Poetic Verses for Birthdays
Below are some poetic verses that could be suitable for sending as birthday wishes:
Poetic Verses on Love
As Nizar Qabbani beautifully expresses:
Is there any doubt that you are the most beautiful woman in the world?
And the most significant woman in the world?
Is there any doubt that when I found you,
I held the keys to the universe?
Is there any doubt that when I touched your hands,
the essence of the world transformed?
Is there any doubt that your entry into my heart
is the greatest day in history,
and the most beautiful news in the world?
Is there any doubt about who you are?
O you who occupy parts of time with your eyes,
O woman who shatters the walls of sound as you pass by.
I do not know what happens to me,
for you appear to be my first woman,
Your birth is mine… and before your tenderness,
I cannot recall living.
It’s as if, O queen,
I emerged from you like a bird takes flight.
Is there any doubt that you are part of my essence,
and that from your eyes I have stolen fire?
And I conducted my most daring revolutions,
O rose… O jewel… O sweet basil,
O ruler… O popular one,
O legitimate among all queens.
O fish swimming in the water of my life,
O moon that rises each evening from the window of words.
O greatest victory among all my victories,
O last homeland in which I was born,
and where I will be buried,
and where I will publish my writings.
O woman of wonder… my wife,
I do not know how the wave washed me onto your feet,
I do not know how I walked to you,
or how you walked to me.
O you who gathers all the birds of the sea
to reside in your embrace.
How fortunate I was when I found you.
O woman who enters the very fabric of poetry.
You are warm like the sands of the shore,
magnificent like the Night of Destiny.
Since you knocked on my door, my life began.
How beautiful my poetry has become…
When it is nourished in your hands.
How rich I have grown… and strong…
When God bestowed you upon me.
Is there any doubt you are a spark from my eyes,
and that your hands are a continuous light of mine?
Is there any doubt?
That your words flow from my lips?
Is there any doubt?
That I am within you… and you within me?
As Al-Mutanabbi wrote:
To your eyes, the heart encounters what it faces and what it experiences,
And for love, there remains not a part of me that has not been.
And I was not among those whom love has entered their hearts,
But whoever sees your eyelids falls in love.
Between contentment and displeasure, closeness and distance,
There is space for the tears of the glimmering gaze.
And the sweetest love is what the beloved does not doubt in connection,
And in abandonment, it is the life that always hopes and fears.
Mahmoud Darwish also reflects:
Just as grass sprouts between the joints of rocks,
We found ourselves as strangers one day,
And the spring sky was composing star after star.
And I was composing a paragraph of love…
For your eyes… I sang it!
Do your eyes know that I waited long,
Just as a bird awaits summer?
And I slept… like the sleep of the migrant,
For one eye sleeps, so another wakes… long.
And weep for its sister.
We are lovers until the moon sleeps,
And we know that the embrace and kisses
Are the sustenance of nights of romance.
And that the morning calls my steps to continue,
On a new day’s path!
We are friends; thus, my hand will be seen next to yours,
Together, we make bread and songs.
Why do we question this path… to what fate
Does it lead us?
And where did it gather our footsteps?
So I say, and you say, we walk together… forever.
Why do we search for songs of sorrow
In an old poetry collection?
And ask: O our love! Will it last?
I love you, love of caravans, an oasis of grass and water,
And the love of the poor for bread!
Just as grass sprouts between the joints of rocks,
We found ourselves as strangers one day,
And we remain delicate forever.
Poetic Verses on Motherhood
The poet expresses:
O my mother,
I have seen you since the dawn of existence,
A sun of civilization that has risen,
Spreading warmth,
Filling its coldness with comfort…
Waking its deep slumber…
Turning the night into light…
And tyrants became rulers,
And a clever, submissive people,
Who saw in existence their museum;
So they thrived, comforting the mountains,
Carving its stones,
Creating magnificent pieces of art…
The early blooms,
Which still remain wrapped,
Revealing like the virgin flowers
From their buds,
Enchanting the eyes of those who see,
As they appear
And hide;
Packing tales and secrets in their bosoms…
Another poet affirms:
O my mother,
I love you just as you are;
I love you no matter how you are;
And I offer my life;
As a sacrifice in your love,
For our affection is unmatched.
Poetic Verses on Brotherhood
The poet says:
A person is nothing without his brothers,
As the palm grips the wrist.
And there is no good in a severed palm,
Nor in a paralyzed arm.
In this, Imam Ali (may God be pleased with him) states:
Your true brother is the one who stands by you,
And one who harms himself to benefit you;
And when the trials of time shake you,
He scatters his own for you to unite you.
Ali ibn Abi Talib (may God be pleased with him) further says:
And keep the company of the pious and knowledgeable,
For the companionship of the good is sought and is hopeful.
And avoid the wicked, do not associate with them,
For their companionship is contagious, and that is a lesson learned.
Rabi’a ibn Maqram expresses:
Your brother is your brother who draws near to you,
And you hope for his affection, and if invited, he heeds.
If you wage war, fight against whom you oppose,
And he increases his armament from you drawing close.
He consoles you in hardship every day,
If any calamity befell you to say;
Omar the Ancients relates:
By my brother, who remains faithful to you through time,
Neither mother nor father brought you here.
So associate with those of intellect and depart from others,
For there are no scholars among the ignorant to separate.
Bashar ibn Burd shares:
Your brother is the one who does not break his vow,
Neither when fortune changes does he turn away.
So take from your brother the pardon, forgive his transgressions,
And do not reject him in all matters.
If you always accuse in every matter,
Then you’ll find a friend impossible to fault.
If you do not drink from the bitter cup repeatedly,
You shall thirst, for who among people has untainted cups?
Another poet reflects:
A brother to me, as the days of life pass,
Blended with events that color its hues.
If I reproach him for a flaw, then I abandon him,
But he reminds me of a quality that I do not hold against him.
The poet says:
Your brother is the one who, if you call upon him,
He will answer; if you anger him, he shall defend you.
As Abu Othman the Taghlibi remarks:
Your brother is he who protects you in secrecy,
And conceals the vices that you may bring forth,
He announces your good to people openly,
And he overlooks not failing in kindness or advice.
Qais ibn Asim states:
Your brother is your brother; indeed, he who has no brother,
Is like a man who walks to danger unarmed.
And know that your cousin is also your wing,
And does the falcon take flight without wings?
Ziyad Al-Ajam said:
A brother to you, whom you do not see fortune,
Except in adversities he smiles, generous.
We asked for abundance, he did not hesitate,
And gave us better than we longed for, and more.
So he did good, then good again, and we returned,
And he did good once more, and returned it.
Poetic Verses on Fatherhood
The poet beautifully articulates:
You never wrote poetry nor practiced literature,
Nor did you stay up nights reading books;
And you weren’t one of those who gathered wealth,
Nor did you hoard diamonds, rubies, or gold.
But you accumulated for us a legacy to live by,
So we praise God who has bestowed goodness upon us.
My heart has become a traveler that contains my verses,
And the tears from my eyes have spilled upon these pages.
I will compose poems in gratitude for you,
You who spent your days reaping worries and toil.
I will write praises that surpass the moon, the stars, and the comets,
If my ink runs dry on the land of poetry; alas!
What will never diminish is the spring of loyalty in my heart.
They said: Are you exaggerating? Whom do you refer to in your poetry?
I said: I refer to my father, blessed be he!
How many times did he rush before dawn to rise,
And returned only when the sun rose bright?
Your mother says: The little ones in the house have slept,
And they have not seen you; shall we spend our lives laboring?
He replies: I will always strive to see,
One day my little ones, like radiant moons, grow wise.
My poetry today is nothing but the spark from my father,
If it weren’t for him, this verse would never have been penned.
For you were the one who guided me to knowledge,
In Homs, when I was a child in Aleppo.
In Syria, in Egypt, your spirit remains in my mind,
I gaze at it, and my heart rejoices with joy.
And you did not have, O father, wealth or lineage,
But through goodness, we are noble and esteemed.
For wealth will not elevate a person’s status,
If he does not climb through merits to the heavens.
You have been ascribed, O father, to goodness in generosity,
O fountain of nobility, let this lineage glorify you.
You advised us what misguidance should not blind us, O my father,
For you are a school of wisdom in counsel… it’s no wonder.
May my Lord protect you from the envious, O my father,
You have risen high, and there have been many jealous of your ascent.
So preserve for us, O our Lord, a faith we hold dear,
That honors the non-Arabs throughout time and the Arabs alike.
And preserve for me my parents, O my support,
And my siblings, and those whose love has flourished.