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Live Encounters Arab Poets in Translation August 2023
Orchid flower, poems by Essam Khalifa.
Orchid flower
Rest
Do not be afraid of me today
They may cross like a glance
Like a flash of lightning when my eyes see it
They did not carry my heartbeats in their veins
They did not shed tears when I was sad
They did not dance over the madness of my strings and melodies
They did not grow in the depths of my memory and my art
So rest
I am no longer like a bird that harried towards flowers
that mimic their shape in every corner
As similarity
Among the jasmine blossoms arouses my rejection
And matching became my problem and my prison
For how many flowers, from a distance,
decorated the chest of spring if it is beautiful
Suggesting that the face of beauty is coming from near
In its monotony, beauty dies, exiled and is defenseless
I scream into her mirrors and ask:
Who will revive the renewal revolution, who will come to carry
In her hands the rarity of the orchid or the charm of the carnation
I got lost in search of myths of imagination
About women who dressed frankness
Not beautification
About a conversation that did not resemble
what was said yesterday or what was said first
About a free and unfettered spring
About flowers that did not repeat me and suffocate me and kill me
And ,then, I met you
As I found a beautiful orchid spinning
Spectrum from the threads of dawn
That makes the rising more beautiful
Then I realized that my desired spring is coming
To remove the snow from me.
Orchid, be tender
And rest on my bough
And dress my security in fear
And grow between me and me
And rest
No flower is like you
No greenery, no plant
That grew up in the field of imagination
Or wishing groves.
Oh girl who hurt my heart and my mind
In my question
About the intentions of the mobile phone
Whenever I swear that
Every time I teach her not to suspect
For some suspicion in some cases is a sin,
She followed me
This suspicion is love; do not leave me
I burn from the fire of my feelings and thoughts
Oh my peace midst my worries
Oh my stillness
In a noise that could not help
Oh, a dialogue that came whispering
Like a harp that Soliloquizes the silence of my night
Like a flute when it regurgitates a tune
Gathering moons around me
Like a brush that mimics the painter’s vision of me
It traveled from his hands
And picked my color from the palette
Oh you, a feeling formulated from me
Oh you, intelligence that did not betray me
That disappear when love describes my say
Be my support in expression and singing
Be my rhyme and meter in creativity
And save me from letters that did not describe me
From the seas that drowned me
From ports that did not rescue me
Of meanings I have written and I do not know
In the concepts of passion, what does it mean?
Pass like a torrent in the desert of my bosom
Destroy the walls of my fortress
And enter without my permission
I lived my life like a train
Hating my waiting time
Refusing to feel my cowardice
Fleeing from all patience that may be sweeten with hope
Seeking help, my God help me
On the path
Towards fire or bliss that did not water me
I cannot bear patience as my companion
This was what happened to me
A liar who claims to be safe
In less speed.
Rest
They did not read my poetry before my ink touched it
They did not shine the night of my solitude as the dawn prayer
They did not taste the bitterness of my volatility and impatience
They did not accept, despite the guilt, my excuse
So settle
And drink from the water of my feelings and rejoice
Here where my heart resides
Here I deposited my secret
Here I will live from my cradle to my grave
So be quiet and dwell in the warmth of my chest
Rest
I am no longer like bees quenching my nectar from the blossoms
I am not used to living from my rejection and stubbornness
This is how I made my covenant
This is how I became mine
O stillness of the sea, O River of paradise
O girl, whenever I burdened her with a load, she answered
“O beloved of the heart from my eyes and my eyes”
Do not be afraid or slow down
In my country, you will not get lost
This is my compass, and that path is my path, so go through it
And remember what I said, if you did
That is my heart
Purify it
From the remnants of its inhabitants
Decorate it with your own color granted from me
And dance and sing in it.
© Essam Khalifa
Essam Khalifa (1971) is an Egyptian Canadian poet who obtained his first degree in Medicine in 1994 and his M.A. in Business Administration in 2011.He has published more than five poetry anthologies, two of them have been translated and published in Spanish , in addition to a book in the field of human resources development. He attended and participated in many poetry festivals around the world and his books have been circulated around the Arab area. He won the second position in Prince of Poet competition reward – Emirate – 2015.