My Work - Poetry

It’s Love!

It is love!
Love has the power of magic.
It seeks out and commands the heart.
Love stretches out its wings
And flies, boundless
To the mountain tops,
To the bottom of the void.
Ask an experienced lover!
He would tell you about the cool breeze of love
And of the embers!
Sometimes love’s grip is fatal.
Was it not love that brought to death poor Qais?
This bird has many hues,
The sensual, the plutonic love,
The love bestowed upon a child
Caring and generous in every thougt,
The love for mother, father and sister.
Al Khansa weeps for her slain brother Sakhr*.
The deep love for the homeland
For which honourable men will sacrifice their lives.
The love for music and the works of art
Which stir our souls;
And the finest art is poetry.
And the greatest love of all for the Lord Himself
That matters most
On that final Day of Judgement.
The search for knowledge is a form of love,
ordained by the Lord.
That love runs in my veins,
Nurtured when I was but a child,
Years of youth spent on the altar of learning,
Years of my life, bent on a quest
For the written word
Oceans from family and home.
And now, at two score years and ten,
Still striving in that same pursuit.
I thank my Lord
For guiding me along the path
Of study and research
The greatest wealth of our dear land
Is man himself - not oil in wells ...
Soaring like bird on wing,
One wing for science, and one for poetry
Flying like an eagle.
When I seek the maidens of verse
They wear for me silks and rubies
And come with a radiant smile.
This evening, friends, it’s such a joy
To see our worthy heads of state
Honouring men of science, research and the arts.

* Al Khansa became the most famous Arab poetess just before Islam and later met the Prophet pbuh and embraced Islam. Her brother, Sakhr, a chieftain was killed in a pre-Islamic tribal war.

The above poem was recited at the ‘Rashid Prize for Excellence’ ceremony in 1989 in the presence of H.H. Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid, H.H. Sheikh Dr. Sultan Al-Qasimi and H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid. The poet was amongst those receivng the top award