Apropos.

Today the work of Arab poet Nizar Qabbani (نزار قباني) reminds me of Wednesday's scene in Tahrir Square.
Finding this poem in its original Arabic (and subsequently retranslating it back into English myself; thanks, Hans Wehr!) took me hours. I started by attempting to back-translate the most important points of the English version I know into what I thought might be Google-able search terms in Arabic. I then attempted to use those terms to sift through huge databases (in Arabic) of the prolific poet's work to find something (in Arabic) that sounded like the poem I know in English. This particular poem also happens to be nameless, which really did not help.
 لكن معلش.
Feast on the fruits of my success!

.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .

We want an angry generation
We want a generation which plows the sky
To blow up history
To blow up our thoughts.
We want a new generation
That does not forgive mistakes
That does not bend.
We want a generation of giants. . .
Arab children,
Spring rain,
Corn ears of the future,
You are the generation
That will overcome defeat.

نريد جيلا غضبا
نريد جيلا يفلح الآفاق
و ينكش التاريخ من جزوره
و ينكش الفكر من الأعماق
نريد جيلا قادما مختلف الملامح
لا يغفر الأخطاء . . . لا يسامح
لا ينحني . . . لا يعرف النفاق
نريد جيلا، رائدا، عملاق
. . .
يا أيها الأطفال
يا مطر الربيع
يا سنابل الآمان
أنتم بذور الخصب في حياتنا العقيقة
وأنتم الجيل الذي سيهزم الهزيمة