SUDAN
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I.
O flower sunk into the river
Little smiling jinni
The pearls in your hair
Catch the sun
In their garden
A radiant garden of light
And floating laughter
And joy
Rises
From your colourful heart
And from underneath
Your bare feet
Earth's voice rings:
Bithibini?
The bracelets on your ankles
Dance their assent and chant:
My sweet dark hennah earth
I love you with my beauty
My hands, my feet, my skin
In a thousand languages of love
I celebrate your seasons
In the cycles of my wandering
My foot prints carve on your warm face
Life's beautifying scars
With torn tender hands I rear you who rears me
And harvest the fruit of your humid womb
That bears, beyond time
The secret of my descend
II
O sacred child of mountain and river
Where have you gone, how far?
What has happened to you?
My verse breaks
You are crying
Your grief alters my words
Love was a captive in merciless hands
And childhood a sacrifice to a stranger's crude eye
Earth bled under the piercing rough wind of our stark sigh
We fought for survival deep in the enemy's heart
Thirsty shadows from Allah's garden we all
Thrown against one another and yet
Still lovers, still nomads
Who follow destiny's star
III
Desert I was and sound
Ocean I was and night
Paradise was an evening drawn
On Solomon's hour's bleeding orange red skies
I danced to the ardha
And my heart burnt with desire
The sun was a girl I loved
And I pursued her tracks' light path
The spear my hand threw
Stroke a deep wound
Into the scarred flesh of my spirit's dawn
Its blood mingling with yours resurrects earth's dark beauty
Migrating rain birds you and I
On our inward-striving flight
[ Reviewed by Suzie Palmer 10/13/2005
'I love you with my beauty
My hands, my feet, my skin
In a thousand languages of love ...
Life's beautifying scars
With torn tender hands I rear you who rears me...'
Oh Muhammad, if only we all realized our connection to this Mother Earth ... then such grief and pain may cast asunder!
With love and deep respect Suzie xox :-)
Reviewed by _ Aberjhani 10/11/2005
And what a flight it is that carries the poet so deep inside and high above the tapestry of yearnings and myth and passionate divine faith that comprise SUDAN. Lines of light and fire upon lines of light and fire exploding skies of pure beauty.
Reviewed by s h 10/11/2005
So beautiful as usual!
Reviewed by Regis (Reg) Auffray 10/10/2005
The depth of your love is thoroughly evident in your verses Mahdi. Thank you for sharing your gift. Love and peace to you.
Regis
Reviewed by Sandie May Angel a.k.a. Sandie Angel 10/10/2005
This poem is filled with love and visions. Very well-done! Enjoyed the read!
Sandie May Angel a.k.a. Sandie Angel :o) ]
Sudan 2 (Variation)
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The goats on the roof top
Like messengers
Between
Earth and sky
Like angels
Climbing up
And down
Heaven's ladder
Like cries of joy
Like dancers
Of the rain
Ah!
Bring back one day
Of our happiest time!
O!
Revive the spirit of laughter
And song!
Then
I don't care
What happens
Ah!
Our boats flew
To where the rivers meet
There our hearts met
Too
And heaven's water
Was sweet
See
Our beautiful she-goat
She has borne
Three young ones
Milk stood in her eyes
And from your breasts
Like dew drops
Pearls white warmth
Like little tears
Of trance
I kissed your scars
And a thousand
Young
River birds
Carried your soul to me
Soul of soul
Eye of eye
Scar of scar
Path of path
Scorched memories
Are indelible traces
On indelible tracks
Across the land
Have you gone West or East
My eye
My soul bird
South or North?
Palm trees
Torn out
Lay prostrate to the wind
Huts
Burnt and left
In this cold
Cloudy
Night of
Harmattan
Turned graves of the sun
And ghostly spoils
Of man's sea
When man was man's curse
And an abundantly rich mother's children
Willfully broke
The chain of birth
And tore it
Like her womb
Into bits
So that one lover
To the other
Was a scorpion under a stone
And I, dear
Always seeking you
Am the swarthy buffalo
That drives
The water wheel
Round
Around
Crying
Round
And round
Around
Sighing
Ah!
Bring back our happiness!
Let not
Your soul
Succumb
O!
Scars
Are rivers
Our blood is
Red earth
Ploughed by guns
Knives
And whips
But its harvest
Is ours
And our veins are the channels
Through which life's wealth
Is carried
Across the seas
On laden ships
I asked: Where are you,
Africa?
And Asia replied:
Your heart's mirror is the Sudan
The ink is black
The scroll is white
Your blood is dark earth
Mixed with light
Heart and soul torn
In fratricide
Deepened your wound
And uprooted your spirit
And on its poisoned branches grew
The yoke of the enemy's might
Were you yourself
I would not be
A slave
Nor would you be an exile
And neither of us would be homeless
Like the betrayed promise of an oath
From the days of ancient sanctity
The lover's flame drills into me:
Ah!
Would heart and soul unite!
[ Reviewed by Regis (Reg) Auffray 11/15/2005
There is so much here, Mahdi. It is like a treasure trove where one can lose oneself in the brilliance. Thank you. Love and peace.
Regis
Reviewed by s h 11/1/2005
It's beautifully written. I am jealous, because I never write beautiful poetry like that anymore. I think you are a Poe or a Ginsberg.....Not like them, but that if you keep writing, I just think you would be remembered like them. ]
Sudan 3 (Africa)
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O dark pliant shadow
Ancient wise
Age-old child
Playing around the shal
In the evening
A tired godess
In the morning
A glistening sound
At noon
A forceful artisan
That draws on the earthen jug
Towering
From above the heads of the mountains' gazelles
The silhouette
Of their souls
A celestial bridge
Between man and Allah
WHO poured into the earthen jug
The waters of HIS garden
Shadow's ornaments
In your face
Paint the world
In lucid colours
That radiate in the rhythm
Your heart beats
River and mountain
In the palm of your hand
Speak
With the voice of a sparrow
To God
From mouth to mouth
Your body
Without burden
A sister
To the moon
Showed me the dawn
Of paradise
In wordless rapture
-Spring of time-
A sun of rain water
Washed me heart clean
And flawless
Like a lamb's first fleece
Like a water pearl in your jug
From the crystal falls of honey water
That spring
From underneath your tongue
And make your words
And Nile-born language
As pure as dew
From the dreams of a prophet
That feed the earth
With tenderness
And the child's red heart
With love
A bull's horn caresses
Sun's towring hair
Which in skillfully plaited
Nuba patterns descends
To kiss earth's mouth
In the ecstacy of young morning
And milk flows
From the eyes of the mountains
Ivory-white
The kuul, sky-walking
Eeha-Eeha!
Clad in a pale moon's ashes
The clashing sticks
Beat
The dream rhythm
Of a spirit's ta'aziya
From dusk to dawn
The chalk-white angel
Wrestles with man
And Buraq, the trance guide
Left her foot print
In the kujur's heart
That bears, like an inverted mirror,
The memory of unploughed time
When man was the branch of a tree
In Allah's garden
Then
Before it was named
When earth was sea
Was desert
Was sky
When the mountains were flames
From the tongue of an ancient kahin
Whose faith was an ocean
Unpolluted by shirk
And homeland to a thousand ships
And orbit of a thousand stars
I was but one of them
My earthen soul,
Dance
On the skin of your friend
The shade
As the daughters of Nuba
Sing and dance to the ondo
And the voice that returns
To the shal of which
It was born
Spoke to my sold and desecrated
My mighty, subjugated
Earth:
If there is one corner left
In your innermost
Vastness
Where falsehood
Doesn't
Prevail
Let me die there
A believer
Allah was
A wild flower
In a forgotten valley
Never far
By the banks of the river
In which sky and earth meet
There the kuul
Sky-faced
Wrestles with the angel
Earth-coloured
And I said:
Let me be
The sound
Of your
Ondo
Let me survive
The shadeless fire
That burnt my childhood's cradle
And return
A free man
Let my spirit outlast
Reflection's assault
And temptations
And find back
Myself
In your eyes
Unbetrayed
[ Reviewed by Joselyn Mayfair 1/30/2006
You use such imagery and power and beauty combined in your poetry with powerful messages thank you for sharing this poem.
Reviewed by Nicole Davis Vergara 11/17/2005
Oh I must agree this was indeed wonderful to read. I could feel the strong passion you have for the Sudan, and it resounds beautifully here in your words!
~Nikki~
Reviewed by s h 11/16/2005
See how you touch so many people with your words. They are always so powerful, and what you wrote on the comment for my poem "Animal" about my father...meant a lot to me also. Thank you.
Reviewed by Regis (Reg) Auffray 11/15/2005
Your intimate relationship with your subject is powerfully revealed in your verses, Mahdi. Thank you for sharing this gift. Love and peace to you.
Reviewed by Nordette Adams 11/15/2005
Elegantly eloquent. I haven't read such words in a while, Muhammad. ~~Nordette
Reviewed by _ Aberjhani 11/8/2005
The SUDAN series gives voice to the soul of a land, a history, a people, and an overwhelming cosmic intention that floods the consciousness of the reader. Your pen honors your own poetic mission and those of whom it sings. ]
SUDAN 4 (Genesis)
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River Nile played the 'ud
For his love child
The Atbara
And on the shores of Suakin
Immortal Yemen's golden breath
Rose like a sun of francincense
Above the Nubian desert
That reached out in its longing
For the pearl-like eyes
Of Najd and Hejaz
Wide was the circuit
Of the Red Sea's rearing hand
Tot Anh
His rough callussed palm marked
By toil and ardour
With a rich sweeping gesture
Called man, the traveller
To his fires
And housed him
In his shade
Love then
Was a white sail
That spanned
All the land
Its soil was stainless
Sweet and pure
As camel milk
Enchanted warmth
Bore souls in abundance
And light
That was a barque accross the skies
Today
As love lies
In the chains
Of possession
Blood-coloured tears
Drench the dark heart's
Blue veins
Which errupted with suffering
And flooded the land
With wounds that are hidden
Behind laughter
With laments
That unleashed its songs
And with memories to which
The dawning age took refuge
To be borne
In its dances
Like in a well
So deeply concealed
That it shall not be
Submerged
The earth's tender skin
Cracks
Under the tearing step
Of heavy boots
Her children turned
Soldiers
Just a day after birth
And what
Shall I write
Of the dark continent?
Tongue-tied
Letter-bound
I ask
Too many questions
Awaiting finality
I ask eternity
Shyly:
Shall your heart
Memorise
This day?
"A bleached bone
In the sun"
Faituri said
Two dead doves
In my grave
And the undying
African night
[ Reviewed by s h 11/27/2005
Touching as your words always are.
Reviewed by E T Waldron 11/22/2005
This is a beautifully written heartfelt, sad poem.
"It takes two to tango"
Eileen ]
SUDAN 5 ('Ibada)
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When the whip tore my flesh
And cut my face in two
I said:
Ya Mawlay
I am yours, for it is YOU that created me
My life belongs to YOU
Because YOU are
Its origin
I asked not:
Why doest THOU punish me?
For
One does not ask a lover
The reason for his love
I said:
My Beloved is greater
Than world and universe
For HE is love ITSELF
And I am love through HIS love
I said:
I am YOU and nothing else
I'm a dog and the universe
And Mawlat Shukriya
I said:
Man sheds my blood
But man
Does not own it
My sweet dark singing blood
I said:
Grant me YOUR ecstacy
And the majesty
Of YOUR beauty
I said:
Let me enter
Into the state of no colour
I said:
Let me taste
Of the flower of extinction
And know that the whip, too
Has no clour
And smile
At the suffering
It inflicts
Let the stone thrown at me
Be the markaba of MY glory
And humiliation elevation
Let this dog, o my Lord
And sacred Lady of Protection
Mock his own vanity
And then raise me
This sacred creature
Upon the throne of fana'
Suddenly
And undeserved
O sacred lover of my spirit:
Man knows of no greatness
But YOURS
Return in mercy unto him who betrayed
His
Own
Heart
O ecstatic Lord
My trance of old
Descend upon this Arab son
Of sea's desert
And Africa's earth!
[ Reviewed by s h 12/6/2005
That was beautiful that no comment is good enough.
Reviewed by E T Waldron 12/2/2005
Such impassioned writing Mahdi, is a gift you have.
Reads like a poem of one devoted to their Creator
Reviewed by Regis (Reg) Auffray 12/1/2005
"Descend upon this Arab son
Of sea's desert
And Africa's earth!"
The whole poem reads like a passionate, prayerful plea; a powerful offering of faith that echoes across time and space. Thank you for sharing this gift, Mahdi. Love and peace to you.
Regis ]
Onitsha/Darfur 2006
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Call my heart
What you like
But do not turn it
Into a snake
Let it speak
Of its pain
But do not turn it
Into a prison
Don't cut off
Your own hand
With the sword
Of your tongue
Set aflame
By despair
For the knife stuck in your heart
Is not your heart
But a knife
That turns your pain
Against yourself
Your brother died
And his blood
Stains your hand
What is death?
What is pain?
What is poverty?
What is richness?
Who
Is the enemy?
Your are blood of my blood
You are soul of my soul
Light or dark--
Colour
Of my colour
And even your hand
That is raised
Against me
Who is you
Yes, yourself
Is a torch
In this night
And a perverted hope
And a message:
Africa
North and South
United
Is Africa
North and South
Free
[ Reviewed by Regis (Reg) Auffray 3/16/2006
Such a powerful and soul-reaching message, Mahdi. Thank you. Love, peace, and strength to you,
Regis
Reviewed by _ Aberjhani 3/8/2006
As much love as artistry and wisdom in this exceptional write. Oh that those who most need to might embrace these lines with their minds, hearts, and souls until the possibility they communicate becomes a reality to be celebrated.
Reviewed by Erin Kelly-Moen 3/8/2006
The mood of all mornings, anymore, echoes with your words, Muhammad A. Al Mahdi. You've pounded out a litany which can be applied to what seems like eternity, on this earth...
Erin Elizabeth Kelly-Moen ]
La wa la (No and No)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sudan
My tears flow for you
My innermost
My Africa
Sudan
My heart bleeds for you
My scarlet cry
My dream
Sudan
My earth ripped open
Torn like the womb
Of paradise taken
In rape
My hope and my beauty
Savaged
And betrayed
Loved with a love that is
My pain
Let me scream out your beauty
Which is the last weapon
In my hand
When you have fallen, my love
I shall no longer be
Today they say the two world's shores can no longer embrace
Today the curse has been spread to the last haven of peace
Today, my jewel, you fall apart
Today you break as does my heart
Shall wrong be made right
And murder be justified
In my name?
Let others speak of their shame
I shall speak of my shame
In days ancient as my wounds
Two suns gave light to my heaven
Two fires brought forth time
Two moons
Set the lovers' hearts
Aflame
Two banners raised like
Civilisation itself
Named Africa
Arabia
And named glory
And radiance
Light and
Life-giving ray
O age of darkness
Unyielding as stone
O age of drought
Age of bleaching skulls
Devoured
By demons
Men shrunk to carcasses
Human souls shrunk
To raw meat
"Why?"
Asks the child
That was taken from me
And the child that I once was
Resurrected in the eyes
Of this child
La wa la!
My soul, the Sudan
The dark land
The land of the rising sun
Sings out, like a song
When she suffers in silence,
An Africa young and dreamlorn
Like the schoolgirl I remember
Greeting me with her smile
Under the mango tree that was me
My friend in happiness and sorrow
A girl or a continent
Known, still a land
Yet unknown
Bring back only one day of our happiest time!
One song my land sang
From its inner dark heart
And it rose deep into the skies
For minutes, in its joys and soft chords
Of sluggish bitter-sweet lament
My two hearts, my both worlds
Became one
And I was me
I
I said, brother
And I knew
What I meant
I
That was me
As I am
Sweet mighty land
Unparted
Sacred
And whole
Fall not apart
For the soul you inhabit
When you fall,
It shall cease
La wa la!
I shall resist the gun and the warplane that make
My sons your sons' murderers
Your sons enemies of my sons
La wa la!
I shall resist the onslaught in all tongues of the Nile
In all tongues of the Nile I shall chant your freedom
And throw myself against the walls
Of oppression and man's enslavement
By man
In every colour
And pretext
It takes
O, my heart, if love breaks you,
Let it be!
My black Laila
Of Southern eyes
If there is a morrow
To its dawn
Let us flee!
[ Reviewed by Larry Lounsbury 8/13/2007
A very great journey which shall eventually flow to a river where swords shall be turned to plowshears. Reviewed by Steve Ralph
9/9/2007
beautiful and heartfelt, a real pleasure to read, thank you for sharing it
Steve
Reviewed by Regis (Reg) Auffray
Beautifully expressed; very compelling Mahdi. Thank you for sharing this gift. Love and peace to you,
Regis
Dear Ustaz Mahdi, salams.
We thank you a lot for your message and your literary works. We highly appreciate them...
Please accept our best wishes and regards.
Almidan ]
Impressum
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 06.03.2009
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