وعلّمني السقوط ببئر نفسي – جاسم الصحيح

Poem Translation:

I gazed upon the earth and saw a mother fair,
Who shaped the hills and valleys with her care.
And paths before me, winding, lost in maze,
Like twisted veins where endless journeys blaze.

Yet falling deep within my soul’s own well,
I found the waters sweeter where they dwell.
My father left me gifts of cloud and field,
Yet lost they were, unkept, untamed, unsealed.

Like restless streams that long to flow anew,
Yet rivers lie in sloth—too still to strew.

Poem Explanation:

Jassim Al-Sahih’s poem is a meditation on life, inheritance, and self-discovery.

1. The poet begins with an image of the earth as a mother, nurturing and shaping the land as a mother shapes a child—suggesting a cyclical and eternal connection between nature and existence.
2. He then shifts to a metaphor of life’s paths as tangled intestines, illustrating confusion and complexity in one’s journey.
3. The well imagery signifies introspection: only through falling into the depths of the self can one find true wisdom and sweetness, akin to how deep water is often purer.
4. His father’s legacy is depicted as clouds and fertile land—symbols of promise and abundance—but the poet acknowledges his failure to preserve this inheritance, suggesting lost opportunities or unfulfilled potential.
5. The final lines contrast the yearning of water to move with the inertia of rivers, symbolizing a personal struggle between ambition and external limitations.

This poem carries a deeply philosophical tone, combining vivid imagery with existential reflection, making it both personal and universally resonant.