Page 58 - Arabian Studies (II)

48 Arabian Studies II
One of Ibrahim al-Hadrani’s masterpieces, composed while in prison
is his 'Ayniyyah, of which the following arc a few verses:

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For my own part I elegised the death of Zayd al-Mawshikl and
collaborated with Ibrahim al-Ha<jranI in elegising that of Sayf
al-Haqq Ibrahim, son of Imam Yahya. Others also composed
excellent verses lamenting some of those executed. Most of this
poetry has been recorded and kept; some has already been published
while some is still in manuscript form.
The poet Ahmad al-Mu'alliml, Ambassador of the Yemen to
Ethiopia, has some interesting literary memoirs on the events of that
period. When I wrote to him enquiring about certain poems I had
composed at that time but of which I had not kept copies, he replied
in a long letter dated 14 September 1973.

My dear friend,
Allow me to put together my scattered notes and try to trace
what it is possible to trace. I shall tell you something about your
two poems, the subject of your enquiry. I forgive our friend and
our poet, Ibrahim al-Hadranl, everything except his negligence
over a large metal trunk. You probably still remember that he was
released before me. I then sent him this trunk which contained the
issues of the journals al-Scilwah and al-Nadwah which we used to
produce in hand-written form. It also contained many poems.
Ibrahim says he buried it at San‘a’ out of fear and left for
Hudaydah. He adds that when he returned to San‘a’ he found that
the city had much changed; many new buildings had been erected
and he could not trace the place (where he had buried the trunk),
and it seems that it had been paved over.

Ahmad al-Mu‘allimI also informs me that in his diary
(pp. 92—103) there is a great deal on the poet al-Sayyid Muhammad
b. Ahmad al-Shaml and he copied out two of his poems. One of
them bears the title Fawq al-ushsh al-markum (Above the piled-up
nest). In the following lines from this poem, the poet describes the
condition of his fellow-prisoners:

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