Khartoum — The selected poem for this week was also written by the prominent Sudanese Poet Al Nour Osman Abbakar "1938 - 2009".
Al Nour was one of the founders of The Forest and Sahara school, a group of prominent writers of the 1960s sought to solve the question of the Sudan's cultural identity.
Al Nour had lived in Germany during the 1960s where he studied German literature in its classical origins and read the existential literature of the period. This period influenced deeply his thought and literary orientation. The effects of this influence appeared in his poetry.
He moved to Doha, Qatar, in 1980 where he worked as a translator and journalist for the rest of his life.
Child
The child sings on the balcony
My sweetheart's deep sight in exile
Are poured out by a forgotten guitar
In the child's mind.
My sweetheart's features in exile
Are shawls in the wind.
Carried to the branches of the balcony
By a bird,
A white bird like the wings of mercy.
My sweetheart's deep sights are a guitar.
My sweetheart's features are a bird
In my heart a fire band from the kingdom
Of that much to seek morning
Rubbed what was spilt on my cheek
From the eyes
With the vision of two alienated lifetimes.
My sweetheart's deep sights are a bird.
My sweetheart's features are a guitar.
The child embraces the guitar.
The child communes with the bird.
The child sings on the balcony.