قارئة الفنجان

by Nizar Qabbani, نزار قباني

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Nizar Tawfiq Qabbani was a Syrian diplomat, poet and publisher. His poetic style combines simplicity and elegance in exploring themes of love, eroticism, feminism, religion, and Arab nationalism. Qabbani is one of the most revered contemporary poets in the Arab world, and is considered to be Syria's National Poet.

When Qabbani was 15, his sister, who was 25 at the time, committed suicide because she refused to marry a man she did not love. During her funeral he decided to fight the social conditions he saw as causing her death. When asked whether he was a revolutionary, the poet answered: “Love in the Arab world is like a prisoner, and I want to set (it) free. I want to free the Arab soul, sense and body with my poetry. The relationships between men and women in our society are not healthy.” He is known as one of the most feminist and progressive intellectuals of his time.

While a student in college he wrote his first collection of poems entitled The Brunette Told Me. It was a collection of romantic verses that made several startling references to a woman's body, sending shock waves throughout the conservative society in Damascus. To make it more acceptable, Qabbani showed it to Munir al-Ajlani, the minister of education who was also a friend of his father and a leading nationalist leader in Syria. Ajlani liked the poems and endorsed them by writing the preface for Nizar's first book.

The city of Damascus remained a powerful muse in his poetry, most notably in the Jasmine Scent of Damascus. The 1967 Six-Day War also influenced his poetry and his lament for the Arab cause. The defeat marked a qualitative shift in Qabbani's work – from erotic love poems to poems with overt political themes of rejectionism and resistance. For instance, his poem Marginal Notes on the Book of Defeat, a stinging self-criticism of Arab inferiority, drew anger from both the right and left sides of the Arab political dialogue.

Reviews

[Asmaa · Rating 2 out of 5]

‏أمنيتي تلك وما عندي
أغلى من تلك الأمنية
لو أملك زاوية بيديك
لكنت ملكت البشرية
خبئني في خلجان يديك
فإن الريح شمالية
خبئني في أصداف البحر
وفي الأعشاب المائية
خبئني في يدك اليمنى
خبئني في يدك اليسرى
لن أطلب منك الحرية

[Khaled Abdel dayem · Rating 5 out of 5]

قد تعتبر هذه القصيده اشهر ما نظم نزار القباني

[Reem · Rating 4 out of 5]

"وما بين حُبٍّ وحُبِّ،، أُحبُّك أنتِ.."

"إني لا أملك في الدنيا
إلا عينيكِ.. وأحزاني
أأقولُ أحبكِ يا قمري؟
آه لو كان بإمكاني"

"قالت:
يا ولدي.. لا تحزن
فالحُبُّ عليك هو المكتوب"

[Rouya Majid Nasiri · Rating 5 out of 5]

فحبيبة قلبك ليس لها أرضٌ أو وطنٌ أو عنوان ما أصعب أن تهوى امرأةً يا ولدي ليس لها عنوان