Poems

Poem of the Nile - A Solar Reading

Prelude
Walls climb up the ivies
And Khartoum poised on one foot
singing
Will the (river) Nile ever sleep?!
We were two amorous lovers creating children
- What's my Name?
- I name you the Presence of earth
So come closer
- What will be the taste of grief?
- ………………
And we parted!
 
Sura
The Nile quietly flows…
seeping through the city's silence
and villages' burnt aches
friends will not exchange (their) morning greetings now
nor recognise each others' (faces)
Everywhere the(se) prophets of poverty
Drink (sip) their teas and sip their griefs (tears)
and say nothing
They hide death in their (tattered) clothes
and offer children: patience
They merge with the trees on earth
kill themselves at night
and borrow the reasoning of a bottle of drink
fake wars on women
say no prayers
and vanish
.....
Walls climb up the ivies
And Khartoum sitting at a café
smoking
In darkness muggers and half-distance's passers-by are equal
Will the street(s) now be choked with cars and (moral - political prostitution) ….?
 
We were two amorous lovers searching for children
And the (children) were (clambering) at bakeries throats
steeling fire
- What's my Name?
- I name you the Blaze on earth
So rise up
- What will be the taste of ashes?
- ………………
And we parted!...
 
Sura
Fire versus Water
And the Smoke is a memory that will (only) furnish for (the advent of) ash
Water versus Fire
And the waves are maps fleeing from the land
The girl is (somewhere) between my heart and knife
And the city - a handful of grains of wheat - tucked in usurers' and
>slave-traders' purses
And the black men are nearing
and nearing…
O river Nile…
To which deserts are you now taking my reflections and leaving?
Standing among the horses by your gate
is a pilgrimage of (my) the soul
and the silence reigning (suspended ) between us
is a language floating from the (old) beautiful times to the impossible (illusive) times
O river Nile - father
Were the trees (only) windows for the women to (shed) their (tears) and sorrows - griefs
Or have the mirrors (shattered) in (your) water(s)
crushed the history of the feminine
and fixed the colour of poverty on the (waters) meadows
Poverty grows on children's (playground) swings
bequeaths them the silence of an eternal curse
and the
disbelief of the ancient (i.e. of people from ancient times)
The Nile opens its arms
Speaks to the migrant birds
and falls into silence
reigns on the throne of the place
and never sleeps
never sleeps
The Nile dries up the desert's tavern
Gets drunk on waste (i.e. intoxicates itself on waste) (1)
And be content with (living in) the city and breaking at night
rising up through the times
and never sleeps
never sleeps.
 
...
 
The drums rose up from the Sun
And (trickles of) light attenuated songs through the pores of soul
Waters are lulls for the boats (to rest) from the toil of wind
The carnivals of the Blacks are raging (burning)
And the Nile has burst through the times
And all of a sudden (the kingdom of) Maroe appears
and (appears) the face of the Nubian lover
as he walks among the sorrows of the waterwheels
searching for the braves among the horses.
Where does the circle of (our) (ancestors') blood begin O King Baankhi (Bia)
when does the bleeding heighten
as you rest on (throne of the kingdom of) Kush
as she unravels under the callous (bitter) silence?
Holler on the horses to move
and waters will stand on its feet- toes (with readiness)
Maps will be split. How can the land be lost
(while) the Nile is the zenith of the centuries to come?!
The Nile knows (about/of) the disgrace of the cities
that are lost
Knows of (the state of) old times
Yet never speaks
It is the Nile…
And generations will pass by
Children will linger for long by its banks (the shore)
waiting for the upshot.
...