Ahmed Shawqi (1868 – 1932) was an Egyptian writer crowned as ‘The Prince of Poets’ (Amir al-Sho’araa’) by his contemporaries. Among his plays, prose, and poetry, which include ‘The Way of the Mantle’ (Nahj al-Burda), a tribute to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), are a number of short poems about the lives of animals. The following selection comes courtesy of Joe Bradford, who has skillfully rendered it into English from Arabic.
Divine assistance came to move its hefty hull.
3- Until you saw the Lion stroll as donkey’s pal.
to foul sounds of comfort that came from the Boar.
5- The feline race, it raced up to the Canine’s side.
The wolf’s fang now for sheep to love & kiss in pride.
While ants they met with aardvarks almost every night.
7- Small chicks they groomed the foxes coat so ever soft.
The rabbit’s love then tamed the weasel’s wily craft.
and jubilation spread within the Ark below.
9- Until the day that great ship onto Judi lay.
And all in it ‘came certain of another day.
And took upon themselves the mode of long-gone days.
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