poem’s name : in a pharaonic temple
(في معبد فرعوني)
Poet's name : Abdo Badawi
(عبده بدوي)
Date of writing the poem : 1 july 1965
→ listen to the poem
*****
قد قالت في صوت مجهد
She said in a tired voice:
لا تطفئ أحلام المعبد
Don’t extinguish the dreams of the temple
لا تمشي بساحته مرحا
Don’t walk in its square arrogantly
لا توقظ كهانا ترقد
Don’t wake up priests who are sleeping
لا تزرع في الصمت حنينا
Don’t plant longing in the silence
لا توقد في الليل فرقد (نجمة قطبية)
Don’t light a star in the night
لا تأخذ كفي في رفق
Don’t hold my palm kindly
فالدنيا من حولي تشهد !
Cause everyone around me witnesses
فضحكت وكادت أيامي من ضحكي العابث ترتد
So I laugh, and my days were about to bounce back due to my uncaring laughing
****
وإذا بوجوه قادمة
And suddenly, there are faces coming
وجفون لم تخفق بعد
And eyelids that don’t beat yet
وصهيل خيول يغزوني
And the neighing of horses that invades me
وغبار من حولي يعقد
And dust that is tightening around me
وتضاحك قزم فرحان
And the laughter of such a happy dwarf
في طرف اللوحة قد أقعد
In the corner of the drawing, I may sit down
وهنا أدركت حكايتنا
And here I realize our story
في النقش على فرح تولد
In a pharaonic inscription about a joy that has been born
فهنا أيام يابسة
So here, there are dry days
ووجوه – في عزم – تصمد
And faces that stay strong in determination
وفتاة ترخي أهدابا في وجه مصري مجهد
And a girl is relaxing in front of a tired Egyptian
قد جاءت في جزع طفل
She came with an anxiety of a child
وتكاد تحيد عن الموعد
And she is about to Deviate from the appointment
وتقدم إليها في حب
And he came to her with love
فإذا ما هم بخديها
And when he came close to her cheeks with desire
أخذت بآمون تستنجد
She started to ask Amun (a pharaonic god) for help
وتقول ستبصرني أمي
And she is saying: “my mum gonna see me”
وتصب الغضب الأسود
And she is pouring out the black anger
وتصيح كما صاحت أخرى
And she is shouting like the other one shouted
لا تطفئ أحلام المعبد
Don’t extinguish the dreams of the temple
لا تمشي بساحته مرحا
Don’t walk in its square arrogantly
لا توقظ كهانا ترقد
Don’t wake up priests who are sleeping
An explanation of this piece from the arabic poems :
One of those magical poets that had written really well to describe love in the old times of Egypt. The poet, Abdo Badawi, rejects the classic format of modern love, or Islamic love. And he gave us this masterpiece.
He decided to come back to the age of Amun who was a famous pharaonic god. He also talked about the old wisdom of this great civilization in this: “Don’t Walk in its square arrogantly” and “Don’t extinguish the dreams of the temple”
And he chose his lover, a shy girl, to say that to her. She asked him to be more disciplined with his passionate love. This new idea works really well. it has its fresh impact on the reader with this uncommon expressions: pharaonic inscription, black anger, the dreams of the temple and more.
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