Hassan Kassim

“Now let me tell you something.

I have seen a thousand sunsets and sunrises, on land where it floods forest and mountains with honey coloured light, at sea where it rises and sets like a blood orange in a multicoloured nest of cloud, slipping in and out of the vast ocean. I have seen a thousand moons: harvest moons like gold coins, winter moons as white as ice chips, new moons like baby swans’ feathers.

I have seen seas as smooth as if painted, coloured like shot silk or blue as a kingfisher or transparent as glass or black and crumpled with foam, moving ponderously and murderously.

I have felt winds straight from the South Pole, bleak and wailing like a lost child; winds as tender and warm as a lover’s breath; winds that carried the astringent smell of salt and the death of seaweeds; winds that carried the moist rich smell of a forest floor, the smell of a million flowers. Fierce winds that churned and moved the sea like yeast, or winds that made the waters lap at the shore like a kitten.

I have known silence: the cold, earthy silence at the bottom of a newly dug well; the implacable stony silence of a deep cave; the hot, drugged midday silence when everything is hypnotised and stilled into silence by the eye of the sun; the silence when great music ends.

I have heard summer cicadas cry so that the sound seems stitched into your bones. I have heard tree frogs in an orchestration as complicated as Bach singing in a forest lit by a million emerald fireflies. I have heard the Keas calling over grey glaciers that groaned to themselves like old people as they inched their way to the sea. I have heard the hoarse street vendor cries of the mating Fur seals as they sang to their sleek golden wives, the crisp staccato admonishment of the Rattlesnake, the cobweb squeak of the Bat and the belling roar of the Red deer knee-deep in purple heather. I have heard Wolves baying at a winter’s moon, Red howlers making the forest vibrate with their roaring cries. I have heard the squeak, purr and grunt of a hundred multi-coloured reef fishes.

I have seen hummingbirds flashing like opals round a tree of scarlet blooms, humming like a top. I have seen flying fish, skittering like quicksilver across the blue waves, drawing silver lines on the surface with their tails. I have seen Spoonbills flying home to roost like a scarlet banner across the sky. I have seen Whales, black as tar, cushioned on a cornflower blue sea, creating a Versailles of fountain with their breath. I have watched butterflies emerge and sit, trembling, while the sun irons their wings smooth. I have watched Tigers, like flames, mating in the long grass. I have been dive-bombed by an angry Raven, black and glossy as the Devil’s hoof. I have lain in water warm as milk, soft as silk, while around me played a host of Dolphins. I have met a thousand animals and seen a thousand wonderful things.

But—

All this I did without you. This was my loss.

All this I want to do with you. This will be my gain.

All this I would gladly have forgone for the sake of one minute of your company, for your laugh, your voice, your eyes, hair, lips, body, and above all for your sweet, ever-surprising mind which is an enchanting quarry in which it is my privilege to delve.”
― Gerald Durrell

“صغيرٌ يطلبُ الكِبرا .. وشيخٌ ود لو صَغُرا
وخالٍ يشتهي عملا ً.. وذو عملٍ به ضَجِرا
ورب المال في تعب .. وفي تعب من افتقرا
وذو الأولاد مهمومٌ .. وطالبهم قد انفطرا
ومن فقد الجمال شكي .. وقد يشكو الذي بُهِرا
ويشقى المرء منهزما .. ولا يرتاح منتصرا
ويبغى المجد في لهفٍ .. فإن يظفر به فترا
شُكاةٌ مالها حَكَمٌ .. سوى الخصمين إن حضرا
فهل حاروا مع الأقدار .. أم هم حيروا القدرا ؟”
― عباس محمود العقاد

“In my experience, successful people shoot for the stars, put their hearts on the line in every battle, and ultimately discover that the lessons learned from the pursuit of excellence mean much more than the immediate trophies and glory. In the long run, painful losses may prove much more valuable than wins—those who are armed with a healthy attitude and are able to draw wisdom from every experience, “good” or “bad,” are the ones who make it down the road. They are also the ones who are happier along the way. Of course the real challenge is to stay in range of this long-term perspective when you are under fire and hurting in the middle of the war. This, maybe our biggest hurdle, is at the core of the art of learning.”
― Josh Waitzkin, The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance

“*دع الأيام تفعل ما تشاء
وطب نفسا إذا حكم القضاء*

*ولا تجزع لحادثة الليالي
فما لحوادث الدنيا بقاء*

*وكن رجلا على الأهوال جلدا
وشيمتك السماحة والوفاء*

*وإن كثرت عيوبك في البرايا
وسرك أن يكون لها غطاء*

*تستر بالسخاء فكل عيب
يغطيه كماقيل السخاء*

*ولاترِللأعادي قط ذلا
فإن شماتة الأعدا بلاء*

*ولا ترج السماحة من بخيل
فما في النارللظمآن ماء*

*ورزقك ليس ينقصه التأني
وليس يزيد في الرزق العناء*

*ولاحزن يدوم ولا سرور
ولابؤس عليك ولا رخاء*

*إذا ما كنت ذا قلب قنوع
فأنت ومالك الدنيا سواء*

*ومن نزلت بساحته المنايا
فلا أرض تقيه ولاسماء*

*وأرض الله واسعة ولكن
إذا نزل القضا ضاق الفضاء*

*دع الأيام تغدر كل حين
فما يغني عن الموت الدواء*”
― محمد بن إدريس الشافعي