Gacaliye Calimaax,
Calimaax, sidii jawharadeed, yaanan kuu jaman,
Jannadii, sidaad tahay, yaanan jawda kugu hayn.
Dabadeed, aan kala jiidanee, mar ila soo joogso!
Calimaax, waxaad iga gudoontaa salaan kalgacal oo kasha iyo laabta ka soo
go’day. Waxaad kaloo iga gudoontaa mahad wayn iyo salaan uurka ka soo baxday.
Intaas waxaa ii raaca inaan warqaddan qoriddeeda bilaabay sadex jeer, oo
haddana sadexdiiba jeexjeexay, ilaa ay ugu danbeeyskii iga soo go’day inaan,
ilaaba ilaa, kuu soo diro tanoo ah tii afraad oo jeexjeexdii ka nabadgashay. Ka
maagiddaas, aan ka maagmaagay warqaddan, waxaa iigu wacan walwal iyo walaac iyo
waxaan garanwaayay oo ila soo darsay ilaa maalintii aragtidaynu kaw isu ahayd,
ee ishaydu kugu dhacday, laabtayduna ku raacday, oo ay isla mar ahaantii
nafsaddaydu ku doontay.
Haddaba, ugu horeeyskii, waxaan jacelahay inaan kaa is xusuusiyo, waa
intaasoo aad i ilawsan tahayee; inaan ahay gabartaad huuriga ka soo wada
raacdayn dakadda Cadan, oo markii doonida la soo korayay aad gacanteeda midig
ku taageertay taada midig, dabadeedna doonida soo wada raacdayn.
Magaalada Cadan maalintaan, casar ka soo dhoofnay,
Waxaan ahay middaad caawintayood, cudud ku taageertay,
Waxaan ahay mid kuu cabadtayoo, caashaq dhibayaa.
Waxaan ahay mid habeenkii koowaad, oo ay doonidu guuraha ahayd,
dhageeysanaysay haasaawahaagii iyo gabayadaadii macaanaa, murtidana lehaa, oo
adiga iyo odaygii Nuur Ciise la lehaa idin dhaxmaray, khaas ahaanna, dhag u
lehayd xifaaleeyntaadii ku saabsanayd habka iyo hanaanka ay reer miyigu kula
dhaqmaan hablaha ay guursadaan iyo marwooyinka ay qabaan.
War! Cilmiga’iyo haasaawehii, lagu caweeynayay,
Waxaan ahay codkaad tiri midduu, cudur gayeeysiiyay,
Waxaan ahay mid kuu cabadtayoo, caashaq dhibayaa.
Habeenkii labaad ee baddu kacday, oo roobkii mahiigaanka ahaa ee onkadka,
hilaaca iyo hanqarka badnaa da’ay, doonidiina dagtay, waxaan ahay tii kuu
baaqday oo gacan qabadtay iyadoo baaxaadagaysa, dhawr jeerna hafadtay.
Baddoo caradtay, mayaygaad ogayd, caloolxumaantiisa,
Waxaan ahay cadraddaad ku siddayoo, calafaw laabnaa,
Waxaan ahay mid kuu cabadtayoo, caashaq dhibayaa.
Waxaan ahay mid abaal iyo mahad wayn, oo aan la koobi karayn, uurka iyo
laabta kuugu haysa; aad biimeha ka badbaadisay adoo dusha ku sidday muddo aan
todabo iyo toban saacadood ka yarayn; aadanna ka daalin sidnaadkeedii ilaa aad
birriga ku nabadgalyo keentay, inkastoo hanbarbarooyinkii iyo libaaxii badeed
ina sigayn dhawr jeer.
Waxaan ahay cirkoo hooray’iyo, caadkoo kale,
Waxaan ahay casaanraac’iyo, midab casaawiira,
Waxaan ahay canabkii ka baxay, calahii doognaa,
Waxaan ahay carfoon’iyo udgoon’iyo, cadarkii Baari’a,
Waxaan ahay mid kuu cabadtayoo, caashaq dhibayaa.
Waxaan ahay, haddii runta lagu arooro, Cawrola’ Bare, oo ah middaan
sheegay; oo isheedu iyo laabteedu ku raacayn, aragtideedii u horeeysay; oo aad
shaki la’aan nafteeda iyo ruuxeeda leedahay, aadanse adigu ogayn; iyaduse, had
iyo jeer, habeen iyo dharaar, hurdo iyo soojeed, kugu hammiyaysa; oo
jacaylkaaga iyo kalgacalkaaga, oo jiirka iyo lafaha galay aawadooda, oon iyo
anfaco diidday.
Waxaan ahay midaan cunin cuntada, calafka sooreed,
Waxaan ahay mid cadanyoodday, cidahii dayrshayn,
Waxaan ahay mid caynkaaga’iyo, caaqil maharsadaa.
Ugu danbeeyskii, waxaan ku soo gabagabeeynayaa warqaddaydan, oo intaas ii
wahaliya, Calimaaxaw – dayax buuxa nuurkiisa lehaayaw; man Galool uduggiisa
lehaayaw; Waqayga Caleed iyo Waarida Hawdaw; waaga baryaa wajigiisa lehaayaw; mayay
hooray hanqarkiisa iyo hilaaciisa sansaansadaw; Balanbalkoo dilaacay’iyo,
midabka balanbaalista lehaayaw; markaan saxariiray, saacii i qabtaw; Soomaali’iyo
quruxdeeda, sinji bay ula lehaydee, Sunaari la moodaw, sadbursiino ku lehaayaw
–, waa inaadan, marnaba, arintan aan kuu soo qoray yareeysan, ee aad si dagdag
ah war iigu soo celisaa ama aad ii soo gaartaa; aan aniguna raaxada adduun mabsuudee,
aad adiguna macaankii iyo roonaantii ay marwo u roonaan jirtay mudanaheedii muudsadtee.
Casarkii haddaan weel la culay, caano kugu siiyo,
Cishashii haddaan sarar cusbaale, kugu casheeynsiiyo,
Oo waw caafimaad raggee haddaan, cagaha kuu duugo,
Haddaadanse caloosha igu hayn, Caliyaw yeelkaaga.
Waxaa iga dardaaran ah, haddaadan war buuxa ciyaw kaa helin, inaad adigu
wixii kalgacalkaagu i gaarsiiyo mas’uul ka tahayee bal ogaw.
Ogaway! Haddaan dayaxu jirin, dirar ma nuurayn,
Ogaway! Haddaan daaqu baxin, duunyo ma foofayn,
Ogaway! Haddaad i diiddo, waan dagal baxayaa,
Oo hal iga dardaarana Calaw, dibinta maan saaro,
War! Diiftaan qabo hadday, digasho ii raacdo,
Waynoo daartii aakhiro, iyadaa cidina daaynayn.
Waa gacaladaa Cawrola’ Bare,
ee dagan
Magaalada Xiis «Xarago»
Translated in English:
My dear Cali,
O Calimaax! Let it not be that I have to crave for you,
as for a jewel,
Let it not be that I have to clamour for you, as if you
were paradise itself.
Afterwards we may depart, but once – even only once –
tarry and remain with me!
Accept, Calimaax, my loving greetings, which come from my heart and from my
bosom, and accept, too, my words of deep gratitude and my heartfelt
salutations.
Do you know I began writing this letter three times, and three times I tore
it up! But in the end, I decided that whatever happens I’ve got to write to
you, so the fourth time the letter escaped being torn up. It’s my worry and
distress which forces me to write it – and something which I don’t understand,
but which has been with me since the day we saw each other for the first time,
since I first set eyes on you. From that moment my heart has followed you and I
have yearned for you.
But first of all I must remind you, in case you’ve forgotten me, that I’m
the girl who was with you in the boat being ferried across Aden harbour, and
when people were climbing up into the ship you helped her and took hold of her
right hand, and then you and the others sailed together with her on the ship.
On that afternoon when we set out from Aden on a journey,
I was that one whom you helped and supported with your arm,
I am the one who sends her plaint to you, the one whom love
torments.
I am the person who on the first night of the voyage was listening to your
conversation and to your delightful poems, so full of wisdom, when you were
exchanging them with Nuux Ciise. I am the person who listened with particular
attention to those words of yours which scorned and ridiculed the way in which
the men of the interior deal with the girls they marry, and the way they treat
their wives.
During the evening entertainment of wisdom and debate,
It was the voice with which you spoke that brought this
illness on me,
I am the one who sends her plaint to you, the one whom
love torments.
Then on the second night, when the storm came upon the sea, when there was
torrential rain, lightning, thunder and roar of sound, and the ship sank, I am the
person who called out to you and whose hand you grasped when she had already
several times been overcome by the waves as she sank and came up again and
again.
In the wrath of the sea and the fury of the early morning
rain, which you remember,
I am the maiden whom you carried, the one who was
destined to remain alive,
I am the one who sends her plaint to you, the one whom
love torments.
I am the person who owes you a debt of gratitude that cannot be
encompassed, who feels it with all her heart on account of the peril you saved
her from when you carried her for seventeen hours, no less, without getting
tired, until you brought her safely to land, in spite of the sharks and
dolphins narrowly missing us more than once.
I am the sky which released a rain-shower and a high
white cloud,
I am of a colour which is red commingled with brown,
I am a grape which came forth on the Cal hills, verdant
with fresh grass,
I am a fragrance and sweet scent and perfume from the
Creator,
I am the one who sends her plaint to you, the one whom
love torments.
If one comes to the fountain of the truth, I am Cawrola’ Bare; of whom I
spoke. Someone whose eyes and heart have followed you since she first saw you. Without
any doubt she belongs to you, body and soul, even though you do not know it.
Day and night, asleep and awake, she dreams of you; and her love and affection
for you have entered her flesh and her bones. It is because of this that she
can take no sustenance.
I am the one who eats no food and takes no sustenance,
I am the one who is sore with a stinging pain, the one
disowned by her people,
I am the one who could only take as a husband a man of
your kind, or a wise elder.
Now I end my letter with these words: O Calimaax, you who have the radiance
of the full moon, you who have the fragrance of a galool-acacia blossom,
you who are a high tree top on one of the Cal mountains, you who
are waari-acacia of the Hawd plain, you who have the visage of the dawn,
you who are the early morning rain ready with its roar and lightning, you who
are hibiscus tree in flower, many-hued as a butterfly, you who were the cause
of the deliverance which came to me when I was in dire distress, you who could
be taken for a man from Sunaar – indeed, you have more than your share of the
kind of the handsomeness proper to Somalis, that which is their heritage! Please
don’t treat lightly this matter that I’ve written you about – not even for a
moment – and you must answer me quickly, or come to me. I would be happy then,
with the contentment of this world, and you would taste all the sweetness and
goodness that a wife gives to her honoured husband.
If in the afternoon I bring you milk in vessel cleansed
with a firebrand,
If I give you salted ribs for supper,
If I massage your feet, which brings health to men,
And you still have no love for me in your heart – then on
your own head be it!
And this is my parting message: understand unless I get full and
satisfactory news from you, you will be responsible for what my love for you
will do to me!
Know that if the moon is not nearby in the sky, Spica
cannot radiate its beneficent influence,
Know that if the grass does not sprout, flocks cannot
leave their enclosures to graze,
Know that if you reject me I shall be ruined and
homeless.
O Cali, a word of parting: I place nothing between the lips.
If the weakness which has come from this illness of mine
is followed on your part by rejoicing at my misfortune,
Then let us wait for the reckoning in the Other World,
which none can evade!
Your affectionate friend
Cawrola’ Bare,
Residing at the town of Xiis «The Proud Ostentation».
W. laga soo qaaday: “Aqoondaro Waa u Nacab Jacayl”
W. qoray: G/le Faarax M. Cawl
W. daabacay: Wasaaradda Hidaha iyo Tacliinta Sare. Muqdisho, 1974.
W. tarjamay: B.W. Andrzejewski. “Ignorance is the Enemy of Love”. Zed
Press, 1982.
