NINE AND TWENTY...

Could a young life guide one whole nation-
Or be content with lowly aspiration?
Can bloodless hearts pulse with elation,
Thinking of the day of global Redemption
When sins surpass the foams of this ocean,
When the dying hour is fraught with confusion?
Then bless the rising tides of emotion,
That triumphs all human apprehension!
I must choose the path of austerity,
For the world has bid me nine and twenty.

From the glare of hate, the burden of blame,
The long-forgotten kingdoms came;
Yes, banners still fly and fair was their fame,
But every hour here was but a part of a game.
Stories are repeated, from one crescent to a Moon-
I am nine and twenty and I shall know those soon.

In vain, godless tyrants cast their hearts away,
Plundering through desires, the cycle of their day,
Gone was their soul, perished with enemy's sword,
Gone were the empires that forsook their Lord!
I am nine and twenty and oh, I know-
The difference between a friend and a foe.

Rejoice for the Maker who sprung water from stone,
Preach Oneness and Mercy, and worship Him alone!
Like the traveler returning from a nation afar,
Let every soul in this sphere kneel at this altar,
Praising the Oneness of our God's Majesty,
Restoring to mankind, its fallen dignity.
Every moor and every vale, every tree on every hill,
Glorify the One Lord, obeying His every Will.

Grateful years have blazed away with glory,
Like a warrior waving the sail of victory,
Like the sea that was won hides her own story,
The valor of this age belies human secrecy.
Standing at the summit of nine and twenty,
I too passed the enigma of perplexity.
Can I welcome the day that so often returns-
Having for such long years, nobly defended-
Oh, come what may when the earth turns,
When the fixed time on its surface have duly ended!

For I have become nine and twenty;
Breaking the veils of anonymity.

Only brighter hopes can now gladden my years,
Bewilderment no longer a stranger to me:
I cannot decide which direction my ship steers,
I must not be dulled with fantasy!

The morning greets the sun, the day is still young,
With the hand that helps, tuned to a silent tongue,
I hold memories of mistakes and morality-
Discovering decisions of eternal divinity.
For I am nine and twenty,
but life's still a mystery.

As I, with my year, are swept into an older day,
Let this rolling earth return to yesterday!

I must cease to wonder what we've left behind-
Better be blest and jolly, than nurse a bitter mind.

The rest of youth is curved around,
With mirth and misery abound;
They shall drop to the silent ground-
Faster than the speed of sound.
Still- light dims not in the heart of the sun-
When my ripe age arrives at twenty-nine.

Now lay before me is a treacherous terrain-
Masking - with foams of laughter - oceans of pain!
I am nine and twenty; the years have naively flown:
I am the living energy of what my fate has shown.
Only merriment welded to sadness can deem to stay or go,
Oh, leave the nest of rivals, lest time of heavens overflow!
The wind and sky in silent harmony-
Leads the way to a hopeful mystery
The path ahead - no stranger to me,
And life had showered mercy-
With the years behind me, speeding like a falling star,
I grasp whatever wisdom remain between peace and war.
The splendor of the seasons, the glitters from an ocean wave,
Cannot obscure the reason behind the vision of the brave:
I can dream of felicity or the goodness that could be-
Or be a guardian of this land or a patron of the sea-
For it is nine and twenty to night-
Since God had shown me the light.