Cultural hints from Yemen [Archives:2003/627/Culture]
Ismail Al-Ghabiri
Nabila Alzubair, a tender and soft female voice in the realm of poetry in Yemen, has become among the few pioneers among the Yemeni female writers known for their undoubting spirit in breaking through domains considered till quite recently sole receipts for men. She, among her peers, will be recorded in history books for leading the way apart form the closely traditional social life in Yemen. Reading one poem written by Nabila Alzubair that reveals her yearning, not to say her will, to overcome the hardships and uncertainties of life. This poem depicts the journey of life, the struggle and strife of the individual to make a meaning out of what is mostly perceived as absurd. The title of this poem, the waves, is so telling as waves stand for the stones that often obstruct ones journey through life.
The poem says:
It is the wave coming
It is the wave receding
So are the vagaries of life, my dear,
If life at times is harsh on us
Do not be sad my love
Smile to me tenderly
Oh, how sweet is your smile
It is the wave playing
It is the wave having fun
It will come and go and come and go again
So if today is harsh, perhaps tomorrow
Will be kinder
And if the beguiling glance is cast your way today
Be not deceived my love, for tomorrow
It may become a fickle frown
But don't grieve my love
My music, my fragrance
Hand me the cup of love
Filled with sweet nectar
Soothe my parched soul
Never let my cup run dry
It is the world sweet and bitter
So why shall we despair?
My love, sister of the moon
But yet more beautiful
Fill the cup of love to the brim and let us drink
So that we may drown our lingering sorrow
In its bowl
It is the wave playing
It is the wave billowing
Surging angrily, harshly
As though to welcome violence
But so long as your image
Sleeps in my eyelids
So long as my heart throbs with yearning
So long as your heart flutters with love
Then will our love never drown?
But forever rides the surf.
And if the waves could come,
They would dry up
In our hearts will always
Be the song of love
Despite everything.
——
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