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Live Encounters Gaza Poetry & Writing, January 2024
Men’s Train, poem by Fathi Abdel Samee.
Men’s train
My body is awake
But it is cold and heavy
My mouth is filled with a bite of the earth that
I fell on
And my eyes are empty
From the battle in which I was born with
I am the martyr they buried secretly
No one raises my picture
And delivers an enthusiastic sermon
That curses my killers
I was not shrouded in my country’s anthem
And my coffin is not
Decorated with flowers and medals
No cheer or a tear to bide me farewell
They did not put a stone on my grave
I am the martyr they buried secretly
I prayed two rak’ahs reciting Surah Yasin from the Holy Quran
I felt my books
And my papers that are full of cannons, planes
And a sketch of a homeland
I looked at my brothers
And I am thinking of the gifts I can
return with
My mother is sleeping among them
I am afraid she will wake up
And feels pain that she failed to bake something for me
I closed the door behind me quietly
But I heard her tears hit the ground
When she is trying to stop my brothers from whispering
So that I do not miss the men’s train
My weapon was primitive
But it works
And my heart was bigger than a battalion
But they convinced my mother that I was a devil
And she must ululate
When they get me.
© Fathi Abdel Samee
Fathi Abdel Samee (1963) is an Egyptian poet residing in southern Upper Egypt. He has published seven poetry collections, and five other books including a book on his autobiography, and an extensive study on revenge in Upper Egypt, which won the State Encouragement Award in Social Sciences.