"Al Maghrib" Special edition. Commemoration of the 40th day after the loss of Said Hajji, sixth year - No. 937 April 29, 1942
Happy are those, like Said, on the straight and narrow
A rosy path indeed, dear child, welcomed you to follow.
Soon intelligence, from its milk you were weaned
Which Incited envy, an inebriated pique it seemed.
Cradle of knowledge witnessed your birth and growth
Amid noble hearts, focal points to help you go forth.
Your qualities, most high, earned you respect
Adorned you with a deference so circumspect.
Your soul aimed to brush firmament's arcing light
Accelerating ever faster to the target of its flight.
It was determined; a courage so firm and resolute
To reach the goal, braving storms barring its pursuit.
Oh Said, your conscience, can we blame it
For taking a path with laurels laden upon it?
That "Publishing House" that owes you its existence
Will remain the site of your intent and persistence.
It was there where you worked tirelessly, endlessly
And acquitted yourself with panache selflessly
With experience as your tutor you did adapt
Overcoming time's whims to show your apt.
What have you not endured over the years?
Those churlish and obstinate that brought tears
Were at times like powerful stimulants for you
To reach new heights and govern those in view..
In Salé, nothing was diverted, nothing subtracted
From struggle and duty you were never distracted.
Youth, enthused to the very brim and so bold
Defied all restraints, audacious for all to behold.
At the peak of your strength, daring and hope
You were so full of grace just like an antelope.
You commenced just now, your life to appreciate
And to taste its charm, truly you were a joy to elate.
You came to observe its gardens covered fully
With flowered bush and crimped green holly.
But hardly had the luxuriant nature on you smiled
And lifted in your heart a solemn wish beguiled
Then time changed and a wind unleashed
A storm so enraged, that all lay besieged.
It chased away without any distinction
Friends and foes; victims of misfortune.
It crushed you at an age when you were in bloom
Mistaken by a fateful error, it caused your doom.
It could have avoided taking you for no reason
And distanced us from its perfidious treason.
Its infamy has forever spread far and wide
Neither serf nor the Lord Almighty did it abide.
Justice, not surprise, should be death's final call
So as to honor your commitments to one and all.
A just verdict rendered to your youthful freshness
Would have served best in view of its delicateness.
Oh! What a future had your life been extended
Instead death's aim was met; another expended.
By saying farewell, you chose a world, comforting
With eternal happiness far from one so daunting.
By saying farewell, we feel much sadness
To see you alone in a tomb full of emptiness.
My tears widen the lakes and waterways
Since you've left, they pour forth always.
Lord, should we chide youth and by what manner
When they witness your necklace of pearls scatter.
What is to be done when tears of distress gush
Beyond the flutter of eyelids to keep eyes flush?
Tear ducts have inundated each eyeball
The outpouring of hot tears are in free fall.
Wounded, feeling deep misfortune is the father
Weary, writhing with much torment is the brother.
Having mourned so much our dearly departed
His friends are amongst the most to be affected.
How sad to see them gathered in grief
Hit by a twist of misfortune with no relief.
After undergoing the distressful test of inhumation
All wished to believe that it was only a hallucination.
Embroiled in torment, each lost their head
Mixing dream and reality, worry and dread.
Your death is to be contemplated, by all, the first and the last
One can do naught, however, when fate's die has been cast.
It reminds us that life is the sum of tribulations
Where the proud must show fistful validations.
What can we in this world below have hope for
But an army ravaged, nailed to its pallet's fore?
What can we hope for, in a world where oblivion
Nests on its roof like the master of this dominion?
What can we expect if axes relentlessly
Work to flatten this edifice in its entirety?
You have bid to them and to their worries farewell
On their hardened shoulders a burden you befell.
You opted for moist earth, a shroud and a tomb
Preferring darkness of a grave over sunlit bloom.
Choosing to being where nothing ever grows stale
Rather than the lot of us mortals until our lives fail.
Happy are those like Said, who received honors
Due and just so they can lie cradled with flowers.
Let us endure our grief without you involved
T'is our sentence, how else can we be absolved?
He hardly set foot again in his native land
When he was placed in our Gracious Lord's hand
Like a bottomless spring of knowledge without peer
He lies in Salé's fine soil, honored by all, far and near.
May it please Allah to guide you in His Providence
May you enjoy life in the shade of His Magnificence.
The tears that water your last resting place
Are loyal testimony of a heartfelt cry for grace.
These clouds, with Allah's will, do remain and do gather
To anoint your grave with fine mist and to fade only after.
Dris Kettani