Poetry: Ashraf AboArafe
On its banks, time used to sleep.. while the river never slept,
Seagulls hovered like soldiers,
Shaking their wings.. stretching their sight,
Soaring.. and diving,
Telling the waves the secret of eternity,
As if the seagulls were the white guards.. of an immortal throne!
And the lofty trees upon the shores..
Were sacred spears in the hand of the earth,
Never bending to the winds..
Teaching mankind the meaning of pride.. and resilience.
Deep down.. the silvery fish danced with joy,
Sharing with the palm trees the hymns of passion,
When the river whispered.. birds sang, trees shook in delight,
And the cosmos harmonized in the feast of a fragrant kingly river!
The water hyacinths floated like wreaths of joy..
Smiling with a violet grin at every passing wave,
Dancing with the sun on its journey.. as if it were the birth of its green happiness!
—
Its water was never brackish..
Nor was it passing water from a cloud,
It was pure honey.. flowing from the paradise of the earth,
Pouring fertility into the mud of the hills..
Travelers drank from it with their bare palms,
But the secrets of love.. have a unique gate in this river:
When two lovers meet..
No palm.. no cup.. no water is poured!
Rather, a mouth quenches a mouth..
And nectar blends with a kiss,
Ascending the pure honey to the highest ranks of its passion..
Becoming light inside the eyes!
—
Mad were these orchards.. crafted by the silt!
Grapes hanging like precious chandeliers,
Mangoes ripening like suns among the branches,
Bright red cherries tempting the eyes,
Peaches secreting their scent, a honey that makes the horizon flow,
Golden apricots strutting in exultation..
Like fresh dinars atop the harvesting boughs,
Berries staining every lip with crimson,
And bananas growing like pieces of vintage honey!
Every fruit of the earth ascended..
Until the vegetables turned into pure bliss, as if filled with sugar!
The tomatoes stood in their magnificent redness..
Rivaling the cucumbers in their sweetness,
Saying: “I am the bride of this mud.. and I taste the sweetest!”
What fertility is this that you have poured, O Nile, into the body of the valley?
—
And the ancient Pharaohs..
Whenever the great flood arrived,
Would wed to the river the most beautiful of maidens!
Egypt would echo the anthem of loyalty..
Choosing its fairest virgin..
Perfuming her with the scents of kings,
Clothing her in selected gold,
And casting her into the bosom of the god (Hapi)..
To become his bride in the high heavens!
The river would take her as his bride in the deep currents..
Weeping over her with pure water..
Flooding Egypt with prosperity and health!
—
But that era has passed..
Oh, what an agonizing sigh for what befell the river after its glory!
The state of things turned completely upside down.. and the meadows were forsaken by their sanctity,
For the lofty trees have been uprooted from above the earth and from its womb!
No root remains to nourish the place with light,
The royal seagull has abandoned the skies,
No longer guarding a wave, nor spreading its white-feathered wings!
Even the silvery fish in the depths died,
Or departed in sorrow, seeking its sweet water amidst displacement..
A silent mass exodus!
No voice, no delight, no freshness upon the banks!
—
And the slums of this strange time stretched out..
Concrete crawled.. the eyes of the waters hid behind hideousness!
The image of the great river vanished, and we see it no more!
For prisons of brick besieged it.. and purity was lost,
Then the wheel of evacuation turned with demolition..
Not just for the shacks, but evacuating the lofty towers themselves of their inhabitants!
Lifeless skyscrapers emptied of their vitality..
Inhabited only by silence.. and the premature death of dreams!
As if the ghost of the dark myth.. “From the Nile to the Euphrates”
Has indeed arrived to occupy the identity..
Afflicting the eyes with blind, pitch-black night,
We look towards the water only to see the walls of absence!
—
And today, the Nile has become.. hesitant between annihilation and survival!
Dams in the high plateaus sever its artery,
Withholding the water from us.. and the agony of the clouds!
Aaaaaah, O river upon which Egypt used to spread its banner in awe..
Where our borders extended like a giant:
From your free sources in the south, to guard the stream from aggressors,
Until reaching the farthest north at the borders of Turkey!
An empire protected by silt and a daring sword..
How has it come today to feed on the crumbs of rights,
Watching the approaching fear from the south?
—
And today.. O Nile!
I stand on your plundered bank..
Your water has lost its clarity.. and silt has become a tale in the books of the ancients,
The lovers have left the shores.. no mouth quenches a mouth anymore,
Instead, everyone is sorrowful, hiding their tears!
And my soul looks back at the glories of “Ali” and “Salah”.. so I cried out in brokenness:
**O Nile.. return my heart!**
Return my heart which the past has stolen..
Leaving me a stranger, waiting for a piece of news..
While yesterday.. I was the king of existence!
