Poem: The Final Love Letter
The poet Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Wafi expresses:
Pause for a moment, cease the hurt and the blame,
And listen to the last bird of love as it cries out.
These are my sorrows, perhaps today I shall scatter them,
Across the lines, so do not take the anger lightly.
In the ear of this darkness, I cast my thoughts,
Believing that love has crafted them into prose.
I am a mirage, and my love is a cloud that stands,
It neither blocks the sun nor gathers the rain.
I am tears, and my love is an eye rimmed in kohl,
If the tears fall, the kohl will spill over.
I am a sail, and my heart a restless vessel,
I am a song, yet my ear knows not the melody.
O tear in the eyes of night, you question me,
About longing… about yesterday that has passed.
About the birds, about the garden that smiled,
Where life blossomed, and the poetry that exhausted.
Do not reproach me; our love has been,
Nothing more than a flicker of turbulent dreams.
Did we leave an echo in the ear of our present,
To revive the night or to clear the noise?!
No, I see, dear one, in our baggage,
Nothing remains for today’s anticipation.
It is you and I, a rose without fragrance,
Even the butterfly cries on its cheeks.
Seconds of darkness pass, they ride on her feet,
And time lingers, melancholy in my eyelids.
And you, O frozen moment, meddled,
With my thoughts and fled, denying the reason.
What do you want from me, my journey is weary,
A wanderer, forever estranged by love.
I trade my song in the forest of sorrows,
And buy firewood for the remnants of our flame.
Until I returned, with my breath tormented,
Sorrowful, with the wall of despair standing tall.
And our love offered no price for my journey,
Except ashes; can we live by what we were given?!
If you ever ponder, O my tormentor,
These letters that have never known falsehood,
For they are an hour from my soul that fell,
I lost them while seeking an escape.
So, keep them, perhaps love will be unaware,
With me (as the last letter penned in love).
Poem: Verses of Old Love
The poet Mahmoud Darwish writes:
-1-
Upon the ruins, we have arrived,
With our faces in the sand,
If summer winds pass,
We unfold our handkerchiefs,
Slowly… slowly.
And we disappear in the folds of two songs, like captives,
We evade the drops of dew.
Come forth once into my mind,
O sister!
For the late hours of night,
Strip me of colors and shadows,
And protect me from humiliation!
And in your eyes, O ancient moon,
My roots pull me,
To the azure slumber,
Under the sun… and the palm trees,
Far from the darkness of exile,
Close to the protection of my kin.
-2-
I have longed for childhood in you.
Ever since the sparrows of spring flew away,
The trees have been stripped,
And your voice, once upon a time,
Came down from the wells sometimes,
And sometimes it fell to me from the rain.
Pure like fire,
Like the trees… like the poems, they pour down.
Come forth,
There was something in your eyes that I craved,
And I awaited,
Embrace me with your arms,
Hold me tight,
A prisoner, forgiven from you.
I have longed for childhood in you
Since the sparrows flew away,
The trees stripped bare!
-3-
…And we cross the road,
Chained…
As if we were captive,
My hand, I did not know, or yours,
Held a pain from the other?
And it does not let go, as usual,
From my chest or yours…
Memory’s sweetness,
As if we were just passing through,
Like everyone else,
If we looked,
There would be no longing,
No regret,
Nor glances,
And we dive into the crowd,
To buy our little things,
And we leave nothing for our night,
But ash… that recalls the embers,
And something in my veins,
Calls to me,
To drink from your hand the memory ignited.
-4-
Step down, once, O planet,
And walk on our fingertips,
And do not tire,
And when I sipped from your lips
The mulberry juice,
It came to drink,
And as I wrote about your eyes,
Each word I write drips,
And we share… and our masters,
And our coffee.
And when you left…
It did not leave.
Perhaps I have become forgotten,
Like a cloud in the wind,
Descending to the west…
But if I try to forget you…
A star lands on my hand.
-5-
To you, glory,
Soar in my imagination,
From your echo…
The prison and the chains,
I see you, leaning,
On a pillow,
A mare… galloping,
I feel you in the cold nights,
A sun,
Singing in my blood.
I call you childhood,
The bud raises its head before me,
I call you spring,
The grass and roses stand tall.
I call you the sky,
So the rain and thunder respond.
To you, glory,
For my joy in my confusion,
Has no limit,
And my rendezvous has no promise,
To you… glory.
-6-
And we realized it was evening…
And the sun was
Combing her hair in the sea,
And the last kiss rests
On my eyes like ember.
_Take from me the winds
And kiss me,
For the last time in life.
..And dawn caught up with her
And the sun was
Brushing her hair in the east,
With henna and the wedding,
And a ticket to the palace of captivity,
_Take from me the songs
And remember me…
Like a lightning flash.
And the evening reached me
And the bells were ringing
For the procession of the beautiful captive
And my heart cold as diamond,
And my dreams like boxes on the dock,
_Take from me the spring
And bid farewell to me…
Poem: Love in the Dark
The poet Ahmed Abdel-Moaty Higazi presents:
I love you? My eyes say I love you
And the tone of my voice echoes,
And my long silence,
And all the friends who saw me, said.. love!
And yet you still do not know!
I love you… when my smile arrives,
Like a passerby, passing for the first time,
And when I greet, then hurry on,
To enter my room.
And when you tell me… recite poetry,
I recite it without turning, for fear of eye contact.
For the meeting of eyes upon poetry opens a door
To a captive bird,
And I fear for it if it becomes free,
I fear for it if it settles upon your hands,
So I distance it from both!
But in the evening, I confess,
I walk in the corridors of tranquility,
And open the doors of my heart,
And release my bird,
Talking to the light of the city
If it dances beneath the bridges.
I say to it… O light, revive my heart for I love!
I say to it… O companion of ships and travelers, answer,
Why does the lover walk alone?
Why do my arms strike the bushes without a hand?!
And the light and shadow dazzle me until,
I feel as if I am part of shadows, and part of light.
I feel as if the city enters my heart,
As if words are spoken, and people walk beside me.
So I tell them about my beloved.
My beloved came from the countryside,
As I came one day, my beloved came
And the wind cast us on the shore, starving and naked,
So I fed him a piece of my heart,
And combed his hair,
I made my eyes mirrors,
And dressed him in a golden dream, and we said we would walk,
For the best of life is abundant,
And he takes one road, and I take another,
But in the evening we meet.
So I gaze at my beloved’s face,
And do not speak.
My beloved came from the countryside,
And I tell them about you until,
The moon’s face sleeps in the west
And the wind settles in the heart of the tree.
And when I return, I say to myself,
Tomorrow I will tell her everything!
Poem: Another Love
The poetess Ghada Al-Samman writes:
I invented your love so that I would not remain under the rain without an umbrella.
I forged telegrams of love from you for myself!
I invented your love like someone singing alone in the dark
So as not to be afraid.
When we love, the heart becomes crowded with ghosts,
Memory bathes in perfume, tears, and the scent of apples.
When we love, waiting cries on the café table,
Past carriages pass in the street before us, and we shower them with jasmine,
We forget the clamor of street vendors with their microphones,
And the wailing of police cars, ambulances, wedding horns,
And funerals.
I will not arrange my dead in the cave of my depths adorned in their medals,
I will not describe them like soldiers who died in the rift of sorrow,
And I will not sit to write them by the hand of shadows,
But I will love you, and I will not fail to invent that love!