-10T13:21:15","date_gmt":"2011-08-10T09:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/?p=10073"},"modified":"2011-08-11T12:27:23","modified_gmt":"2011-08-11T08:27:23","slug":"reasons-to-be-cheerful-a-poem-entitled-smile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/middle-east-society\/reasons-to-be-cheerful-a-poem-entitled-smile\/","title":{"rendered":"Reasons to be Cheerful: A Poem entitled ‘Smile’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Below is a [very] liberal translation of the poem \u201dSmile\u201d by the Syro-Lebanese (and eventually American, via Egypt) poet Elia Abu Madi. Abu Madi is especially well known among older Arabs in the diaspora; he was a mahjar\u00a0poet in\u00a0the al-Rabitah group with Jubran Khalil Jubran and Mikha\u2019il Nu\u2019aymah in the nineteen teens and nineteen twenties.<\/p>\n

He mixed traditional and modern styles very heavily, sometimes to a fault. Abu Madi wrote many of great poems in America (and also some patriotic but unfortunately quite racist against blacks, adopting American stylings; but he never adopted the obnoxious\u00a0Phoenician\u00a0tendencies of some Lebanese poets at the time). His poems often use images and themes from nature.<\/p>\n

In any case, \u201cSmile\u201d is a popular poem that encourages optimism and\u00a0perspective\u00a0in the face of adversity. The Arabic can be seen here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Translation of \u201cSmile\u201d by Elia Abu Madi<\/strong><\/p>\n

He said: Ah, the sky is somber, and frowned.<\/p>\n

I said: Smile just the same, there are enough frowns in the sky.<\/p>\n

He said: Youth passed passed away form me and I said: Smile because your regrets will never bring back your youth.<\/p>\n

He said: The one whose love was my heaven;<\/p>\n

She\u00a0has harrowed my soul and turned my love into hell;<\/p>\n

She betrayed my devotion after I gave her my heart to her alone; so how can I smile?<\/p>\n

I said: Smile and enjoy yourself, for if you dwell on the hurt she dealt you, you will spend the rest of your days in pain and agony.<\/p>\n

He said: Things are in such turmoil like a traveler close to dying of thirst;<\/p>\n

Or like that sickly young woman, desperately in need of life blood and wasting her energy, with each breath \u2026<\/p>\n

I said: Smile, you are not the cause of that disease nor will you be able to heal it.<\/p>\n

Smile, for a smile may help her.<\/p>\n

If someone else is at fault,<\/p>\n

Must you lose sleep worrying,<\/p>\n

As if you yourself were the culprit?<\/p>\n

He said: My enemies\u2019 loud voices are blasting all around me;<\/p>\n

How can I be happy when I am surrounded by enemies?<\/p>\n

I said: Smile; they are not out for you on account of something you\u2019ve done;<\/p>\n

They wouldn\u2019t lash out against you unless you were better and greater than them.<\/p>\n

He said: The sales\u2019 season has arrived yet my wares of clothes and toys are not selling at all;<\/p>\n

I have an obligation to my family but my palm is empty of even a single dirham (penny)<\/p>\n

I said: Smile, it is enough that you are even alive, and have no want of friends and well wishers.<\/p>\n

He said: These tough times have forced me to swallow bitter bile.<\/p>\n

I said: Smile, even if the bile is bitter it was given to you in strong doses;<\/p>\n

Perhaps if someone saw you in good spirits<\/p>\n

they would discard gloom and break into song instead;<\/p>\n

Will you earn even a penny by complaining?<\/p>\n

Will you lose anything at all from being in good cheer?<\/p>\n

Oh! I cried out, there is is no risk in parting your lips to smile and smiling will not mangle your face!<\/p>\n

Laugh! Meteorites laugh through darkest nights and we love seeing meteors in the sky for this reason.<\/p>\n

He said: Joyfulness doesn\u2019t make anyone happy;<\/p>\n

Things come into this world and are made to leave against their will.<\/p>\n

I said: Smile just so long as you have left before you leave this world for once you have passed on, you will not smile again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE MOOR NEXT DOOR: Elia Abu Madi was a very well-respected Syro-Lebanese poet in the early twentieth century. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":10074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,154,5],"tags":[423,18300,8225,18342,18291,1959,18330],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10073"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}