By Hisham al-Gokh, a contestant on “Prince of Poets,” translated from the Arabic.
“A View over Liberation Square”
Today, bury all your old poetry;
Tear apart all your old notebooks;
Write to Egypt a poetry that is like her.
No silence nor silent fear will oppress her past today —
So: write of an Egypt and her people
and the peace of the Nile.
Your eyes are the two beautiful girls
Who decided that the fear had passed and ended.
But the streets were playing us —
The streets played us with cold and ice —
And we couldn’t explain why.
But little by little, we warmed ourselves,
And when we saw you smile, we forgot the cold.
And if we saw you angry, the streets unmasked it.
And if we saw you angry, the streets unmasked her.
But our honor scorned to dishonor her.
Do not leave them to tell you
that I am a traitor
that I broke the faith of my country
or forgotten it.
Do not let them tell you that I have become something worthless
or a puppet.
For I am the child of your womb, Egypt.
And to be a child of your womb is to want,
to speak,
to choose,
And to erase.
Silent now are the vanquished, the fearful in their cowardice,
Because those that love have said their say.
the occidental orientalist - المستشرق الغربي 