poem’s name : in the night of challenge
(في ليل التحدي)
Poet's name : Kamel Saafan
(كامل سعفان)
Date of writing the poem: 1 december 1983
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*****
أقلعت في ليل التحدي
I sail in the night of challenge
على سفينة.. بلا شراع
On a ship with no sail
الريح هوجاء.. ليس يجدي
The winds are harsh..
في دفعها أن أواصل الدفع
It doesn’t work to push it more
الموج عال
The waves are high
رذاذه شظايا
Their spray is shrapnel
وليس للنجم من بقايا
And the star has no remains
تشابكت.. تعقدت.. كل الخيوط!!
All the threads have tangled and become complicated
كالأخطبوط
like an octopus
تعانق الميلاد والممات
They (the threads) embrace the birth and the death
مازلت أدري أنني الملاح
I still know that I am the sailor
في كفي سكان السفينة
In my palm, there are the people of the ship
****
فلتعصف الأمواج والرياح
Let the waves and the winds storm
وليعلن الليل جنونه
And let the night declare its madness
ماض أنا.. رغم الجرح
I still keep going despite the wounds
إلى غد
To tomorrow
إليك
To you
حتى يصير الفجر والملاح
Until the dawn and the sailor
قرص الشمس وأحلام المدينة !!
Become the sun’s disk and the dreams of the city
An explanation of this piece from the arabic poems:
Mr Kamel Saafan has an adventurous soul. So, we can find his desire to sail far away from his routine to a better tomorrow with his girl. There are some strong poetic expressions such as: “the threads embrace the birth and the death.” and “let the night declare its madness”.
It is an unruly poem which has its effects on the reader’s soul. In this age there is a strong desire for freedom, the modern civilization becomes like a cage for many of us. So, from this point of view, these kinds of poems really find their way to our inner voice and our subconscious. This tendency to try something else is part of all of us, and the poet expresses this desire with a lot of sincere emotions. Mr Kamel Saafan was not one of those famous Arabic poets. His style of writing is simple and deep.
There are some creative expressions in the poem such as:” In my palm, there are the people of the ship” which symbolizes a sense of the social unity”.
The date of writing this poem is 1983. just a few years after Egypt, the homeland of the poet and the largest Arabic state, witnessed a fundamental change on the economic and political levels. This country surpasses the age of socialism to the era of capitalism.
These changes create a different reaction. Part of those reactions is this big ambition for wealth and the new life. All of this has its effects on the subconscious of the poet when he chooses to challenge his present with a lot of hope. We can also see this worrying condition of new competitions in this: “Let the waves and the winds storm” and “I still keep going despite the wounds”.
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