The shackles must be broken

Facebook reminded me that on 22 February 2011, I shared the following lines by Abu al-Qasim al-Sha’bi (1909-1934):

إذا الشعب يوما أراد الحياة
فلا بد أن يستجيب القدر
ولا بد لليل أن ينجلي
ولابد للقيد أن ينكسر
ومن لم يعانقه شوق الحياة
تبخر في جوها واندثر

And I translated the verses as follows:

If the people, one day, want Life
Then Fate must answer
Night must give way
The Shackles must be broken
And whoever is not engulfed by a yearning for Life
Shall vanish into oblivion, forgotten.

The poem feels quite appropriate again.

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