Hisham al-Gakh: "An Honest View of Liberation Square"

Hisham al-Gakh's poem, translated by Scott Cole...

An Honest View of Liberation Square

Put away all of your old poems,
tear apart all of your old notebooks,
and write for Egypt today the poetry that she deserves.
Put away all of your old notebooks,
and write for Egypt today the poetry that she deserves.
No longer will silence impose its fear,
so write that Egypt and her people are the peace of the Nile.
You are the most beautiful one, O Egypt, who has decided
that this fear has passed and has ended.
The streets were toying with us,
the streets were toying with us with their coldness and their frost,
and we could not give an explanation at the time.
We warmed each other,
and as we saw you smile, we forgot the cold.
And when you grew angry,
you showed it.
And when you grew angry,
you showed your face.
And our conscience would not allow us to defile you.
Do not let them tell you that I
am a rebel, that I have betrayed the trust of my country or forgotten it.
Do not let them tell you that I
have become trivial or that I am manipulated.
For I am the child of your womb,
and the children of your womb are those who wanted to
and who deposed and who acknowledged and who forbid.
The defeated remained silent, fearfully, in cowardice,
and those who love you have said what they had to say.