GAARRIYE HADDUU TEGAY, MA GOBLAMAY AFKEENII

 By Bashir Goth

With the death of Mohammed Hashi Damac (Gaarriye), the Somali people have lost a great poet and a literary custodian. Apart from the many masterpieces and deeply intellectual poetry that he left behind, Gaarriye will be remembered in particular for his monumental efforts in founding and teaching the metrical structure of Somali poetry. He is to Somali poetry what Al Khalil ibn Ahmed Al Farahidi is to Arabic poetry. 
I had the honour of meeting Gaarriye in July 1998 when we both participated in a poetry evening at a fund-raising event for Amoud University in Abu Dhabi. One cannot find words to mourn the loss of such a literary giant, but silence at such a great calamity is not an option either especially from a fellow poet.

Therefore, I wrote the following elegy to capture at least some glimpses of his memory as a poet. I will suffice myself to convey to the readers the impression I got from him during the almost four-hour awareness raising event and my social interaction with him the following day.

The poem will try to shed light on his versatile character and the unique style of his delivery, his strong presence and his passionate and electrifying engagement with the audience during poetry recitations.

Gaarriye used to appear in a fighting mood when reciting a poem. He used to muster all his physical, emotional and intellectual power to interact with the audience. His sonorous voice that rose and fell with the intonation of the verse defied his petite physical look. He roared, electrified and mesmerised the audience. As the American sports writer Tom Smith is attributed to have said: “it is really very easy to be a writer – all you have to do is sit down at the typewriter and open a vein.” So if Gaarriye opened a vein in writing his poems, he opened many veins in trying to pass his poetry’s ownership to his audience.  His style reminded me of a line by the Arab Abbasid poet Abu Tayyeb Al Mutanabi who said:

أنا الذي نظر الأعمى إلى أدبي/ و أسمعت كلماتي من به صمم

(I am the one whose poetry even the blind can see and made even the deaf hear my words.)

My tribute poem, therefore, tries to capture this with the following lines:

Carraduu ka goohuu

Gucumaale aar iyo

Siduu yahay gudgude roob

Gurxanka iyo yeedhmada

Ka gariirin jiray iyo...

Although every poem in Gaarriye’s anthology can constitute a masterpiece by itself, I can arguably say that the most important poems of all his verse will remain Ergo and Hagarlaawe. Just like Timacadde has been immortalized by his “Kaana siib, Kanna Saar” and his “Dugsi ma leh qabyaaladi” and Sayyid Mohamed Abdulle Hassan is remembered by his poem “ Koofilow Adaa Jiitay oon Dunida Joogayne...”, remembering Gaarriye’s name will also invoke the following lines in the memory of the Somali speaking people:

“Dharaar baa iman doonta-irsiqa laysku cidhiidhiyoo- wax la uunto la waayo.
Dharaar baa iman doonta mujrim -oogo madowoo- islaam sheeganayaa agablaay hambadaada- isa sii kaba raasho…

“Hadeydaan i adeecinoo- ergedaan ahay maanta ka abaal ka dhacdaan- Ilaahay balankii ibtilaa dhici doonta

Dhulkay eyro ku fooftana Afrikaan madmadowiyo
Ajnabaa degi doona iyagaa talin doona…

“Sidaan aaminsanahayna, Abkuu doono ha sheegtee

Wuxuun baa ehel ii ah, Dadka kaan af aqaano

Ee si wax iila arkaaya, Ee ina midayso ujeedo..

--Cutubyadaas sare waa wada Ergo

“Anigana hadhow iyo faallo, Halista inaan ka hafeeftay

Oo weliba hiifi iga gaadhay,  Hagarlaawe, ii geli buuga…”

                                                                        --Hagarlaawe

 

It was reported that when the Abbassid poet and philosopher Abu Al Ala Al Marri heard one of Al Mutanabi’s lines he admired it so much to the extent that he said: if Al Mutanabi did not write any other poetry but that line it would have been enough. The line was:

لك يا منازل في القلوب منازل

(O, my homesteads, you have homes in my heart)

I can also arguably say that if Gaarriye did not write any other poetry but Ergo and Hagarlaawe they would have by themselves constituted an entire anthology due to their profundity and literary richness.

In the following stanza of my tribute I tried to sum up the depth, breadth and intellectuality of Gaarriye’s works:

 Wallee gabay mug weyn iyo

Murti gaaxinteediyo

Ma la hoyday geeraar

Iyo garasho waaayeel

For non-Somali speakers, in the fourth stanza it mentions how he was a man of tenacity, an ebbless river and a fearless hero under whose protection people felt safe. It describes his words as shooting out of his heart like arrows (Abwaan erayaduu gano) but turning into the sweet fruits of the Gob tree when they reach the ears of his audience. It marks how his words echo with the people and are quoted as maxims on every occasion. It shows how he was an ever lit fire from which people took embers to warm up; a man of bounty whose generosity reached all the community and a man of integrity (gob – sweet fruits) in supporting justice and thorns in the tyrant’s side (Ma ahaa gob iyo qodax).

In the 5th stanza the poem reassures Gaarriye that a man like him who travelled through the journey of life; both good days and bad days, who witnessed the days of independence (Gobaad) with its dreams and promises and later saw war and hostilities and stood on the ruins of once prosperous cities ( Guluf iyo colaad iyo, Guri ba’ay dul joogsaday...); a man who promoted peace and good neighbourliness; a man who rejected injustice and evil (his Ergo and Hagarlaawe poems in mind); A man who left behind such enormous history cannot be buried by death ( Taarikh gu’ weyn dhigay, geeridu ma duugtee).

The last stanza applauds Gaarriye’s command of the Somali language and his talent and skill in weaving verses with grace and beauty. It finds a befitting conclusion to bid him farewell in words of lyric (Tix baan kugu gunaanaday).

Abiidaba nin loo go’o

Oo lagu galaashiyo

Geesigu ma waaree

***

Gaarriye hadduu tegay

Tixdu gibil madaw iyo

Geybmaar ma xidhatoo

Ma goblamay afkeenii

Ma gaagaxday odhaahdii

Ma gallooftay heestii

Gegyigiyo dadkeenii

Carraduu ka goohuu

Gucumaale aariyo

Siduu yahay gudgude roob

Gurxanka iyo yeedhmada

Ka gariirin jiray iyo

Ma gammiintay ciiddii

*****

Wallee gabay mug weyn iyo

Murti gaaxinteediyo

Ma la hoyday geeraar

Iyo garasho waaayeel

*****

Wallee geed adayg iyo

Durdur aan gudhayn iyo

Halyey lagu gabbada oon

Gibidhsiga aqoon iyo

Abwaan erayaduu gano

Goonyaha dalkoo idil

Laga goosan jirayoo

Goobtii la joogaba

Guubaabadiisiyo

Xikmaddiisa gaarka ah

Gaarriye siduu yidhi

Gundhigga iyo sheekada

Lagu goyni jiray iyo

Gole laga dab qaatiyo

Godol reera deeqiyo

Ma ahaa gob iyo qodax

*****

Gaarriyow gobaad iyo

Nin sidaada geeddiga

Guluf iyo colaad iyo

Guri ba’ay dul joogsaday

Oo gacal wanaagiyo

Nabad soo gardaadshoo

Ka gilgishay xumaanoo

Taariikh gu’ weyn dhigay

Geeridu ma duugtee

*****

Af Soomaaligaad galab

Iyo goor arooryaad

Sidii geenyo shaaximan

Goobayn taqaaniyo

Galladdii Ilaahay

Gaar kuugu deeqaan

Kugu sii galbiyayoo

Tix baan kugu gunaanaday

*****

Guullana firdawsiyo

Inuu goobta aakhiro

Guryo samo ku geeyaan

Duco kuugu guusoon

Gurmad kuugu soo diray

-Bashir Goth, Oct.1, 2012.