Hoseyn Aghamomtaheni known as Hamid Sabzevari was born in 1925. He was one of the pioneers of protest poetry and one of the most active literary figures present in the heart of the Islamic Revolution. This is such that among the few revolutionary songs of those years, his works have remained in the memories of many; songs such as “Rise Oh Martyrs,” “Call of Freedom,” and later the epic poem “It’s Time to Take Provision for the Journey,” which are some of the most outstanding works of those days and are cherished to this day. Before the Islamic Revolution, Sabzevari was a traditional poet whose works had a classical air until the 1970s. But with the serious emergence of protest literature and poetry, his works become allegorical.
What a good spring it would be if there was no thorn in the orchard
If there was a nightingale and no oppressive hunter
There, the watchman wouldn’t punish free people
The sheikh wouldn’t accuse the conscious of heresy
But with the emergence of the Islamic Revolution, a form of poetry with a social background entered the field: the song.
The song, fable, and ballad are three mementos of classical poetry. The first two types were particularly for the kings’ courts and their public gatherings; ballads were poems with a beat and were for the commons. Compared to the previous two types, ballads had a happy and enlivening content. Revolutionary “songs” however, seemed to be a mixture of the rebellious words of angry people who had now gathered to turn the kings’ public gatherings into a protest against tyranny.
Rise, oh rise
Eternal life boils from the tomb of each martyr
Tulips will bloom again from the pure dust of each martyr
Oh mankind, martyrdom is the beginning of life
Red death is the secret of freedom and life
Hamid Sabzevari became the eternal voice of a generation who acquainted auditory media with a special kind of idealistic literature and captured an important part of the revolutionary fervour in these type of songs. Sabzevari’s poetry never lagged behind the ideals of the Islamic Revolution: concern for Lebanon and Palestine, anti-colonialism, fighting against the hypocrites through writing, and of course establishing a school of poetry with an Islamic background which is known today as religious poetry. (Although religious poetry has a historic background, it appeared, was moulded and developed in the context of the revolution and the eight-year-long Iran-Iraq War.)
This is the call of freedom, that rises from the east
It is the cries of men, that rises from the throats
It is the warning of storms, that rise from every shore
It is the volcano of anger of every enslaved nation
It is the strong rope of the hopeful masses
Allahu Akbar, Khomeyni is our leader…
Sabzevari was and always remained a protester. He was among the few poets who preserved their revolutionary spirit and never retreated from nor evaded their stance. Hamid Sabzevari passed away in June 2016.
It’s time to take provision for the journey on our mounts
And prepare to pass the obstacles of thorns and stones
The call to journey can be heard from every corner
The bells are ringing; woe! I haven’t stirred
The daring men are on the way to the journey
They have stepped on their mount’s straps
The commander shouted the time of the journey
They reviewed the route from place to place
It is time to journey, not time to delay
The commander says that our time is short
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