Ashraf Aboul-Yazid [Egypt]

   

Evenings 

I.

Looking for unused faces 
In the piles of destroyed masks 
To conceal 
– When I meet you – 
Some sadness used to cover 
The continent of my heart. 

2. 

Being tortured by some songs 
I threw my ears beyond the noisy silence.

To hear the same repeated news. 

3.

Before the thousand closed doors 
Of the palace of sorrow in my heart 
I stand, 
Without a key.

4.

I tie the stone of silence to my head 
And fall, 
In the sea of sleep, 
Like an anchor splitting
The ocean's breast! 

5. 

Rising from my head, 
The memory of death grows, 
To fall in my inkpot.
It makes the passed away people 
scattering as letters do
in the wind's hands.

Those are the crossing illusions 
In my heart, 
I shall never feel calm, 
Till my heart puts its anchor 
In the skin of darkness.

 

6. 

I tell my daughter a story 
Before she sleeps, 
But we are always attacked by night 
Before the prince of our tale 
Meets the lady with the crystal shoe.

7. 

Shut the window of the day
in the face of last night's dreams. 

To cry behind the curtains 
of my forgotten days.

 

Benha* 

As a tit on the River Nile breast 
Benha sleeps, and pours
Its honey in my dreams.

I wonder, when I come home 
If I could remember all its roads?

Or if Benha remembers my face 
With the new tired roads 
Engraved on it? 

(*The poet’s home town on the River Nile) 

  

Love

When I visited my old school, 
And went in my old classroom, 
The boy who sat on my old desk, 
Did not look like me in my childhood…
Never!

But I loved him!  

 

Author’s Bionote: 

*Ashraf Aboul-Yazid [Ashraf Dali]: An Egyptian poet, novelist, translator, journalist, and writer of travel literature and children’s literature. He studied English literature and specialized in the sociology of literature, earning his PhD from the American University of Science and Technology (AUST) in Delaware, USA. His dissertation was titled: “Crisis Management in the Arabic Novel and Its Social Impact.” He has gained prominence on both the Arab and international literary and cultural scenes through a diverse body of work totaling 45 books, in addition to his translations of major works from English. He holds prominent positions in international literary and media organizations and has received numerous prestigious Arab and global awards.