In honor of Revolution Day, we present this work by one of today’s most evocative Egyptian poets.
Yahia Lababidi Egyptian b. 1973
There are hours when every thing creaks when chairs stretch their arms, tables their legs and closets crack their backs, incautiously
Fed up with the polite fantasy of having to stay in one place and stick to their stations
Humans too, at work, or in love know such aches and growing pains when inner furnishings defiantly shift
As decisively, and imperceptibly, as a continent some thing will stretch, croak or come undone so that everything else must be reconsidered
One restless dawn, unable to suppress the itch of wanderlust, with a heavy door left ajar semi-deliberately, and a new light teasing in Some piece of immobility will finally quit suddenly nimble on wooden limbs as fast as a horse, fleeing the stable.
We present this work in honor of the 430th anniversary of the poet’s death.
Veronica Franco Italian 1546 – 1591
If I could be certain of your love, from what your words and face display, which often conceal a changing mind; if external signs revealed what the mind conceals within, so that a person were not so often entrapped by deceit, I would cast aside this fear, for which, however I tried to protect myself, I would be mocked as simple and unwise; “to the same place one can take many roads,”
the proverb says; and it is never safe to change one’s direction according to appearances. Let no one stray from the beaten path who is trying to find safe shelter before the night comes to catch up with him. The path of hope is not straightforward, for more often than not, it leads astray with lying words and false pretense; the path of certainty is the right way, which always leads to peaceful rest
and is safe on both sides and from. behind; to this path I raise up my eyes’ thought and, disappointed by words and charm, I leave behind all their misleading lures. May you find this an acceptable excuse, may it acquit me of the charge that I believe neither your gestures nor your words. And if you truly love me, it grieves me very much that you do not reveal yourself by deeds, as a man who loves truly usually does:
I am sorry, on one hand, that you feel pain, and on the other, that you frustrate me in my desire to satisfy your true love. Since I will not believe that I am loved, nor should I believe it or reward you for the pledge you have made me up to now, win my approval, sir, with deeds: prove yourself through them, if I, too, am expected to prove my love with deeds; but if instead you long for fictions,
as long as you persist in spinning out tales, my welcome to you will be just as false; and, when, fatigued and annoyed by fictions, you show me your love in deeds, I will assure you of mine in the same way. I will show you my heart open in my breast, once you no longer hide yours from me, and my delight will be to please you; and if you think I am so dear to Phoebus for composing poems, in the works of love you’ll find me dearer still to Venus.
Certain qualities concealed within me, I will reveal to you, infinitely sweetly, which prose or verse has never shown another, on this condition: that you prove your love to me by other means than compliments, for I take care not to be fooled by them; please me more with deeds and praise me less, and where your courtesy overflows into praise, distribute it in some other way. Does what I say seem right to you,
or do you instead perhaps think I am wrong, lacking experience to choose the right path? Sir, being mocked is a most painful thing, especially in love; and let whoever does not believe this show his reason why. I am ready to walk in step with you, and I will love you beyond any doubt, just as your merit requires I should. If in your breast you have love’s burning fire I’ll feel it by your side, for it will have
The power to set my heart aflame, too; it’s not possible to escape its blows, and whoever feels truly loved is bound to love the lover in return; but attempting to make white pass for black is something that everybody dislikes, even those whose judgment is weak. So show me the fruits of your love for me, for only foolish folk are deceived by the lure of empty words.
Despite what I now answer you, I’d not want you to think me greedy for gain, for that vice is not concealed in my breast; but I would like you to believe that when I love, my courteous desires, if not chaste, are decidedly chary; and as soon as I have understood that a man is brave and that he loves me, I’ve returned his principal with interest. But whoever, on this account, should decide
to try to fool me is himself a fool; and anyone he asks could tell him so. And what I now request from you is not that you express your love for me with silver or with gold; for to make a deal with a gentleman in order to extract a treasure from him is most improper if one’s not entirely venal. Such an act doesn’t suit my profession, but I want to see, I say it clearly,
your love in deeds instead of words. You know well what I most cherish: behave in this as I’ve already told you, and you’ll be my special, matchless lover. My heart falls in love with virtues, and you, who possess so many of them that in you all the finest wisdom dwells, don’t deny me your effort in such a great cause let me see you longing in this way to acquire a lover’s claim upon me;
be diligent and eager in this task and in order to grant my wish, do not be idle in your free time. This will be no burden to you for to your prowess any undertaking, however difficult, comes with ease. And if such a small task weighs you down, think of how iron and stone fly aloft, when set in motion by a burning flame; whatever by nature tends to sink downward
through the fury of fire, more than any other force, turns to rise from the center to the rim; so love for me has no place within you since it lacks the power to make you do what even without love would be a small thing. And do you then hope to make me love as if you believed that with one single leap I should suddenly fall in love with you? I don’t glory in this or exalt myself; but, to tell you the truth, you want to fly
without wings and rise too high all at once; let your desire match your ability, for you can easily reach a height that others, with effort, cannot attain. I long to have a real reason to love you and I leave it up to you to decide, so that you have no right to complain. There’ll be no gap between merit and reward if you’ll give me what, though in my opinion it has great value, costs you not a thing;
your reward from me will be not only to fly but to soar so high that your hope will match your desires. And my beauty, such as it is, which you never tire of praising, I’ll then employ for your contentment; sweetly lying at your left side, I will make you taste the delights of love when they have been expertly learned; And doing this, I could give you such pleasure
that you could say you were fully content, and at once fall more deeply in love. So sweet and delicious do I become, when I am in bed with a man who, I sense, loves and enjoys me, that the pleasure I bring excels all delight, so the knot of love, however tight it seemed before, is tied tighter still. Phoebus, who serves the goddess of love, and obtains from her as a sweet reward
what blesses him far more than being a god, comes from her to reveal to my mind the positions that Venus assumes with him when she holds him in sweet embraces; so that I, well taught in such matters, know how to perform so well in bed that this art exceeds Apollo’s by far, and my singing and writing are both forgotten by the man who experiences me in this way, which Venus reveals to people who serve her.
If your soul is vanquished by love for me, arrange to have me in far sweeter fashion than anything my pen can declare. Your valor is the steadfast knot that can pull me to your lap, joined to you more tightly than a nail in hard wood; your skill can make you master of my life, for which you show so much love that skill that miraculously stands out in you. Let me see the works I’ve asked for from you,
for then you’ll enjoy my sweetness to the full; and I will also take pleasure in yours, in the way that mutual love allows, which provides delight free from all pain. I yearn and long to have a good reason to love you: decide what you think best, for every outcome depends on your will.
We present this work in honor of the 225th anniversary of the poet’s death.
Robert Burns Scots 1759 – 1796
Ye banks and braes o’ bonie Doon, How can ye bloom sae fresh and fair? How can ye chant, ye little birds, And I sae weary fu’ o’ care! Thou’ll break my heart, thou warbling bird, That wantons thro’ the flowering thorn: Thou minds me o’ departed joys, Departed never to return.
Aft hae I rov’d by Bonie Doon, To see the rose and woodbine twine: And ilka bird sang o’ its Luve, And fondly sae did I o’ mine; Wi’ lightsome heart I pu’d a rose, Fu’ sweet upon its thorny tree! And may fause Luver staw my rose, But ah! he left the thorn wi’ me.
For want of bread to eat and clothes to wear — Because work failed and streets were deep in snow, And this meant food and fire — she fell so low, Sinning for dear life’s sake, in sheer despair. Or, because life was else so bald and bare, The natural woman in her craved to know The warmth of passion — as pale buds to blow And feel the noonday sun and fertile air.
And who condemns? She who, for vulgar gain And in cold blood, and not for love or need, Has sold her body to more vile disgrace — The prosperous matron, with her comely face — Wife by the law, but prostitute in deed, In whose gross wedlock womanhood is slain.
To Him who is feared a Crown will I bring. Thrice Holy each day acclaim Him my King; At altars, ye mighty, proclaim loud His praise, And multitudes too may whisper His lays. Ye angels, ye men, whose good deeds He records— Sing, He is One, His is good, our yoke is the Lord’s! Praise Him trembling to-day, His mercy is wide— Ye who fear for His wrath—it doth not abide! Ye seraphim, high above storm clouds may sing; Men and angels make music, th’ All-seeing is king. As ye open your lips, at His Name they shall cease— Transgression and sin—in their place shall be peace; And thrice shall the Shophar re-echo your song On mountain and altar to whom both belong.
Star among green leaves you were born radiant and beautiful, wandering in your own star because it causes you anguish. From the breaths that you throw for that snowy candor, to show off I have come that stole your subtle hand if the whiteness to ivory, the fragrance to the whole meadow.
We present this work in honor of the 145th anniversary of the poet’s death.
Charles Heavysege Canadian 1816 – 1876
The day was lingering in the pale north-west, And night was hanging o’er my head— Night, where a myriad stars were spread; While down in the east, where the light was least, Seemed the home of the quiet dead. And, as I gazed on the field sublime, To watch the bright, pulsating stars, Adown the deep where the angels sleep Came drawn the golden chime Of those great spheres that sound the years For the horologe of time. Millenniums numberless they told, Millenniums a millionfold From the ancient hour of prime.
