Nasser

These days I can’t but remember Gamal Abdel Nasser.  The Arab people are now finding unity in demands, hopes and aspirations, real unity from the bottom up not from the top down.

Was this his vision?  Even if it wasn’t, he sure would have been happy and proud to see it.

English translation below original Arabic poem.  Audio of me reading the poem (Arabic) can be found here:
http://www.ece.mcgill.ca/~elotay/lotayef/poetry_A.html

ناصر

من بعيد لمحته في وسط الميدان

باين عليه تعب السنين

رافع العلم بإيده اليمين

وفــ إيده الشمال خريطة وطن

نظرة رضا مليا عينيه

باينه حقيقي الفرحة عليه

ما بيهتفش مع الهاتفين

بس الناس حواليه سمعوه

بيقول : ثورتكم جواكم

ما إتوأدتش سنة سبعين

***

مهما حاولت أقرب منه

أبداً ما قدرتش أوصل له

لكن غيري كتير لاحظوه

مش هنا بس في التحرير

في سيدي بوزيد

من فترة شافوه

وفــ صنعاء قرب الجامعة

وعند الدوار في البحرين

وفــــ عمّان والدار والبصرة

وفـــ ساحة أول مايو في العاصمة …

قالوا الأمن هناك ضربوه

وفــــ بني غازي

فـــ الشارع اللي إسمه على إسمه

المرتزقة هجموا عليه

لكن ما قدروش يأذوه

شابين جريوا عليه وحموه

أخدوه … خبوه

***

لـمّا الصبح طلع

سألوه :

شكلك مصري يا أستاذنا

ومصر دي دايماً بتعلمنا ،

الفقرا لو ليهم الجنة ،

في الدنيا دي نصيبهم إيه ؟

قال لازم تاخدوا حقوقكم منهم

وإبقوا إتحاسبوا هناك في الآخرة *

الثورة

حتفضل مشتعلة

طول ما قابيل

ظالم أخوة

وأخد علمه

وخارطة وطنه

وقام يمشي مع الملايين

_______

إيهاب لُطَيِّف

مونتريال ، 18 فبراير 2011

* مستوحاة من خطاب لجمال عبد الناصر أبآن التأميم في الستينات.

Nasser

From far away I spotted him
in the middle of the square

Age apparent on his face

Carrying a flag in his right hand
and in his left,
the map of the Arab world

Calmness in his gaze

Content on his face

He wasn’t yelling with the masses

But those close by, heard him say

Your revolution was always in you

It didn’t die in nineteen-seventy

No matter how many times
I tried to reach him

I never could

Yet many others saw him
not only me

And not only here in Tahrir

He was in Sidi Bouzaid
some weeks ago

In Sana’a, near the university

At the roundabout in Bahrain

In Amman, Casablanca, Basra

In the Square in Algiers
(where I was told a soldier beat him)

And in Benghazi
–on the street that bears his name–
mercenaries chased him
but couldn’t hurt him

Two young men whisked him away
and billeted him for the night

At daybreak over tea,
they sat chatting:

Respected elder, you look Egyptian
and Egypt always was a beacon
if the poor own the hereafter

Do they get nothing in this world?

He sat up and replied:

Go and fight for your rights
and let them challenge you in front of God

There will be uprisings always
as long as Cain abuses Abel

Saying this
he picked up his flag
reached for his map
and took off
to march again
with the Millions

 

Ehab Lotayef

Montreal, Feb. 18, 2011


Ehab Lotayef is a Montreal Poet, Activist and Engineer. His book of Poems, To Love a Palestinian Woman was published by TSAR in 2010.